Brands need to be quick and always aware of what the trends are in the digital world. Slow reaction times are missed opportunities, and missed opportunities could be the difference between hitting your targets and losing profits.
One such opportunity is a viral social post. This is content that takes over the web seemingly overnight, showing up in every social media feed where everyone talks about, shares, comments, and reacts to it repeatedly: the epitome of digital marketing success!
Let’s get into the why’s and how’s of viral socials — and how you can make the most of it as a PR opportunity.
Going Viral: Advantages
- Viral social media posts have several advantages. For one, the organic discussions on the post become open discussions, and shared opinions help brands connect with their audience. It creates rapport and relatability with an audience while providing an informal forum where a brand can gain insights.
- It increases brand awareness through the sheer number of engagements it creates and the views it accumulates. Eventually, this can help increase regular followers and loyal customers.
- The cost effectiveness of viral posts is incredibly positive; while not having to pay for hefty advertising channels, viral posts rely on creativity and originality, and the advertising from one post can continue for months on end (practically for free).
- The last advantage for now is the improved SEO rankings. Remember: SEO works on social media, too!
Turning Virality into a PR Opportunity
Viral social media posts can open doors towards increased customer loyalty and total revenue. Though the exact science to create viral content is not defined, there is a general strategy that applies to increase engagements. The important thing is that when a brand’s content does go viral, the marketing and PR team act on it.
How? To turn viral content into a PR opportunity:
- First, analyze what made that content in particular go viral. Check the data, read the comments, and find out where viewers paused or rewatched the video. What were the discussions centered around? Who or what was the content about, and did that personality contribute to the content going viral? Another important note is to analyze those who engaged with the content. What could be their likes or dislikes? Do they echo the sentiments of the larger demographic? Based on these theories, the brand can then shift its focus to other strategies or other targets. This creates the base for the evolution of a brand.
- When the analysis is finished, it is now time for a brand to put on hold their next scheduled post and to build up on the already viral post. Use the hype built by the first post to fuel the next several posts to come. Use the data and recreate the parts of the content that made it go viral, adding twists of creativity and originality to it.
A good point to take from this is to build even more on what works. Develop personas based on what the content was all about, then create more content based on those personas. If, for example, the data showed that the most reactions were because of a particular character, then the brand should develop the character even more while incorporating it into the brand image. It’s important to note that a brand image should stick to its original concept while tweaking it in a way that becomes more significant to the brand’s target market.
Yes, it’s important to be relatable, but if the brand loses its integrity and just goes with the sway of its audience, then it will end up losing the loyalty of its original target market. Adjust, but stay true to the brand image.
- There comes a point where an effective strategy is to use paid social campaigns using the organic viral content. A brand then rides of off the hype from the original viral content while gaining a boost. The theory is that if on its own the content did well, how much more when it has a system to boost it.
During this whole process, an important note is to record everything. Record all the data before, during, and after the initial viral content and succeeding content. This will map out what the PR team did right and what could have been done better. Learn as you go and develop strategies as your knowledge builds.
How a PR agency can help
The beauty of the world today is that many problems of companies before have been simplified and steadily perfected. Systems and branches within a business can be outsourced to other businesses that specialize in that system.
PR agencies for example have dedicated their whole being into perfecting public relations and advertising for other businesses. They have gained experience from a wide spectrum of industries and clients, and as such know the process and the tools to use for emerging brands.
Using a PR agency allows a brand to gain all the years of experience and tried and proven strategies, without all the trial and error and wasted time. Outsource for efficiency, so that a brand can then focus on developing itself in other areas.
Contact NGP IMC today and enjoy personalized, purposeful, and effective PR strategies that your viral moments into sustained impact.
Jem earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from the University of Asia and the Pacific. When h’s not sharpening his digital marketing skillset, he’s out writing technical articles or reading a good book (or two).
