How do you get something to go viral?

Discussion in 'Marketing' started by deadrats, Apr 24, 2019.

  1. Maverick_nc

    Maverick_nc Contributor Contributor

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    We need a new thread: critiquemytweet!
    Seriously though, its difficult to offer more advice without knowing what your content/stories are or what your tweets are, but in general always try to offer something to the readers, be it a mystery/story tease, useful information, solving a problem or...an entertaining list! It takes a loooooong time to organically grow a following unless you're very lucky.
     
  2. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I write literary stuff.
     
  3. Maverick_nc

    Maverick_nc Contributor Contributor

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    Feel free to PM me anytime with more specificities - I'm not a Twitter god but I know a thing or two that might help.
     
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  4. jim onion

    jim onion New Member

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    I'd primarily feel guilty if I was advertising material I didn't believe in. As I don't believe the actual content I share is somehow compromising my integrity, I don't particularly have a problem with it.

    Minds is a very unique site, with an interesting founding story. I don't want to derail this thread too much, but the gist is that the developers make it a special priority to be as transparent as possible, making the site open-source, enshrining free speech and privacy, and giving users control over what content they want to see. There's currently an option that allows Minds Plus members to hide Boosted content from their newsfeed. My only qualm about this is that I think this is a feature that should be available to all users, and I say that as somebody who relies on Boosts.

    Things are a little weird with the whole move over to crypto. I get the "decentralization" argument. I honestly don't know enough to have a worthwhile opinion; I barely know how to use it for my purposes. Plus, that's now getting way off-topic, so enough about that.

    Speaking on how the Boost traffic function works, there's no way of knowing how many of the views are bots. I would suspect the vast majority of 5000 views (the maximum you are allowed per Boost) are people who are AFK or scroll right past it. They're all unique views though.

    It has its problems and is far from flawless. But I'm very happy with the results I've gotten, and far surpasses anything offered by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. How anybody new writers even garner a following on those sites - outside of luck or knowing the right people - is beyond me.
     
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  5. Malisky

    Malisky Malkatorean Contributor

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    How long is your piece and what genre is it? If it's long enough maybe look for a youtube reviewer with lots of subscribers to give it a read and maybe give an honest critique. They usually review books though so I don't know how this will go. Give it a try though. Why not?

    If it's, let's say, gothic fantasy or steampunk or something very specific, you could subscribe to similar forums and look for free readers/ reviewers there. If they like your work they are going to promote it for you.

    Don't post it online though. Not publicly! Not the whole thing at least. Just a small snippet if you will after maybe asking your publisher... I don't know their terms so...
     
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  6. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I said it earlier that I write literary stuff. I'm talking about short stories and essays. So, they're not too long and a lot of them are online. I'm not looking for critiques or reviews of my work. I'm just looking for more people to notice it. My work has been published in some pretty great places. It's just hard to know what kind of attention it's actually getting. And I thought by being more active on social media I could reach more readers. But I'm just not drawing in the attention I thought I would. I know my publishers can see how often my stuff is read. I thought with twitter and stuff I would be able to sort of see the same. But I'm practically invisible in the world of social media. The places I publish do have good readerships and followings that have been there long before they took any of my work. It would just be cool not to be the smallest fish in a big pond or even a medium pond or even a puddle. Whatever. I'm kind of giving up on anything going viral. I can't even get a decent amount of followers. I don't know. At least I'm publishing and publishing more on a somewhat consistent basis. I do appreciate my friends here who have shared my stuff on their social media. Every click counts. I'm just a long way from literary famous or anything close. It was only recently that I really tried to see if social media could make a difference. I'll keep at it, but it is much harder than I thought.
     
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  7. jim onion

    jim onion New Member

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    It would seem to me that you're far ahead of someone like myself, who still struggles with the writing process. I mean, I've been published in a couple places (local newspaper, a forum e-zine), but it sounds like that's two drops in a bucket compared to your full pail. And in terms of fiction, I haven't been published at all.

