Earlier this year, a certain lifestyle magazine hooked up with a certain dark-haired celebrity and set out to #BreakTheInternet with a bottle of champagne, baby oil and a camera.
For the most part, the resulting photos worked. Paper Magazine boasted more than 16 million pageviews, and the winking hashtag trended number one on both Twitter and Facebook. But no internets were broken that day despite these massive boost in traffic.
So, while this level of virality may not ever be capable of truly "breaking" the Internet, it could certainly be capable of sinking a brand or publisher caught unprepared. The traffic, media attention and pure pandemonium these moments bring can be overwhelming for even the most seasoned among us.
So how can your brand withstand its own #BreakTheInternet the next time some content goes viral? Here are our five tips for coming out on the other side standing:
1. Quality control above all else
Purposeful viral content like #BreakTheInternet is one thing, but there are just as many throwaway tweets, Instagram photos and blog posts that blow up for all the wrong reasons. As a content creator, you have to assume that anything can go viral at any time—and once it does, there’s no going back. Before you publish content, make sure you’re comfortable standing behind it, even if millions read it. That means establishing a strategy to determine if content is on brand, on message and on strategy, as well as copyediting everything and running quality checks.
2. Have a PR plan in place
An unintended consequence of #BreakTheInternet was a conversation about racial undertones in American pop culture. It might not have been what the magazine was after, but this can happen when content is scrutinized by millions of people. Smart brands understand this and have a plan in place to deal with potential backlash. On the other hand, even positive attention needs the expertise of a PR team in order to turn into a tangible gain for your brand. No matter the reaction to your content, make sure you have a rock solid PR strategy in place before you publish.
3. Website downtime is deadly
For smaller brands or publishers accustomed to limited traffic, website downtime can be the deadly side effect of viral content. All it takes is one link from a major site to drive hundreds of thousands, or even millions of visits. Services like Amazon Web Services Storage Gateway provide the necessary server capacity during viral surges. Website activity monitors like SiteUpTime or Up Time Robot also notify everyone in the case of a crash. Luckily for its administrators, Paper Magazine runs its content on the Topics server, which meant it was well equipped to handle the more than six million hits in a single day.
4. Capture the attention
As quickly as the viral spotlight can appear, it can disappear even faster. The last thing you want are thousands of potential new customers visiting your site, but no way to convert them into loyal fans. Optimize your website so that it’s easy for users to find out who you are, what you have to offer and how they can be a part of it. Create landing pages that orient users quickly and drive them to action. Add compelling calls to action to your content that encourage users to explore more content, browse your products or contact you for more information.
5. Keep the Content Rolling
The biggest pieces of viral content tend to spawn reaction content such as a parody videos or blog posts. The conversation continues to evolve, and the content creators should strive to stay involved. It’s important to keep creating new content, and not cling to the viral hit for too long after it peaks. If the success helped to grow an audience, don’t keep them waiting for more.
Focus on creating amazing content that people want to share, and always be prepared for it to hit big. Just try not to break the Internet in the process.
from Adweek : Advertising & Branding http://ift.tt/1Gv4ymd
via IFTTT
from WordPress http://ift.tt/13fNHoD
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment