How to do Viral Marketing in 2021

So, let us talk about how to do viral marketing in 2020 to promote a product or a brand and provides enormous exposure to the businesses, making them reach millions of potential consumers within a limited budget.

1. How Viral Marketing Captures Attention? Tapping the Emotion.

   
   
   Viral marketing is intended to spread awareness about a service or a product to the masses by using various paths apart from the traditional channel of communication with potential customers. Instead of sending emails, and direct promotional messages, the viral marketing rides on the mass sharing and mouth to mouth publicity of any content. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp have become one of the most substantial modes of communication wherein people can easily share and pass on the information. Viral Marketing uses the same trend to ensure that the target audience knows about the product or service through sharing and passing on. The growth of business and reach out is not multiplied but exponentiated with the viral techniques.

2. Compelling the Users

   
   
   The essence of viral marketing lies in inspiring and compelling the users to share the message with their friends and contacts and talk about them. Viral content or a topic is one that interests the audience, and they talk about it, whether in person or on their communication platforms. There are various techniques to make content viral, and today it is not just a hit and trial method but a well-strategized plan with everything organized and co=ordinated. While the potential of viral marketing is unimaginable, one must not know that the right approach is needed to make it meaningful and connect the message. 
   An example, is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which raised awareness for rare disease patients.
3. Riding on the Sentiment

   This form of marketing intends to be completely deliberate and with a set projection and attainable target in mind. Thus, the viral content is created around the product so that it directly targets the viewer’s sentiment and compels them to buy or consider procuring the service.
   When we talk about “sentiment capture”, it highly resonates with the current mood and trends. The best viral marketing techniques ride on the existing popular trend or culture, leveraging the hype, which is already there. The technique helps in gaining momentum fast and reaching more and more people.
    Social media is the most successful playfield for viral marketing, as it is the platform where most people engage and spend time. Tapping social media is one of the most important things to learn in How to do viral marketing in 2020.  It gives a personalized feel – a human and highly exciting approach to any campaign. When your friends and peers are talking about certain things, when people in your social circle are talking about a certain product, and there is fun or empathy involved in it, you certainly give it a thought.
    
   In a Nutshell, Viral Marketing is a smart sales technique that uses organic growth and word of mouth publicity to create awareness of a product or service that eventually grows exponentially, giving mass reach out.

4. The Benefits of Viral Marketing

   Building Your Brand
   Going Viral is a great way to build a brand and create a strong foundation to build upon the marketing strategies for the products and services. People associate with things that are relatable and “Like Them” when brands are successful in creating a connection with the consumers, they win half the battle before entering the real battleground. If you learn how to do viral marketing in 2020, you can easily use it to promote your brand.
   Providing highly sustainable and relatable product companies can inspire the users to talk about their brand and recommend the product to their peers. Many people may prefer taking services or trying out products which their friends and family members recommend. To create a cycle of buying and recommendation and sharing, brands need to formulate highly thoughtful referral campaigns and quirky content.

5. What Makes Content Viral?

   Now that we have understood what viral marketing is, let us exhume the veracity of this. It is based on the simple fact of how catchy and likable your brand or product is? What is the Factor in your product? How it is better and pathbreaking than the existing products and how it can be a life-changer. People just love your brand and be glad to talk about it. One must understand that bad Publicity can also make a product viral; however, it would not do any good to the brand in terms of growth or revenue. 
   You must be able to deliver what you promise and ensure that your campaign’s highlights are truth to live by. In other words, you must talk about the features in viral marketing efforts that are present in your service or product. Making high promises and creating a too rosy picture for making content viral; however, not serving the same can bring immense Bad Publicity. You may lose customers if your campaign gets wary. So, honesty is indeed a virtue in viral marketing. You can create Hype, Ride-on Controversial, and Sensational Content, but in the end, the product should be worth its mettle.

6. The Right Techniques On How to do viral marketing in 2020?

   
   a)      Understand The Audience
   Understanding your audience is very important to ensure that you create and channelize the campaign. Even before you start creating the content outline and its strategies, one must work to identify the right audience to which the viral marketing initiative is directed.  How to do viral marketing in 2020? Understand the audience’s likes, dislikes, and emotions.
    
