“Are you a snake-oil salesman or a scientist?” This short read takes the scientific approach of social media. It points to the best-practices and asks them to show proof why things are shared. And then it goes deeper into the research-driven results.

Just because an idea is viral, doesn’t mean it’s a good one. Tons of good ideas go nowhere, so what makes for a viral equation. It becomes a matter of the ability to reproduce. Three components make something viral.

1. Exposure: A person must be exposed to your content to even see it. (They have to follow you on Twitter, fan on facebook, email list, etc.). And the larger you’re following, the more likely you’ll lead to success.

  • – The larger your network, the more likely that your item will be viral. Size matters!
  • – People follow “authorities” and “gurus”, so don’t be modest in your Twitter descriptions. People don’t follow amateurs.
  • – Content: Don’t be a negative Nancy. And don’t talk about yourself. ALso, the largest influencers on Twitter don’t have many conversations.
  • As we saw in the OMMA awards: Social marketing is expensive (ad buys, write-ups, etc. Exposure is exensive)

2. Attention: You have to somehow put eyes on the content. Create attention-grabbing content.

  • – People like content that is original and familiar. e.g. Gnomeo. Romeo/Juliet spun in a Gnome fashion. It’s original, but familiar. The most popular content follow this.
  • – Pesonalization still wins.
  • – Push out content in the times that it’s the most quiet within the network. e.g. Weekend emails don’t compete with the Tuesday rush. Facebook sharing is higher on the weekends.
  • – People want to share valuable information to network, so they can build reputation of being someone that is interesting to interact with.
  • – People don’t want to regurgitate the same content to their network. They value originality.
  • – Be simple. Be clear. Be positive, and never be complicated.
  • – Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives an adverbs. The adjective hasn’t been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place.

3. Motivation: There has to be reason to share it with their network. Have a powerful call-to-action.

  • – People only care about themselves. They want your content that helps them become better. 10 top way to do this… improve your marketing by this… et.c  The most retweetable word is “you”. People want you to talk about them.

“If you’re not measuring it, you’re doing something very, very wrong”

So, have a large audience, have good content, and give people reason to share it.