After 15 million views, here’s what I learned about viral marketing
Good day!
TLDR; this is a post on viral marketing, and why it's only a small piece of the business growth process. Feel free to skip to the list if you don't care about an introduction.
Have you ever wondered what it's like when your product or service goes viral? I used to dream of the idea, that one day I would just wake up to over 1000+ new orders on my e-commerce store via marketing efforts, or by being discovered (somehow).
I know, screenshots or it never happened.
** I have others that buoy in the 100k+ range, but I will just go with the "trust me bro" approach for now lol.
I'll start off by saying my favorite platforms are Reddit, X, and Linkedin in that order. I use X, IG, and TikTok more for other things.
Well after experiencing it for myself I can tell you that 2 things ring true.
(1) Yes, depending upon the campaign, and its reaction, with appropriate CTA's, you can generate a lot of buzz, traffic, and sales.
(2) No, going viral doesn't inherently guarantee that you're going to get a ton of new sales.
My business unfortunately falls into category #2.
A brief examination of my business will quickly show you that our "productized service" isn't something that someone is going to view for the first time, only to whip out that good ol' Amex because they have the hots for our offering. If they do, get your lube ready, because you're about to get fucked taught a valuable lesson in "ideal client discernment".
In fact, after running my shop officially for 6 years (agency vet for 10), I have learned that it is quite the opposite. I'll get into why as I break down the reasons why viral marketing may not necessarily be the answer to help you grow your business. One more thing to add before I proceed, at one point, I did run sales and discounts on my orders, which pushed customers through the funnel to pay for design services rather spontaneously.
The problem with this is that the offering could never truly be fixed, or be "damned" if it did. For example, if I promised you (x) amount of app design for (y) price, this doesn't take into consideration the costs needed for errors and change orders, which are naturally a part of the product design cycle. It was for these reasons that I went from a fixed pricing model to a "time & material" model. We offer introductory prices, but in each product description we clarify that we iterate until the work is done, and the cost is billed by the hour. This doesn't include custom "statements of work", that are typically needed for larger enterprise clients.
Dude just shut up, and tell me the 9 reasons why going viral isn't sustainable!
You got it! Mind you, this list is far from exhaustive, and if there are any experts who have viral content experiences, please feel free to contribute to this thread. I am by no means a guru, just some rando who gets far too much out of shitposting on his favorite social platforms (Reddit & X). What this list is meant to reflect on is all of the "other things you need" to have in place when creating viral content. If you get lucky creating something that takes off, and don't have these other items in place, good luck, you just let a Mermaid back into the sea!
Calm kids down, here's the list:
Going viral for the right reasons. The type of content you put out quite often reflects the values you stand behind. You don't always have to go viral with a product directly or indirectly, but if you do, just realize that if you viral for cat stuff, well, it would be ideal that you sell cat stuff, or stand clear in your goals.
Having a funnel established. I'm sure you're aware of the AIDA sales cycle. Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action. If you don't already have a cache of data on your potential clients historically, understand that internet humans require a bit of hand-holding as they go surfing on the web. If you don't have a clear path, that aligns with subconscious behavior, your leads are 1-click away fucking off into the abyss (#madeinabyssisthemostuckeduphorroranime).
Having a profile that aligns with your goals. If you've never visited my profile, which I don't want you to (trust me), it clearly articulates why I am on Reddit. It's an important part of my business workflow. No, I never DM individually people asking them if they want app design or dev services. In fact, I am a strong believer that cold outreach "does not work well", so I don't do it. Instead, my profile is designed with a simple banner and logo, which reminds you that I have a cool service to offer, and if you are interested, let's connect!
Consistent branding from top to bottom. Sometimes we're not experienced in everything, and because of this, it's very easy to see someone who's gone viral to have a horrible website or landing page. In fact, it is quite normal to have a marketing expert not know shit about engineering, and vice-versa. This is okay, but not an excuse if you're aware of that gap. If you don't have the funds to hire an expert, then you [must] learn new skills or partner up. I recommend offering a "services exchange". Meaning, hey, I will pay for (x) design services, if you can assist me in (y) marketing services. Hungry boot-strappers do exist. I have 100 of them sitting in my inbox. I have even tried to make introductions, but shit gets lost, and the messaging experience isn't super on Reddit.
Product/service desirability. The question of the day! Do people actually give a fuck care about what you're selling? While I can confidently say yes, people love my services (for now), this can change overnight. If AI starts designing products and providing better services than me, I will be in big trouble. I am happy to recommend you go to my website, see what I sell, and do something similar. Do it as a value-add to your agency, or steal my ideas outright. If you're selling an e-commerce product, use TikTok Shop, or Pinterest to know what products are trending. They are both really fantastic ways of finding "winning products".
Product/service accessibility. Another important topic, is your product accessible? Now, I don't have a perfect answer for this, but even I have taken this into consideration. My website has "introductory packages", which at first glance may seem expensive, but compared to mostly all bespoke contracts that we create, it's next to nothing. Most enterprise contracts that we win require a custom SOW to be created, and different resources can range from $90 per hour to $250+ per hour. The best animators are super expensive and hard to find, so there's simply no choice but to bill crazy rates or risk losing money. I recommend you run a similar analysis for your product or service. Even if it's a paid analysis or a free consultation, give people something small to nibble on, before whipping out a big veiny contract full of $$$$ in their face. This will 100% scare people away.
Repetition at scale. I am willing to bet that if you create 20 posts, and you get one piece of content to get over 100k+ views, at least 50% (if not more) will have far less consumption. The same goes for over 1 million, not all of your content pieces will explode. A small percentage of them will. This is why it's important to have a consistent posting strategy. This ensures that you have a library full of interesting content for readers to consume at different stages in their "buying cycle". If you can do this consistently over time it can only help with growth.
The in-between action. When you're not busy creating viral content, you should be out participating in another creator's content. Like their work, comment on their work, and share their work. Engage with it, as this provides you with another opportunity to be seen through other networks while waiting for your next piece to explode.
Consumption cycles. This actually may not be true at all, but I am going to share it anyway. As a business owner, I feel comfortable that "things are going to go well" only about 1 - 3 days, out of 30 days in a month. I am never confident things will be alright. If any of you reading this post went through 2020 with a business (new/old the same) you know that everything can evaporate in an instant! With that being said, I have noticed that the majority of closed contracts take place between the 3rd, and 4th weeks of each month. Meaning most of the hard work is done during the first 1 - 3 weeks, with closing and coasting for the last 1.5 weeks or so. Take this information with a grain a salt, it's just something I have noticed to be consistent, in a world of inconsistency!
Phew!
That's it, friends. I really enjoyed writing this.
I don't write e-books, or blog much outside of posting on social media here and there. Feel free to shame me for grammar. This is the risk of not using GPT, I know...
I did create an Agency Growth Checklist. Inside it contains every high-level task I perform daily to ensure that I have at least 6,000 - 10,000 organic visits to my website each month for free, including my methods for finding clients "offline" as well. I have people asking me about these things daily, so I made a nice (V1) package of the items. I'll make updates to it over time, if you enjoyed your experience, it's a great way to support the effort.
**Note: Offline clients always pay better. On average an offline client will pay $50,000 - $200,000 over the lifetime of a relationship (I know people who make millions), while online clients typically max at around $25,000.00 over the course of a relationship.
I know there are others with more information than I can provide, but happy to have contributed in my own way.
Just don't forget to invite me on your yacht when the babes and blow arrive.
Merci.
,