“Going viral” is a term that almost everyone knows within the digital world. When creators’ content hits strongly with a broad audience and becomes one of the most talked-about topics on the internet, it has gone viral. Take, for example, “Baby Shark.” The video went extremely viral; it is currently the most-viewed video on YouTube, with 10 billion views. This success is challenging to find, transient, and rarely long-lasting.
Over the last few years, an overarching theme in digital marketing has been an obsession with “going viral” on the internet. The number of tips and regulations for making content go viral is almost as many as the number of resources on getting rich quickly. However, becoming viral may not be the best approach to success in content creation.
Here are a few reasons why attempting to go viral is a horrible approach and how it distances you from the people you’re trying to reach.
It is hard to maintain content quality once you go viral.
The main aim of all content creators is to provide their loyal audience with valuable content. Once your content goes viral, the quality of your content dips, and ultimately, it becomes difficult to churn out material that your fanbase will like. You might even turn your content channel into a promotional platform, and your ultimate goal might shift from providing something valuable to making money through a proven method of what works.
For example, many content creators on Youtube and TikTok turn their channels into promotional brands once they go viral. Their content quality dips as money and brands take precedence. When your audience starts to realize that your channel is not providing the meaningful engagement that they crave, they will automatically stop consuming anything you provide them. The mindset of content creators changes when they go viral. It is a natural human tendency to prefer short-term gain over long-term gain.
You put yourself under unnecessary stress.
Businesses invest huge amounts of money and hours to generate viral content. Others spend just a few minutes and a bunch of free tools to become Internet celebrities. Both methods can give unpredictable results—there is no foolproof method for making a video go viral. It’s like throwing whatever you can at the wall and seeing what sticks. This formula has worked for plenty of people, but it also puts them under severe stress when they run out of ideas.
Wouldn’t it be better to focus on creating content that your target customer would find helpful and amusing and then do your best to get this information in front of them? You can’t go wrong by demonstrating to your audience that you’re interested in and aware of their issues.
For example, there are plenty of educational and entertaining videos available on YouTube. There is a target audience for everything. If you can build a loyal audience to which you cater your products or services, then you can produce unlimited content and make a living out of that. Even if people share your information, it’s because you’ve provided them with a compelling incentive to return to the discussion.
Getting viral is a short-sighted goal.
Focusing solely on one project and being anxious about the outcome may cause your slow-building momentum to stagnate or stop altogether. For example, some people have even filmed their mental breakdowns to go viral. The problem with this approach is that once you end up going viral, there is nothing else for you to offer than your mental breakdown.
It is bad both for your mental health and physical health. There is nothing better than a single interaction that makes you feel like you’re making an impact. You may be overlooking the constant stream of nonverbal indications that your audience is sending you. It is important to have a keen eye on the kind of content that resonates with your target audience.
You risk forgetting your target audience.
When attempting to reach many people, it is all too easy to miss your intended audience. You must know the wants and needs of your followers. You can’t create a long-term relationship with them if you can’t get them to relate to your material.
Consider curating information tailored to a specific audience and in a language they use. Present the content that they can relate to; it is better than keeping a broad and vague scope. Even though you’re intentionally eliminating many potential viewers, the ones that interact are more likely to associate.
Why are viral videos so short-lived, and why do they appear to have little impact?
As the use of social media increases, the durability of “viral content” decreases. Earlier, viral content’s popularity duration used to be measured in months, but now, it’s down to weeks, days, hours, and even minutes. For example, the lifespan of a Facebook post is only minutes instead of hours or days or weeks. More and more content is made and consumed, and as a result, less and less of it is noticed and remembered. Furthermore, when people’s interest wanes, so does the viral effect.
Conclusion
Most of the positive effects of a viral video are fleeting. Virality has no long-term benefit for content providers. Content creators should focus on the shareability aspect of their content. A good video connects with the audience and receives a lot of attention because people find it entertaining. TagMango can help you optimize the important aspects, such as the length and format, of your content. TagMango is the thought leader in the content space that can get you the desired results almost instantly. Using it, content creators can better monetize their work and seamlessly launch their courses or host live seminars.
