Dos and Don’ts for getting Viral on Social Media

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Word-of-mouth to Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing is not a fad. It has been in the market for more than ages just that we used to call it word-of-mouth. The norm behind Word-of-mouth or Viral marketing is simple – ‘Creating peer recommendations for products.’
Some stunning facts about social media marketing

  • 30% of the B2B marketers spend millions of dollars every year for Social Media Marketing
  • Over the past few years, 1 million websites are integrated with facebook
  • 77% of consumers shopping online read consumer reviews before purchasing a product
  • 56% of consumers say that they are more likely to recommend a brand after becoming a Facebook fan.
  • 34% of marketers have generated leads using Twitter
  • 87% trust LinkedIn as a source of information affecting decision making.
  • 81% of U.S online consumers trust information and advice from Pinterest

Dos for getting viral on social media:

telecom22-1. Focus on trending events 
Check on the hot and trending topics on social media. Current events more scope to reaching more people on all media channels. Utilize Twitter Trends and Google Trends to have a track of the happening things and create buzz using these resources. Remember that trends today need not be the talk of the town tomorrow. It is usually Twitter people look up to for up-to-date trends. If you want people to share news and spread your brand name, you need to be in line with the hash tags trending on Twitter. Businesses can side step and post something completely irrelevant to their business, if it’s going to bag some buzz.
2. Write Unique and Humorous Content to Trigger Emotions
Content that is unique draws more audience attention. It is very important to talk the audience language rather than the brand in case of social media. Otherwise, they are less likely to share content and the sole purpose of getting viral is lost. Tap the emotional aspect of the fans and followers. Ads that tickle their senses are the ones which get most attention and create a stronger emotional engagement with the marketing component and the brand.
3. Use visual content to draw more audience
Users are likely to engage with brands that post images than any other media. Use visuals whenever possible; visuals like picture, images, infographics, videos, graphics and animations work well on social media channels. Hire designers to create original visuals including quotes, checklists, tutorials, infographics, videos and presentations on SlideShare.
4. Go decades back and start storytelling 
The cliché ‘survival of the fittest’ holds good even in social media. Ages ago, when there was no digital media, the only tool for marketers to bag few deals, is telling a compelling story, which would be shared with others through ‘word-of-mouth’. The social media trend today is nothing less than those old days. People embrace brands that share stories on social media. Stories are easily shareable which means storytelling can increase your chances to go viral.
5. Sweepstakes, contests and other promotions
Like any other marketing campaign, running social media campaigns pooled with sweepstakes, contests is a great way to reach broader audience and capture the attention of consumers in appealing and interactive marketing formats.
Incentivizing offers in a way that
increase exposure to the promoters’ brand are the ones which win more attention and spread like wildfire. Check on the perfect timing to post the promotion on various social media channels. Identify top networks that can aid you with the promotional campaigns.

Virality

Don’ts for getting viral on social media:

1. Posting boring which your audience don’t give a dime:

Social media gives businesses to go light hearted. Don’t overwhelm them with technicalities and jargons unless required. You can talk to people on a personal note. It can go to a level of asking what your audience is doing for their vacation. Keep the content fresh make it sound as if it has a soul. Don’t blabber about your awesome products and services every 5 minutes. Remember one golden thumb rule – ‘One promotional message out of 20 updates’. Use humor to market your products and services.
2. Insulting people and hurting their feelings just to create a buzz:
Negative marketing might be a good marketing strategy, but remember that talking low can hit on the brand really bad. Though there are others on the social media talking unethical about others, well it is not a great way of building a brand. Every negative activity ends with negative results.
3. Auto posting same message on all channels:
Most brands jump into social media accounts without a proper time-bound strategy. With an intention to spread updates on the channels, they post the same message across all the channels. When you don’t speak the same with every person, why post the same on social media networks. Craft a proper social media strategy and create an editorial to have a crystal clear social media plan for your brand.
4. Blasting social space with posts or tweets
Most business executives too have a notion that posting incessantly on social media channels will grab attention of the audience and makes the campaign go viral. Had it been so easy, everybody would be creating chunks of content and posting all over the social space. That is not the strategy that works. So stop blasting your fans and followers with irrelevant and unnecessary posts.
5. Lie to win credits
Social media is a transparent that leaves no room for lies or bluffing strategies. Social media is not for businesses that win handful of customers by cooking up stories and fake business cases. While winning trust has been one of the main aspects of social media, creating airy stories, adds no credits to the brand. Talk factual or do not talk at all.
Common sense is that best tool businesses can rely to understand the dos and don’ts for getting viral on social media.
Read more about the viral marketing on our  latest eBook Virality .