   You cannot have the same campaign or a viral project for every race or profession. The demographics, region, and age group play an important role in creating relatable and successful viral marketing campaigns similar to traditional marketing and advertising efforts.
    
   The content should be generic in the viral marketing sphere; however, it has to align with the target audience sentiment. Generic content, which is understandable, relatable, and shareable, forms the backbone of viral marketing; however, understanding the audience is very important. It should be relatable but pertinent as well. So when you know whom you are writing, creating, or designing, you have clarity in deliverables and manifest the ideas in a streamlined way. So understanding your audience and identifying the demographics can be pivotal in successful campaigns.
    
   b)      Create Engaging Content
   Content is the backbone of any viral marketing initiative. If you can write engaging and informative content that definitely you have learnt’ How to do viral marketing in 2020’. It decides whether the thing would go viral or not; when we talk about the content, it should bot be popular or informative, but it should be a unique and valuable addition to the audience. In times of social media, the emotion factor has played a pivotal role in deciding the viral quotient of any content. Especially in the realm of consumer goods and services, the entire focus should be in making an instant with the audience and giving them a realization that your product or service is meant for them.
    
   A great example of a viral marketing campaign is Amul Butter, which creates highly quirky, fun, and innovative viral ads on point with the latest happenings and current trends. Whether it is a national event, a burning story, or a social issue, it is on the Amul Social Media channels if it is in the news. Indian audience relates to the Amul Girl mascot for ages, and there is an instant sense of liking for her. When the Amul creative team blends the fun and lovable Amul girl mascot with the current topics to deliver highly innovative and relatable meme posts, people can’t help but like and share it.
    
   In this case, the brand’s target audience is generic and Indian masses who consume not only butter but also other products. Since Amul products are a household name, brands can do away with costly promotions; however, still, it leverages the viral medium to create a connection with consumers. There is a reason that Amul is the most favored butter of India because they have directed their marketing initiative to the audience tapping their sentiments and also providing quality.  Amul has really innovative insights into the Indian population and knows well How to do viral marketing in 2020.
    
   c)       Posting at the right time
   The time of posting content is highly important as you cannot derive value from the viral marketing techniques if they are not apt as per the situation. Imagine getting content talking about traveling and wanderlust at the time of the Covid-19 outbreak, it would just appear senseless, and the campaign would fall flat. Or consider airlines showcasing their quirky meme about travel and fun during lockdown and travel restrictions. You would not like to listen about Halloween at the time of Christmas. Thus it is important to hit the iron when it is hot. So Just in time, the posting is important. 
    
   Various brands smartly use a viral trend to incorporate it into their Tweets and Marketing posts across social media channels. People share the tweets and posts, and indirectly, the brands gain traction from the content propagated from some other source.
    
   Talking about social, political, and human matters at the right time and expressing the opinion with fervor gives a great stature to brands. Experts claim that having an opinion and being firm is a sure shot technique on How to do viral marketing in 2020.
    
   A great example is the Black Lives Matter campaign, which spiraled globally; many brands and businesses came forward and openly showed solidarity to the initiative making an instant connection with the audience.  Brands like Lego, Ben, and Jerry Icecream, Facebook, etc. that openly wrote about support to the campaign.
   
   d)        Use Influencers For Maximum Reach
   –  Social Media Influencers are the new celebrities that can endorse your brand and create massive reach for your viral campaign through their highly relatable and real posts. The social media influencers have achieved cult status by engaging with the audience in real-time. They are like people amongst us, someone who has similar life and similar problems. Even though some social media influencers charge sky-high rates for promotion based on their followers and engagement, one can still reach out to maximum people through them.
    
