For businesses to gain traction in the oversaturated social media space, it helps to go viral every once in a while. While skyrocketing to the top by gaining plenty of retweets, likes, shares, and comments is great for spreading brand awareness, this shouldn’t be your primary goal. This is because going viral involves a lot of luck, and rarely guarantees a return on investment.
However, if you are after long-term and surefire returns, crafting compelling, high-quality content is the best way to go. Prioritize creating ads and marketing ploys that would resonate with your target audience, and if they do go viral, then that’s just the icing on top of a fantastic cake.
You’re still not convinced? Here is an in-depth discussion of why creating engaging social media content is better than trying to have the next viral hit.
1. A Thriving Community Is an Engaged Community
Creating a strong community of followers who trust your brand should be your number one priority. Otherwise, your gold standard content will be for nothing. If your business is still in its startup phase, build your customers’ trust through continuous communication and constant feedback. Let them feel that your brand listens. Build a strong foundation, and eventually, the content that you put forth will be shared, liked, and retweeted organically.
2. Emotion Is the Key
The best content out there is worth liking and sharing because they’re emotionally engaging. They offer a glimpse of the human experience, may it be through humor, love, victory, pathos, or some good old drama. But try to cater to positive emotions as much as possible. People love to laugh and feel good.
3. Good Content Is More Visible to Relevant Customers
When advertising, one of your main goals is to be seen by the right people. Even if your post earns millions of views, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t reach your target audience and brings in actual customers. This can be done by managing your app settings. Also, you don’t need to utilize every single social media platform at your disposal if your potential customers aren’t there. Be smart in choosing the appropriate channels to spend ad money on.
4. Going Viral Does Not Always Equate to Success
If your goal for creating and posting is to get sensationalized, you’re in for quite a challenge. Granted, going viral does wonders in terms of advertising, but it doesn’t exactly generate any revenue. Plus, with so much content available online, the chances of you striking viral gold are pretty slim. Focus on making your content easy to read and share. Also, set realistic goals, like the number of users you want to reach, and spend accordingly.
5. Evergreen Content Resonates
There’s no secret formula to making viral content because in reality, popular videos and articles happen without even trying. The harder you try, the less your content would resonate with your audience. Instead, make your content evergreen. This means crafting content that stays relevant for a long time. It can sit in obscurity for eons, but be patient enough and it just might become the next online sensation.
Remember, your posts don’t have to go viral to get your message across. Determine which marketing strategies work best for your business, create content that is emotionally engaging and stays relevant for a long time, and before you know it, your business will eventually get the attention that it deserves.