The Truth About Viral Marketing and How It Can Hurt Your Business
20 years ago, going viral was something you might have heard in reference to an illness. Today, it’s a social media phenomenon content creators and businesses seek. A single post catapulted into the limelight can represent unprecedented growth, sales, and email signups. But despite what you might believe, going viral isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Before you set your sights on becoming the next trending account, it’s important to understand what going viral entails and where this urge to be “viral” comes from. In this blog post, I’m going to peel back the layers of virality, highlighting why steady, sustainable growth is the better path forward.
Let’s get started.
Why is Going Viral a Goal?
Why do so many people set their sights on this objective? For starters, it's a notion that many online promoters champion. Consider pitches like, “I can make you go viral in 48 hours.” Sound familiar? The issue, as I see it, is that this objective often originates from external sources rather than from your own vision.
Whether you're launching a business, kickstarting a TikTok account, or embarking on another venture, it's crucial to establish personal goals. Too often, ads and prevalent social media culture dictate the targets we should aim for. In the case of viral popularity, I believe it's not a goal most people arrive at on their own.
So, take a moment to reflect on your own definition of success. What does success look like for you? For your business? It’s unlikely you launched your business with the goal of “going viral.”
4 Reasons Going Viral is Bad for Business
Most businesses are not prepared or equipped to handle the aftermath of going viral.
Here are 4 ways that going viral can actually be harmful for your business.
1. Going Viral can Derail Your Business
Unexpected popularity might thrust you into an environment you hadn't planned for. Consider a scenario: You're a crafting enthusiast with a dedicated channel or blog. One day, after restocking your crafting room you decide to create a crafting haul/unboxing video. To your surprise, it gains traction, fast.
Now with a significantly larger audience drawn to your content through that single video, they expect similar content. The dilemma? Creators are pressured into catering to this new audience’s whims or remaining true to their original vision, risking the loss of these new viewers.
If you choose to follow your followers, your business may end up on a completely different path than what you originally planned.
2. Discovering the “Secret Sauce” can Lead to Burnout
When a video or post really resonates with a large number of people, a common strategy is to produce similar content. The thinking here is that if your audience really loves, say, unboxing videos why not give them more of that? However, if such content doesn't align with your passion or original vision, it can become monotonous, and lead to burnout.
That’s why gradually cultivating an audience with diverse, valuable content can be a more sustainable and healthy route to success than chasing virality.
3. You May Not Have the Capacity to Deliver
Despite what influencers want you to think, predicting virality is more luck than science.
For small businesses offering tangible products, a viral post can surge product demand exponentially. At first glance, that sounds great, right
For a small team or a solo entrepreneur, managing this unforeseen demand becomes an unscalable mountain. To compound the issue, businesses often overstock, anticipating sustained demand, only to find their viral audience has moved onto the next big thing. This leaves them with excess inventory and huge potential for financial strain and loss.
Virality not only affects finances, it can also tarnish your reputation. As businesses scramble to fulfill orders, answer messages, and restock, customer dissatisfaction grows. And even if those customers move on, their dissatisfaction remains.
4. You Have Nowhere for People to Go
Often, those who achieve sudden virality lack a system to engage their newfound audience. If you look at successful creators in your space, they typically have structures in place like email lists, sales funnels, online courses, or subscription models to guide viewers toward monetized channels.
Without such a structure in place, the benefits of going viral are short-lived because you weren’t prepared to maximize the exposure going viral afforded.
The Solution: Snowball Growth
Aim for snowball growth. Much like how a small snowball grows larger as it's pushed, this strategy emphasizes gradual, sustainable growth. By doing so, you're better positioned to scale with demand, nurture your community, and learn and adapt from any missteps. In essence, the key is to prioritize steady and authentic growth over fleeting viral trends.
