What All Businesses Should Know About Going Viral

Going viral is sought after by businesses and individuals alike and for a variety of reasons. However, you should approach going viral by throwing caution to the wind to ensure that you make a positive impression that will help your business (and not hurt it).

Here we'll let you know the pros and cons of going viral and a few steps you can take to get started.

The pros of going viral

• You’ll get more brand exposure and traffic to your e-commerce website, and this means you get more revenue whether you are selling a product or looking for potential clients.

• You can boost your SEO efforts and improve your rankings.

• You can grow your email list (which is one of the number one ways to get customers to convert).

• You'll grow in popularity and soon, people will be seeking your services versus you always looking for the ideal customers.

• Other pieces of your brands quality content will get recognition.

The cons of going viral

• You'll bring out the critics. While you'll see a lot of love from your current and new fans when going viral, be prepared for the negative comments to roll in.

• Your site will slow down if you aren’t prepared with the right server for the amount of traffic you’ll be bringing in.

• You’ll have more bogus spammers than ever before. People will see your newfound popularity as an opportunity to promote their brand through your comments.

The steps to get more online exposure

Now that you have a rough idea of the pros and cons, you can start designing a plan for creating viral-worthy content. There are plenty of amateurs that get the job done, but when it comes to businesses, you'll want to be unique to the individuals who set up a camera and wait for their kitten to do something adorable.

You’ll want to strategize a little more over the content that you intend to resonate with thousands of people.

Here are a few steps to help you create viral-worthy content:

Step #1: It all comes down to how well you arouse the emotions of your audience. Going viral is much more common in articles and videos that surprise the audience in a positive way.

Before you start persuading your audience to share your content, be sure to have a complete understanding of what their triggers are and what your ultimate goal is.

Step #2: Make the content for your specific customers. It can be easy to have a universal frame of mind when designing the content you want to reach thousands of people, but you still want your ideal customers to find value in what you offer.

Think about a detailed “how to” tutorial, an infographic packed with useful information, or a long blog post directed at solving a problem.

Step #3: Don't rush the process. If you ask professionals how long it took them to create viral content, you'll be surprised that some will tell you six months or more.

That's because they've taken the time to do the research and create something of real value for their customers. Remember, this isn't a blog post written in an hour; it's a thoroughly thought out plan that will take attention to detail to execute. Details go all the way down to the which content management system for ecommerce that you select.

Step #4: Find an influencer in your industry to present the content to. One great way to amp up your efforts is to find someone in your industry that your ideal customers respect, and then share your content with them.

You can send a letter introducing yourself and what your goals are. While some people may turn you down or not respond, when you do get an influencer on social media to share your content, it will be worth the approach as they do not want to miss one of the best ecommerce business ideas.

Step #5: Focus on quality. Whether you're writing tutorials or creating a video, you want your brand to come across as professional, and nothing can deter that more than low-quality writing, images, and video productions.

Either take the time to hire someone who knows how to produce responsive material for the mobile web, or learn how to do it yourself.