Creating content that grows and grows and grows
Marketing content that has a high pass-along rate is the content that shows great potential to go viral. With tech applications and sharing tools, such as social media, it has become much easier to create quality marketing content that can go viral. For all the brands around the world, virality is like the holy grail.
With firms and marketers strategically aligned towards business growth, networking, expertise marketing, and increased visibility – creating content that delivers all of this is tricky. Let’s learn a little about what it all means. How do you create content that grows and grows and grows?
What is viral marketing?
The definition of Viral Marketing (Investopedia):
“Viral marketing seeks to spread information about a product or service from person to person by word of mouth or sharing via the internet or email. The goal of viral marketing is to inspire individuals to share a marketing message […] to create exponential growth in the number of its recipients.”
Put simply, word spreads quickly from one person to another.
The measure of viral or word-to-mouth marketing is the pass-along rate. Content with a high pass-along rate is often related to late-breaking news, is something entertaining or humorous, gizmo related, and retail-based. But firms can take advantage of the latest and breaking nws by being alert and prepared to pounce on topics as soon as they break.
Pass-along value for firm content
One example I came across when I was researching US law firms, was a release related to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regarding tax-related rate matters that affect natural and oil gas pipelines. Capitalising on this was JD Supra, who released an article online to capitalise on the topic, as it happened.
Following posting on the FERC website, an article appeared on JD Supra’s site from where it was picked up by Benzinga (a media outlet that deals with financial information for investors) where they linked it up in the opening paragraph of their article. It shows us how a piece of content can start spreading around, with its visibility moving between earned and paid media easily and quickly, illustrating its pass-along rate in the online space.
People who click on the reference go to the JD Supra website, aligning their expertise with both tax and the oil & gas industry, and enabling visitors to explore about the firm further. Website traffic is increased, profile is increased and credibility too.
When content takes a life of its own
The Benzinga article published on to significant power sources of Internet visibility – Yahoo! Finance and MSN Money – drove more pass-along value for the content, more website visitors and better search engine ranking. The link to the law firm is still in the opening paragraph as an essential reference for understanding the shared content. A prime example of law content going viral in the legal online space.
We must mention that the article wasn’t written in a sensationalist way or with the purpose to attract attention. You can do any web search to find rules and guidelines on what it takes to get your content go viral, but in professional services, we don’t confirm to many of these rules, as we’re not after sensationalising content – we’re after building credibility and educating our followers. JD Supra simply made sense of the news, and it resonated with enough people to get to the front pages of MSN Money and Yahoo! Finance.
Whatever industry or sector you serve, take note to make sense of the relevant news and legislative changes and publish your understanding online quickly. Make is available and sharable and allow others to pass it along.