Hey everyone,
This week we learned about virality and what can make content go viral. Kelsey Libert and Kristin Tynski gave some significant insight on this topic. They mentioned how it is important to consider three lessons when trying to create viral content which are: 1) Viral Coefficient should be greater than 1 for growth, 2) Tie Your Brand to Emotion, and 3) Consider the Public Good. I think this is useful to know because if I am working for a business or my own/sister’s business, I want to be able to market my content effectively and get as many people as possible to engage with it. I think virality is especially important for brand awareness to get your brand and product noticed and visible to your target audience.
Image Source: PSMM Monitoring & More
For example, I can use these lessons for my sister’s small dipped treat business by crafting compelling titles for Instagram posts that are curiosity-driven, like “Indulgence Redefined” or “Discover Bliss in Every Bite.” We can also continue to focus on emotional drivers associated with eating dipped treats like joy, satisfaction, and delight (especially since the business’ name is Dipped Delights). We can do this through our captions and featuring images/videos of people enjoying the treats or leaving their unfiltered positive reviews on them. I could also use the technique of storytelling by sharing stories about the creation of different treats, the inspiration behind them, or customer experiences. This is because people love to connect with the stories behind the products. I can also ensure to reinforce positive and emotionally-driven messages that coincide with the brand through the content posted, such as, “Spread Joy, One Treat at a Time” or “Treat yourself, you deserve it”. This reinforces deeper positive messages for the public, as they implicitly reinforce self-care and sharing with people. I would also ensure to engage with followers by asking for their favourite treat or inviting them to share their own experiences with your treats through feedback or reviews or by a question posed on a post like “What’s your favourite holiday dipped treat?”. Another thing that I can do is try to collaborate with local influencers or food bloggers to create content. Their audience may become interested in my sister’s dipped treats, which can expand our reach. Overall, all these things align with the three lessons of trying to create viral content and can help my sister’s small business’ content become viral; helping build brand awareness and can generate leads/sales.
Image Source: Business Insider
Jodie Dublin also highlights how it’s important to be strategic while using hashtags, which means using relevant hashtags that can connect people to your content/brand. Jodie says this can include using trending topics, events, or negative comments by including them in your content in some form to help increase discovery and engagement with your brand. She also reinforces how it’s important to actively engage with your audience through liking/loving comments and responding to both positive and negative comments to increase content visibility. This is relevant to my sister’s small business because as the social media manager, I would try to keep in touch with my audience by responding to their comments about if they liked the treats or if they don’t, in a professional and kind manner. And always trying to take customer feedback/criticism when we can to make the treats even better. I would also ensure to keep using relevant hashtags. For example, for holiday season posts I would make use of specific hashtags catered to that (like #holidays, #gift, #holidaygift, #christmasgift) but also usual hashtags like #dippedtreats, #dippedstrawberries, #chocolate, #yummy, etc.
References
Dejan. (2023, October 26). How to go viral on Instagram – 9 strategies for going viral overnight: Flock social. Flock Social | Real Instagram Growth. https://flocksocial.com/blog/how-to-go-viral-on-instagram
Libert , K., & Tynski, K. (2013, October 24). Research: The emotions that make marketing campaigns go viral. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2013/10/research-the-emotions-that-make-marketing-campaigns-go-viral
Mediów, P.-S. M. (2022, February 10). Viral marketing – CO to jest I kiedy go Stosować ?. PSMM Monitoring & More. https://psmm.pl/en/viral-marketing-what-is-it-and-when-to-use-it/
Sekhose , M. (2021, September 21). Instagram settles the debate on where hashtags should go – comments or caption. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/instagram-tells-you-where-to-put-hashtags-in-the-comments-or-caption/articleshow/86417159.cms