You may have heard about an article, tweet or some other content that had gone ‘viral’ on the internet. Almost every blogger in this world wants this. But it is not that simple to achieve. Now the real question is, what is this phenomenon called viral content? What are the factors that could cause a content to go viral?
What is a Viral Article?
A viral article is an article that is shared or seen by many people online. With the sudden expansion and penetration of social media sites, the probability of any type of content or article to go viral has been greatly increased. Images, videos, and gifs are particularly more likely to go viral. These can be conveniently integrated into any article. These are the images that could be shared all over Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. The videos uploaded to YouTube can get millions of hits. Furthermore, a Viral content could be one of the most important factors to get a lot of ‘good-quality backlinks.’ This will help your article to be read or viewed by millions of viewers. However, the problem is, what element makes a Viral article and I will reveal this question in this article:
Factors that could Make an Article go Viral
To be viral, an article should have to be able to relate to a lot of people. Typically, a viral article has one or more of these factors:
- It should be funny
- It should be able to generate controversy
- It should be on a popular subject
- It should be helpful and unique
Not all articles have all of these characteristics, but you truly just want one or two of them. Amusing or adorable images of cats, dogs, and kids are always well-liked. So are hot topics, and in several cases, this sort of content is nasty or frightening. An example of the second one is when there is a panic about an epidemic of an infection or various other sicknesses and everybody is searching for information on how to prevent or cure it.
Misinformation, which may or may not be true, are mostly liable to spread swiftly. Just like a gossip can be repeated in the workplace or college, on the web it can spread across the globe in a short time. For instance, you will occasionally see viral tweets, photos or articles about the death of a famous person, that later proved to be false. I don’t suggest that you do this type of viral promotion, but I’m just telling you about it as an example of how anything can spread on the web.
Write Articles on the Trending Topics
Trendy is also an essential feature that a majority of viral articles have. Almost all of the trendiest stuff on the web is about movie stars, cricketers, political leaders and other famous personalities.
Occasionally a trending topic could be about an event or some new thing instead of people. Consider all the publicity that happens when a new product is launched by a big company. Events such as natural disasters, cricket matches, and elections could be tremendously popular topics.
How to Create a Viral Article or Content
You may have thought this to yourself, “What is the secret of creating a viral article or content?” Sadly, there is no single thing you can do that will make your article or content to go viral on the internet. But if you include the factors mentioned above in your article, you can drastically improve the probability.
Your Title should be SEO Friendly
The heading or title of your article is really essential because this is what your readers will see initially. It also a very important factor, in raking your post in a search engine. Give your blog article an appealing and suitable heading because this will significantly increase the possibility of readers sharing it online.
Mix a Trendy Topic with Unique and Interesting Content
You have a very small possibility of having an article go viral if it is on a topic that no one really knows about. It is all right to write about your desired subject that is not popular or well known but just do not look forward to this type of article or post to go viral. Remain up to date with the news, regularly check Google Trends and search websites like Reddit, Quora to know what readers are presently discussing, watching and reading.
Although it’s helpful to choose a trending topic, but if you want your article to go viral you should write something unique and personal about the topic. You should not just replicate something that you read on some other site. Maybe you can write about a controversial topic, citing facts and data in opposition to what many people are saying about it.
Make Plenty of Awesome Content
Bear in mind that only high-quality content will typically go viral. So don’t imagine that all you write is going to be trending worldwide. One of the best ways to make a viral article is to constantly post loads of good quality articles. That would increase your probability of having few of these articles go viral. Write an article with a unique angle and always give it a personal touch. Especially, when you read a blog post, you want to read about the personal views of the author on that subject. If an article lacks this then it would be just another blog post.
Use the Influence of Social Media
Although some content may go viral with no effort by the author, but this is uncommon. The further you spread your post, the more probable it is that it will go viral. In order to accomplish this, you have to make constant efforts to connect with individuals on social media sites. If you have plenty of followers on Twitter or Facebook fan page, or Instagram and other social sharing platforms, it hugely improves the probability of your article to go viral. As you have a lot of influence and visibility among your followers and subscribers.
Use Infographics in your Post
Infographics like pictures and photos are a great way to make your article more readable and attractive. This will greatly increase the possibility of it going viral. You may create a video in which you share your opinions on a subject. Instead of just trying to increase the visibility of the video, you can insert it into an article and give some significant observations as well. Images are also a great way to attract reader’s interest and thus increase the possibility that people will share the article.
Research Other Viral Blog Posts
In order to clearly understand which type of content goes viral online, you have to pay close attention. New articles, videos, and images go viral every day. Visit different blogs and websites and find out which articles are becoming popular. You should never replicate somebody else’s article, but you could study and observe the article and get a clear idea about what factors made it viral.
Choose the Type of Traffic You Want
Several posts go viral just because it has a shock value that could generate an emotional response from the people. If you get some fame for creating this type of content, you will be infamous instead of famous. If you want fame at any price, you might be able to produce some type of controversy that gets a lot of attention. But, if you want to be trusted and respected by your readers, then you have to avoid this type of publicity.
Conclusion
Although it’s fine to have the aim of writing viral articles, you shouldn’t expect all your articles to go viral. It may only occur once in a while, and it is not possible to foresee precisely which article will be the one. The only thing you can do is to improve the possibility of it, by following the upper mentioned factors in mind.