    I would recommend staying the course. I don't know how long you've been at social media-- maybe you already said. But gaining a following does take time. It can grow exponentially though.

    Don't stop looking for opportunities with more and more publishers who have "good readerships and followings". The more you can add to your trophy collection, the better, I'd say. Of course, also continue working with your current publishers, if you like.

    You want a sort of "all roads lead to Rome" scenario where every piece that's published, and thus read by thousands if not tens of thousands, drives traffic to your social media. Vice versa, you want to make sure that anybody on any one of your social medias knows where to find your writing, even if those places require subscriptions.

    That last part can be a big hang-up. Don't be afraid to showcase free pieces or free snippets. People like free stuff, and if they love your free stuff, they're more likely to pay for the other stuff.
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2019
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  8. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    @Foxxx -- It took me a long time to publish fiction and other creative writing. I'm not even exaggerating when I say I spent years of nothing but rejection. Social media is tricky. It's hard to know how many people you are actually reaching. I'm super grateful to anyone who shares my stuff and helps it get more attention. Some stuff is online. Some literary journals remain print focused. All that aside, it's really is quite the challenge to get anything even close to going viral.

    I'm publishing on a somewhat steady basis at the moment. I still continue to send work to many places, but there are places I want to be a regular with which is somewhat happening but still in the early stages. Some places do publish work or pieces of work online and some places allow you to read a certain number of pieces online for free in a curtain about of time. I don't have much control over that once I sell my work. But I know these places pay attention to clicks and whatnot. I want more clicks. I want more readers. At first all I wanted was to publish. Now, I want to be a bigger deal than I am. I wouldn't put me writing out there for free. It's fine if the publisher wants to do it because by that point it's been edited and also someone besides me and my friends thought it was good enough to buy and put out into the world.

    I've had Facebook for a while, but I still have my page restricted to friends. I've now got Instagram and twitter which are both public, but I don't have too many followers. I think it helps when a big publication that publishes your work starts following you, especially when they're not following all that many people or only people they publish. But I can't figure out how to get more than 40 followers on twitter for the life of me.

    I'm still hoping that something I write will go viral or at least get more attention. I'm trying. Not easy. Maybe I just haven't written the right thing yet, but I'm not giving up. And you don't give up either. I don't know if you're trying to get your stuff to go viral, but publishing is not easy. Just check out my rejection thread if you want to see my long rejection journey. I still continue to get rejected more often than I publish. You've just got to be persistent and continue to write new and better stuff. That's sort of why I think maybe I just haven't written something that will go viral yet. Maybe I will never have my work go viral, but I know there are people reading my stuff. Why aren't they tracking me down on social media? I'm not getting all that stalker attention I crave I guess.
     
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  9. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I lost more followers on twitter today. Why does twitter hate me?
     
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  10. Justin Attas

    Justin Attas Active Member

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    Such a sad truth, that the big players look at numbers now, not words.
     
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  11. Justin Attas

    Justin Attas Active Member

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    There's no surefire way to "make" something go viral. But you can damn well improve your chances. I'm in a program now to train for stuff like that. It's a bit expensive but it's called Jumpcut and it's helped me SO much with my marketing. Basically, utilize well-established resources like big writing blogs. Reach out to them. See if you can guest post. If you have rights to distribute the work in question, having it featured on a big site that's still run by the original mods can seriously drive traffic to you.
     
  12. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    My problem isn't so much getting my work published by established places (though that's always a bit of an ongoing problem). It's more that I am such a small fish in the big pond. I don't want these places to regret publishing my work or forget about me. These places have readers. I just don't feel like I'm bringing more in. And it's really hard to know how much your getting noticed if only your two best friends are liking it on twitter. Twitter is super hard. Once upon a time the whole idea of publishing was the goal. But I'm still nobody important in the literary world. I kind of thought that would change when I started selling my work. Foolish me. My rejection slips get more likes on Instagram than screen shots of my published stuff with links to it. I don't think a blog would really help. And I do write for a living so the idea of giving away my hard work to blogs with less readership than the places I publish just doesn't sit right with me. Thanks for all the replies. I've just got a long way to go to "making it" whatever that means.
     
