Social media marketing is a constant in modern-day marketing.

Businesses from all industries, and from all corners of the world understand the power of social media as a marketing platform, and that is why it is tapped and utilized strategically.

Being viral is what’s hot when it comes to social media marketing.

Being viral means that your campaign has reached far and wide, and had engaged a lot of users. Being viral, in a sense, means that your social media marketing campaign is effective.

Your goal for this year then is to go viral.

But before we jump into how we can help you go viral on your social media marketing, let’s go back to what went viral in 2017.

This will give us a decent foothold of what will unfold this year. Understanding what happened in the past should be a lesson in the future.

All takeaways should serve as a guide for business planning that you should follow henceforth.

What did you miss, and what can you improve on further? Here are last year’s social media trends for you to ponder on:

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality, or the addition of computer-generated input to the real world, was hot in 2017.

We have Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook who tapped added augmented reality as camera effects, giving a different sense of engagement.

Apple also launched their Animoji together with their iPhone 8 and iPhone X line which was a hit for users.

Instagram and Facebook Stories

Users found Stories as a fun and engaging feature of Instagram and Facebook.

It’s a whole new way of users telling their followers of where they are and what they’re doing at the moment, and a lot of users feel that this feature allows them to connect more.

Stories complemented live streaming and the harmony was great.

Influencer Marketing

Endorsements from celebrities and famous personalities found its way to social media platforms.

The success of influencer marketing was very evident in 2017. Content by influencers easily went viral and truly engaged a lot of users.

Social Media Messaging Platforms

We’ve seen brands who were very active in connecting with social media users through messaging platforms in 2017.

It is a direct way to communicate with customers and is an effective way at that. Businesses found it beneficial to directly be reached by customers so that their questions and concerns can be addressed in a timely manner.

This also made customers more engaged with these businesses.

Why do you post?

To go viral, you would have to post a lot of relevant and significant posts to your business and your target market.

But why should you? In the realms of social media marketing, for example, engaging your potential customers is key, and posting content is the best way to do so.

Your posts can easily reach your potential customers, and they can easily be shared to reach even more potential customers through Facebook Advertising.

And this is the beauty of social media marketing. So your mission, if you wish to benefit from social media marketing, is to post as much quality posts in a timely manner.

Why do you want to go Viral Online?

We mentioned that being viral means that your campaign has reached far and wide.

This means that your content has engaged numerous users, gaining massive views, likes, shares, and comments.

In one way or another, this is a measure of success for a marketing initiative, right?

Your goal for your social media marketing campaign is to engage its vast user base.

Going viral is exactly this.

That is why in 2018, strategize your social media marketing campaigns in order for them to go viral, making your marketing efforts successful.

How to go Viral on Social Media?

To organically go viral, you would have to come up with the right content, at the right time, and hope for the best that a little catalyst that can make your content appeal to as much use as possible.

Sounds a bit vague?

We’re prepared to share some tips to help you achieve just that!

Here is a bunch of tips on how you can go viral on your social media plan for 2018 and beyond:

1.      Know and understand your target audience

The first step to help your content become viral is for you to know and understand your target audience. Doing this will help you know what kind of content appeals to them the most.

Understanding your target audience is also set your target market.

Your product and service offerings are designed with a specific target market in mind – whether it be by gender, age, lifestyle, interests. Basically, your target market is also your target audience.

This makes total sense as they are your ideal customers anyway.

Theoretically speaking, this is easy.

But it actually takes a lot of effort. You can post all you want but you may not be able to reach your target audience.

There are tools out there that can help your marketing initiatives reach your target audience. Paid Facebook advertising, for one, can help your ads be visible to specific industries, users with specific interests, a specific location.

When your ads reach your ideal customers, then it is very very likely that they will connect with you by following your business page.

2.      Choose the right social platform

There are many different social media platforms out there and each has their own features that make each more preferable than the other to various users.

Choosing which one is the best for you is more of a personal choice of where you would like to be active on.

Instagram is known for getting a lot of engagement, and for being full of high-quality images and videos.

Facebook works well with Instagram, and also allows you post various content including textual ones.

Younger generations love Snapchat. Pinterest is best for home and fashion products.

Each of the social media platforms has various features that make each distinct from the other.

It’s a matter of choosing where you wish to focus on.

But nothing’s stopping you from using them all. Just make sure that you will have the time and resources to maintain all of them.

Aim for quality social media marketing, not a mediocre presence on all platforms.

3.      Develop an opinion and forget about trying to please everyone

Even in social media marketing, you cannot please everybody. Even viral posts have their fair share of negative reactions.

So when you make posts, don’t be pulled down by what others may think. Make a stand for what you think is right.

4.      Jump onto one of the trends with an awesome piece of content.

2018 trends are bound to surface sooner or later.

And when one of them do, join in on the bandwagon! Make a content related to the trend.

To do this, however, you will always have to be on the lookout for what’s hot. You should always be in-the-know.

Know the popular hashtags, be on big events, and be aware of top world news.

Be abreast with what’s going on out there and you will definitely know the trends sooner than your competitors.

5.      Like, Share, Retweet your Content through Influencers

We saw how influencer marketing was big in 2017.

We see that it would be hotter in 2018. So network with influencers and make your content go viral.

There are lots of social media personalities and celebrities out there that you can tap.

For best results, tap those whose values correspond with your own values, and whose background is aligned with that of your business.

If you are able to find the right influencer to partner with, then you’d definitely benefit from this.

6.      Be creative in the viral act

Creativity is appreciated in the realms of social media marketing.

Come up with something unique and it is bound to gain a lot of attention.

You will have to think out-of-the-box and come up with content that would shine above the rest.

It will be quite a challenge but when the idea pops out, it is bound to be worth it.

7.      Get Involved, Listen and Act fast.

Again, it really is essential for you to know a trend as soon as it surfaces.

Being late on a trend would definitely ruin your chances on benefits out of it.

That’s why we would recommend to you yourself become active on social media.

You should have a team of social media managers who are always active, making them involved in the online community.

With that, you would be able to act fast and benefit greatly. It pays to be attentive and proactive.

GO VIRAL IN 2018 with our tips above

We want you to find success in your social media marketing endeavors.

Our tips above are designed to help you achieve just that so we hope that you grasp their worth. Going viral is one of the ways to know that your social media marketing initiatives are paying off so strategize your content well this 2018 and always aim to make it go viral.

It is very challenging to go viral but when you do, you’ll understand that this really is the goal that you should set all the time for your social media marketing.