2 principles that makes content viral

 

How do you create interesting – even viral – content?

There are many techniques.

But the key principals driving all these techniques are two fold:

  1. Novelty
  2. Surprise

I’ll explain.

There’s an overabundance of content. Open your inbox, hop onto the social platforms, cruise around the web and we’re all bombarded.

And it’s getting worse.

If you’re a content producer, boredom is your enemy. It’s also your opportunity.

Because if you can produce content with lots of surprise and novelty… then people will engage with your content.

One of the best ways to make your content surprising and novel is to articulate a problem people are not aware of. Another way is to clarify an implication people are not aware of. And you do that by not just sharing great content – but by imparting wisdom.

Why wisdom?

Well, think about it. The only way you can share wisdom is if you know your subject cold. And you know your subject cold when you have boat loads of experience.

You see, it’s not good enough any more to mash up other people’s content… and create longer, deeper versions of stuff already published.

(This is called the “skyscraper method”).

You need to go deeper. You need to impart more richness. You need to create epiphany in the minds’ of your audience.

This is also the downside of using tools such as SEMRush or Buzz Sumo to do your market research. These tools only show you what people consciously know they want.

But epiphanies happen when you connect dots in your reader’s mind… that were NOT previously connected.

And, again, you do that if you’re sharing wisdom.

This is also why I often close off my emails with the subhead “The Lesson”.

It’s a nice way to summarise (and hopefully) fire off a light bulb in my reader.

THE LESSON

So go ahead and share your knowledge. But go deep… deep enough so it crosses the bridge to wisdom. Don’t rely on data tools for ALL your research. Dig into your life. Dig into your team’s experience. Share what’s raw to you personally… and then frame those as lessons for your readers to learn from.