Virality is word of mouth 2.0. Concretely, it is the rapid dissemination of information, an offer, or a product thanks to very often free relays. As a picture is worth more than 1001 words.
This concept born with the advent of social networks offers many possibilities to companies. That of making themselves known and exploding in broad daylight quickly. With the appearance of influencers and like counters, virality has shifted into a new dimension, so much so that viral marketing has become an essential cog in the strategy of startups.
The 3 basic criteria of virality
A positive message: Content that acts on positive feelings is more viral than the reverse. For example, an article whose title is “The 10 tips to be happy at work” will be more viral than one titled “How not to be bored at work”.
Emotion, emotion, emotion: Your content must arouse strong emotion. Whether it's anger, joy, envy, or fear, your articles must tickle the reader. Nothing is less viral than a flat, bottomless, opinionless, flavorless article.
Useful information. It may seem logical, but useful information is always more interesting for the reader. Internet users will share useful and relevant advice with their friends.
In summary, the content must be good and relevant to attract the "sharer" and at the same time, it must lend itself to the codes of the platforms on which it must be shared.
How to create viral content?
For the content created to be viral, there are several levers to activate:
First, the title. Regardless of the type of content (article, infographic, video, etc.), the title is essential. Mainly because it's what people see first. The best content in the world with a lousy title won't go viral. Conversely, average content with a good title can be a hit.
The numbers in the title increase the click-through ratio by 20%. On an analysis of 3 million titles, it turns out that brackets promote clicks and shares. Finally, promote short URLs.
The second lever is images. Bring joy and color to your illustrative images. Firstly, because an article accompanied by an image increases credibility, and secondly because the images create a link with the reader. Infographics are at the top of the top in terms of virality. More than 5 times more likely to be shared than other content.
The third lever is long content. Two schools clash. Proponents of long content (more than 2000 words) and supporters of short content. The working time is not the same, but the long contents create much more emotions.
