If you thought going viral on social media could skyrocket your business, then think again!
We’ve all seen stories about how that ‘one post went viral’ and propelled a business or brand into the stratosphere. However, have you ever considered the downside to going viral? When we look at going viral in marketing, we’re looking at that one post that gets ten, twenty, or even a thousand times more views than everything else you ever posted.
Many marketers spend a lot of time chasing that elusive viral post that they’re hoping will elevate their business or brand, but what happens if you’re not ready for what follows? Going viral with little to no social media followers was a lot more possible ten years ago. However, social media companies such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, now use complicated algorithms that make getting that organic reach much harder.
If you already have a million followers, then getting the reach required to go viral on one of your posts is a lot easier than if you only have 100 or 1000 followers, due to algorithms imposed by social media companies.
It's Extremely Time-Consuming
Creating content for social media that goes viral is like finding a needle in a haystack. It’s almost impossible. Think about all the time you spend trying to create social media content that goes viral.
Now imagine that you put all that time into creating content your targeted audience wants to read or look at. You’ll get a much better ROI (return on investment) by creating content your audience will engage with.
You’re Not Building A Loyal Following
While going viral can get you a lot of followers or attention fast, it probably won’t last, and it might not convert to a loyal following. Therefore, creating content that directly appeals to your target audience and helps build a loyal following will be a better long-term investment.
Viral Attention Isn’t Always Positive
Despite what you hear, not all attention is good attention. A post going viral for all the wrong reasons could destroy your business or brand before it even gets off the ground floor. So be careful about what you post, and always consider what type of attention it could get.
For example, being controversial may work for celebrities, but it doesn’t typically do much good for businesses.
Viral Traffic Never Lasts
While a viral post on social media may propel your website statistics or profile views, they will drop back down almost as quickly. Sure, some of those people may follow your business or engage with your products or services. Still, that level of viral traffic is never sustainable, and getting multiple posts to go viral can be almost impossible.
Your Business May Not Be Ready
If you have a social media post go viral and your business isn’t ready to convert those numbers into sales, then it can be over before it even begins. If you’re selling a product or service and haven’t scaled up your business to handle hundreds of thousands of inquiries, then your post went viral for nothing.
Not only can you miss out on orders or sales, but increased traffic and attention can crash websites and lead to long waiting times. People want what they want, and they wanted it yesterday. If you can’t deliver a product or service because of a sudden increase in orders, it could leave your business open to receiving negative reviews from customers that have followed your business for a long time.
There you go! 5 great reasons why chasing the dream of going viral isn’t everything that it’s cracked up to be. If you have been dedicating a lot of time to creating content with the single goal of going viral, then consider changing tactics and focusing on creating content that leads to organic growth for your business or brand.
About 6° Media If you want to create a digital culture for your company that wins over customers' hearts, 6° Media is here to help. Our skilled marketing experts can foster your business's continuous growth at scale, on-budget.
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