Get Ready, Get Set, Go Viral!

Have you published a new blog post and waited for it to take off and go viral, only to be disappointed? While there may be some element of luck to creating the next big viral hit, there are some things you can do to encourage your content to engage more readers. The more engaging your content, and the more shares it gets, the more effective it will be for inbound lead generation. After all, getting your content to the right reader, whether it’s B2B or B2C, is essential in generating leads.

Here are a few of our tips for getting more views for your content, and making it easier for your post to go viral.

1) Make sharing easy

More and more people are viewing pages on mobile devices. It’s simply not convenient to share something if you have to copy and paste a link. Even built-in sharing features in mobile browsers are not always the best way for somebody to share. With work and personal crossover use of devices, these sharing features might be set to the wrong account.

This is why you must have sharing buttons on your content. Make sure readers can share with the click of a button, to the social media platform they want to share to. Don’t just limit your sharing to Facebook and Twitter; business users will want to share B2B content to sites with more of a business focus, such as LinkedIn.

2) Write timeless content

One of the big secrets of viral content is that it’s timeless. It might take a day, week, or even a month to build the momentum, so don’t fill your content with time-related terms. You want every reader to think that the post they’ve seen was just written, and that they’re sharing something truly cutting edge with their friends and contacts.

This also helps you when it comes to sharing your own content. If you have a great post from a few months ago, there’s no reason you shouldn’t share it again. You’ll get new readers who will want to share. This means that your content is giving you much more impact without much extra work.

It also allows you to take advantage of ‘newsjacking’, or using a big news story to promote your content. While your competition is scrambling to write a compelling article about a trending news topic, you’ll simply have to share your existing content. This will get you ahead of the curve, giving you more time to be one of the first pieces shared, as readers are looking for content on a trending topic.

3) Be visual

Quality content is the basis for a post going viral, but it also requires strong visual elements. Infographics are a way of encouraging readers to share your content. They’re fast, easy to digest, and easy to share. Remember, though, that they might be shared apart from the article as a whole. Because of this, it’s crucial to watermark your infographics with your website’s address, so you get credit when, and where, it gets shared.

Visual elements can also help draw readers in. When a viral post is shared on a social media site, it will generally be given a thumbnail image. Setting a featured image can help ensure that the best image, such as one that summarises the content or a header image that repeats the title, is the one that is shared. Again, it’s a matter of making it easy for the readers to share your content, making it compelling, and encouraging more shares.

4) Don’t put all your eggs in one blog post

While you might have a single blog post that greatly outperforms the others on your site, you can’t rely on any single post for all of your inbound lead generation. Regular, quality content is the best way to ensure you get the leads you want and need.

Having a full complement of good quality posts will also help encourage somebody to share a single post. Before they share, they might want to check out what else you have on their site, to be sure that you deserve their endorsement. If everything else you have is thin, weak content that oversells your product or service, they’re going to think twice about sending their contacts to your site.

It’s also worth remembering that the real value of a viral post is in getting new leads to your site. Converting those potential leads to paying customers is not going to happen with a single post. What a viral post will do is get them looking at your site, finding out more about you, and beginning to trust in what you have to say. It’s a way of starting the relationship.

5) Have a target audience

It might seen counter-intuitive, but the more targeted your content, the better it will perform. Posting a general blog post without a clear target will always come across as vague. However, if you focus on a demographic – such as a specific section of your customer base – you can generate more shares.

For B2C and B2B content alike, people are going to share links that speak to them. Whether your target is pensioners, personnel, or purchasing managers, write for that target and that target alone. This is behind the success of many of the biggest viral content sites. They publish a lot of posts, each with a very specific target audience.

Having a target will also help with your returns, in inbound lead generation terms. If an article is targeting the types of leads you want to increase, such as people interested in a specific product or service you offer, you’ll keep your content focused on what will help that particular audience want to find out more. With a focused audience, it will likely be shared among others who will be potential leads, rather than just a general audience. While a general article does have its place on your site, it likely won’t be the one to go viral.

Getting a post to go viral can be a boost to your inbound lead generation, but of course it isn’t the only tactic. Inbound lead generation is a bigger process, but one that can be used by any business.