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February 11, 2014 Transcript of #CommsChat on viral content

Last week’s #CommsChat on viral content with Lucia from (@IlexContent) went viral. (Okay, maybe not, but it was a great chat nonetheless.) Here are some interesting tweets:

@IlexContent  Getting your content out to as many people as possible gives you a better ROI – your content is working harder
@Nicksy200  suggest viral has to be 3 things 1)well targeted to begin with 2)instantly understandable 3)has the so what factor
@PeterMBarrett  this is where #comms must learn more from behav science & cognitive bias. Viral content is social proof.
@adamrubins  sharing is an endorsement and an implied positive. In today’s peer to peer world, a share is highly influential
@IlexContent  You can go too far with click bait. People want to know what they are clicking. Lack of authenticity can harm brand
See the full transcript:
  1.  18h

    Going to say g’night now. I’m off to catch up on the moguls finals (and you should too!) Until next week…

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  2.  18h

    Lucia shared some great insights on viral content and social strategy

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  3.  18h

    . Thanks for your time, an interesting discussion! We’ll be writing a follow-up blog shortly

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  4.  18h

    Stick around and keep tweeting about or read the transcript tomorrow AM. But first, join me in thanking

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  5.  18h

    . I think that’s a great note to end on. Can’t beat JFK. So we’ll call it a night about four minutes early here on

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  6.  18h

    “:most popular shared content on social media – visual content & opinions high shareability ”

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  7.  18h

    Doing the less sexy homework first is vital!

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  8.  18h

    . “repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as the truth.” JFK. Repeat your core messages through content

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  9.  18h

    . Sounds so simple, doesn’t it!

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  10.  18h

    Work out what you want to say and repeat it through content

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  11.  18h

    Just winding down now. Any final thoughts on and strategy are welcome.

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  12.  18h

    Always go for quality – less is more if that is the only way you can produce excellent material

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  13.  18h

    Expensive piece of content that doesnt help the brand at all from HDS

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  14.  18h

    no strategy can make content go viral. It’s purely organic

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  15.  18h

    agree. L’ship:’We need to make a video’ Comms: ‘ok,why?’ L’ship: ‘Everyones doing it so we should’

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  16.  18h

    Putting the T IN IT

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  17.  18h

    As with everything comms, strategy should be at the heart

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  18.  18h

    Strategy is fundamental but let’s not forget implementation. Best strategy can go nowhere with poor implementation- never forget

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  19.  18h

    Thanks for joining in!

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  20.  18h

    Anyone have any don’ts (or horror stories!) to share in terms of content not aligning with strategy?

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  21.  18h

    Thanks all for interesting thoughts. Phone battery about to die (what a terrible digital faux pas). See you next week

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  22.  18h

    . Then plan appropriate content that offers multiple touch points to reiterate your key messages

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  23.  18h

    . Comms strategy needs to be at the heart of content development. Understand what you want and how to get there first

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  24.  18h

    . Quality of multimedia is key. Needs to be well thought out, not nec big budget. Big brands can make mistakes

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  25.  18h

    Final topic: How does comms strategy shape content development?

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  26.  18h

    Yes, and quality needs to be key. Some big brands have made massive video mistakes that do more harm than good

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  27.  18h

    Offline, online and in-person these are all opportunities to deliver a story. Content is not just digital

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  28.  18h

    indeed – more poor quality multimedia content than good quality content

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  29.  18h

    Look at objectives – how these going to be met by multimedia.

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  30.  18h

    think there’s temptation for adding pictures/video etc for sake of it-simplicity & relevance is important to engage

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  31.  18h

    . Shouldn’t just think maybe a video will go viral. No content for content’s sake. Look at your objectives.

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  32.  18h

    . agreed. It has to be useful – in any way. Learn, laugh, reflect, change action etc. Many ways to be useful.

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  33.  18h

    . Multimedia is something that people like to share but it is a big investment and needs to be done well

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  34.  18h

    great resource and often at forefront of all things SoMe/viral

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  35.  18h

    . If you are repeating your key messages often a variety of media will help do this

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  36.  18h

    . Re. multimedia – Important to use the medium of content that most appeals to your audience

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  37.  18h

    We are beyond JUST making stories visual-consumers need have a deeper connection with a brand – embedded.Empathy is absolute key

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  38.  18h

    agree…campaigns don’t really work well w/o them in my experience but need to be selective

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  39.  18h

    Many factors – on social yes but if aim is to get whitepaper downloads not so much.

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  40.  18h

    T4: What role does multimedia play in generating good ?

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  41.  18h

    images aren’t just imp they are critical.

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  42.  18h

    Calling folk, there’s a great chat on on this evening, click on the hashtag for great insights from

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  43.  18h

    MT : Does anyone recommend any content for further reading?

