“I had to share” – what it takes to go viral

Don’t you hope that your readers will be unable to contain themselves and will have to share your content with all their friends? Those 4 words, “I had to share” are the holy grail you seek every time you write a blog post or social media update. If making your content go viral is your goal then you know to achieve it takes some skill & luck, unless of course your content is of cute children holding kittens and puppies.

Getting people to share your content is especially important for nonprofits, as you look to build your base of donors and supporters. Here are some trends we are noticing for nonprofit related content that gets shared.

Images instead of words

You know every picture tells a story so the next time your nonprofit has something to say try saying it with a picture. We love how the League of Education Voters uses fun & engaging pictures for calls to action on their Facebook page. Imagine these in text? Would you be as likely to click ‘share’ if they were text? We think not.

Infographics are another great way to take traditionally dry content, like data, and present it in a visually appealing way that gets it shared. Check out how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has a whole section of their website dedicated to infographics on traditionally un-sexy topics like nutrition & malaria.

If you want to start using infographics for your nonprofit then check out this post from Debra Askanase, which tells you all you need to know.

Try a little humor

It can be hard for nonprofits to use humor, especially since most of us are in the business of making a bad thing better. And yet there is always some way to inject a little levity  into your issue, no matter how serious.

Last month Oxfam turned to humor to promote holiday giving with this animated film featuring Scarlett Johansson and a series of ads. Not only did they report a 20% increase in giving, according to this Chronicle of Philanthropy story, but the video was featured on CNN & the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Don’t have Oxfam’s budget but want to create your own animated short? Try using Xtranormal  or Domo Animate. Before you do be sure and get Erica Mills from Claxon’s thoughts on connecting through humor.

Teach me something new

When we learn something new our first inclination is to share it with others. Remember, what people really want to learn is about the problem your nonprofit is solving, not about your nonprofit itself. So am I going to share a re-cap of your fundraising gala? Probably not. But if you write a ‘3 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Homelessness/AIDS education/Adult literacy (insert your issue here)’ post I’m more inclined to share it with my friends. Look at the content you are producing and make sure a large percentage of it is issue related, as opposed to organization related.

Want more? This infographic from Mashable gives you even more tips & details on what it takes to make your content go viral.

Share what you learned – click here to tweet “Use pictures, humor & educate to help your #nonprofit’s message go viral – http://bit.ly/s9QKY3″

Image thanks: Flickr: Carlos_Maya