Never mind the dress colour. Here is how to improve your chances of going viral.

Friday, February 27th, 2015

“Going viral” for the internet savvy audience means that some content managed to go round the globe a couple of times over, with people liking, sharing, imitating and talking about it. Nobody can really say why a campaign or any form of content goes viral. However you may improve your chances by keeping these guidelines in mind.

First and foremost, set a target. Be realistic. Try and carve a niche or target part of your audience. In addition, you cannot ‘force’ your content to go viral. You can help it by promoting your post or advertising your site on through Google Adwords, however the audience should then do its job and share the content, if it is appealing.

Content is key. Try creating interesting, funny, emotional content that users will find fascinating to like, and desirable enough to share with their friends. Freebies, breaking news or life-hacks and curiosities are amongst the most popular viral posts around the world. Responses to viral posts may mean you can ride the wave of the original post and help you get views. Try and looking at existing content that has gone viral in the past and instead of copying it, try creating something better.

Check your settings. It goes without saying that having your content privacy set to public (such as a Facebook post or a YouTube video). If you are using Twitter, be sure to include a link, since it is statistically proven that the majority of re-tweets have one. Send your website or social media link to everyone you know, including friends, family and work colleagues. Make sure you offer your audience a way to share the content. It is the only way that content can go viral. Having clear social media share, like and re-tweet buttons is essential. Moreover, ask people to interact with your content, such as asking them for their opinion or questions.

Lastly, the time. Share your content when your audience is mostly online. Furthermore, you can also wait for a particular event (such an offline marketing campaign) to post your content. Don’t post it late though, as users may have already lost interest – or someone may have got there before you. In fact, posting content late may have an adverse effect, showing you are not keeping in touch with the latest trends. Typical examples of this include coming up with a flash mob or a ‘Harlem Shake’ 6 months after it had gone viral. Pay attention to what is currently trending on social media and the internet in general.

What do you think helps a post go viral?

Oh, and by the way, in my opinion, it’s black and blue! In fact, the British manufacturer ‘Roman Originals’ confirms that the dress is, in fact royal blue with lace.