Why You Shouldn’t Try to Go Viral on Social Media
by Tyler Wilson
You’ve seen it on social media before. The local gym that goes viral with a video and gets 700K views, the Dentist who makes a witty post and it’s shared across the entire planet. But, what does it actually do for their business? I have good reason to believe the answer is – nothing. Because it happened to me.
Let me take you back to the beginning.
In mid-2016, I had over 2500 DVDs in stock, and our DVD section at the shop could only hold about 1500 movies.
Needless to say – we were overflowing.
DVDs were literally stuffed everywhere. In boxes, in bags, underneath showcases, even in the bathroom. We had them everywhere!
So I started brainstorming. How can I take this problem and use it as a social media post to get some buzz for the pawnshop? With this idea in mind, I started searching through our DVDs. I looked through all 1500 DVDs on our shelf to see what titles I had, and at that point realized that I had an abundance of one DVD in particular – Spider-Man 3.
Then it hit me, if I had 47 copies of Spider-Man 3 in my pawnshop, it must not be a movie that anyone wants. So that means it must be the worst movie ever made. And that’s how I landed on this viral sign…
We put the sign up, snapped a picture of it, and posted it on Facebook. Within a day or two – it had gone viral.
Hundreds of thousands of shares by Facebook pages, websites, and users. The Chive, a popular image-sharing website, featured the picture as their ‘Best Photos of the Week’.
We received phone calls, new Facebook and Instagram fans, and a lot of messages online. And in a couple of days – it was over.
No TV show, no interview on headline news, and not a single penny in boosted sales. Nothing.
Now – don’t get me wrong, our local customers loved the sign. It’s what we’re famous for in our area (among other signs). Every day we get questions about it and we literally still will not purchase that movie from anyone. The local customers love it.
But, we only stayed internet famous for about 48 hours.
I’ve seen this happen to other small businesses as well. Take Wiley Hardware store in Chico, Texas for example. He went viral for his ‘Electric Hammer’ video a few years ago. And when I say viral, I mean viral. Millions of views on this video. And rightfully so, it was hilarious. You can check it out here.
Did he make any more sales because of this video? Maybe.
But, I know for a fact I watched the Wiley Hardware Facebook page for a few weeks after that video and saw the fans slowly drift away.
So why does this happen? Because virality is not sustainable.
You can’t predict or control what will become viral. Which means you can’t replicate something that does become viral. The internet users control that, not us.
So – if we can’t sustain viral content, why try so hard to make it?
I would suggest that instead of contagious content, the goal should be consistent content. Consistently create content that fits your brand and that your local customers will engage with.
This goal is way more worthwhile than trying to achieve your 30 seconds of fame.
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We love the marketing insights of Tyler Wilson from Pocket Pawn in Ozark, Alabama! Catch all of the posts in the ‘Out of Pocket’ series. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
