It is not easy to create and design fruitful viral campaign. Firstly, it is important to know and appreciate the audience along with the emotional and psychological factors that provoke their engagement. And secondly content marketing needs to be inspirational for people.

There is a science to creating viral content. Let’s see what 5 mistakes do marketers make that prevents their content to go viral:

1. There is no emotional appeal

Content needs to be charged with positive emotion as people tend to share emotionally rich content, which deepen their social connections, reduces cognitive dissonance and content makes sense of their own experiences. So, emotion is key reason that things catch on.

• Readers need to question themselves. Content must grab their attention with headline to get them thinking.
• Coming up with the different angle. Offering a new spin on the same old topic that readers see over and over again.
• Write like you speak. This enables your true emotion to come through.
• Know audience’s pain points. This will help to better tailor the message.

 

Image Source http://blog.twmg.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Going-Viral.jpg

2. Why it’s not “share worth”?!

Using humour or creating a useful solution to a real, relatable problem always helps. Please see below six factors that drive all kinds of things popular by Johan Berger, who is a marketing professor at Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania:

“Social currency: People care about how they look to others. They want to look cool, smart, and in-the-know. Find remarkable things –  Will it Blend? and make people feel like insiders “Don’t tell anyone, but …”.

Triggers: Top-of-mind means tip-of-tongue. Grow your niche and create memorable content so people are frequently triggered to think about your product or idea.

Emotion: When we care, we share. Focus on feelings rather than function, and stoke the fire by using high-arousal emotions. You want to share the photos, don’t you? Mission accomplished.)

Public: The more public something is, the more likely people will imitate it. Design initiatives that advertise themselves or create something visible .

Practical value: News you can use. Useful things get shared, so highlight incredible value and package your knowledge/expertise so that people can easily pass it along.

Stories: Information travels via what appears to be idle  conversation. Stories are vessels, so create a story or narrative that people want to tell which takes your idea along for the ride.”

2. Content-marketing timing is bad

• Time of year
• Day of the week
• A particular time of day in your target audience’s time zone
• Around related events

3. It’s poorly designed

Visual appeal is important, but it’s only part of the equation. Just because something is beautiful doesn’t mean it will go viral, but bad design can destroy its potential.

4. It’s poorly distributed

• Do you have any influential connections?They can give your piece the exposure it may not receive on its own.
• Share itvia social media channels and send it to friends and colleagues.
• When marketing video content, use channels other than YouTubeto get some traction, like Vimeo, Blip, Howcast, and Yahoo! Screen.
• Buy some advertising – Facebook promoted posts increase visibility, as do Twitter ads and promoted pins on Pinterest.

Hope this tips where useful.

Questions: What is your own experience about writing a content? Please share with us your best practices.

Information Source: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/5-mistakes-prevent-your-content-going-viral-0