Is Going Viral a Good Strategy?

Imagine waking up one morning to thousands of notifications on your phone. Overnight, your content went viral and it is getting likes, shares, and comments galore. At first, this might seem like an awesome thing, but a few days later, you may realize going viral wasn’t the greatest strategy for your business growth after all. There are benefits to going viral, but when it comes to a long-term strategy, Marketing TEA believes that true relationships with your audience are the way to go. Are you curious to know the difference between viral attention vs. relationships? Keep reading! 

Very few things end up ‘going viral,’ and when they do, the attention is fleeting and rarely sustainable.

In The Socially Unstable Podcast, we broke this idea down into a sports metaphor. In case you missed it, I will give you a little explanation. I am sure you have all seen the cardboard cutouts that have been popping up in sports stadiums due to COVID restrictions. If we think about this on a smaller scale, like your local sports team, if they had done this idea first and went viral with it, they would have gotten a lot of attention for a few days, but then it would be over. Some other teams around the country would replicate this idea, and your team’s social growth would go back to normal.

Don’t get us wrong, we love the idea of the cutouts, but if a marketing strategy doesn’t engage a relevant audience but instead focuses on trying to appeal to everyone, it will not build a true relationship. All of those eyes that were on the viral content aren’t going to actually come to a game. They aren’t invested in your team or your business, and they likely don’t even live in the area. 

And when you are more interested in going viral than focusing on the audience you do have, you are missing the whole point of social media. It has always been about creating relationships and bringing people together on topics they care about. Brands will get the most success if they focus on understanding this role and how they can relate to their target audience.

Instead, a winning strategy looks something like this: 

• Narrow down who your ideal audience is.
• Figure out where they are hanging out.
• Create content that is catered to them.
• Engage with your audience and build relationships!

You want your audience to see themselves in your content. This is what makes it appealing to them and what makes them realize they need your service or product. You also want them to know that they are important to you and that you need them to. That is what Relationship marketing is all about; creating long-term profitable friendships. Creating content that is catered to your audience is a more achievable and effective way to reach your business goals. Plus, they always say that good things come when you least expect them, so while you are benefiting from a sustainable long-term strategy you might just end up going viral anyway!

If you think your business could benefit from a customized content marketing strategy, send us a message to chat!