My story was read by over 100,000 people on Linkedin: Here's how I created my viral post!

I thought that the story of my career had reached its finale.

I tugged a blanket up to my chin, glancing at the ceiling and wondering how I had become this human burrito of sadness.

Suddenly, I snapped out of it. Maybe it was my warrior-like alter ego, or the scent of coffee creating a mystique of determination, but I wasn't going to wait for my circumstances to change, I was going to make them change.

And with that, I started writing the next chapter of my career, posting online that I would be using Linkedin exclusively for my search and asking for help to find my dream career. 

Two weeks later, when I pressed the publish button on the morning of March 15th, updating my connections on my career search, I had no idea what was about to follow. 

Since that date, I've received hundreds of emails and messages from new friends worldwide, I've had speaking engagement offers, interviews for blogs, invitations by companies to visit and consult in Washington D.C, Kenya, and England, and my original post and update has been cumulatively shared, liked, and commented on over 117,000 times! 

I've examined my story in detail to try and figure out why and how this one in particular was so contagious, and I've reached an interesting conclusion.

I believe that there is a tried and true formula for creating viral content.

I recently read Jonah Berger's game-changing book, Contagious, and after a tremendous amount of research, Berger discovered a "recipe for success", i.e. the STEPPS framework. I'm going to lay out each of his principles, so you can see how my story followed the recipe, unbeknownst to me at the time.

1. Social Currency: My story was shared by parents, colleagues, friends, and teachers.  

We all know people that are in the process of finding their next career opportunity, and the competition for awesome jobs is becoming increasingly fierce.

My story was initially shared by high school teachers, career centres, guidance counsellors, and college professors that saw value in my tips for job seeking students and new graduates. It seemed to spread from there.

According to Berger, we share things that make us look good. My insight about an alternative method of landing a dream career made readers feel like insiders, and insider knowledge equals social currency. In his book, Berger explains,

"Sharing useful information helps others and makes the sharer look good in the process."

2. Triggers: The strength of the link between my story and Linkedin made for a highly effective trigger. 

By using Linkedin exclusively for my search, working in the field of content marketing, and then posting on Linkedin about the results of my job search, I was mixing all the necessary ingredients for relevancy. 

If I had exclusively used Snapchat to find my dream career and then posted about it on Linkedin, that relevancy link would have been much weaker. Similarly, if I had found a career through Linkedin and then posted about it on Facebook, the connection would not be nearly as strong. 

According to Berger, "Top of mind means tip of tongue", although, in this case, it's more like tap of keyboard! 

3. Emotions: Because my job search tactic was unusual, it evoked the power of awe. 

Berger describes emotion sharing as "...social glue, maintaining and strengthening relationships." But not all emotions are equal when it comes to creating share-worthy content! 

My story evoked a sense of awe, which is a generally positive emotion that "frequently involves a sense of surprise, unexpectedness, or mystery". People were surprised that I had landed a job so quickly, and wanted to know how I did it (sense of mystery). I sprinkled humour into the post with silly memes, adding an extra layer of emotional arousal.

In general, positive articles are more likely to be highly shared than negative ones, and stories that evoke high emotional arousal, like the one I had published, are the most shareable. 

Had I re-framed my story to be negative, about how difficult it's been to find an awesome job, it wouldn't have been shared, unless, of course, it was controversial enough to evoke a sense of outrage.

4. Public: The more my post was shared, commented on, or liked, the more that behaviour was imitated. 

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people will imitate the actions others because we believe that "...others' choices provide information".

The first day that I posted my story, the movement towards 300 likes was slow moving. After it hit roughly 1000 likes, the post was doubling in engagement levels overnight. 

Linkedin also has a feature in your news feed that shows trending posts and topics in your industry, so in part, my post was successful because Linkedin algorithm told people it was trending. 

5. Practical Value: My tips provided practical value that others could easily replicate.  

I gave readers real, tested data and knowledge that they could easily implement.

Linkedin is a unique social media platform because users want content that will help them to be better, faster, and more efficient at what they do every day. Self-improvement topics with practical advice are the most shareable. My story provided guidance not just to job seekers, but for any Linkedin user that wants to optimize their profile. 

6. Stories: My post provided a narrative.

 I had a relatable story, with a beginning (looking for a job, frustrated with the traditional method), a middle (posted about my job search on Linkedin), and an end (found my dream career in just two weeks after posting). Before I had published my viral post, my original connections were engrossed in the story, checking in with me for updates, sending new career postings, and sharing advice and networking events. 

Beyond the narrative, my story contained a key message, that you have more control over your career destiny than you think you do.   

Bonus tips...

There are two other reasons that my post went viral that I need to mention that reach beyond Jonah Berger's framework. 

The first is empathy. I read Ann Handley's "Everybody Writes" (generously sent to me by Scott Stratten), and learned how to write more empathetically. I wrote for my connections, not for myself, paying close attention to length, paragraph breaks, using a conversational tone, and cutting out the marketing jargon. Writing for you, the reader, has completely changed my writing game. 

The second is what I'm dubbing social grip. I didn't start from scratch on Linkedin, I had spent years working on my Linkedin presence before leveraging it. Even more importantly, I wrote content consistently about social media and content marketing that I thought my connections would find useful. Social grip, therefore, is when you've proven yourself to be an interesting connection to have, creating traction for increasingly high engagement levels. My post was read initially because my previous posts provided enough social grip to help it take off. 

I hope that this study of my own post has equipped you with some tools and tips that will help you to start creating your own contagious content. 

Stay tuned next week when I share some of the most "interesting" messages that have hit my inbox, and trust me, you do not want to miss that post! 

Happy Monday, my friends! 

Missed my original post? Check it out now!