188. What are easy ways to go viral?
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Wondering how to make your content go viral? 🚀 It's not as hard as you think! In this episode, hosts Phil and Lauren discuss five easy ways to go viral, including different post formats and subjects. You'll be inspired to listen to your intuition, find your voice, and even be controversial.
Episode transcription
Phil
Viral content, viral content, easy ways to go viral.
Lauren
Our listeners only get the pristine, edited version of who we are as individuals. But god is there stuff beneath the surface.
Phil
That's what we're talking about today. Easy Ways to go viral. When we used to do intros, I would script them, make them perfect talk, talk talk. But then I've realized now that we're coming up on like, whatever 200 episodes, sometimes I don't want to listen to myself talk so much like shut up. So today, we're just diving into the topic.
Lauren
I have a sneaking suspicion that it's actually really fun for listeners to get a glimpse of what it's actually like when we're communicating. I mean, I guess if they got a real glimpse of what it would be like it would be like completely nonverbal and only through slack, or WhatsApp, or Instagram with different conversations happening simultaneously on different platforms. But if we're talking about how we communicate verbally, I just think it's more fun if it's a behind the scenes look.
Phil
Yes, I would agree with you. We're giving our perspective on viral content with a few disclaimers. Today, I don't know that making content that goes viral is necessarily the goal. I think once it happens to you, we've talked about this on the podcast before but stay with the focus on easy viral content ideas. I don't know that actually, there's much of an outcome when you go viral. It's not maybe what you think is gonna happen. You've got a recent story of this that we're going to tell
Lauren
I mean, going viral can lead to a whole bunch of followers with one video. But you want to have an engaged community above all else. So it's more important than going viral. No question is having like an avid community that wants to comment and engage with your content. There are a lot of times if, if you look on different platforms, where you'll see someone has one viral video, and then everything else is like, just really, really minimal. And that's not ideal, because that's not how you build a community.
Phil
So where should we begin?
Lauren
Well, I was thinking, you know, there's no actual definition for viral that I'm aware of like, there's no quantitative figure for it. That's true. So to you, I want to know, in your opinion, what is viral? How would you even measure that? Is it a certain amount of use? Is it like, how do you even think of viral? Because I'm not sure, I totally know.
Phil
I think it can mean, a significant number above what you would might normally expect with the content you create, meaning that it got picked up by the algorithm as content that other people would enjoy consuming.
Lauren
Great.
Phil
Maybe not necessarily enjoy consuming, because sometimes you consume things that make you angry that you don't enjoy, but the algorithm knows that it's appropriate for you
Lauren
Yes I think that's a really good way of framing it. Because I was thinking actually, a few years ago, we had one client who went viral on Instagram, do you remember this and the amount of likes were about 20,000 likes, and I don't even know if she had a million viewers, but I would consider that to be viral even if it wasn't, you know, 100,000 likes or whatever. Definitely, until like a huge increase in followers.
Phil
I've got a YouTube video that as half a million views that to me is viral. That's half a million people viewing my video. I think that's viral. It's platform specific. So the number would be higher on TikTok, for example, but also more fleeting.
Lauren
Okay, easy ways to go viral. So I saw this really great video before I ever went viral with tips on how to do so. And she said three different ways that you can go viral. I can. I'm so sorry. I can only remember two of them. But, but maybe we'll figure out the rest. But it was really good and I wish I had saved that video because it really stuck with me. So the first thing she recommended was to say something controversial. Because if you say something controversial, it gets people heated up, it gets them sharing, it gets them defending their opinion, it gets conversations happening, and I can personally attest to this working. It's actually worked with me a couple of times, I've really unintentionally pissed people off.
Phil
Was it unintentional?
Lauren
Well, the first two times it was unintentional. And then the third time, it was a little, a little more. I was wanting to use a word a strong word to get people paying attention, but I wasn't meaning to hurt people's feelings by any means. So the first time I went viral, I made a comment about during the Taylor Swift ticket sales fiasco, saying that she should speak up about how the sales were catastrophic and how all these Swifties were left waiting in line for eight hours virtually, and then left without tickets. And I was pretty dramatic in the way they wrote it. And I used Taylor's own lyrics against her. I was like, I've never in Taylor's own words, I've never heard silence quite this loud, so lame. And, and it got over a million views in 24 hours and it ended up going to 2.1 million views. I think we shared over 7000 times. And people were really, really mad either at Taylor or at me for saying that Taylor should speak up.
