What if you could put your brand in front of millions overnight? Viral marketing can make this dream a reality—but it can be a hard nut to crack. When it comes to going viral, there’s a balance of careful planning and luck involved. Here are the fundamentals of viral campaigns, including actionable viral marketing strategies to amplify your brand’s reach.
What is viral marketing?
Viral marketing is the practice of creating content (typically videos) designed to spread quickly across social media networks through word of mouth and social sharing. Viral campaigns spread like a virus: organically, from person to person.
How can you tell if your brand's content has truly gone viral? In social media marketing, a video or a piece of content is considered viral content when it gains more visibility through organic sharing than through paid advertising or existing follower bases. Viral content doesn't have to be shared by everyone across the globe. If it’s shared within your target audience—those who are most likely to engage with and amplify it—it can still be considered viral.
Indicators of viral content include increases in social media engagement metrics, such as shares, likes, comments, and follower growth.
Pros and cons of viral marketing
Viral marketing can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can result in massive reach at a very low cost—your brand can tap into new audiences it may not have been able to reach with traditional marketing. Because viral marketing generates high engagement, it also builds your brand’s community and can often feel more authentic than paid ads or polished campaigns. Viral marketing rarely happens by accident, because brands need to understand their target audience and carefully plan content that aligns with their interests.
On the other hand, the response to a viral campaign can be unpredictable. Even if it reaches millions, there’s no guarantee it won't generate negative buzz. And while you might get a surge in new followers, they may not translate to sales—especially if the viral content isn’t aligned with your product.
Best practices for viral marketing campaigns
- Test your viral content at scale
- Hook viewers quickly
- Measure your viral marketing campaign performance
- Know your target audience
- Keep your finger on the pulse
Every brand craves exposure, but if you’re going to go viral, make sure it’s for the right reasons. Here are five ways to maximize your content’s odds of going viral while minimizing potential downsides:
Test your viral content at scale
It will take time to hit your stride. Create and publish lots of content to determine what clicks with your audience. Not every video will be a hit, but as Kat Kavner from food company Heyday Canning Co. notes, it’s important to get comfortable with discomfort.
“Our first big marketing moment to come out of the gate with being a viral TikTok success is pretty darn good. We won’t always do that,” Kat says on an episode of the Spotify Masters podcast. “We’ll do other things in the future, and maybe they’ll totally flop. But I think it’s really important that we just get comfortable with that risk.”
Once you have a better understanding of what things catch on, replicate them. Don’t be afraid to post the same video format multiple times with slight tweaks.
For example, when Heyday Canning identified that recipe content performed well with its audience, it doubled down.
“On our socials, we try to do a lot of recipe content of people just opening up the can and whipping up a really delicious-looking meal,” Kat says.
Hook viewers quickly
Viewers have short attention spans—you have around five seconds to hook them. Make those first seconds count with creative content, strong visuals, and surprising elements that interrupt their scrolling and keep them watching.
For example, social media posts by Etong Capsule House have repeatedly gone viral for featuring non-sequitur hooks—openers so irrelevant that you can’t help but wonder about the connection. Yet, they always cleverly link back to their product.
Measure your viral marketing campaign performance
A key goal of viral marketing is an increase in social media followers who may convert into customers. The best way to gain followers is to increase engagement. Views, likes, shares, and comments drive engagement, expanding your reach and attracting more followers.
Here’s the viral marketing path:
1. Engagement leads to reach.
2. Reach leads to followers.
3. Followers lead to sales (over time).
Use social media reporting tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social to measure engagement on your posts and identify content that resonates and drives positive outcomes. This way, you can do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
Know your target audience
Cat videos might easily go viral, but they’re unlikely to benefit your brand unless you sell cat-related products. To effectively reach the right audience, your marketing content should align with your products or your target audience’s interests. Whether it’s cooking tutorials like Heyday Canning’s or unboxing videos, ensure your content matches your offerings.
Know your target audience inside out. If you do, you’ll be able to connect with potential customers on the right platforms. Conduct in-depth research and create buyer personas to inform your marketing strategy with their interests, pain points, and preferred social media channels.
Keep your finger on the pulse
Social media is a fickle field. It’s hard to predict what’s going to go viral online. You can’t force it, and no one wants to be seen as chasing trends—or worse, trying to cash in on a popular trend past its peak. Success depends on reaching the right audience with the right content at the right moment.
Successful campaigns that “meet the moment” are more likely to go viral. Experiment with viral marketing by trend jacking—leveraging a popular trend while using sounds or formats that are already exploding on social media. For example, when brands capitalized on the “it’s corn” audio to increase visibility.
Real-world example of viral marketing
When Heyday Canning Co. shook things up with its viral marketing campaigns, it opened up a literal and figurative can of beans. The company embraced viral marketing with its Bean Swap pop-up event in New York, encouraging people to exchange cans of beans for free products. Heyday then donated the collected cans to City Harvest, turning a marketing stunt into a charitable act.
“For us, the objective of the pop-up was very much to cut through the noise on TikTok,” Kat says. “We really wanted to create an experience that we felt had a high probability that people would capture and create user-generated content if they went.”
And that’s exactly what happened.
The brand's TikTok videos about the event received more than 230,000 views. More importantly, they reached a highly engaged audience. People wanted to share videos showing that they were a part of the event, creating content for additional word-of-mouth marketing.
“We ended up with a line around the block,” Kat says. “We sold out of all of the beans that we had shipped out for the store on day two, and we still had two days to go. We had to overnight more beans out to the store.”
Kat’s advice is to set clear goals to make viral marketing work. Once you know your North Star, you can brainstorm fun, engaging viral marketing techniques to create a successful viral marketing campaign the world wants to share.
Viral marketing FAQ
What is viral vs. buzz marketing?
Buzz marketing and viral marketing go hand in hand. Buzz marketing is an offline strategy to get people talking about your brand. Viral marketing specifically relates to spreading content online through social media platforms. Buzz marketing aims to build awareness but isn’t built with social media and shareable content at its core.
How do you start viral marketing?
Start viral marketing by getting to know your target audience. Once you know what content interests your audience, create a high volume of content to test which formats perform best. Iterate and make similar content when you find a theme. Lean into what works, and don’t be afraid to replicate it. Look up viral marketing campaign examples for inspiration.
What is the difference between viral marketing and guerilla marketing?
Guerilla marketing uses the element of surprise to raise awareness, often in person and in unexpected places, like a flash mob at a trade show. In contrast, viral marketing is about spreading content, like a viral video, organically and quickly on a social network. Guerilla campaigns can go viral, but the campaign activity itself is not a viral marketing campaign.