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  13. Justin Attas

    Justin Attas Active Member

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    Yeah, it always sounds super daunting and not worth it, but never deny your importance in the literary world. There's never been another "you" so your perspective IS totally unique. Never forget that. Even if most stories have been written before in different fashions, no one's ever written the one YOU write before. Marketing works different for everyone, but just for some examples, I've seen significant growth in my own social media pull since getting a few articles/videos featured on bigger blogs.
     
  14. Maverick_nc

    Maverick_nc Contributor Contributor

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    With a marketing and not writers hat on, this is your angle for getting visits/clicks. You said yourself that the rejection slips get more likes so that's where the public interest is. A blog about the 'journey/struggles' of a writer may offer more interest to the great unwashed public than just another writing blog, folks love an underdog story. Of course if its only literary acclaim you want this isn't a goer, but an idea nonetheless.
     
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  15. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I want visits and clicks on my published stuff. I could care less about likes on my rejections. I just post those on Instagram for the hell of it and not all that often. And I'm not going to write a blog. I get paid to write. Not going to waste time on managing something that will get less attention than just having my work published in in good places. I rather write stuff I can sell. I guess the rejection thread here is the closest thing I have to a blog. Personally, I kind of think blogs are a waste of time. And I see no purpose drawing attention to my failures or struggles. I'm sure there are plenty of blogs by people who want to be writers, but I never read or search for them. Everyone's an underdog until they're not. I want to be more noticed for my achievements than my failures.

    That being said the last thing I published has been getting shared and attention on the Internet. I'm not exactly sure why this piece is getting more attention than others, but it's been retweeted quite a bit on twitter by people with way more followers than me. Then people are retweeting it from these places. It's interesting to follow. A similar thing is happening on Facebook with this piece. And it has sparked some conversations. I wouldn't say I'm anywhere close to going viral, but I did something right this time. So, people are reading and sharing this piece, but it's not increasing my followers very much. Is it normal for people to retweet or share on Facebook without following the writer?
     
  16. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I'm up to 50 followers on twitter. Still not going viral with anything, but I have gotten some stuff retweeted by strangers. Anyway, it was really hard to reach 50 followers. I don't know how these other people have so many followers. I'm surprised I even reached 50.
     
  17. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I am super sexy. Most writers are. ;)

    But I am a writer. Of course, I post links to my published works. That's the stuff I want clicks on. Nothing else really matters. I will retweet stuff other people post that's usually about writing or books and sometimes politics. But mostly I use social media because I am a writer. I would like to think what I write has some importance. My publishers think so. I think you and I use and approach social media very differently.
     
  18. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    Attach a cat picture to the Tweet, with a funny caption.
     
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  19. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    It's actually quite hard to develop any sort of following on social media. I'm still trying. Again, this is about published works and efforts to make them go viral or just get more attention. I'm not looking to inflate my following but rather grow it with people who will want to read my stuff. Why is this so hard? Does social media even matter that much for the writer? I mean whatever the publisher does on social media is going to get more attention, clicks and likes than me. Still, I try.

    Besides things that have nothing to do with writing, what have yo done or written that somehow affected your social media following or presence? I just had something published that I put so much work and soul into. Selling this story was great. But what are the chances I can get even five of my twitter followers to click on it?
     
  20. pyroglyphian

    pyroglyphian Word Painter

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    Hi, yes.

    You need to post the right kind of content. Ask yourself:
    - Does it make people want to pass it on?
    - Does it fit with what's trending now? (i.e. with your intended audience)
    - Does it create a shared experience?
    - Does it elicit an emotional response?

