Have you ever had the experience of reading an article, looking at the bottom where the social network “sharing” section resides, and feeling a little pang of jealousy when the Facebook button says “10K+”? Maybe you’ve thought to yourself- “Ten thousand plus Facebook shares! How did they do it?”
Perhaps you told yourself it’s not important, that viral articles are just a symptom of a larger problem. Maybe you thought that problem was the old Mark Twain adage “the masses are a***s,” and whatever the general public wants is probably not good quality anyway.
You’re not alone, and in some ways, you’re not wrong. Much of the time, articles that go viral are nothing more than fluff; cotton candy for the mind. But sometimes, you come across a viral article that is excellent, intellectual, and even complex. The truth is, you don’t have to cater to the folks who only want to read about twerking. You can write about things that matter and enjoy watching your name be seen by thousands or even millions of people.
But, you may ask, why should you fret over it? What’s the point? Well, having an article go viral isn’t just good for the old self-esteem; it’s also dynamite for your career as an author. As artists, we sometimes don’t want to admit the reality in which we now live; the reality of “social.” No matter your feelings about social networking, electronic readers or, in fact, anything digital, it’s important to accept that if you want to make it as a writer, you must embrace all of those things wholeheartedly. Editors want to know how many Twitter followers you have; publishers expect you to use all of your social networks to market your own writing, and those in hiring positions are more apt to choose you if you’re social-media savvy. Being able to write viral articles is a vital piece of the current “social obsession” pie.
Of course, no one wants to “sell out” and write an article just so it will go viral, so how do we write about meaningful subjects while still attempting to create a piece that will make someone hit the “share” button? Here’s how.
Choose your topic wisely by studying trends
The number one concern in selecting a topic is picking one about which people will care. There are several ways to do this. The first way is to use existing websites that show what’s trending on social media. Bottlenose, for example, offers free software you can install on your computer that analyzes and consolidates Twitter trends. You can conduct searches, scrutinize topics and view connections between keywords. Another fantastic tool is Google Trends. (http://www.google.com/trends/) If you see anything there that interests you, go for it.
Trending topics stand a much better chance of going viral than non-trending topics, but there are exceptions, the most important of which is under-reported topics. An under-reported topic is that sparkling gem you come across on Facebook that takes you by surprise. This could be a little-reported news story that your friend shared, a blog post by someone about an important idea, or a breaking health or science discovery that the mainstream has not yet picked up on. If you stumble across one of those, grab it and run!
Title is King
The title of your article can make or break a piece going viral. Spend time on your title and carefully consider what you yourself would click on. Think “provocative.” The title is what will make someone open your piece…or not. Some examples of real viral titles include:
Fibromyalgia Mystery Finally Solved!
Nelson Mandela-Death, Dishonesty and Denial
NASA Confirms-Superhuman Abilities Gained
You can see how each one of these titles makes the reader curious to know more. The title gives away just a tidbit of what’s inside, but provokes the person to open the story. You can see how these titles are much more interesting than:
Researchers Release a New Study on Fibromyalgia
Nelson Mandela Condition Unchanged
NASA Program Receives Additional Funding
By tempting the reader, you can almost ensure they will click on your story.
Find an Angle
So you’ve selected your topic, and it’s one that’s trending, but how can you make it different than every other article out there? You need to find an angle. For example, let’s take recently trending topic “Area 51.” This is a terrific topic, because it has been the subject of extreme fascination for many years. However, you wouldn’t want to do the “same old, same old” story about how area 51 is a secret hotbed of alien activity and cover up. That’s yesterday’s news. The topic was recently trending because the government admitted that there is an area 51. Their admission is going to lead to the declassification of a lot of documents. So how about focusing on “declassified?” Work that word into your title and also make sure to include the main keyword, “Area 51.” However, don’t stop there. Try to conjure up a unique angle to those keywords. Dig into the topic and research it. Was anyone opposed to the admission? Can you find any human drama to add into the mix? Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and ask for interviews, either. Having original quotes adds a lot of value to the piece.
And Speaking of Keywords…
Ah, keywords. They are the bane of the existence of most copywriters today. Keywords are like your annoying siblings who tag along everywhere; sometimes you wish you could be alone, but you’re responsible for their wellbeing. You can’t get rid of them, so you’ve got to learn to use them wisely. The fact is, keywords are necessary, but we don’t have to think of them as evil. Take the time to view some online tutorials about keyword density and Google guidelines. The best place to start is: http://moz.com/learn/seo. Moz is a company that offers a lot of free learning resources, and they know Google really well. Anyone who publishes online today also needs to get to know Google and what Google wants as it pertains to keywords. Think of Google like a deity to which we all must be prostrate. Learn to use keywords in your article in the right density, and you’ll be on your way to going viral in no time.
Share, Share, Share
Some of us have been dragged, kicking and screaming, into the world of social media. The fact that we have to use it to promote our work only adds to the potential for overuse. However, if we learn to properly balance our social media interactions, we can leverage this new medium into an extremely powerful marketing tool. Thus, it is imperative that we share our articles on all of our social media networks, and that we ask others to share our work too. If you don’t share your article on social media, the potential for it to go viral is drastically decreased. Share your article, tell your friends and family you want it to go viral, and ask them to share it on their wall and with their Twitter followers. Articles go viral this way every single day, and yours can too. Your own best friend, spouse or relative can be the “patient zero” for an article that gets read by millions.
Of course, it goes without saying you need to make your article 100% perfect; that is, free from grammatical and spelling errors. It’s also obvious that you’ll want to write engaging and fun content. Additionally, articles that are longer than 500 words are seen as more valuable and are more likely to go viral.
It might seem like a lot of work, but in the end, having your article read by huge numbers of people makes it all worth it.
