What does it mean to go viral? And why is it not as easy as it seems?
Viral marketing is an effective marketing strategy that relies on capturing an audience's attention to make your brand memorable and generate an organic push on social media apps to promote a message, service, or product.
Marketing content is considered viral when content gains real traction and hits an accelerated speed of being shared by the general public compared to the target audience.
So, how do viral campaigns capture and engage people with the attention of millions to the fullest? What viral marketing examples have shown us the power to inspire, enlighten, and elevate a brand to brand viral status? Let’s find out.
What makes a campaign go viral?
It’s important to remember that not all viral campaigns are created equal, and no marketing campaign is guaranteed to be a viral success. So, when it comes to marketing strategy, you might ask yourself what elements help make a campaign go viral? Because while there is a level of unpredictability in viral marketing success, it’s certainly not luck that runs the algorithm– although maybe a little bit of it helps.
A successful viral marketing campaign is creative and innovative, often presenting a unique or new idea, concept, or design that stands out from the crowd, promotes brand recognition, and captures your audience's attention.
Viral content must also push past your specific target demographic to include a broader audience by connecting with people on an authentic, emotional level.
Most viral marketing campaigns tap into strong emotions that resonate with the audience—causing users to genuinely want to share ad campaigns or videos on social media platforms to increase brand promotion and spread the brand’s message.
One way to do this is by leveraging humor in advertising. Incorporating a lighthearted, humorous element into your marketing campaign increases the likelihood of shareability and elevates the chances of your marketing campaign becoming viral content.
However, the secret of a viral campaign depends on using the appropriate social media platform for your marketing campaign and understanding your target audience’s behavior and how they interact on different social media platforms.
Therefore, when creating your marketing strategy, consider that a highly visual campaign would be better on Instagram than a video-based campaign on TikTok or YouTube videos.
Finally, the timing of the best viral marketing campaigns is a factor. A well-timed, well-placed marketing campaign that incorporates key brand elements to create unique, emotional, and engaging content has the power to reach highly engaging, viral success.
With many viral marketing success stories, let’s review a few case studies and viral marketing examples.
Driving impact through social good: TOMS’ #withoutshoes
Using marketing buzzwords TOMS’ #withoutshoes viral marketing campaign created an organic message to raise awareness and appeal to people’s desire to come together and support a cause.
The marketing tactic took off on Instagram through social media engagement as TOMS announced its humanitarian mission. For every post with the #withoutshoes hashtag, the shoe brand would donate a pair of new shoes to homeless and needy children.
TOMS created top viral marketing campaigns that generated mass participation from the general public and celebrities, generating customers, increasing sales, and a remarkable success for the cause.
A viral sensation with purpose: ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
When it comes to viral marketing examples, the 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was undoubtedly one of the world's largest and most successful video marketing campaigns. And this was before viral videos on TikTok were even possible in the U.S.
By leveraging buzz marketing, the ALS ice bucket challenge harnessed the power of consumer conversation and social sharing to propel the challenge into the spotlight and be a huge success.
The challenge went beyond being a trend and became a viral sensation. It created widespread awareness by engaging millions in donating money and helping fund substantial ALS research, all through sharing and resharing a simple idea.
The challenge itself was fun, easy, and accessible. The millions of videos created spread rapidly to help raise awareness across a broader audience as the people invited to the challenge were nominated by previous participants.
But it wasn’t just the ease that made the ALS ice bucket challenge an effective marketing campaign. The driving force behind this strategically brilliant campaign was the emotional appeal that made nominees want to help and fund ALS research once they were more aware of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis disease.
Amazingly, the ALS Association increased its annual research funding worldwide by 187%, thanks to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
How viral marketing campaigns impact brand growth
Successful viral marketing strategies and campaigns significantly impact brand growth and create long-term benefits by generating significant buzz around a product or service, rapidly increasing brand awareness, and fostering customer engagement to increase loyalty and drive potential sales through sharing platforms and social media.
A viral marketing campaign has the ability to create a long-lasting ripple effect that can lead to more organic brand mentions, collabs, and partnerships with other companies, influencers, or celebrities. Thus leading to a wider customer base, improved brand awareness, and profit growth.
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Viral content marketing campaigns are an incredible marketing strategy tool, but they carry significant risks that can make or break a company's image.
Viral marketing comes with unpredictability, which no amount of data can account for as you release a marketing campaign. There is the potential for loss of control over a message or negative backlash due to misinterpretation, which can severely damage a brand's reputation.
The potential for content to go viral unintendedly and the difficulty of predicting audience response make it important to have a crisis management marketing team and learn the best ways for brands to handle negative reactions or unanticipated consequences.
Strategies for creating your viral marketing campaign
To create a successful viral marketing strategy, you will need to have a deep understanding of your client base and audience. Your company's marketing efforts must craft compelling, shareable content that incorporates a clear call to action and leverages appropriate unique media platforms in a timely manner.
Utilize tactics such as influencer partnerships, collabs, and promotional giveaways to enlist users to create videos to have organic user-generated content.
Use marketing tools to harness the power of predictive analytics. Analyze viral marketing data, uncover trends, and help forecast future customer behavior to fine-tune content's chance of going viral.
Using the right marketing tools, you can incorporate a lighthearted, feel-good, or humorous element into your viral marketing technique to increase the likelihood of your campaign becoming shareable content and elevate the chances of creating a viral campaign.
Mailchimp streamlines your marketing efforts seamlessly and manages all your social media campaigns to help your marketing campaign go viral. With all the tools you need to grow your audience and create a successful viral marketing campaign.
Key Takeaways
- Viral marketing relies on capturing an audience's attention to make your brand memorable and generate an organic push on social media apps for promotion.
- A viral marketing campaign is creative and innovative, stands out from the crowd, and captures the attention of more customers to promote brand awareness.
- Most viral campaigns tap into strong emotions that deeply resonates with the audience.
- Viral marketing includes a level of unpredictability, which has the power to damage a brand's reputation severely.