    Anything that might increase the value of the person sharing it has viral potential.

    Congratulations on the piece btw — good to read of your success :cheerleader:
     
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  21. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    This is interesting. I think I hit all the boxes except the first one. As I've said, this is about attracting more readers to my published work. I get some shares (and special thanks to my friends on here who retweet and share my work), but I think that's a problem. I'm not sure how to get more shares.

    I recently had something new published that I worked really hard on. An old friend who is also a writer messaged me on Facebook while I was posting it. I asked him to give it a read and share on social media. We've been friends for a long time. But his answer was that he was too busy. If I can't get friends to even read it or click a button to share, I fear I have no hope in my pursuit to go viral.

    I feel like I'm doing okay in the other areas you mention. If I wasn't, my stuff wouldn't sell. As many of you know, I am the founder of the longstanding rejection thread. But things have been slowly changing for me. I'm writing better and I feel like both my fiction and nonfiction have a level of importance that I wasn't always paying attention to or striving for in the past. My last published piece is probably one of my best in terms of hitting the mark with your checklist. So, if I have three out of four, what do I do about the last one? How do I get people to pass it on?

    Again, a super big thanks to my friends here who have shared my work on social media. Has anyone figured out how to get people you don't know to share something you wrote? I sometimes share the work of strangers on social media. Like if I come across a really good poem, story or essay, I want to share it. I don't really know what exactly makes me share those particular pieces of writing other than I think they're worth the read and that I hope others will gain from reading them. I'm going to have to give this more thought. What makes you guys share someone else's work on social media? That is the big question, I think.
     
  22. pyroglyphian

    pyroglyphian Word Painter

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    So, can I ask, what do you post at the moment? A story? If so, do you type it out and post it, or do you post a snippet/teaser, or do you post a link to the story hosted elsewhere?
     
  23. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I post links to the stories. I'll maybe write a few words. Usually, it's the picture that ran with the story. It's the same way these publications and other writers tend to post things.

    The real frustrating thing is that I have hundreds of friends on Facebook and I can't even get 10 likes on something published I worked really hard on. I messaged an old friend from my MFA days on Facebook and told him the good news of where I had just sold something to and published. I asked him to give it a read and maybe share it on social media or just give it a like. He shares a lot and we have several friends in common. And, though, he congratulated me on the sale, he said he was too busy to read my story. It wasn't even that long, but I was really proud of this piece. We used to have dreams of publishing. Now, he's too busy to read a stupid story. I'm not popular in real life or social media.
     
  24. Madman

    Madman Life is Sacred Contributor

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    I'm sorry about your experience! EDIT: I have a friend who was going to read a story of mine and give me feedback about it, but his life turned busy recently so I don't think it's going to happen and I'm not going to pressure him either. I don't think it's that good to try and go viral or get exposure through friends and acquaintances, since they may have different interests, but still, I get your feeling. Try to get a good fan-base and rely on them. Edit done.
    I haven't made it yet, so I may not have good advice for you.

    Have you tried shock tactics? Or clickbaiting tactics that the newspapers use? Use the most "shocking titles" that describes your work.
    Or have you tried expanding into audiobooks? If your finances are good, try paying two reasonably voiced people, one man and one woman, to read your book. Could work for shorter stories too. Perhaps have them on through commission, they get X percentage for every sale. Lots of voice artists out there looking for work.
    Get someone to also draw things from your stories.

    If what you're trying now isn't working, try something else. Make radical changes to your approach.

    EDIT 2: Regarding facebook likes. I think I recently saw some Nobel Price winner's facebook page. They had something like 1k likes on their recent post about a new story. Counting likes is doing yourself and your literature a disservice I think.
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2019
  25. Some Guy

    Some Guy Manguage Langler Supporter Contributor

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    Insert quarter, press go...

    Viral is a lightning strike. Phenom has no recipe.
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2019

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