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  44.  18h

    On FB Posts with images produce 650% higher engagement rate vs regular text posts but engagement down on all other posts VIA CMO

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  45.  18h

    V interesting so far. Does anyone recommend any content for further reading?

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  46.  18h

    Images are imp – FB Posts with images produce a 650% higher engagement rate than those without via CMO

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  47.  18h

    I share content that I can relate to – happy, sad, learn. Want to do the same for my corp comms

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  48.  18h

    . Effectively targeting audience isn’t new challenge but to get them to engage and share your content is.

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  49.  18h

    In 2014 year purpose driven PR. Key shareability=consumers empathising with brand – higher purpose. Have a cause & stick to it

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  50.  18h

    make it more visually led? Or use links to visuals to enable effective shareability?

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  51.  18h

    . Tap into human emotion when you can. Not jst abt kittens but is abt telling a story/creating an emotional connection

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  52.  18h

    RT : not all viral content is “valuable”. as a brand make sure content is purposeful not just contagious

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  53.  18h

    . Power of the positive story is my number 1 tip. Review your content & try to put a +ve filter on it

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  54.  18h

    content is social currency. Everyone is looking for something to share

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  55.  18h

    . not all viral content is “valuable”. But as a brand make sure content is purposeful not just contagious

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  56.  18h

    T3: How should companies revamp their content to make it more shareable?

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  57.  18h

    apply rule of newspapers – a headline shld tell you what story is or you won’t read beyond first sentence

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  58.  18h

    Interesting…just read a BuzzFeed article about fake images that get shared widely regardless. Why?

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  59.  18h

    Most popular content shared on social (visual & opinions high shareability) (via )

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  60.  18h

    Valid point “: Beware of link bait: People will not stick around if they aren’t getting what they are looking for ”

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  61.  18h

    Topic 3 (coming up) is getting into the meaty bit of the hour.

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  62.  18h

    . Again look at your objectives – do you just want traffic or something else? sales, downloads etc

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  63.  18h

    There is a space in marketing for clickbait to increase awareness brand. Look at business mode to lure advertisers

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  64.  18h

    Beware of link bait: People will not stick around if they aren’t getting what they are looking for

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  65.  18h

    and even when found can be tricky to couch against internal/external political background

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  66.  18h

    Always multiple factors but rule of thumb not good idea to pretend to be linking to something else entirely!

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  67.  18h

    . link bait clicks are arguably of no value as will have a high bounce rate

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  68.  18h

    ‘Too far with clickbait?’–> probably. But surely depends on org objectives and brand positioning.

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  69.  18h

    as said content can be a bit ‘meh’ those golden nuggets can be hard to find

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  70.  18h

    . No point pretending linking to something else entirely, will annoy your audience and risk no returns

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  71.  18h

    hopefully though, there’s the chance to help a ton more people through sharing

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  72.  18h

    . You can go too far with click bait. People want to know what they are clicking. Lack of authenticity can harm brand

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  73.  18h

    important for social all the time – know what doing and why don’t just do it

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  74.  18h

    as long as we get consent it’s ok, but people can still be afraid to share, esp concerning mental health

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  75.  18h

    Our third topic is probably just as important as the 2nd: Can you go too far with clickbait?

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  76.  18h

    sometimes down to leadership v comms experts in who wins the battle for great content!

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  77.  18h

    Imp to remember no content just for content sake – as a brand what are objectives & how will they be met

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  78.  18h

    This is the most popular shared content on social media – visual content & opinions high shareability

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  79.  18h

    Yes, just saying more likely to get shared and illicit response you want if +ve

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  80.  18h

    . But then you get orgs like that legally can’t share things bc of Ts and Cs on social

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  81.  18h

    +ive, -ive, obscure, intriguing, scary, funny…diff message categories all viral potential

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  82.  18h

    . That’s great. It’s sometimes puzzling why cos. that have access to great content don’t use it

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  83.  18h

    We Live in a world where ‘likes’ & peer to peer sharing most powerful forms marketing – shareability key trust&endorsement brands

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  84.  18h

    pointing out opportunities much better than pointing out failings and gets more of a response

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  85.  18h

    I’d challenge that. Maybe fun quiz with the mail online. i’d guess “X loses x stone” beats “x has got really fat”

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  86.  18h

    hoping to use more inspiring patient stories as part of our strategy

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  87.  18h

    peer-to-peer vital. interesting data on this. getting harder on Facebook but easier on Twitter for brands

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  88.  18h

    Hi, All. A bit late to the party. Will try and chip in!

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  89.  18h

    . Why do you think it’s harder on Facebook than other platforms?

