By: Sarah Fischer

In the early days of social media, Facebook was pretty much the only game in town. They controlled billions of users and tens of billions in ad dollars, and there was no competition in sight. As a result, they had little incentive to boost reach, making it difficult for small businesses and creators to grow. Now, however, as TikTok captures more of the attention economy, competition is heating up.

Both TikTok and Meta platforms are vying to prove that their respective platforms deliver superior engagement and visibility. In this competitive marketplace, it is the creators who win. Jon Jacques, CEO of Viral Secrets, underscores the significance of this shift: “We’re in the midst of, what I consider to be, the biggest opportunity in a decade to achieve amounts of free exposure online.”

Going viral takes more than simply one good video and a stroke of luck; Jacques knows from experience. Since deciding to pursue social media, he has earned a following of 1 million people worldwide and has been featured by The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Entrepreneur Magazine, BuzzFeed, and Business Insider. Here are his tips to help you go viral in 2024. 

MAKE REELS PART OF YOUR ROUTINE

In order to find success on social media right now, leverage Reels. Since Meta is competing with TikTok’s short-form content structure, they are deeply invested in the success of Reels as a medium. In Meta’s Q4 2023 Earnings Call, Mark Zuckerberg himself stated: “Reels… remain a major priority and driver of engagement.” This presents a great opportunity to turn relevant company or brand-related content into Reels. Repurpose client testimonials, film product demonstrations, record “FAQ” videos – whatever fits your needs. Reels are the quickest way to visibility and virality.

Jon’s Pro Tip: Don’t start from scratch! Instead, shortcut the content creation process by repurposing your existing videos into Reels. With a few simple edits, you can transform past content into fresh, engaging Reels.

USE THE TRENDING AUDIO GROWTH HACK

Trending audios are viral sounds that are gaining popularity on social media. They could be popular songs, audio tracks from viral videos, or clips from pop culture. A lot of influencers create their content around these sounds because they know it will massively boost their reach. There are a couple of ways to find trending audio. First, scroll through your feed/explore page and save any audio that repeatedly comes up to use later in your content.  Second, Instagram has made it easy to figure out if an audio is trending. When editing your Reel, click Add Audio, and use any sound that has the “trending” symbol next to it (an arrow pointing up and to the right). 

Jon’s Pro Tip: Add trending audio to every Reel you upload! Even if the audio isn’t relevant to your video, add the sound and lower the volume to make it undetectable to the ear. This allows you to capitalize on the organic reach of trending audios on all of your videos with little to no effort.

CONVERT COLD TRAFFIC INTO HIGH-PAYING CUSTOMERS

We’ve all seen posts with captions like, “Comment YUMMY, and I’ll DM you my famous brownie recipe.” These comments don’t just boost the post’s engagement, but they trigger automated direct messages between the content creator and their followers. Services like Manychat make this possible. What makes “Comment Automation” so groundbreaking is its ability to transform casual commenters into potential leads. Instead of hoping that followers find your website, you are now appearing directly in their inbox. 

Jon’s Pro Tip: Once a conversation is initiated, businesses and influencers have a prime opportunity to strategically engage with their audience. You can collect contact information for an email list, offer exclusive deals, schedule phone consultations, or even sell products directly. It is a brilliant way to scale your business with social media! 

Jon Jacques is the CEO of Viral Secrets. Grab a copy of his best-selling Social Media Book, Viral Content, here. 

Published by: Nelly Chavez