How can you create viral content that increases brand awareness?

Dive deeper into the subcultures within your target demographic. These subcultures can be a goldmine for understanding your audience's unique interests, language, and values. For example, LEGO recognized that their products were loved not only by children but also by adult fans who were passionate about building intricate models. They engaged with the AFOL subculture by organizing conventions, featuring user-generated content, and even producing special sets tailored to adult builders. This approach has strengthened their brand within this niche community.

In my experience leaning in on impact and insight grounded creative trumps planning for reach and reaction. It happens harmoniously as it’s not forced. The balance of crafting brand building work which is the “long” of planning from a placement perspective and the “short” bursts of action inducing creatives are the blend that sparks the viral response or opportunities.

Don't. Focus on consistently creating content that stands out. Virality is the results of gradually building an audience who share what you do. Build an audience create content worth sharing. Then virality will just be the cherry on top since you already have a group of people who know your brand.

Knowing your audience is the only way to create brand awareness and the goal shouldn't be to go viral. The goal is to create something that brings out an emotional reaction - fear, love, hate, sadness - so that they want to continue to hear from you.

For 15 years I have heard both clients and fellow colleagues suggested the idea of “making something viral”. But then you have already failed. Why? Since a viral moment is an organic effect people have to first choose to watch you can’t “push” it onto them. Instead do what the best media creators in class would do: 1. Figure out what your audience choose & demands right now 2. Tap into that trend to reach them 3. Now it’s time to use your creative muscles to add your unique creative twist to make YOUR clip the most viewed of all similar ones. - In other words - Don’t think like an advertising agency. Don’t think paid media. Don’t think brand first. Do think like the creators that goes viral & consider your audience before anything!

Watch what's happening globally and in your industry. Creating content related to current trends can catch people's attention and increase the chance of virality.

The answer is more nuanced than just creativity and originality. Creativity is celebrated, yes, but successful viral content demonstrates that brands are paying attention to the zeitgeist. Brands can leverage relevant trends in order to gain traction online. Right now airBaltic is using this strategy very effectively on TikTok.

Leverage Nostalgia with a Modern Twist Tap into people's fond memories and give them a fresh perspective. Blend the past and present to create content that resonates with different generations simultaneously.

Most of all you need to understand your audience and the culture surrounding them so you create something relevant that people want to talk about.

It might not be the first thing you think of, but if you’re stuck in a creative rut; AI content generators could just be the thing to get you out of it. Use them, not to substitute your own creativity, but instead to amplify and support it. For instance; you can ask content generators to give you X number of different variations on a few ideas you’ve already created.

Viral content often makes people feel something – it could be happiness, surprise, laughter, or even anger (though be cautious with this one). When your content evokes strong emotions, people are more likely to share it.

The best piece of advice that I can give is: involve your audience. Ask them questions, and value their answers. This will lead you to an infinite source of insights that will later help you deliver emotional-triggering content, helping you establish a wonderful relationship with your consumers. Listen to their real needs.

Every single piece of content has to add value in some way. I always ask myself, what does this content add? Is it educational, inspirational, informative, or entertaining? Your audience will stay engaged if you keep giving them quality content that serves a bigger purpose and tells a broader story.

Strong emotive content is more sharable, but theres a catch. It's got to be emotive content that is 'high-arousal' - in other words, something that will drive action. For example: → Outrage / Anger — I can't believe X did this → Awe / Excitement — This is incredible, check it out → Surprise — I was not expecting that to happen Whereas if you just use low-arousal emotions like sadness or contentment you might have great content but its not going to be more sharable.

Creating an emotional experience is crucial for viral success. People like to share emotional experiences. When we feel something, we want others to experience it too. So content that triggers an emotional response is more like to get shared online. Emotions are at the core of viral content

To optimize visual content, identify the size and frame on content before production. I.e. will you need the same video in short form/vertical for TikTok and long form/horizontal for YouTube? List all the mediums and sizes beforehand.

A fairly genius way to do this, is what LinkedIn is doing with the article you’re currently reading: Build your content in collaboration with various people in your field, motivate them to share by making it feel like a special recognition - and reap the benefit of reaching all of their respective audience as well. Does this really work? You tell me: how did you find this article?

Optimize for Easy Sharing: Make sharing effortless for your audience. Use clear headlines, engaging images, and social sharing buttons.

Getting viral means things need to be shared. Therefore - encourage participation: Create challenges, polls, or interactive elements within your content that could encourage participation and engagement. People are more likely to share content they actively engage with, because they really love or it really hits their nerves.

