Lecture 18 Introduction to Social Media Marketing PDF

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Dr Shoaib Yousaf Lecture 18.  Learning Objectives 1. What is viral content? 2. Why viral content is important for businesses? 3. What are the elements that made content viral? 4. How to make content viral for...

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Dr Shoaib Yousaf Lecture 18.  Learning Objectives 1. What is viral content? 2. Why viral content is important for businesses? 3. What are the elements that made content viral? 4. How to make content viral for social media?  What is Viral Content? The term “viral” refers to something that spreads quickly. It involves creating content that catch audiences on various platforms, primarily social media. Promoting channels include TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, where content can get public recognition in less time than traditional methods. Viral content is emotionally rich, surprising or unexpected, creative, valuable, and easily shareable. These attributes inspire audiences to share the marketing message, which leads to exponential growth for the company, as audiences’ exposure defines digital marketing trends.  Continue Viral content is a term used to name content that has become very popular in a very short period of time, usually due to a high degree of user engagement. Usually, it is new and never-before-seen content that generates attraction and controversy in a large part of the public on the internet. Viral marketing campaigns rely on creating content that is interesting, unique, and compelling enough to encourage people to share it with their friends and followers. This can be done through a variety of formats, such as videos, images, memes, articles, or games.  Examples 1. A cosmetics company E.L.F. ran a hashtag challenge on tiktok, #eyeslipsface, that amassed 7 billion views and 5 million UGC in just over a week. This will increase its current $300 million per year in sales through social media. E.l.f., in part to its low price point as compared to Revlon and L'Oréal. 2. Gymshark’s Change your life campaign gained 45 million views in 3 months on Tiktok with 100 million likes. 3. When people got stuck at home due to Covid-19, Zoom came up with a great social media campaign contest and giveaway.  Continue 4. Duolingo’s is a language learning platform The free, fun, and effective way to learn a language! Viral videos have gained 260 million likes on tiktok. 5. Children song baby shark goes viral with a views of 15.3 billion on youtube. 6. Iphone launch a challenge users of iphone to take a pictures and send it to social media #shotoniphone and got 30M posts on instagram.  Continue 7. Turkish butcher Nusret Gocke as “Salt Bae” It garnered over 16.5 million views on Instagram. 8. The Ice Bucket Challenge-This campaign was created to raise awareness and funds for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). The challenge involved people filming themselves pouring ice water over their heads and throwing a challenge to do the same and donate $10 or skip the water and donate $100. The Ice Bucket Challenge raised over $115 million for ALS research, which was a significant and measurable impact. It went viral in July and August 2014, using social media as a platform to reach a worldwide audience. More than 17 million people posted videos online, including Bill Gates and former president George W. Bush  Why is viral content important for businesses? Reasons why going viral is a benefit for your business: 1. You will reach an entirely new audience of people. When your content starts to go viral you not only reach the people that already know and love you and your brand but you reach millions of other people that never could have known you existed without that virality. 2. Your products will sell out. Oftentimes this will cause whatever product or service you are promoting in that video to explode and even sell out. I have watched products sell out globally all because one video hit over 10 million views. 3. The viral piece of content is a blueprint for all of your next content. Once you were able to have a piece of content go viral for your business, now you have an idea of what type of content works really well for your brand. So now you can start recreating content to match that initial video or you can start testing other ways to create content to go viral based upon what worked well in that particular piece of content.  What are the elements that made content viral? 1. Social currency. Knowing about and sharing interesting content makes us look good to our peers. It can establish us as thought leaders and trendsetters, or at least people who are "in the know" about all the cool stuff. It fulfills our need to belong. 2. Triggers. Our brains are wired to pay attention to certain images and ideas, and any content that taps these triggers is likely to get shared. It could be something humorous, surprising, or outrageous and angering. We share that because we responded to it ourselves. 3. Emotions. The marketing technology company, Unruly, found that videos that stir an emotional response, positive or negative, are more likely to be shared. Since our brains are wired to respond to emotional triggers, your content needs to inspire some sort of emotion.  Continue 4. Public. If we see a lot of people sharing content, we're more likely to share it ourselves. A post with a lot of shares and comments is more interesting, and we're more likely to trust it. 5. Practical value. Focus on being useful and valuable more than being entertaining. Do a quick search for tips or hacks on your favorite hobby, and chances are, someone has done a video on it with thousands of views. 6. Storytelling. People are drawn to narratives and content that tell a story. It's ingrained in us. Before we ever had a written alphabet, we told stories to share knowledge. And that still resonates with us today.  How to Make Content Viral for Social Media? These would not guarantee your content goes viral, but viral content has these things in common. 1. Be authentic. Skip the flashy marketing tactics and just be yourself. Let your brand personality show in your content. Show your human side and connect with your audience on a personal level. People will share content from a brand they can trust. 2. Laughter, Awe, and Surprise. If it makes people laugh or feel inspired, they're more likely to share it. Sad content does not go viral as easily. Positive emotions win out. 3. Outrage and anger. You only have to see the state of social media to see that anger and frustration are gaining clicks. Don't use negativity for negativity's sake. Generate outrage in a respectful way, but just know you could alienate a lot of viewers, too.  Continue 4. Keep it short and sweet. According to a Microsoft study, we now have an attention of roughly 8 seconds. That means your content needs to grab people's attention right away. Also, keep your content concise and to the point — short videos, infographics, and updates. 5. Heavy on the visuals. Visuals are captivating. This is why videos perform better than written text. Share your report findings in an infographic, do demo videos, and invest in a stock photo subscription. 6. Tell a story. Stories are powerful because they carry underlying messages and lessons. They let us connect with characters, feel emotions, and learn new information. Weave a short story like a case study or customer success story into your content to make it memorable.  Continue 7. Make it sharable. Your website or social platform needs to make things easy to share. One thing I don't like about Instagram is that there is no re-share button, not like Twitter or Threads. Make sharing buttons easy to find on your website, too. 8. Be strategic about hashtags. Using too many hashtags looks spammy and desperate. But, relevant hashtags can reach your target audience. Never use more than four, and be sure to research which hashtags are gaining the most traction first. 9. Collaborate. Sometimes the best way to get noticed is to team up with someone who already has an audience. Work with industry influencers, vendors, or clients on a joint project or event. By sharing audiences, you can expand both parties' reach. 10. Timing. There are peak times when you should post on social media, depending on the platform and your audience. However, this is a moving target, so research when your target audience is most active online. Schedule your posts and use automation tools to cross-post. ANY QUESTION? Thank You.