Viral marketing is the holy grail for small business owners seeking rapid growth and brand visibility. The ability to create contagious content resonating quickly with your audience, spreading like wildfire is a powerful tool in the marketing arsenal. While achieving virality is often a combination of creativity, timing and bit of luck, there are certain strategies and principles that significantly boost your chances of creating such impactful content.
Let us read here 10 actionable tips that budding small business owners can use for achieving viral marketing.
- Know Your Audience Inside Out:
The foundation of any successful marketing campaign, viral or not, begins with a deep understanding of your target audience. Knowing user preferences, pain points and online behavior is critical to a small business owner. Take time to create personas and tailor content to resonate with the audience. An example to remember would be the Dollar Shave Club, a startup that disrupted the shaving industry. The company understood its millennial audience’s desire for simplicity and value. Their quirky and humorous launch video went viral, propelling the company to success. - Create Shareable Content:
The essence of virality lies in shareability. Craft content that your audience not only consumes but also feels compelled to share with their networks. This can be achieved through humor, emotion, or providing valuable information. Blendtec, a blender manufacturer, achieved viral success with their “Will It Blend?” series. The videos featured the CEO blending unusual items, showcasing the durability of their product. The entertaining and shareable nature of the content resulted in millions of views and increased brand awareness. - Leverage Social Media Platforms:
Social media is the breeding ground for viral content. Identify the platforms most frequented by your target audience and tailor your content accordingly. Utilize hashtags strategically to increase discoverability. Wendy’s, a fast-food chain, mastered the art of Twitter engagement with witty and humorous responses. Their tweets often went viral, showcasing the power of leveraging social media to create brand buzz. - Ride on Trends:
Keep an eye on trending topics & safe challenges within your industry and social media platforms. Capitalize on these trends by incorporating them into your content. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is a prime example of a viral trend that raised awareness and funds for a cause. Businesses and individuals participated, showcasing the impact of aligning your content with popular trends. - Tell Powerful & Compelling Stories:
Human beings are wired to respond to stories. Craft narratives that evoke emotions and resonate with your audience. Airbnb had the “We Accept” campaign, highlighting their commitment to inclusivity, and went viral for powerful storytelling. The emotional impact of the campaign not only resonated with existing users but also attracted new customers. - Invest in Influencer Marketing:
Collaborating with influencers who align with your brand can significantly amplify your reach. Identify influencers within your niche and build partnerships that feel authentic. Gymshark, a fitness apparel brand, grew rapidly by leveraging influencers in the fitness community. Their partnerships helped them tap into new audiences and build credibility. Nike is another example from bigger brands, where great sportspeople shared their goals and dreams with the audience. - Optimize for Mobile:
With majority of internet users accessing content on mobile devices, it’s crucial to optimize your content for mobile consumption. Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly and videos formatted for smaller screens. The “Dumb Ways to Die” campaign by Metro Trains in Australia, with its catchy song and animated characters, was easily shareable and accessible on mobile devices, contributing to its viral success. - Encourage User-Generated Content:
It would be beneficial to foster a community around your brand by encouraging user-generated content. Have useful discussions, run contests, safe challenges or campaigns that motivate your audience to create and share content related to your brand. Starbucks’ White Cup Contest encouraged customers to decorate their coffee cups and share pictures on social media. The campaign generated a flood of user-generated content, showcasing the creativity of their customers. - Surprise and Delight:
A delightful surprise can leave a lasting impression on your audience. Whether an unexpected discount, a unique product feature, or a humorous element in your content, surprises capture attention. Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign not only showcased their product but surprised viewers with its humorous and unexpected transitions, resulting in widespread acclaim and virality. - Monitor and Analyze:
Viral marketing is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Regularly monitor the performance of your campaigns and analyze data. Identify what works and what doesn’t, and use these insights to refine your future strategies. Dollar Shave Club, after their initial viral success, continued to analyze customer feedback and behavior to refine their marketing approach, contributing to their sustained growth.
To wind up, mastering viral marketing requires a combination of creativity, strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of your target audience. By implementing the above tips and learning from successful examples, small business owners can create a big difference in their promotional efforts and enhance the chances of creating quality content that captivates audiences and spreads like wildfire, propelling their brand to new heights.