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  90.  18h

    Exactly, if you see a friend has shared something more likely to trust at face value as endorsed already

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  91.  18h

    Interesting re: viral power of positive headlines. Clear difference btwn viral and trad media where negative still sells

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  92.  18h

    sharing is an endorsement and an implied positive. In today’s peer to peer world, a share is highly influential

     View conversation

  93.  18h

    . Sharing is an imp aspect of creating viral effect but brands finding this harder to achieve on Facebook on CMO data

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  94.  18h

    Yes, something positive or, even, negative.

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  95.  18h

    . People more likely to read/respond positively to positive story. Dont just want clicks. Want to influence behaviour

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  96.  18h

    –> RT : “: good point bring in social psychology ”–> vital. Huge growth area for comms

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  97.  18h

    Academics have proven articles with positive headlines, even if same story, get shared more

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  98.  18h

    So let’s move into our second topic: What role does sharing play in content popularity?

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  99.  18h

    “: good point bring in social psychology ”–> vital. Huge growth area for

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  100.  18h

    agree. If it triggers ‘that’s nice’ or ‘hmm’ it’s not got viral potential IMHO it has to provoke a clear reaction

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  101.  18h

    interesting as the press tends to be full of negative stories. Social media gives power to the people!

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  102.  18h

    That was an excellent piece – didn’t just hit numbers, put the brand in front of people in a wholly +ve light

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  103.  18h

    . Interesting. has a story on that front coming out in March.

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  104.  18h

    good point bring in social psychology

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  105.  18h

    . Like the promotion over Christmas. Who doesn’t love presents, right?

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  106.  18h

    . this is where must learn more from behav science & cognitive bias. Viral content is social proof.

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  107.  18h

    . People are more likely to read & respond positively to a positive story

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  108.  18h

    . I’d say 2 key elements = power of the +ve story and human emotion

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  109.  18h

    . The ‘so what’ factor is probably most impt: its intangible, variable and needs to be just that much more interesting

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  110.  18h

    . wasn’t sexy/fun, which shows content needs to have value for your intended audience for virality

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  111.  18h

    suggest viral has to be 3 things 1)well targeted to begin with 2)instantly understandable 3)has the so what factor

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  112.  18h

    That was definitely a link I clicked on immediately last week!

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  113.  18h

    . yes, as do your objectives. shouldn’t just be about numbers. Set your kpis up front.

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  114.  18h

    . e.g. “dispelling the pink goop myth” video got +2m hits in wk

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  115.  18h

    . I see, so size matters, as does type of business and probably overall comms strategy?

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  116.  18h

    . a small charity may be happy with 1,000 shares while that wouldn’t be a success for McDonald’s

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  117.  18h

    Impt 4 teams who need prove worth –> MT : Getting your content out to as many people as poss. gives you a better ROI

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  118.  18h

    thanks for the explanation, I do this for got a digi person starting v soon

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  119.  18h

    . Depending on what your objectives are – the more relevant people see your content, the better

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  120.  18h

    . Getting your content out to as many people as possible gives you a better ROI – your content is working harder

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  121.  18h

    . viral content simply harnesses power of social proof in affecting behaviour. Simple, yet not widely appreciated.

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  122.  18h

    ahhhh, I am one of those I guess!

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  123.  18h

    . What are the variations?

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  124.  18h

    . Viral means different things to different orgs

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  125.  18h

    Do ? Like ? Live and breathe ? Join now!

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  126.  18h

    going viral could be seen as an indicator of successful content and will reaches beyond the brand’s loyal audience

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  127.  18h

    someone that creates content for a brand, rather than as a person like you or i on facebook

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  128.  18h

    a very loose generic term of my own making for someone who creates content for a business It’s a catch-all

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  129.  18h

    So take a look at the blog, warm up your fingers and get typing! Share your thoughts on content

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  130.  18h

    . The virality of a piece of content increases chances of it influencing the target audience

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  131.  18h

    what’s a corporate content producer?

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  132.  18h

    . here is the link to our blog on what makes go

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  133.  19h

    Tonight’s first topic is: Why is going viral appealing to corporate content producers?

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  134.  19h

    . wrote an interesting blog post on the subject. Lucia will share the link (or I can dig through tweets to find it!)

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  135.  19h

    . hi all, thanks for having me. Looking forward to the discussion this evening! for

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  136.  19h

    : looks at all aspects relating to communications, When: Mondays, 8:00pm UK.

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  137.  19h

    Please don’t forget to add the tag to your tweets, don’t just reply to me (Brittany, hi)

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  138.  19h

    She’ll be discussing viral , shareability and how to get clicks worthy of Upworthy

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  139.  19h

    Welcome to everyone. Hope you’re enjoying the Olympics. Tonight we’re joined by Lucia from

 


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