Read Time: 4 Minutes

Going viral is a dream most businesses want to achieve with their marketing, but it’s not as easy as it sounds.

With more and more businesses starting their journey with video, as the clock ticks and more content is posted online, it’s getting increasingly harder to compete for consumers’ attention.

Truthfully, going viral isn’t great.

In fact, I’d plead with you not to focus on going viral and instead aim to reach millions of potential customers with a different approach.

That’s what I’ll be diving into today. Let’s dive in!

Lesson #1: You don’t want to go viral

On the surface, virality sounds fantastic.

Views beyond your wildest dreams, and a lot of quick attention onto your business. What’s not to love? 

Once your business goes viral, there's often an expectation to keep producing viral content. This pressure can be stressful and could lead to content that doesn't align with your values or long-term goals. This could cause your business to lose sight of what’s really important.

Lesson #2: Think long-term, not short-term

Do you consider going viral as reaching millions of views, or trending as a go-to voice just for the day?

Personally, I’ve always been an advocate for the long-term over the short-term.

That enables consumers to grow with your business and follow along for the journey, which builds rapport, tight-knit relationships, and allows consumers to buy into you.

Posting one video that reaches 1,000,000 views in 24 hours. I’ll pass. Posting 100 videos over 12 months that reach 10,000 views. I’m in! 

Lesson #3: Lead with value

If you’re like me, you’ll have sunk hours into content that doesn’t move the marketing needle, yet wonder why your posts underperform.

Often, this is due to your content being you-focused, and not giving enough ‘value’ to your consumers.

Leading with value has been the eye-opening eureka moment in my own content journey. As soon as I made the shift to adding value, my content skyrocketed as it encouraged engagement, shares, comments, and powerful growth.

It’s a firm lesson that even though you think you’re the best thing since sliced bread (which we all do, it’s natural) consumers only care about what value you can add to them. If you can’t, they’ll find somebody that will.

Lesson #4: Views aren’t important

Going viral, and reaching millions of people was always been a goal of mine.

I thought it meant huge growth, my business scaling to millions of revenue every year, and all the bells and whistles. In fact, the views mean nothing, and reaching big numbers shouldn’t be the aim of the marketing game.

A business that reaches 100 viewers that all want, need, and desire what you offer will consistently outperform the business reaching 100,000 viewers that don’t.

Don’t let your ego about reaching millions of views stop you from focusing on building a smaller, more targeted pool of consumers.

Lesson #5: Vanity metrics do add social proof, even if you think they don’t

One of the benefits of ‘vanity metrics’ is the power of perception.

Compared to the business that’s only reaching 100 views, the business reaching 1,000,000 looks like they know what they’re doing - even though that’s not always the case.

At times, consumers can judge a business by their social status. The bigger the numbers, the more credible, reliable, and authoritarian that business is perceived, which adds huge value to building trust and reputation online. It sucks, but it’s all part of the game and you’ve got to learn how to play it.

It’s tough to stand out, and I emphasise with you if you’re struggling.

Hopefully, the lessons I’ve learned over the last ten years of creating professional videos will support your growth, change your mindset, and motivate you to approach your content from a different angle.

TLDR 💁🏼‍♀️

• Virality can come with added pressure, risking misaligned focus.

• Prioritise long-term growth and relationships over short-term spikes.

• Leading with value boosts engagement and growth.

• Views don't equal success. Engaged, interested viewers matter more.

• Vanity metrics offer social proof and credibility perception.

 Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you:

1. Book a {60 MINUTE} Content Power Hour with me, and unlock the secrets to making your social media videos stand out online as I tweak your approach, and analyse how to improve your current videos.

2. Don’t have time to create great videos yourself? Focus on your business, whilst we focus on creating the videos that you’ve always dreamed of. Get in touch to find out more.

Until then, I’ll see you in next week’s newsletter!