A Viral Insight

If you missed our webinar on virality last month, I wanted to take a moment to highlight the five  key points discussed. If this TL:DR isn’t enough, you can watch the whole thing here.

Key Insights:

• Virality Is Not One-Size-Fits-All: What is wild is there is no real concrete definition of what virality is when it is being talked about. For us, it breaks into three key buckets:some text
  • Mainstream Virality: When content spreads across platforms and reaches a mass audience. This level of virality means almost anyone actively engaging in social media will know what you’re talking about, incredibly difficult to predict or achieve. Examples: Demure, Brat Summer
  • Product-Specific Virality: This is when thousands or tens of thousands of creators are all talking about one product. This would be the holy grail for most brands but is incredibly difficult, if not impossible to manufacture. Ex Skims, Stanley Cups
  • Creator-Led Virality: This is when an individual creator has a post that reaches some level of virality.  For our purposes, we say a creator went “viral” when they have 2x their following in views. Note this metric makes most sense with creators over 50k.
• The End of Authenticity and the Age of Algorithmic Attention: It is important to understand that the context in which we are creating content is changing, authenticity was the north star of influencer marketers for years but authenticity is no longer enough. The sponsored content we put into the world is increasingly being seen by non followers and you have to figure out how to tell resonate, honest product stories without the benefit of the viewer having a years long relationship with that creator. I talked about this at more length in a previous insight email.
• The Importance of Resonance: In pursuit of attention, brands often forget about persuasion and resonance.  What truly stands out is content that not only grabs attention but resonates emotionally with the audience. Emotional micro-triggers such as curiosity, novelty, and relatability often contribute to content virality.
• Don’t Burn Out: More and more marketers are being judged on their ability to make something go viral but it’s important to remember how rare it is. We looked at 25,000 influencers’ content performance and found a pretty consistent 2% of content that was getting over 2x their following in views. Statistically, most brands will not have even a single viral post out of all of the entirety of their influencer output across any given year. It’s vital to have the data to transparently level-set expectations (as well as to educate and instill healthy confidence) of senior leadership to thereafter set productive and accurate goals and benchmarks for the work you collaborate on with creators.

• Moving Toward a Culture-Led Strategy: Fohr recommends that brands shift from attention-led strategies to culture-led strategies. This means aligning with cultural trends and creating content that is relevant to a brand’s audience, aesthetic, and values. This approach roots campaigns in what people care about and creates more meaningful, sustainable engagement.

Actionable Steps:

• Align with Cultural Trends: Instead of chasing an endless stream of content trends, ensure your marketing aligns with cultural signals and audience values.
• Focus on Resonance: Prioritize content that creates an emotional connection with your audience and work with creators who are consistently reaching over 30% of their audience.
• Be Early on Creators, Not Just Trends: The time to work with Jools was back in June when she had 900,000 followers, was going viral all the time but wasn’t more broadly on the cultural radar, find creators before they have their big moment and invest in tomorrow’s stars.

• Reframe Leadership Thinking: Use data to back up creative approaches and turn scrutiny into opportunity.

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PERSONAL CORNER

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• I just finished Austerlitz by WG Sebald and was just completely floored. I loved this book so much. The writing had such incredible rhythm and seemed to just float suspended and sparkling in a dreamlike ether. If you read books for the language therein, pick this one up.
• I was driving windows down on FDR last week blasting Charli XCX’s “Track 10” from her 2017 album Pop 2. This is still my favorite Charlie song and I think better than anything on BRAT. When first reviewed, Pitchfork wrote this about it: “There’s something a bit messy about the whole thing—a sense of humanity, beaming plainly from its hyper-synthetic surroundings, that feels like a revelation”.
• My friends have been busy putting cool stuff into the world recently: Influencer Olivia Lopez opened a wine bar in Silver Lake, filmmaker Dean Peterson is opening a non-alcoholic bottle shop in LAm cleverly called Burden of Proof, Lindsay Silberman and Matt Stevens of Hotel Lobby Candle launched a home collection (the hand soap rules). Support the homies!

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Last night we celebrated the launch of The Fohr Almanac of Influence Volume 2. Hit us up if you want a copy—we'll do our best to get you one.

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Cheers,
JAMES NORD
Founder & CEO
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