#HandleItAfrica- How To Go Viral On Social Media

Last week, we brought you the first bit of #handleitAfrica which was on ‘Social media as a tool for leading community support’. If you haven’t read that yet, you need to because you could just be minutes away from getting empowered and enlightened on the basics to making the rest of the social media community tie into your passion. This week, it’s about going viral on social media.

The panelists had a lot to say within the little time that they had to speak to us. A lot to get me motivated. It was quite an interesting session with Bayegun Oluwatoyin AKA Woli Arole bringing all the humor into the talk. He could pass for a motivational speaker up there but who says you can’t speak sense and be funny?! Other panelists were Chiamaka Obuekwe who runs Social Prefect Tours and a representative of Kras TV.

Now that you have the preamble, let’s go into what they spoke about which is why I guess you are still reading this post; how to go viral on social media:

Change your social media priorities

Woli seems a bit worried that people are making money off social media and some others are too busy applying snap chat filters to their selfies. If you are thinking of getting serious about social media, you need to first of all, re-evaluate how you are using the platform. If you haven’t been doing it the right way, you need to change your priorities.

Be loaded

Still speaking about how he gets his post to go viral, Woli says, “If you are loaded, you will be needed”. This means that you need to be able to add value in the social media space. That is the only way people are going to start following your account, liking all your pictures and reposting them which will make your content go viral. There are so many accounts on social media and like Chiamaka mentioned, no one will follow you for the sake of following you. They will follow you because they like your content and you add value to their lives.

Be Intentional

Going viral needs conscious effort. This means that you need to be intentional about what it is that you are gunning for. Like Woli mentioned, you need to be thinking of the business angle of it. Once you are thinking of the income that you can generate from it, you will become intentional about your posts. In one sentence, Woli said, “Don’t go for virality but for the business”.

Set your creativity free

I am guilty of boxing my creativity. Sometimes I have great content that I can put out but I am worried it won’t do well or I will get some backlash. After listening to Woli, I can’t say that I am there yet but I am slowly getting there. You need to do same too. Don’t overthink it. If something is trending and your creativity has something great to put out, just do it. Don’t forget that Nigerians love drama. So, while I don’t want to do gossip, I may find a way to tell inspiring stories off dramatic situations like the piece on social media and celebrity marriages *wink*.

Have a niche

Every successful social media account on social media has a nicheSo people who are interested in their niche will follow them and brands who wish to invest in that niche will find them. For us, it is lifestyle, for Woli, it is comedy, for Chiamaka, it is travel. So, you need to know your niche and like we mentioned in the previous post, you need to be knowledgeable about it.

Post regularly

I bet you all knew this already but, you might have been too lazy to just admit it. Consistency is key. For accounts that I manage on social media, I have learned to grow an account by being consistent. Even if you do so once a day, make sure that you do so consistently. If it is on the website, be consistent in posting such that people know that there is new content every time that they check your page or on days that you say you will post.

Know your audience

if you have a niche, you won’t have problems with this because, you will attract an audience that is interested in your niche. None the less, you still need to check with them in terms of creating contents around that niche.

Optimize you content

Chiamaka emphasized the need to use keywords and hashtags, that is how you optimize your content. Don’t follow brands that are huge and barely use these things on Instagram. They don’t because they have a name and a huge audience. You are still trying to get the million followers that they do, so you need to use the right hashtags and keywords.