One of the secrets to make yourself famous on social media like Instagram is to make your content viral. The post can be called viral when it fulfills a certain condition. It has to be something that people want to share with each other. This is a basic mechanism of virality on any platform - the more people share it, the bigger becomes the popularity of the person who started it.
Other significant metrics of viral content:
- Likes
- Unique viewers
- Consummation speed
- How long the piece of content stays “on top”.
One of the funny features of viral content is the fact that very often it happens unexpectedly for the creator, thus bringing up a new persona in the world of influencers by accident. But marketers have turned their attention to the factor of virality too. No one can guarantee that your post will become one. But here are some methods you can use to increase your chances.
Basic Preparations
First of all, you have to secure your position. The main sense of virality is to be spread to the largest number of users as it is possible. To be considered as viral, the piece of content must reach the mark of a hundred thousand likes. So in order to increase the chances to “infect” more users is to gain some popularity first. To do that quickly, you can buy likes on Instagram. Driven by the mechanism of social approval, viewers will be more likely to add their little heart to the bunch.
Note: always be careful with numbers. If you are starting from scratch on Instagram, try out your growth boost with purchasing 30 likes or so. Later you will be able to analyze how much more stats you need to get, and do you need that at all.
Know Your People
Just like any other aspect of marketing strategy on social media, the virality has to hit the relevant audience, that will carry it on and on. The trick is in picking the interest of your public and giving them something that will engage them without further effort. The most important details of your audience portrait that you have to track are:
- Location
- Gender
- Age
- Education
- Profession
Also, it will be useful to find out what is the preferred type of content that your target group consumes. Having all this information gathered and analyzed will up your chance to make a popular post.
Make Your Voice Sound Louder
Social media had become one of the instruments to spill your personal thoughts to the audience and expose what you feel about certain events or yourself.
Instagram in particular is a battlefield of “classic” beauty standards and body positive community. On one hand, we can see a perfect image of a fit, young woman with high self-esteem. On the other hand, as women, in reality, come in all sizes, ages, and forms, we see something that is not corresponding with illusional perfection.
Once, the first image was overwhelming the Instagram space. But as social media evolved with society, the importance of personal stories stepped in the spotlight. Women don’t want to accomplish the perfect image anymore. On the platform, they have an opportunity to say that out loud and form a strong community. This is just one of many examples to see on Instagram. And here is what you have to learn if you want your content to go viral:
- Share your personal experience
- Show support to people who expose their stories
- Promote significant things through Stories and hashtags
- Create and use your art and work to express social position you have
Use Your Imagination And Set A New Trend
One of the most fun ways to create viral content is to think of a new challenge. Challenges are an incredibly engaging thing to do. People can simply have fun or even cultivate good habits. For example, after the outbreak of coronavirus disease, the whole world was sitting on quarantine. Soon enough Instagram and Tik Tok were filled with the challenge that encourages people to wash hands properly. Excellent use of entertainment to educate :)
Another funny thing to do while at home was to participate in the Quarantine Pillow challenge, which offers us to use blankets and pillows for fancy dresses.
New challenges pop-up every day, but not all of them are destined to last. However, a truly funny one can last for years, like the glorious Ice-Bucket challenge. Yep, people are still doing that and have success. But this is definitely worth a try. Maybe you are the author of a future hit.
Tip: To increase the reach for your profile, join some popular Instagram challenges, like FaceTune, Ethnicity Estimate from FaceApp, Face Swap, etc.
Make Your Whole Profile Viral
On Instagram, it is possible to make a whole account reaching virality. The first case to remember is an account of an egg, that made the world go bananas.
But simply creating the account for any object will not get you to any result, unless you put much effort into it. The secret of popularity for the egg profile is the quality content. It is simply funny, yet by now, with more than six million followers, this account is also able to speak for the world.
Another effective method is to create a unified overall look for your profile. Generally, people choose colors, like this guy from Buzzfeed Talents. Making your Instagram profile looking consistent can attract many people, if you are thinking outside of the box and providing a new look to familiar things.
Provide Educational Content
Just like any other platform that allows us to share video posts, Instagram gives the opportunity to gain likes and followers through different step-by-step guides and how-to’s.
The recipe for success is easy - all you have to do is show your skill and teach people what you know. Same for tips, recommendations, and lists. Outstanding examples of the list on Instagram is an artist’s challenge of Inktober. As we can guess from the name, the sense of this challenge is to draw one thing from the list every day in October. Officially, there’s only one list. But popular artists often create their own lists, that vary.
Also, there are whole accounts, dedicated to video-recipes, that gain incredible popularity, because there’s nothing more satisfying than watching how food is made :) Also many chefs, like Adriano Zumbo, encourage their followers to repeat their recipes and share the result.
Trigger The Audience
Provocative content goes viral very quickly, as people are sharing it with their friends and the discussions in the comment section can grow into holywars (say hello to the level of engagement you could never dream of). That depends on the level of disturbance that your content can give to people. Controversial topics are great to use, but still, we would recommend you to avoid themes that include racism, religion or ableism. Sometimes things that are shown in such videos or photos are simply stupid or even dangerous. So the best advice to leave here is:
Be careful with the degree of your provocation online.
Due to the increasing usage of social media by minors, the concerns of their parents grow as well. So providing dangerous challenges or neglecting the matters of tolerance and mental health can lead to banning your account.
And The Final Summarizing
Doing viral content is something that is worth giving a shot to. Sometimes becomes viral videos or photos are making the author famous through one week, or even day. So you can use all the tips and hacks we had given you in the text above, and still need a stroke of good luck to make it really viral. Anyway, try and do your best, and your goals will come to life!
