Viral Marketing: How to Make Your Brand go Viral in 2022

 

 

 

 

What is viral marketing?

 

Viral marketing refers to when you share content on social media and it becomes a trending topic online. Typically, a marketing campaign is considered to be “viral” when it is being disseminated by the public at large rather than just the target audience. If you can go viral, then you get exposure with a vast audience and a major boost in brand recognition.

 

 

What makes content go viral?

 

This is a pretty controversial subject. Does content go viral just due to a stroke of luck and because it just happened to reach the right people? Or can you actually hack the system and plan content that will go viral?

 

Well, a past study has shown that virality is closely linked to the content’s ability to trigger an emotional response in the viewer. A content marketing company Fractl furthered this study to see what specific emotions were closely linked with virality, and found that happiness, surprise, and admiration to get the highest results. In other words, it can be concluded that content that leaves the viewer with positive feelings is the most likely to be shared.

 

Research by Scientific American has shown that content that incites feelings of sadness, on the other hand, reduces the readers’ likelihood of sharing an article online. However, content that causes anger or disgust, is actually linked with high shareability. This explains why the youtubers/brothers, Jake Paul and Logan Paul, who are famous for being hated on in the internet community, still maintain high view rates and earn a fair income from it.

 

Social triggers also determine the shareability of content. Social triggers include people wanting to voice their opinion on a social issue, or to make themselves look good in their community. An example could be the marketing campaigns that were released when gay marriage was legalized in the US, like Visa’s #LoveWins campaign below. Supporters of this landmark decision were happy to share Visa’s post and celebrate it together.

 

 

 

Examples of viral marketing campaigns

 

Introducing the Icelandverse

 

 

In this video promoting tourism in Iceland, Inspired by Iceland pokes fun at the awkward introduction to the Metaverse by Mark Zuckerberg that was released just a week before. By taking advantage of the already trending topic, and turning it into an extremely high-quality video that’s both humorous while inspiring awe at the Icelandic scenery- the video is exactly the kind of content that people want to share with their friends.

 

e.l.f. cosmetics TikTok campaign

 

 

E.l.f. cosmetics cleverly reached their target demographic on Tiktok by releasing an original song called “eyeslipsface.” This led to 3 million tiktok videos being created with the music clip, and 4 billion total views - making it the most successful Tiktok marketing campaign of all time.

 

Dietz Nuts x Craig Robinson

 

 

The snack brand Dietz Nuts hired the lovable actor Craig Robinson to make a funny and slightly provocative video. It’s clear that humor leads to feelings of happiness, and content that people are quick to share with their friends.

 

Extra Gum: Can’t Help Falling in Love

 

 

This commercial for Extra Gum narrates a beautiful love story, that stems from the simple act of offering a piece of gum. You’ll notice that the focal point of the story isn’t on Extra - it’s about these two people falling in love and eventually getting engaged- the ad wants to appeal to your emotions and it’s very successful in doing so.

 

“Fearless Girl” Statue on Wall Street

 

 

Finally, on International Women’s Day in 2017, the investment company State Street Global Advisors commissioned and placed this statue called “Fearless Girl” right in front of the “Charging Bull” on Wall Street in New York City. This statue was meant to send a message about workplace gender diversity and encourage companies to recruit women to management. This became a hugely trending topic both in the news and on social media, and State Street Global Advisors’ brand awareness and reputation got a major boost.

 

 

Summary

 

While you can’t control whether or not your content goes viral, we’ve gone over a few factors that are crucial to shareability. Your content has to establish an emotional connection with the viewer, and generally positive emotions are more closely linked with shares. You can also respond to topical issues in the news, current events, or online content that already exists and join in the online conversation. Last but not least, you could also create content that users can easily interact with and inspire more creation, like with the #eyeslipsface campaign on TikTok.