Want Something to Go Viral on Social Media? Turn on the Visuals

 

Every fulltime social media manager for a brand experiments with the content he or she produces, and then looks at weekly, monthly, or quarterly reports to see what was stickiest with his or her audience. It’s a fundamental principle in giving people more of what they show they want and getting better at weaving your content inside of the communities on various platforms.
Social media image from Bigstock
For instance, “Tumblr is a community that rewards doing one thing consistently well,” writes Dan Fletcher on Shtterstock’s blog. “That’s why sites devoted to a specific meme thrive on Tumblr.”
With that wisdom in mind, the editors of Bigstock’s blog went to work to create “The Memes of Spring,” a lighthearted look at the joys of the outdoors for both people and animals. For this post, an editor and a designer paired up to create this buzzy, fun, and visual article. It resulted in a big win for Bigstock, as the post was shared on Facebook at 14X the reach of a typical post. Now, the editors are coming up with ways to replicate that success.
What’s difficult about this prospect is striking the right balance. Occasionally, you’ll miss. Great content will go unseen. But what’s great about it is that anyone can do it. You can even learn how to make viral content for the web, if you are short on ideas.
Here are the Bigstock editor’s key takeaways from the “Spring” hit:

• Be topical with the idea.
• Make it shareable with the syndication.
• Show variety with both.

It’s that last point that often goes overlooked. When Bigstock shared the post on Facebook, because it was built as a meme, they had the chance to roll out one picture at a time, as often as they liked. They didn’t spam their followers, but added more to the conversation over time. The pictures that drew more conversation and Likes on Facebook drove more attention and clicks.
In today’s age, where so much chatter and clicking is taking place on social media channels, it’s important to produce content that will be attractive there. This means thinking backwards a bit. Pursuing specific audiences is a long-held tradition for content creation, but the platforms where people will be engaging with the article or video matters a great deal. In attention to who you’re trying to reach, consider what channel you hope to conquer with this content.
The “Spring” post was modeled off of what appears to work well on Tumblr and Facebook. It looks like it belongs there. To achieve that synergy, you need to start the conversation about the vision for both the content and the syndication at once. If you do, you can increase engagement and interest by giving people more of what they want.