How to infect readers with viral content?

Some marketers consider viral content is the Holy Grail of marketing. And it is easy to understand why. You launch the content, and the people themselves begin to spread it and it will fly until you collect millions of views. Millions of views without investing in paid promotion. Of course it's cool!)

But I would not take this into account when planning marketing strategy. It is a pleasant side effect that can happen with well thought out content. But this chance is very difficult to calculate and predict. If you want to use viral content you play the lottery.
However, by happy coincidence, those parameters that make the content viral, are also indicators of quality content. Therefore, the creation of viral content as part of an overall strategy, great idea, even if you don't win the viral jackpot.
Below we will talk about 4 ways to create quality content that can become viral.

Beautiful data

Today the average person has access to more information than ever in history. It is an ocean of facts, figures and statistics, and most people drowned in them. If you are able to get information to a large audience and display it in a beautiful, functional and simple form, then you have a good chance.
Example: The Baby Sleep
Redditor Andrew Elliott tracked the sleep of their newborn baby within 4 months, then brought the data in the form of a circle. Each full turn represents one day. Blue noted the sleep cycle, orange Wake.

On the first lap, you can see that the first days are chaotic, but in the last laps in the daylight hours baby mostly awake, and at night, mostly sleeping. Data visualization Andrew is still very popular and has many positive reviews.

To take a position

A survey was conducted of over 1000 consumers to learn what causes people to form emotional bond with the brand. The main reasons were this:

• Feeling that the company cares about people like me.
• The feeling that the company has a positive impact on the world.
  If we want to create an emotional connection with our audience, it is important to think not only about the product. Content that will give people an emotional connection, has good viral potential.
  Example. A company selling sports goods, had an unexpected marketing campaign. They announced that their stores will be closed on black Friday. They created a company #optoutside to encourage people to enjoy life and relax after Thanksgiving, not to storm the shopping centers for TVs. It was a very bold decision, on the one hand the company lost profit on sales increased. The hashtag #optoutside has become very popular and many other companies have followed suit. They found the response and the target audience.

Humor

One of my favorite quotes about humor in marketing: "If you think that the jokes will not work for Your brand, ask yourself: will it work for Your customers?”
In my opinion, 99.9% of people love a good joke. Quite a few people, to entertaining content has become a full virus. I agree that humor is difficult enough, it is necessary to consider tone, audience, relevance. But if you succeed, you win!

Call emotions

Think about the users creating the content. Call them emotions: joy, anticipation, affection, fear, shame, surprise, inspiration. Such content attracts, makes you want to share, motivates the discussion and dissemination.
And once again, viral content is not a marketing strategy. This is what can come of good material, but maybe not.
Instead of having to rely only on viral content, it is better to learn common techniques and use them to create content. Interesting presentation of information, clear position, a little bit of humor and human interest are the building blocks of great marketing content.

Good luck!