   –   Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, and even Facebook have become the playfields of these influencers who can strategically build a brand by interacting with their audience and inspiring their followers to use a product. Brands can also provide promo discounts and samples to the followers of the influencers to create higher traction. An easy and highly successful way of getting viral is through influencers. You must understand which social media platform is right for your brand and then direct the attention in bargaining and identifying the best influencers for the same. Many social media agencies are available these days, which helps plan the entire viral campaign lifecycle and identify the right influencers. 
    
   e)       Boost Content Through Ads
   Paid ads are a great way to boost your viral content and give it an impetus that kickstarts its viral journey. Well, it is not clear that what content can go viral and what does not; however, you need to make the right efforts to ensure that your religiously created and designed content is reaching the right audience at the start so that they can further distribute it. The reach multiplies and then exponentiates once it gets an initial kick. With the help of paid ads, you can reach out to the selective audience who may share the content.  If you want to learn in detail how to do viral marketing in 2020, then you should the master art of formulating catchy ads.
    
   Google Ads bring the content on the top of search results while Facebook ads show up your posts to the right audience. It captures their attention, and the dame starts. 
    
   f)       Get Media Attention
   Viral content is something about which everyone is talking. It is in the news and on the webpages. To ensure that your news story is being viewed and people are reading or viewing what you created, you must grab the eyeballs. Websites like Buzzfeed, Verge, Business Insider, etc. write about news in different fields. If your content is exclusive and talked about, then one of such popular websites may feature it.
    
   Just in case any celebrity with a massive following even retweets or talks about your viral posts, the traction can be unbelievable. Getting viral is an organic process that can be accelerated by generating the right Publicity. You can try paid collaborations to generate enhanced media coverage of your campaigns. Getting a celebrity onboard is the greatest tip on how to do viral marketing in 2020.

7. Content That Goes Viral

   – Memes are the easiest way to make content viral as they are fun and easy to share. Ensure you do it the right way with the minimalistic text yet quirky images and a highly engaging tone.
   – Videos are substantial in creating viral quotient- make sharp, fun, and crisp videos that offer more than mundane content. The funnier or more empathetic the video is higher its forwards and shares.  You can use amazing video editing and photo editing tools for making viral content.
   –   Articles and blogs that express an emotion or educate the audience about the real challenges, upcoming technologies, or simply help them fix a thing are great for viral marketing. 
   –     DIY, Hacks, and Easy to Make videos would just get shared like anything because they provide utility and save costs. Just see the number of times five-minute crafts, Troom Troom, and BrightSide make funny videos and gain traction; their creative teams have definitely aced on How to do viral marketing in 2020.
   Creativity is always appreciated when you talk about real talent through real artists and people it deserves and gets its due credit. Consider the case of James Fridman, who helps people photoshop their images but with an element of surprise. He is the most famous editor and photoshop troll now. By doing something out of the box, he established himself as one of the most talented image editors.

8. Tips to Ensure Your Viral Marketing is Successful

   These tips on how to do viral marketing in 2020 can be a gamechanger in your initiatives.
   Have a Voice           
   Ensure that your content delivers a message and takes a side with affirmation. There is no scope for being neutral or diplomatic; you should be respectful yet confident and opinionated about a topic. For e.g., telling audience tips to cope with the business slowdown in the Covid-19 pandemic is a good tip.
   Be Innovative, Surprise Them
   Provide a sense of excitement and mystery in your content by writing about unexpected things. Provide new information or promote your product creatively and innovatively that people have not seen before. The more innovative it is, more the attention it grabs. 
   Do Not Sell Directly
   Viral marketing rides on sentiments and emotional relatability, not a sales pitch. Thus, you should make sure that your content is informative, fun, or interesting and not an attempt to talk about your product’s benefits. Leverage the emotional connection, not the saleability of the product. Learn effective digital marketing to ace your selling skills online.
    Engage with the audience                                                                                         
   Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy are some brands which interact a lot with the customers openly on the social media platforms through their official handles; The language is not a plain boring marketing language which says ” We Apologise for the inconvenience caused” Or “We are happy to Help” but something fun, conversational and great to re-read. The threads of funny chat exchange between brands and customers often go viral because people find then rare and funny. Thus they share it over and over again, and hence viral Marketing goal is achieved.  Being funny is the right answer to ‘How to do viral marketing in 2020?’ Complement your viral marketing with the right Email Marketing and Marketing Automation strategies to get the most benefit.