Episode 19:

Why Going Viral is NOT a Strategy


Listen, I totally understand the reasoning behind the desire to "go viral" on social media, but the thing with having your “purpose” be to go viral is that you are consistently going to be disappointed. Going viral is unpredictable, uncontrollable, and rarely does it result in long-term growth. In this episode, we talk about why going viral is not a strategy and talk about more predictable and strategic ways to grow an audience sustainably.


Side note, this episode is a replay of an Instagram Live I did back in March (because sometimes you've gotta work smarter not harder!) so the audio isn't as amazing as usual and there are some weird skips and things that happen as a result. If you'd like to watch the unabridged replay of the live you can just click here: WATCH LIVE REPLAY

The Bullet Points:

  • Going viral is unpredictable and unsustainable
  • Very rarely do you acquire your target audience members when you do go viral, often you end up getting followers who are flighty at best.
  • When I recorded this live, I had a Reel that was by anyone's estimation "going viral" (you can view that reel here) at the time it had 12k views, 800 likes, and 15 comments. It now has over 390k views, 7950 likes, and 123 comments. My audience did not grow appreciably during this time and the few folks who did end up following me because of that reel were not people who would ever buy my services.
  • Because going viral is quite unpredictable we often aren't able to use that virality to our benefit because we are unprepared for it.

IF YOU WANT TO GROW YOUR AUDIENCE WITH TARGET AUDIENCE MEMBERS THEN FOLLOW THESE TIPS:
  • Go live on Instagram with a partner who has a similar audience as yours. When you go live on Instagram with someone else, Instagram will alert both your audience and the audience of you partner that you are going live, so it's a really easy way to get new, qualified audience members.
  • Create reels that will resonate with your target audience. I have had a couple of reels that may not have gone viral but they did help me grow my audience with qualified leads because it was specific to them and their interests; in my opinion, these reels performed far better for me than the few that have gone "viral." You can see those reels here and here.
  • Make Sharable Content (including reels, posts, igtv videos). I have found that the posts I've made that have been shared the most have helped me grow my audience full of people who are qualified leads much faster than the few videos that have gone viral. Remember, birds of a feather flock together, so if your audience is full of qualified leads, their friends are probably also qualified leads.


The Main Takeaways:

Know your purpose for every piece of content you're making (and remember, "to go viral" is not a real strategy or purpose) and know your target audience and the kind of content they want to consume.


Watch the unabridged replay of this live below

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If you have any questions, feel free to email me at podcast@craftandcluster.com, and if you would like to learn more about me and my services, head to www.craftandcluster.com!


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