everyone wants to go viral + that's the problem

everyone wants to go viral

brands obsess over it

agencies promise it

“gurus” sell courses on it

and a lot of the time, going viral is actually more harmful than beneficial - depending on context, as always

let me explain why this advice is outdated and why it keeps getting repeated anyway

the real reason brands want to go viral

—> it’s not about strategy; it’s about insecurity

it’s the typical bro-y, executive-brain thinking that wants immediate ROI on something that requires time, budget, trial and error, nuance, and actual creativity.

they see vanity metrics as success because it’s ego-driven

they’re scared that if someone checks their brand’s tiktok and sees them stuck in “200 view jail” with 12 likes, people will think the brand is a flop and they’re failures

so they chase virality to feel less insecure. not because it actually helps the business.

why going viral is often a mistake

here’s what most people don’t understand about virality:

—> context matters more than the numbers

going viral doesn’t guarantee followers anymore

it can give you a short boost in reach and visibility, sure.

but who is that visibility coming from?

who do you actually want to reach?

when something goes viral, it gets pushed to a wider audience.

and a wider audience does not mean they all like what you’re doing

a lot of those people won’t care about your other content. some will actively dislike it. you can’t expect a wider net to all convert into something useful, whether that’s followers or customers or whatever metric you’re chasing

virality without the right strategy, the right video, the right intentions, and realistic expectations? that’s just noise. sometimes it’s worse than noise because it can actually hurt your account.

what needs to be in place for virality to actually help

if you have a solid account, a clear strategy, a small engaged community, and one piece of content that fits your brand goes viral? great, that can help!

but that requires:

• knowing WHY you want to go viral
• having a solid foundation in place (same formats and style as the viral piece posted already)
• having the right video go viral that you can repeat (not just any video)
• understanding who you’re trying to reach
• having realistic expectations about what happens next
• being prepared to handle the influx (or lack of follow-through)

and more.

most brands have none of this in place, they just want the dopamine hit and praise of big numbers

why this bad advice keeps spreading

because insecurity is an easy target

a lot of people sell advice on how to go viral because a lot of people are insecure about their accounts. it’s an easy button to push

i can honestly say i’ve been there myself (a long time ago) and it’s real, i fully validate it!!

AND. it’s one of the biggest misconceptions in social media

which is crazy because we should know better by now?

but we don’t. because the advice sounds smart on the surface. “just go viral and everything will change!” except it won’t. not without real strategy behind it.

what you should focus on instead

i’ll need to write a whole other series about what actually matters if virality isn’t the goal

(spoiler: it’s not about the algorithm, in a nutshell: it’s about content quality + relevance and the audience)

for now, just know this:

going viral is not a strategy,

it’s an outcome.

and most of the time, it’s not even a useful one

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