the what , the why and the how of viral content

In my last article I was talking about digg'like websites and how to get them to work for you . And my suggestion was something in the realm of simply following the web , as much of it as possible and putting in the work . Submitting various slices of web and hoping they create a buzz . Which in turn will bring you the title of Big Kahuna on the block and a considerable amount of followers . Once you've done that the key was to write a digg'worthy article and submit it thus getting a considerable amount of visitors to your blog .

Sounds good in theory , right ? Well , it does . If it works - I don't know yet . As I said in my previous article this is just a theory . But assuming that it works and you can manipulate a digg'like platform in your advantage ... what would a digg'worthy article look like ?

We are , obviously , talking about viral content . So what is viral content ? Content that everyone talks about and everyone wants to see , right ?

image by talk2frank

There are 2 main categories of viral content out there . And they can be distinguished by the type of feedback they get .

The first type of viral content . This one gets emotion . Cut your arm and film it and it and people will want to see that ( although I strongly advise against that - you may still need your arm ) . Catch a crazy thing on film and post it . People will want to see this . Chances are it will get hundreds of thousands of views on it . This example belongs in the first category of viral content . It does not offer anything of real value , but some crazy laughs or something to that effect . It offers emotion , be it laughter , tears etc , etc .

And the second type of viral content is content that offers some information , offers value and gets people's attention ( e.g. a great tutorial on creating a wordpress template ) .

This is the kind of content we are interested in . This is what you need to provide . And , if you get your buzz and followers , this is the kind of content you will want to create . Why ?

It does 2 things . Let's take the wordpress template tutorial as an example . It's content of interest . There are a lot of people who want to know how to do that . The beauty of this kind of content is that it will create some instant buzz while at the same time building up over time , becoming a sort of : 'ahh , you want to do that ... then go there' .

This type of content has many things in common with the timeless posts that I discussed a while back , so I suggest you read that as well .

But enough chit-chat . Let's get down to the point :

What is viral content ?

• It's easy to understand ( needs no further documentation to understand , no background check ) .
• It's engaging , it makes people talk about it , creates buzz ( read lateral action's latest post for an overview on the right kind of buzz ) 
• It's worth sharing ( offers a certain level of reward to a person that shares it - something like 'thanks for sharing this with me , it really helped me/made me laugh/made me think/etc ) .
• It's relevant ( needs to be relevant to people that receive it , something they can either identify with or that affects their life's on some level , or that helps them ) .

Why viral content ( this is obviously the 'why would I provide viral content once I get my authority set' ) ?

• If it's viral , it's engaging . If it's engaging , it encourages comments . Comments are , as many people say , life source of a blog .
• Generates buzz around your blog which in turn brings inbound links . And we all love inbound links .
• Viral content is , by definition , made for sharing . And social media is all about sharing . You get what I'm saying , right ?
• If you've read the article on timeless post then you know what a timeless post is . And if you know what viral content is and you know what timeless posts are and , by some miracle , you manage to create content that has both of those qualities ... what do you get ? Large streams of traffic over time .

Now that we know what viral content is we have a better understanding of what digg'like content is . And we are one step further to getting our followers .

One more piece of advice is : keep your eyes on the front page of these sites . See what circulates . See what gets . But I already said this ;) .

Ohh , and assuming that you managed to get your followers and you are ready to create some viral content that will get you thousands of visitors and millions of dollars and that brand new home and the hot blonde with big boobs ... here's the How :

• Check out everyone else's viral content and see what works . There must be some clues that you can get from them , something they all have in common . 
• It's all about value , value and some more value . Stuff as much value as you can in as little space as possible . Avoid explanations and quotes and beating around the bush ( not the president , the actual bush ) and get straight to the point . Focus on what really matters .
• Try to be today not yesterday . Don't offer content that was relevant yesterday , no matter how funny or interesting it is . 
• It's all about quality . And quality does not necessarily mean just the content . Make sure your article/video/etc is in tip-top shape , starting with the title to every word or fade out you have in there . Spellcheck your article , make sure there are no pixels visible in your video , and so on .
• Ohh , did I mention the title ? Get a mind blowing title for your content .
• Make sure your article can be read and understood without further documentation . I already said that , didn't I ? Well , also make sure you offer relevant links and further info for the few people that might want to find out more .
• And , at last , just spread the word .