subject: Make Your Work Go Viral [print this page] Lots of IM marketers try to go viral, most never will, and it's something many attempt for a very long time. No question, there's a good reason for it because being the marketer who does that can transform a business, overnight. Unfortunately there is no way to predict what work will go viral and what work will simply be passed over. There is good news though, there are certain principles you can incorporate into your business that will increase your odds of producing viral content. No one ever knows what will determine mediocre results from the truly extraordinary, maybe even viral results.
One effective approach is to produce something, some kind of content, that makes people have a reaction in their gut about it. The expressed intent of your content is to have people read it, or look at it, and they feel "something" very strong, right away. Of course you do 'not' want the standard kind of reaction like, "How interesting." Keep in mind that you may evoke negative reactions among people, but that's better than no reaction whatsoever. The truer the emotion you illicit in your readers and viewers, the more likely they will be to link to you and pass your work on to their friends.
Don't get wrapped-up with advertising your products. You know people can spot that trick from a mile away. It's highly unusual for sales copy to become viral. True though, your product could become popular, but there are almost always other reasons for that. It's best to stay away from heavily promoting a product, instead let others know about your self. Trying to make money is the fastest way to be ignored when your goal is to go viral. Just leave the selling to all your marketing devices on your website.
Make product that you can give away for free and let people share it with others. Interest potential subscribers by creating a free newsletter that has a "share with a friend" button at the end of it. Put your best content on the front page of your blog for nothing. Give coupons away that offer a hour of your shop's services or free products. Not only will this strategy grab attention, it will also get new customers if you allow numerous coupons to be printed and shared with friends.
In a lot of ways creating content that goes viral is more about simply creating good content than it is about grabbing attention. But that certainly doesn't mean it just takes great content to have something be viral. If you give these common sense guidelines a shot, your chances of something good happening will only get better.
