How to Go Viral on Social Media

The coolest thing about social media is that when one of your ideas takes off, it catapults your business to greater heights and instant fame which then creates more business opportunities. Viral exposure on social media expands your brand awareness at a very low cost, or even no cost at all.

If you publish a blog post or share a link to a video on Twitter or Facebook, or other social media sites, and people like it so much that they retweet or share the link with their friends, who then send it to their friends, and on and on it goes, you just achieve golden viral marketing success.

The challenge, however, for most  business owners, is how to use social media in such a way  to get your ideas to go viral on social media. Below are five proven principles that you can begin applying today to ratchet up your viral marketing efforts.

1. Offer something valuable for free

Give away something that has a perceived value to your target audience. “Free” is the most powerful marketing word that is sure to attract attention. “Inexpensive” or “discounted offer” may generate some interest, but “free” still remains the most effective word that yields the faster response.

Offering something valuable for free attracts plenty of people, who are more likely tell other people. Viral social media marketers use this strategy wisely to create a tremendous amount of interest and viral effect, which they later on use for monetization. 

2. Make things easier

Viruses, as you know, spread quickly because they are easy to transmit. Viral campaigns work best on the internet because it’s fast, easy and inexpensive. 

That said, keep things simple and make your marketing messages easy to share or download on social media. 

3. Know what drives your audience

Learn more about your target consumers – what makes them tick, what motivates them, what common problems they are dealing with everyday. Gain a better understanding about them and use it to your advantage.

4. Utilize available social media channels

Remember the “be everywhere” strategy. Establish a presence on all existing social media venues where you can find your potential customers. Don’t just focus on Facebook and Twitter. Create connections on LinkedIn. Flaunt your talent with photography by using Pinterest. Create videos on YouTube.

Utilize all those existing social networks and you exponentially multiply the dispersion of your marketing messages.

5. Work with other creative people

Harness the power of teamwork and working with talented, like-minded individuals. This is one of the most creative ways to spread the word and get the best chance to make your messages go viral.