7 Ways to Make a Blog Go Viral

Social Currency

7 Ways to Make a Blog Go Viral That Will Awe, and Perhaps Annoy You

Do you know where this viral selfie was taken?
Remember the Oscar selfie taken by Ellen a few years ago? Of course you do! Some 37 million people saw the viral picture on Twitter and the PR agency that engineered the stunt said the free publicity for Samsung was worth almost $1 billion.
While coming up with a viral picture or video can feel like it’s the luck-of-the-draw, it turns out that writing a viral article is more science than art. Just take a look at clickbaity media-sites like Upworthy, which launched less than three years ago and is consistently one of the most trafficked content destinations on the web.
But, don’t worry–you can apply the same methods these big dogs use when writing your own articles. Here are seven ways:

Must-Click Headlines

“Her Little Boy Has No Idea His Mother Is About To Die. What She’s Doing About That Is Amazing.” You’ve probably seen titles like this pop up all over your Facebook newsfeed or Twitter stream. Why?
The open secret is that these captions have been optimized for readers to click on them, baiting them to find out the little nuggets of info hidden behind the link. So when coming up with a catchy headline, think about putting odd and interesting things next to each other. Also try to tell a mini-story in the title itself. And of course, don’t be afraid of the classic attractors: sex, celebrity, and miracle cures.

Positive Stories

Two Wharton professors analyzed some 7,000 articles that appeared in the New York Times and reported that the most-shared articles were often the most positive ones.
Happy emotions (“Wide-eyed New Arrivals Falling In Love With The City”) led to more shares than sad emotions (“Web Rumors Tied To Korean Actress’s Suicide”). So try to give your article a positive spin.

Social Currency

Memes like Lolcats are a form of social currency.

Think back to when you’ve pressed that share button on Facebook. More likely than not, it’s because the article made you feel intelligent. Viral articles often become viral because people feel good about themselves when they share the story. That’s why memes like Lolcats propagate: it’s a form of social currency, an insider culture or handshake.

Excitement

The other trait that articles had in common from that Times study was that they engendered strong emotions. So anger-inducing stories performed better than neutral ones. Aim your article to have a very strong position; go ahead and take a risk.

Practical Value

Would you want to admit one reason you opened this article was because it was a “listicle?” Listicles are articles written in the form of a “list.” It turns out they are so popular because they tap into our brain’s desire to mine information, to find practical value in whatever we consume. That’s why infomercials can be so entertaining.
A well-told first personal narrative is a great place to go back to basics and offer something useful to readers. Consider a recent LinkedIn post ‘Why I won’t take your business card’ that went viral and created a good chain of comments and debate (some from the top 1% of most viewed profiles on the network).
The post discusses the importance of building relationships over making an explicit sale at networking events through the lens of a marketing strategist who found herself in a similar situation.
While the honest narrative is compelling enough to encourage responses, the author ends her post by asking questions and soliciting comments. Even one or two comments encourage more people to comment, which in large part, can be attributed to the psychological phenomenon known as ‘social proof’, where we are influenced by and conform to others’ actions.

Keep Writing

In a really inspiring TED talk, Elizabeth Gilbert–author of Eat, Pray, Love–responds to a question she gets asked all the time. “Aren’t you afraid you’re never going to be able to top that?”
Surprisingly, her answer is, “of course!’ She said that for years, she couldn’t put anything down on paper. So if you thought you had bad writer’s block …
“It’s exceedingly likely that my greatest success is behind me,” she said. Then she realized that she had to treat her writing as a job, and just like her, your job is foremost to just show up. So write every day, even if you don’t feel like it.

Be Controversial

That’s how you gain more readers and followers. Whether in a long-form post or a speech or a lunch conversation, you need to make a statement. Don’t just say anything. Say something. In other words, be Tyler Durden. Take a risk. Buck the system.
Do yourself a favor and answer the following questions honestly:
Are you really saying what you want to say, what makes you come alive? Or are you saying what you think won’t get you into trouble?

(Filed Under: Grow Your Business, Online Traffic)

For more information,
All Things Are Possible, Susan Tuck     susantuck.com