How to go viral on social media?

Here are some tips for using trending topics to go viral:

Avoid creating viral content around tragedies or negative events.

Try to create humorous and entertaining content.

Use a social media management tool like Sprout Social to monitor trending topics from a single dashboard. Having content that goes viral is every marketer’s dream. The idea of ​​thousands or even millions of people viewing your content is amazing and can take your brand to new heights.

That’s what Dollar Shave Club found out when it released its quirky commercial that went viral on YouTube. That video put the company in front of millions of potential customers who had never even heard of it before. The examples of viral marketing campaigns are endless. But the question is: why does some content go viral and others don’t?

While there’s no guarantee that your video, article, or meme will go viral, we’ve found that brands that have been successful follow a basic framework.

Here are eight steps your brand can take to improve its chances of going viral on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other social channels. Step 1: Know your audience

Going viral isn’t just about getting your content in front of people, it’s about getting it in front of the right people.

When Dove created its Real Beauty Sketches campaign, the brand had a specific demographic it wanted to reach. The Beauty Sketches campaign featured an FBI-trained forensic artist drawing sketches of real women, not paid actresses or models, based on their descriptions of themselves. The artist then drew pictures of the same women based on a description given to him by a stranger. Step 2: Make an emotional connection

Emotion is what drives people to act.

Some people eat when they are sad. Some people go to the gym after watching a motivational sports movie. The feelings you get after seeing, hearing, or reading something that strikes an emotional chord influence your behavior. And there is science to back it up.

Robert Plutchik wheel of emotion

Psychologist Robert Plutchik is known for his concept of the emotion wheel (pictured above). The wheel highlights eight primary emotions that guide our behavior:

Happiness

Trust

fear

Surprise

Sadness

Anticipation

Anger

Disgust

In addition to knowing who they wanted to target, Dove’s campaign was also effective because of the emotional connection the video generated.

Integrating these different emotions into your content can help your message resonate more effectively with your audience. An excellent example of using emotion to drive behavior is Chipotle’s Scarecrow campaign.