Viral content is any piece of media that suddenly becomes an online sensation. You have almost certainly seen this happen — that indelible image or outrageous video that gets forwarded to you by a dozen friends in under an hour. The democratic structure of the Web has made this sort of thing commonplace nowadays, as a single text, tweet, status update, or link is all it takes to "gift" something amazing to everyone you know.
So yes, we have all seen bulldogs on skateboards and sneezing pandas. But what does this have to do with growing your business?
The Viral Vanguard
Quite a bit. Viral media is without question the single fastest way to vault your site to the top of the search engines. We have already established that inbound links are the most important factor in determining your search rank. The conventional way to earn those links is to slowly aggregate content that attracts attention and interest. This works extremely well and makes sense for most online companies, but there is also another speed available if you can strike gold. A perfect piece of content or media can easily net your website millions of inbound links in a matter of days. Think of it as lighting the afterburners on your SEO link-building efforts.
And there is another important benefit to SEO viral content besides that mammoth spike in rankings. Viral content goes viral in the first place because it is, by definition, incredibly compelling. The material is so good, so unique and worthy, in other words, that people actually feel compelled to recommend it across social sites like Twitter and Facebook. If you are the creator of this content, you stand to benefit from all that reflected starlight, grabbing thousands of enthusiastic new fans overnight.
So what could go wrong?
Viral Done Right
Well, two things. You could fail — that is, spend days, weeks or months creating something that barely makes a ripple. Or you could succeed, but at the cost of obscuring your core business. Maybe you have produced the perfect viral video of cats on a roller coaster. If your specialty is cosmetic surgery, what's the point?
This is where an experienced viral SEO content specialist is needed. Effective viral content is an art form. You want something that is both memorable AND that speaks to your company's brand, something that captures the zeitgeist of the day AND addresses the demographic you need. Like everything else in the world of SEO, viral content is creative work that requires a particular mix of energy, experience and imagination.
It is a tricky balance. Ad agencies get it wrong all the time. Movie studios get it wrong all the time. Sometimes we get it wrong too. But we're really, really good at it.
Breakthrough Content is a community of screenwriters, designers and artists with good values, great taste, and an uncommon sense of humor. To learn more about how your business can harness the power of viral SEO media, please contact the SMO experts of Breakthrough Content today.