How do you go viral on social media?
Today I am going to talk about posting the type of content that goes viral. 3 years ago, goons of a rogue foreign leader attacked protesters in Washington D.C., just several miles from the White House. The footage of the horrific episode was published on social media. 9 hours later it had 46 shares. That foreign leader was on his way back home and beaten protesters were crying wolf.
At around 10 pm on that day, I re-published that footage. In just an hour, it was viewed by millions of people across the board and tens of thousands of people were sharing it. In half an hour, every single journalist and many politicians in the nation were talking about it and every major TV network from CNN to CNBC picked it up. It generated so much noise that the Congress adopted a resolution condemning the act, 11 people were indicted and several of them were sent to prison. It felt overwhelmingly good to ensure that the world saw this injustice and it was not gone unpunished.
What kind of twist did I make that a video (that was already published and shared by others) went viral and had such a tremendous impact? The answer is: Nothing.
In my nearly 10 years of social media experience, scores of my posts went viral -- posts that I didn't think would go viral. And those that I thought would break the Internet? They didn't move an inch.
There is only one rule that will one day make your post go viral: Creating content CONSISTENTLY. If a company says ''we are creating viral videos'' or an agency claims that ''we create content that goes viral,'' they are basically lying. It is extremely difficult to understand beforehand what kind of content will go viral. No one can predict it.
Sometimes a stupid tweet awash with typos can go viral because millions of people can relate to that. Sometimes a great resignation story. And sometimes a rebuke by someone that reflects our feelings. But none of this is predictable.
Never wait for a moment or a great idea to post on social media because you have this misconception that ''one viral post is better than 300 ordinary ones.'' Create 300 good, high-quality posts a year and several of them will go viral. You can explain the reasons after it conquers the Internet. But you can't predict before clicking submit.