Is There a Secret to Going Viral?

[markbw13]

Is there any science behind going viral or do you think it is mostly luck and timing?

 

[iOS Gravity]

Its usually something touching, funny or plain stupid. When a bunch of people start sharing it it just spreads through social networks.

 

[markbw13]

That's what I noticed as well, usually its the stupid things that go viral....and something that someone doesn't mean to go viral lol. I think people that have the intent of their video go viral are the ones that get the least views....just weird.

 

[hiclub]

I have recently read a short book written by the guy in charge of marketing in American Apparel, and he says there is definitely science behind going viral nowadays. it's called Growth Hacker Marketing (by Ryan Holiday) and the main point he makes is that virality is about technique, not luck (lots of emphasis on metrics/analytics/proper staging i.e. don't aim for growth before you've found and verified your product-market fit etc). i can't recommend the book enough!

 

[warement]

I think its most about advertisement but not always paid one.
For example one someone read about an app at his favorite ios about site, he will definitely give it a try,
the trick is to get people talking about it to spread

 

[markbw13]

How do you get people to do that though?

 

[kataran]

Timing and uniqueness is everything

 

[Annie Colin]

i don't know ,sorry

 

[GrumpyRhinoGames]

I wish I knew the secret. I think for individuals it's probably luck, but for companies with a lot of resource it is a science. So there's a way of making something viral, and sometimes us mere mortals unwittingly stumble upon it!

From what I can see the most important things to successfully market your product (for free) is:

• To have an interesting, unique, product that people want to talk about. People aren't going to talk about something that's just "good" it needs to be something that incites conversation.
• To target an audience who are going to talk about your product online, to find where they're talking and to try and engage them there.
• To give them the tools to let them talk about your product - create Facebook pages, let them like/share etc

The above won't necessarily make your product go viral, but it might help it spread.

 

[markbw13]

Great ideas! I have a funny Youtube channel and game, but yea to get anybody to even view it is super hard! I thought I was pretty descent at SEO and APO, but my App is a 0 out of 100 on visibility!! Frustrating lol....

 

[espacepublishing]

There's basically three paths to going viral:
(1) Wait to be lucky, but that's like the lottery. Someone wins each week, but it never seems to be you!
(2) Pay megabucks to an agency to stage a viral campaign (though it may not succeed)
(2) Build sharing into the DNA of your app so that people will automatically share it and hopefully cause it to spread exponentially. This is the model used successfully by games such as "Words with Friends"

 

[markbw13]

Didn't know you could actualy do that....interesting. Is that what you guys do with your apps?

 

[Silk ASMR]

Watch the TV show "The Pitch". Show struggles of ad agencies trying to create viral campaigns, may be helpful.

 

[nitacawo]

hehe, thanks for the book etc. need to check it out

 

[BEECHBOY707]

It is of course a lot done to timing and luck. However much you tag and custom thumbnail and consider an attractive title - ultimately you have to consider what is the mechanic of going viral....real people's interaction with the media, and more specifically sharing of the media. It is almost impossible for content to go viral without sharing, so try to focus on making your content easy to be shared, and more importantly, giving the urge for people to share it. Good luck!