What is viral content?

[CyberAlchemist]

Over a few articles, I have read and seen a lot of viral content. Unfortunately, i still do not really understand what makes something viral. Most of the time when i ask what makes a viral post, i get answers along the lines of: something that provokes you, something funny, something you can relate to or something irresistible to people but i still haven't been able to get the answer for myself which leads to my questions: What is a viral content, how do you tell if it's going to be viral and how do you find viral content?

 

[Rob Whisonant]

They actually answered your question as best as it really can. You don't know ahead of time is something is going to go viral or not.

An example of viral content is the cat memes you see. People share the cute and funny ones. This is viral.

Another example would be an article that actually solves a serious problem a LOT of people have in a way they can understand it. These types of articles get shared in forums, on blog posts etc. Again, this would be viral content.

Something you think may go viral may not. Something you think would not go viral, may go viral.

 

[markwalbarg]

1. Lists stills rule
2. It’s good to be awesome
3. Be funny
4. Do your research
5. Be surprising

 

[SweetLana]

If you want to share some picture/video with your friends - this makes it viral. Your friend will most probably share this pic with his friends and so on. The word of a mouth is a great thing, but you need to be really creative to make viral content.

 

[davidmichaels]

Keep an eye on google new.

Try to cover controversial topic or points in you blog/content/video

push it on a popular platform like reddit, facebook groups etc and you will see the result by yourself

 

[jeffscott]

A great content cannot be viral on the web if it doesn't reach the target audience, so we must establish first to known in our expertise in the field. As a user we will recognized you as a trusted source.

 

[schttrj]

Frankly, NOBODY can answer this question, or we would have been millionaires, right?

However, going by what Contagious book and several other articles say, what makes a content "viral" is probably because of one of the reasons below:

1. It's awesome (you have never seen anything like that before)
2. It confirms your thoughts and ideas.
3. It hits you on a personal (or emotional) level, whether it makes you laugh, cry or just plain feel like a human being for a second.
4. It is of practical value (sometimes, we do want to help our fellow mates).
5. It makes you look like what you want to be.

That's pretty much it, I guess.

If you were to leave with ONE takeaway, it's that people share because they care about the content, about themselves and about their fellow beings. All three needs to fall into place to make a piece of content viral.

 

[alitce]

Hello CyberAlchemist'
A content has an increased chance of becoming viral when it's bringing something new and bizarre

 

[WebmasterPhil]

I agree with schttrj, it's very difficult to figure out what type of content will go "viral". But I do think content that are

1. funny
2. controversial
3. news-worthy
4. shocking
5. educational
6. interesting
7. relevent
8. helpful
9. emergency
10. involves sales

tend to do well. The content doesn't have to have all of these criteria, just 1 or a few, that are targeted at the right audience can do the trick. For example, If you're among the first to discover a time-sensitive sale of a popular new smartphone, and then you shared the sale's coupon and details on facebook, there's likely a good chance that it will be spread around.

Another example is if money needs to be raised to help cover the cost of a very sickly child whose parents have no money, then this post at GoFundMe will likely get spread around, simply because there are many people who feel obligated to help those who are less fortunate.

 

[Aby]

The answers you got are the best way in which the probable-viral content is identified. The thing that catches the attention of social psyche is what gets viral.