And it started these really intense conversations between swifies about how people were saying, like, you're not really a Swifty, if you dare, like insult her or say that she should speak up. And she's having to go through legal stuff, and you don't know what's going on behind the scenes and blah, blah, blah. So anyway, that was a controversial statement.
And then the second time was unintentionally controversial. I didn't expect it to offend so many people. But basically, I made this declarative video saying here's how to make everyday a good day. And looking back on it, I know that I was speaking for my experience, I was saying, I was like, for me, here's how you make every day a good day. I think it really got under everyone's skins because I was implying that if everyone did this, they would have a good day. Sorry, someone was able to do this, then they wouldn't have a bad day. And I mean, I'm super privileged. I live in a really safe neighborhood. I can go walking at any time and not fear for my life. Even if the sun hasn't risen I have flexibility on when I start working and things like that. But unfortunately, TikTok decided to show this video with my recommendation on the perfect day to like everyone who's like a night shift worker, or has a disability or is a single parent. And they were really upset. Because what I was suggesting was not possible for them and their situation.
Phil
So funny. The comments on that were my favorite.
Lauren
Outrageous. Outrageous.
Phil
Yeah, why don't I go for a walk in the morning after my 10 hour night shift?
Lauren
Yeah, that was pretty much it or I had suggested that someone puts on an audio book and zones out in a state of peace while they're walking. And then someone said well, I'm deaf and can't do that. So can I not have a good day? And I thought oh, my god. And I understand what they're saying.
Phil
But lesson learned when your content goes viral, you can't control who it is shown to.
Lauren
No, but I don't think it would have gone viral if I hadn't done that.
Phil
That's my point. You can't make content that's going to satisfy everyone. Otherwise, it's going to be too vanilla and it's not going to go anywhere. Because it's not going to resonate strongly with anyone.
Lauren
Yeah, exactly. So I think it was saved over 40,000 times. So I think for the people who had the privilege to be able to do this perfect day, it seemed to help them. But anyway, it was controversial. So I think that's a good way to go viral. I mean, I'm not saying that you want to be an extremist or hurt anyone's feelings intentionally or anything like that. But that that lady's recommendation was right.
Another recommendation that this lady made on how to go viral, which is very interesting is she said to make a spelling error, which is kind of fascinating, because she says you want to do something that stops people in their tracks. And mentally if you're reading and see an error, your brains gonna walk in on that, which I thought was very fascinating,
Phil
That you would do it on purpose. Normally, you try to avoid doing an on purpose.
Lauren
Yep. Yeah. What are some other tips?
Phil
Those are two reasons, let's try to get to five between the two of us.
The third one, it doesn't sound exciting, but we'll unpack a little bit, you have to be relatable. And I generally hate that advice from people be relatable. We know, but let's actually unpack it. Taking that a step further, so that you know how to identify those moments. It's the moments that you think to yourself about something or you reflect on something that just happened, right? You go, I don't know, something you notice, but maybe you do it almost subconsciously. It's really important as a content creator to inventory those moments, because those often make the best forms of content. It could be something funny your pet does that other people's pet does. It could be something that's so universal. I don't know. Something involving toilet paper or something involving universal human truths that you might giggle about, or you might think about to yourself, or you need to inventory those moments and go ‘that'd be great content’.
Lauren
Yeah, completely. And the same also, maybe this is number four is creating advice or recommendations or hacks that are simple but valuable. I think of one viral video I saw on TikTok that has changed my life completely changed my life. We put our garbage bags, trash bags in our garbage bins incorrectly, I used to open the bag, put it in, put down the top and then hook the edges around. But you actually don't have to do that. You put it on like a little hat and then push down on the garbage bag. You know how usually we like fling the garbage bag, so it opens and separates, and then we'd like drop it into the garbage bin. We don't have to do that. It's actually when you do that the bag is inside out.
