The Do's And Don'ts Of Viral Marketing

For many marketers, viral marketing is still a mystery.  When it does happen, you can’t figure out exactly how or why it happened. Because of its mercurial nature, many companies avoid viral marketing campaigns altogether, and that’s a mistake.

Here are a few Do’s and Don'ts of viral marketing which will be helpful to make your campaign hit the viral mark.

Do’s of Viral marketing:

• Create content that creates a reaction

Making people react to your content is the best way to make it go viral. Make sure that your content is about something that touches a nerve within people because that is the secret behind getting people virally sharing it.

You can create reactions through your viral content when it is emotional, familiar and has an element of novelty that fosters curiosity in the viewer.

• Make your content easy to share

Your viral content needs to be easy to share if you really want to see how far people can take it. If you write the content on your website, include options to share on social media, such as social buttons in any piece of written content, as well as buttons to forward your content through email and instant messaging services like WhatsApp.

• Do something unexpected

Everyone wants to see their product look perfect and nice, right? You can do that and more! If you want your marketing campaign to be noticed and become a hit, you'll need to make a difference. Get creative and think about ways in which you can make your product or content stand out, use your imagination and get inspiration from the success of others. Don't be afraid of trying new things!

Don'ts of Viral marketing:

• Don't restrict access to your content

By restricting access, we Don't mean prohibiting or blocking certain people from accessing your viral content, which you would find sooner than later impossible to pull off. We mean that access to your viral content should be as easy as a simple click.

Remember, viral marketing is not about exclusivity, so you should allow everybody easy access to your content!

• Don't obsess over “going viral”

It can be easy to get overridden with excitement over the idea of making something go viral. We advise you to be cool headed in this respect. Although a substantial chunk of a viral marketing campaign is to drive excitement, you can’t overestimate the fact that you can end up "over" sharing a story to the point of making it tiresome to others.

Don't stress over it. It will only burn you and your followers out before a campaign reaches its true potential. Just plan carefully and let the virality flow naturally!

• Don't forget to create videos

Videos are the most powerful technique in viral marketing! You have experienced the viral power of videos yourself, anytime you're prompted to share a video on your social media feeds, even if you didn't like it. Try to always use a video for your viral marketing campaigns!

• Don't mislead

Misleading headlines have been overused to promote stories. Tragically, the initial impact of a misleading headline does not last long in most of the cases. Worse still, if you use a misleading headline and get caught the first time, you’ll be left out of the game forever if people decide that your business is a sham and not worth their time.