Photo courtesy of B Rosen
By Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind.
Viral is one of the biggest buzzwords these days in blogging world. Everyone wants to create something viral, so their blog or product will “market itself.”
Despite all the buzz about creating “viral content” and a “viral blog,” not many people really understand how this is done. I’ll be honest, I’m not quite sure I’ve got it all figured out. There aren’t really any secrets. But, there are a lot of little tactics that can add up to creating something contagious.
The trick with content
A lot of people will tell you that you can’t write a “killer post” every time. You’ll burn out, they say. Or they’ll say something about it not being healthy to be such a perfectionist.
I completely disagree. While I think it’s not healthy to aim for perfection, I’ve built a highly viral blog doing exactly the opposite of conventional advice.
Usually, part of the strategy for publishing more content that is “OK” and not great is following the law of averages. The more content you put out, the more chances you have of getting linked, the more chances you’ll get indexed in search engines and rank for those search terms. I understand the strategy, but I think it’s severely flawed if you’re trying to create something extremely viral.
My aim with every post I write is to create content that has a high probability of becoming viral. But I do this not by writing more, but by writing less.
If I can’t find something worth writing about, I don’t write. If it’s just a “good idea,” I don’t write about it.
It really comes down to this: If I don’t care about what I’m doing, why should I expect other people to care?
The contagion tactics
There are a bunch of different tactics and methods you can employ to increase your chances of contagion. None of these are magic bullets, but if you add up enough of them, you will have a extremely high probability of going viral.
- Write only when you have something worth saying. I mentioned this already, but it’s worth repeating. If you don’t have something to say, don’t say anything. Don’t contribute to the noise. If you don’t have something to say, the best thing you can do is not add to the static. This is solely based on the fact that you don’t want to create a reputation of only sometimes creating amazing content. You want to create the belief in other’s minds that every time you post, it will be unmissable content.
- Throw away lots of ideas. In the same way that you only publish your best stuff, you have to develop a habit of throwing most things away. If it’s not worth saying, resist the urge to word vomit. If you have an idea that you think is great, but you’re not sure, sit on it. Let it stew for a little bit. Most of the time, the reason for your indecisiveness is because your idea is not quite ripe. Let it ripen on the vine, resist the urge to pick it before it’s ready, which would leave you with something sour and ruined. Just as an example, I currently have over 30 drafts in my blog admin area. Less than 3 of those will see the light of day. The more you practice this, the more skilled you will become at filtering great ideas. You will begin to develop a remarkable ability to know immediately when something will be extremely well-received, or when it will flop.
- Have a vested interest in what you’re writing about. Passion spreads through words. If you are passionate about what you’re writing about, you’ll naturally write something far more compelling than if you could care less. Only write about things you really care about.
- Learn the principles of stickiness. Be simple, be straight to the point. Get to the core message. Tell a story, and surprise your readers with a twist they wouldn’t have expected. Give them a reason to listen by being highly engaging. Telling a story is one of the best ways to make your writing memorable. It gives the mind concrete details and images to associate with. If at all possible, find a way you can turn your message into a story, but only if you can do so authentically. Don’t make up a lackluster story just for the sake of having one. For more on this, pick up the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath.
- If you’re not writing, read or rewrite. If you don’t have something worth saying, practice rewriting and honing your skills. Or read as much as you can, but do so actively. While you’re reading, think about what makes the piece engaging or boring. What keeps you turning the page? What makes you want to fall asleep? In the same way you study reading, study what goes viral online in social media venues and what makes bestsellers in bookstores. Learn from them, but only mimic them when you can do so authentically.
- Hone your craft. Whatever your field is, if you don’t have a desire to master it, you’re not likely to have a high chance of becoming viral. People will talk about what you’re doing, because you’re so ridiculously passionate about it, and your enthusiasm is contagious.
- Walk the edges. See where you can find interesting intersections of seemingly disparate ideas. How can you relate sex to ice cream? Why is non-conformity really another flavor of conformity? What can politicians and lawyers tell you about smart career moves? Try to find ways to shed a different shade of light to something that has been stuck on repeat. Take a contrarian viewpoint (but only if it’s authentic). Whatever you do, don’t be another echo.
- Start a revolution. If you have a passion for something that could be improved or could be organized as a collective movement, zero in on that. The most viral ideas are those that a large group of people care deeply about, where there was formerly no leadership. Step up and lead your own revolution.
- Connect with influencers. In order to spread ideas effectively, the influencers in your field will need to know about it. It’s your job to find who they are and cultivate relationships with these people. Google alerts and conversation tracking on twitter are the best way to tap into whose having the conversations about your topic.
- Give people what they want. This may sound obvious, but how much do you really know about your readers? Get to know them better; find out what they feel is missing in your field. Conduct a short 5-6 question survey with a few open and closed questions. Ask them how they feel and what they’d like to see.
- Be insane. Be insanely useful, insanely creative, insanely helpful, or insanely controversial. Whatever you do, make it extremely remarkable. Kind of insane, or pretty good is not enough. You have to be insanely something.
This is, by no means, a bible on creating a viral blog. It’s simply a starting point for creating a blog with more buzz. The best thing to do is experiment. Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and say something different.
Rethink the limits you’ve arbitrarily placed on your blog. You’ll often find they were simply imaginary lines.
This article was written by Jonathan Mead; revolutionary, raw foodist, dream coach, and prolific blogger. He is interested in unconventional paths to personal growth and advocates strange things like killing your goals. In his spare time he studies Jeet Kune Do and other ass-kicking strategies. He also wrote a pretty cool book, called Reclaim Your Dreams - An Uncommon Guide to Living on Your Own Terms.