People love to tell stories. To make your ideas/products more shareable, it helps to wrap them in a memorable story where your brand or product plays a crucial role. Take the Dove Beauty Sketches campaign as an example. You can't tell that story without talking about the brand because it's woven right into it. Also, incorporating a clear call to action can be quite effective too. Sometimes, a simple invitation to share your content with those they believe might be interested can help to spread your message through word-of-mouth.

To make the most of the data you’re tracking, identify what metrics are key performance indicators, these should ultimately align with your business goals.

As content platforms and their algorithms evolve to better cater to its audience, we’re seeing a preference from ‘lazy metrics’ to ‘interest metrics’ Lazy Metrics: Likes, retweets. Interest Metrics: Dwell time, bookmarks, authentic comments, reshare with comments, etc. For quality content to spread, it’s important for it to be designed for the metrics that truly matter. Metrics that are able to capture and hold attention. And hence, the need to measure these crucial metrics.

Monitor and Learn: Regularly track your content's performance using metrics like views, shares, and comments. Learn from the data and feedback.

The digital landscape is constantly evolving. New channels are arising, others are disappearing, ... Don't be afraid to experiment with different content formats and platforms. Learn from your successes and failures to refine your approach over time. Yet, stay consistent: While you should experiment, it's also important to maintain consistency in your brand's messaging and tone. This helps in building a recognizable brand identity that people trust and share.

Testing Leads to Improvement: Experiment with different content ideas, formats, and platforms. Continuously test and adapt based on what works.

Again, especially for iterating on an idea or in a direction that you’ve already created, AI content creation tools can be a real blessing. Ask AI to come up with additional ideas based on your own. Or ask it to change the structure of your story or content piece. Finally, many AI content tools offer ways to change the tonality of a message or visual. So, for instance from professional, to emotional, to witty - or in the case of visuals; from cold, to warm, or from steampunk to hyperrealism. Have fun while you play with these variations, and always make sure to have human creativity, strategic thinking, and empathy do the final edit.

Test first! Put out a bunch of content about a single idea and see which one takes off. This is especially potent on TikTok but all other platforms are following suit with best content wins.

No better key for better results! Experimentation is not everyone's cup of tea. Take the risk to experiment with content styles and platforms, and do as much A/B testing as possible.

One of the most interesting and valuable aspects of social media channels is their flexibility in terms of content creation. Yes, as users we are overloaded with info, but as creators this allows us to continue testing, iterating, and improving our content. Better done than perfect, they say. So get your content out, share it with your audience, understand its strengths and weaknesses, and keep repeating the process.

You can't hope to make viral content if you don't have a solid plan in place for making it happen. First, set a goal. To increase your chances of going viral, invest your resources into making quality content.

In my experience, content that go viral have one or more of the following attributes : 1. Familiarity and relatability. Think of traffic rants, think of corporate memes. Pick stuff that people around you are able to relate to. 2. Differentiating tone. People scroll mindlessly at hundreds of content pieces and they only care to stop if it catches their attention. Think of catchy videos, think of varying typography. 3. Them not you. Focus on how the content you are putting matters to the one consuming it and not because you came across something you found interesting and you thought you would share. 4. Make it shareworthy. End your content that nudges people to reshare. It is not likes but reshares that make the content viral.

Don’t forget that we are talking about branded content first and foremost. Know who you are, what distinguishes you from your competitors, and how you can provide insights that are unique to you. It doesn’t really mean a lot if you create buzz that could literally come from 100 different organizations. Stay on brand. It is worth it and should be the centerpiece of your primary KPIs.

I think to create viral content it is also useful to understand different aspects that Influence others as explained by Robert Cialdini: Reciprocation: The Old Give and Take Liking: The Friendly Thief Social Proof: Truths Are Us Authority: Directed Deference Scarcity: The Rule of the Few Commitment and Consistency: Hobgoblins of the Mind The “We” Is the Shared Me Instant Influence: Primitive Consent for an Automatic Age

While all the suggestions above are valid, the thing that’s missing is not about the content itself, but the consistency. Consistently posting great content is essential and truly increases your chances of going viral. Creators often post content that ticks all the boxes and they think it’s sure to go viral and guess what? It’s a dud. Then they’ll post something they feel lukewarm about and it goes gangbusters. Frequent posting is the key to giving your content the best chance to achieve that ever-elusive viral status.