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Viral videos, articles, gifs, and images don’t spread like wildfire around the Internet randomly. There’s always a reason behind its virality. To become a viral sensation, your content must accomplish a series of goals. Otherwise, it’ll only be seen by your audience (if that).

If you want your content to be seen by millions of people by way of virality, make sure it hits each of these factors:

Evokes Emotion

Admit it, you’ve wept over a video of soldiers returning home or a puppy being saved from a dire situation. I sure have.

The best viral content makes us feel something. While positive content tends to do far better than negative content, we’re more inclined to interact with and share content that evokes a strong emotion. Whether we smile, laugh, cry, or feel anger, viral content leverages the power of emotion to entice people to share, comment, and like.

When using emotion in your content, always consider your audience. Is this content or topic something they would have a strong emotional reaction to?

Provides Value

Viral content ultimately provides a value to the user. Value is also a relative term. What one audience or market finds valuable, another may consider to be a nuisance or garbage.

To produce valuable and viral content, ask yourself what your audience wants from your content. That is how you’ll discover what they consider to be valuable. For instance, if your target audience is middle-aged mothers with younger children, some valuable content topics may include:

• DIY home cleaning hacks
• Easy recipes under 30 minutes
• How to talk to your children about XYZ
• Fun and educational games to play with your family

Whether you produce a video, create an infographic, or write an article, if you want your content to go viral, it must offer a benefit to the daily lives of the readers.

Serves a Practical Purpose

Some of the most viral content serves a practical purpose. Take Tasty by Buzzfeed, for example. Chances are, you’ve seen their well-crafted videos involving recipes, life hacks, and more on your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feeds. “Tasty” shows viewers how to make easy, delicious recipes that they can add to their daily routine.

“Tasty’s” quick, simple, and aesthetically pleasing videos serve a practical purpose. Other practical content topics include:

• DIY house tips
• Business advice
• Financial tips
• Life/Career lessons
• Motivational speeches
• And more

If your content can improve the life of the viewer in a practical way, you have a chance at going viral.

Offers Entertainment

Of course, not all content can be informational and practical. On the other end of the spectrum is entertaining content. Everything from cat videos to satire articles falls into the category of entertainment. When trying to make your content go viral, consider what your audience prefers when it comes to entertainment. Examples of entertaining content and mediums include:

• Personality quizzes
• Reaction videos
• Satire articles
• Pop culture
• Vlogs

Once you have determined what your audiences find to be entertaining, run with it! After you’ve experimented and evolved your content, you’ll find the right mix of entertainment elements to make your content go viral.

Can Be Found on the Right Sites

The final element to going viral boils down to content distribution. If your content can’t be found on the right websites, how do you expect it to go viral in the first place? Popular websites for content distribution and consumption include:

• Reddit
• Digg
• YouTube
• StumbleUpon
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Twitter

Of course, that’s only a sampling of the content-related websites on the Internet. Distribute your content to the websites your audience frequents and watch the views, website visits, and interactions add up.

Not All Content Can Go Viral

Think you’ll create a viral piece of content every time? Think again.

While there is a flexible formula for creating viral content, not every piece of content can or will go viral. Take the time to understand your audience and experiment with the anatomy of viral content to create content that the masses will enjoy.