Phil
So explain again how you do it properly.
Lauren
You open up the garbage bag, and you put it on top of the garbage bin like it's a little white hat and then you push it in. And then that's the right way to put it on. And it's so much easier. But anyway, overall, it feels like I'm probably not explaining this well, but in no way helped. Yeah, so you put on like a little hat.
Phil
Well, so my viral moment on TikTok, there's only one of them, and that was an easy hack.
Lauren
That did amazing. Got over 3 million views.
Phil
Yeah, I think almost five, but who's counting bananas. But it was a moment I just inventoried. And when I wondered if other people also put the butter on the hot meal that’s served on. That's how you melt the butter for thats stale bread, you know, and then there's never enough room, right? That there's always garbage everywhere and you have to unpack the plastic wrapping. So I always use a plastic bag of the utensils to keep all the garbage gathered in one place. That TikTok went viral.
Lauren
Immediately sinful, but useful.
Phil
I also would have never come up with that stuff on my own. It was just because I was in the moment on an airplane. I thought I wonder if other people do this. I don't have Wi Fi or anything. So I'll whip out my phone quickly. Just make a little TikTok about it. That was ages ago. But it worked.
Lauren
Did you actually posted it while you're on the plane?
Phil
No. I had to save it as a draft. And then I posted it as soon as I had Wi Fi.
Lauren
Unbelievable.
Phil
Yeah.
Lauren
But it's cool because you were inspired at the time.
Phil
I was inspired to know if other people did it. So it could just be the simplest thing. We all have those moments in our day. It's important to not just think those moments, but also just inventory them.
Lauren
Mm hmm. I would say are we on number five?
Phil
We're already on number five.
Lauren
Okay, so for this one, and maybe we edit here is I think it's important to follow your instincts in the moment if you have an inkling or something that you want to say. So your viral video is a perfect example. You were in the moment. You thought, Hmm, I wonder if anyone else does this. I'm going to just document this. And I'm just going to film it as soon as it's up.
Phil
Instead of writing down the idea coming back to it a month later, and then forgetting that it's useless if you don't act on it right away. It's useless because you won't remember the intricacies of that moment that people are going to connect with.
Lauren
Completely. Every single time that I've gone viral. It's the weirdest thing. It was absolutely unplanned. And almost every single time I came up with the idea less than an hour after I posted my plan thing, and it just came to me and then I post I just posted it and was well, I just I don't want to wait to publish this. I'm just gonna get out there. Like it was completely spur of the moment. Never planned before. And yours is the same way. And I feel like with everyone naturally that I know who has ever gone viral. It's just you follow your instincts. It's the weirdest thing.
Phil
Yeah. And you act quickly before you forget the idea. Yes, I think that's good. I think these are all strategies that people can apply to their content and without any expectation of going viral but just create the best content. You can we both can relate to the fact that what we think is the crappiest content usually performs the best and vice versa. You might put a lot of effort into something that goes nowhere.
Lauren
I know, one of my recent ones I'm not wearing makeup and my face is just plastered everywhere screenshots of my makeupless face all on Twitter. It's never when you plan for it to happen that you end up going viral.
Phil
Always. I wonder if those agencies, you know, big brands that hire these agencies to, create the perfect viral moments. It is so much work if you want it, but it's when you least expected that it's more likely to happen.
Lauren
Yeah, yeah, Murphy's Law.
Phil
But good rules of thumb to apply to all of your content. A fast episode today and easy listen. Hopefully you found this useful, some tips on ways to make your content viral. We'd love to hear from you. Are you going to try any of these? Tag us and let us know.
You know where to find us #brandtherapy I'm @philpallen
Lauren
I'm @thelaurenmoore
Phil
We hope you've enjoyed this episode. Hope you've enjoyed all of our episodes. By the way we have so many episodes now you should think of our catalogue as little backlog of things you can go back and and find some stuff on specific topics so don't be limited by what we're just publishing nowadays. Also go back and take a look. If you enjoyed this episode and other episodes leave us a review five star, five star. That helps other people discover this podcast we work hard to create for you.
Until next time, we'll see you here onBrand Therapy. See you then.
Lauren
Bye bye