What makes a social media post go viral?

Two weeks ago I posted on LinkedIn about my daughter's Ruth Bader-Ginsburg book week costume and to my absolute amazement, at time of writing the post has had nearly a quarter of a million views. 

To be precise:

239,035 views,
3157 likes,
+ lots of comments & shares. 

My posts generally do “ok” most of the time, (some tank – this happens to everyone) and others do really awesome - but nothing like this so far. 





You can check out the original post here

She's pretty cute, definitely a little firecracker, and I'm really, really proud of her. 

Personal shock aside, as I put my curious and analytical marketer hat on, I'm not surprised,

It was a "perfect combo" of feel-good factors.

So I thought I’d share a breakdown of these here. 
(so you can see if there are any elements you could be drawing on more heavily in your own marketing.)

* Inspiring message
(I thought about the angle and the wording a bit before writing it, to make sure it was upbeat. I also thought about a quote that would uplift the message and how to incorporate it. Ending on a high note is always good in a social post)

* Vibrant, fresh images
(I took quite a few photos, gave me a good assortment to choose from and I landed on these. No filter, but decent lighting, angles, and a bit of cropping so they display nicely in the feed)

* Cute kid with lots of personality and enthusiasm
(don’t need to say too much more there lol)

* Engaging copy
(I write just like I talk)

* Relevancy
(it wasn’t a random staged dress up – book week was actually that week)

* Business Connection
(With LinkedIn being a business platform, people aren't really interested in reading about kids unless there's a reason. So I added in an image of myself as well, so my connections could tie it back to me. I also talk about doing this on the way to “work” – so a clear tie-in. And obviously RBG is an inspirational professional my daughter is emulating)

* A truckload of reliability and human-ness in the mix.
(a mum who normally dreads book week, an ordinary kid with a school bag, a parent juggling school drop-offs and business life)

* Powerful Intent
(the unseen stuff that sits behind the brand, that you don’t “see” but “feel”. More on that in a bit)

The success of this post had nothing to do with the polish and perfection, hashtags or emojis or clever spacing.

In fact, if you look closely you’ll notice several spelling mistakes and grammatical errors – even in the very first line. The fifth word into the post! 

(probably because I typed this post while walking from a train station to a business breakfast event in the city in the rain……)

But here’s the thing.

Why I wrote the post in the first place, and why it worked so well, is because I am deeply passionate and 100% genuine about everything I wrote in there.

And I believe people feel that too. 

My true intention with posting this was.....

 "if I am so inspired by my daughter, and it gives me so much hope and optimism for our future, other people need this too".

It makes us all feel better to read such positive stories - and if you've been reading my stuff for a while you know one of my content mantras is:

"How does this piece of content make someone feel?".

We contend with so much bad news, fear-mongering, gloom and doom projections for what’s to come our brains are just tired, and thinking about the future is not something we jump to think about.

But this genuinely lit me up.

And if it did that for me I knew it would for others too.

To read comments from several grown men saying this post brought tears to their eyes was indeed beyond moving for me. 

Because ultimately what motivates me is to empower powerful and uplifting voices to have more impact in the world. 

Whether that's inspiring business leaders and thought leaders, or in this case, even my kids. 

Same principle. 

So this post was an example of my values in ACTION - which is why it feels so aligned. 

And that's the business & life connection and congruency right there. 

You'll have your own stories just like this - might be your kids, your parents, your friends, your colleagues, your pets, or YOU. 

And as you harness the principles I've shared with you can bless people and have an impact too.

All while getting your brand in front of more people. 

Now that's a win/win, right?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nina Christian is a Marketing Futurist & Global Marketing Mentor who helps people do their marketing in a more human way. 

She is a Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM), Life Member and Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute & AMI State Chair (Vic) and for 20 years was director of Braveda (Winner, Best Marketing Agency, Australian Marketing Excellence Awards).

Several years ago Nina saw the world of marketing shifting – this time as people became their own brands.  With this, she created a new business as a thought leader, combining her expertise in brand building with personal positioning, resulting in a breakthrough praxis known as Marketing Me™.

She has a knack for simplifying the complex which comes from being a hands-on mum to five children, and uses this to turn time-sucking activities into easy-to-follow systems and processes that make a lot of sense and get outcomes fast.

There are different ways to work with Nina based on your situation and organisation size - with all of them you'll see rapid transformation and tangible outcomes fast. Book a chat with Nina here.