4 Things That Helped Me Consistently Publish Viral Content
In this article we will talk about how to go viral online. In particular, I’ll show you how I consistently publish super viral content.
I remember the first time I realized one of my articles was going viral. It was summer and I was enjoying a warm Saturday afternoon on the beach.
I looked at my phone and saw that an article I had published in June was getting more views than what I was used to — like thousands of views in just a few hours. The numbers were exploding. The following day, that article hit around 58 thousand views on Medium.
Obviously, I was over the moon. I couldn’t believe something like that was happening to me.
After a few weeks, that article reached hundreds of thousands of views and more than seven thousand dollars. And that wasn’t the last article that went viral.
After going viral several times I learned a few lessons that might help you too.
In particular, what follows are the four most important things that helped me create viral content.
1. You Must Find One or More Topics Millions of People Are Interested In
As I mentioned in other articles, if you create content and you want to make money out of it, you have to do it with your audience in mind, always.
If you want your articles to go viral, you definitely want to create content that helps your audience somehow. You want to add value to your reader’s life with your writing. For this reason it’s essential that you write about a topic you master. However, that’s not enough.
You also need to find a topic that has the potential to attract millions of readers. In particular, you want to address a problem those readers have and provide a solution.
How I do it, in a nutshell:
The answer is: keyword research. I like to use Ubersuggest, I look for the topics I have in mind and I can write about, and find the most popular keywords around those topics. Also, I always have a look at the last section in the Ubersuggest search results page, “Content Ideas,” which is great if you are looking for some original article ideas.
2. You Must Address Those Topics Correctly
Once you find a topic that can potentially interest a large audience, you need to address it correctly.
This means first of all giving your content a structure that makes it easy for the reader to consume it. Also, as we said before, you want to add value to your audience. So, the second thing you want to do is write something you haven’t read before. You want to say something new, every time. Tell the reader something they haven’t heard before, and your chances of going viral will increase.
How I do it, in a nutshell:
I try to say something new, every time I publish new content, I try to give it a good structure, which makes it easy for the user to read the article, and I try to provide one or more solution to the reader’s problem.
3. You Have to Understand the Algorithm of Each Platform
Following the first two points doesn’t guarantee your content will go viral.
That’s why you also need to focus on quality more than quantity. You can write one hundred articles per month, but if the quality of your content is low and you’re not bringing value to readers, you’ll probably only get a few views. If no one engages with your content, most algorithms won’t push it to more users.
The content that usually does well on most platforms is high-quality and highly engaging — in fact, this is the type of content algorithms of most platforms are designed to detect and promote to a larger audience.
How I do it, in a nutshell:
I try to consistently publish high-quality content. Also, when I publish an article I send it to my mailing list. I do this because on most platforms — especially writing platforms — the engagement with an article during the first hours determines if the algorithm is going to push your content to more users or not.
4. If You Can, Use Storytelling
Storytelling is what all my viral articles have in common.
The reason storytelling is such a powerful tool, is it enables you to develop a deeper connection with your readers, especially if you are talking about a personal experience they can relate to.
Also, when you use it — and you do it well — you provide practical examples of what you are trying to explain to your audience, which enriches their reading experience.
How I do it, in a nutshell:
I tend to use storytelling in all my articles. I don’t necessarily talk about personal experiences every time, I also talk about other people — making sure to change their names to protect their privacy.
How to Create Viral Content – Final Thoughts
There’s no quick formula to virality.
In fact, virality is unpredictable.
However, when you write about topics your target audience cares about, structure your content well, focus on quality, understand the algorithm of each platform, and use storytelling, you boost your chances of going viral.
Image: iStock
