This is an article I saw on HBR the other day.
4 Mistakes Marketers Make When Trying to Go “Viral†- David Spitz - Harvard Business Review
It doesn't flow well, and is a little abstract. But here are the main points:
4 Mistakes Marketers Make When Trying to Go “Viral†- David Spitz - Harvard Business Review
It doesn't flow well, and is a little abstract. But here are the main points:
- Content is spread by individuals. It's not really "viral marketing." Things don't just spread on their own like a virus. Much of what you're doing on social media is content marketing.*
- Try a few things, figure out what kind of content your audience wants to share, before pushing anything to hard. When you see what works, give them more of that, and less of what doesn't.
- Give people a reason to share. Find out what kind of content your audience is naturally interested in, and offer content that contributes to that interest. Don't just ask people to share as if sharing was the goal all by itself.
- Don't stop with a single post. The web is brutal on old content. You'll do better if you find a new angle or approach to the content and post again. So for instance, you write a blog post with subheadings. Each time you tweet about it, mention something from a different subheading. Find different things to say about the post to keep it fresh for the audience that's seeing your tweets but hasn't yet read the post.
- Develop relationships with the people who are sharing your content, your "multipliers" or connectors. Simply thanking them, by name on twitter or in the comments, goes a long way to encouraging them to repost.