About two weeks ago, I reached out to a former nonprofit client to inquire if she needed help with content creation. She said she would need to mull it over and then mentioned that a current advisor thought that her social media content should go viral.

While this organization has an important and worthwhile mission, it’s not sexy or controversial to the general public. It doesn’t make you tear up like the plight of children in a war zone or abused animals; it doesn’t lure you in with the latest fad in diet and exercise, or entice you with the latest gossip about a celebrity.

What Makes a Post go Viral?

There are several key factors that contribute to viral social media posts. These include:

Emotional triggers: Anything that will well your eyes with tears. I recently read on The Dodo about a volunteer at a shelter who posted on TikTok that one of her favorite dogs was on the euthanasia list. She posted the poor animal’s plight, the post went viral. The dog received a one day reprieve and someone stepped in to adopt it. What happens with an emotional triggering posts? People share the content, especially if it’s relatable, resonates and compels them to share it to their own audience.

Timing and relevance: Timing is key. Post when your audience is most active. Post about current events (ex: the crazy climate in the Midwest) trends (ex: anything having to do with AI) or cultural moments (ex: Cannes Film Festival).

Content elements: Keep your posts succint (avoid GRE words like succinct); in other words, short and easy to understand — avoid word salads. Include visually appealing images, videos, or graphics that will get your audience to stop scrawling and go, “OOOh.” And don’t forget to be authentic. You’re not writing for a dissertation committee. You do you when it comes to your posts, and you’ll discover those do better than coming across like Tolstoy.

Social proof and network effects: Three factors play a part in going viral and they include:

  • Early engagement and that pesky algorithm amplification. In other words: the early bird gets the worm. When the post gets quick fire attention, the algorithm interprets it as as high-quality, interesting content.
  • If an influencer or anyone with high followers accounts share your posts, most likely their followers will follow suit.
  • Content that encourages user-generated responses or challenges.

Platform-specific elements: First, use trending hashtags appropriately and don’t go overboard. If you posted on instagram about your Treeing Walker Coonhound, you don’t need the numerous variations of the hashtag. Keep it simple to no more than three hashtags. Second, optimize the content for each platform’s algorithm and format preferences. Learn what size images are best, and how if there’s a character limit. Third, create formats like memes, short videos, and quote graphics that can be shared.

And that leads to the …
The “Share Factor”: If you want to share content, keep in mind why you’re sharing it. Personally, I share content that I think is informational, sparks a conversation, or can help others. Other users may share content to be associated with the sharing, or to make them look informed, funny or caring. Whatever the reason this contributes to the “v” factor.

And then, of course, there’s the Unpredictable Element: Sometimes a post is appears at the right time and right place and it can be just a fluke.

The bottom line, though, is creating quality, engaging content consistently rather than trying to manufacture viral moments.