Let’s define social media virality as the rapid and widespread sharing of content across platforms, where posts gain significant attention and engagement in a short period.

What if we told you that only 1-2% of posts are catching on and getting viral?

That’s true about Instagram and TikTok. This percentage is even lower for other social channels: 0.5% for X (Twitter) and 0.1% for Facebook. Across the internet, the phenomenon of social media virality is rare, making it a significant challenge for creators and brands. Also, if you use social media for a small business (SMB), you should know another fact: Only one in ten SMBs achieved TikTok virality organically.

Does it mean you shouldn’t even attempt to make your content viral on socials?

Heck no!

Roll up your sleeves and prepare for a deep dive into social media virality by understanding its psychological principles first.

Introduction to Viral Success

Viral success is the holy grail of the digital realm—a moment when your content explodes across various social media platforms, capturing the attention of a wider audience and racking up shares, likes, and comments at lightning speed. Whether it’s a clever post, a heartwarming video, or a witty meme, viral content has the power to make brands and individuals extremely popular almost overnight. But what does it really take to go viral?

The first step is understanding what makes content so engaging that people can’t help but hit “share.” Viral content is often relatable, emotionally charged, and crafted specifically for the audience on each platform. Businesses and creators who want to start creating viral posts need to focus on producing high-quality, engaging, and shareable content that resonates with their target audience. By leveraging the unique features of different social media platforms and promoting content strategically, anyone can boost their chances of achieving viral success and reaching a much wider audience. In this article, we’ll break down the science and art behind what makes a post go viral—and how you can start creating your own viral moments.

The Psychology Behind Sharing on Social Media

The psychological formula of social media virality is this: emotion + relatability (especially through relatable content that tells stories, appeals to emotions, and connects with everyday experiences) + social belongingness.

Emotional Triggers

Emotions always come first.

The following arrive in a split second, making social media posts viral:

• Astonishment
• Inspiration
• Optimism
• Admiration/awe
• Humor
• Positive emotions (such as joy, contentment, and mood enhancement)
• Anger or indignation
• Fear of missing out (FOMO)

Positive emotions not only encourage sharing but also boost credibility and establish authority, making content more likely to go viral.

Pull one or more of these emotional levers if you want your posts to spread faster than rumors.

For example:

Take those eye-widening posts from Red Bull. The brand’s skydiving project, which involved freefalling from 128K feet, went viral on YouTube and other social channels.

The Role of Identity Resonance

“This is SO me—I have to share it!”

That’s pretty much how identity resonance works. When a post “clicks” with people’s perception of their identities, they are more likely to share it. That’s why you need to mirror users’ traits and feelings to make your content go viral on social media.

For example:

Suppose you create an Instagram reel or a Facebook video about an introverted personality. It may gain tremendous popularity among introverts who recognize themselves in it. Similarly, content that references age-specific experiences—like challenges faced by teenagers or nostalgic trends from a certain age group—can strongly resonate with those audiences and boost sharing.

Social Belonging

It’s a deeply ingrained human need to belong to a particular “tribe” or group of like-minded individuals. People share social media posts to fit into it just as much as they do to express themselves. Many consumers share content to reinforce their connection to specific communities, reflecting their desire to be seen as part of a group.

It’s a way to reinforce societal bonds as if saying, “I’m not alone; I’m also part of this!”

For example:

Apple collaborated with Storm Reid to join the #StudyWithMe movement and target students. Thanks to an effective YouTube strategy + TikTok marketing, they increased their feeling of belonging to a student cohort. The campaign gathered thousands of likes and shares across socials.

Key Elements of Viral Posts

Novelty That Hooks Attention Instantly

Viral content comes in a wide range of types, including videos, memes, images, and text posts, each with the potential to capture massive attention and drive engagement.

“Attention-grabbing” is actually a tough art to master these days. Why? Because the average attention span on the screen has shrunk by 103 seconds in the last 20 years. Let alone on social media.

Yet, some brands manage to stop people from scrolling, forcing them to turn their heads and raise their brows at novelty (and ideally—press that “Share” or “Repost” button). Memes, in particular, have become a popular form of viral content due to their humor and shareability.

Here’s how they do it:

• Unexpected scenario (e.g., “This is what happens when you try to mix ketchup with Nutella” for a restaurant or food industry)
• Unconventional content format
• Original sound/music
• Bizarre/weird image choice
• Absurd plot twist

Quality content is essential for shareability, as audiences are more likely to spread posts that provide value and entertainment.

For example:

That’s what happened with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014. It was an entirely new and unusual experience for social media audiences back then. Naturally, it caught on everywhere. Ten years later, the company launched the #IceBucket10 challenge dedicated to its anniversary. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the same popularity and shareability.

Being creative and offering a fresh perspective helps content stand out in crowded feeds, increasing the likelihood of virality.

Fast Reaction (with Trendy Content)

The ability to respond quickly to news, trends, or any viral phenomena overall (to ride on their “contagious” waves), is crucial for organizations and creators aiming to achieve virality. The sooner you react, the better your post gets discovered and shared.

Timing is everything here.

For example:

When McDonald’s failed with the Black Friday tweet (they forgot to replace the “*** Need copy and link*****” text in the campaign), the brand reacted with another one to save the situation. Both went viral on X.

Then, Wendy’s stepped in immediately to show one of the best social media marketing examples of mockery (and virality—the post accumulated 568K likes and 214K reposts).

Actually, hopping on viral trends, aka trendjacking, doesn’t guarantee you many shares unless you do this in the first few hours. Marketers often monitor platforms and use tools to analyze facebook posts for timely opportunities.

Let us explain it from the SEO viewpoint.

Late trendjacking, even with the same or similar trendy keywords, is something that many top SEO agencies don’t recommend to their clients. The reason is simple. Search algorithms analyze multiple social media pages targeting one term and get confused as to which is more relevant. As a result, they rank those lower so that trending topics drop in the search volume very quickly.

So, the faster your response, the more chances you can make your content viral on social media. A successful viral campaign can significantly boost brand recognition and recall.

Strong Emotional Resonance

Okay, you already know that emotions (like surprise or nostalgia) trigger social media sharing.

But how do you make that sentiment echo more dynamically and intensively in the users’ minds (and hearts!)?

Here’s the best approach. You should intensify emotions with the following additional components. They bypass logic and appeal to human feelings.

To create content that achieves virality, focus on originality, creativity, and providing a new perspective. Engaging content encourages users to interact—like, comment, and share—helping posts spread rapidly. When content engages users, their actions amplify its reach, contributing to the spreading of posts across platforms. The value offered by viral content, whether entertainment or practical information, is a key reason audiences participate and share. Metrics for virality and engagement are often defined by shares, likes, and comments, with facebook posts serving as a valuable source for analysis. Marketers play a vital role in crafting strategies to create content that resonates and spreads. The process to create content should always prioritize quality, creativity, and emotional connection to maximize viral potential.

Emotionally resonant visual content:

• Color psychology for pictures
• Emojis or GIFs
• Raw emotions on real faces (not AI-generated!)
• Video stories (or even mini-movies)

Emotionally resonant audio content:

(Pick it correctly to harmonize with texts and visuals.)

• Soundtracks
• Voice tones/speeds
• Whisper
• Pauses/silence, etc.

For example:

See how RushOrderTees moved toward social media virality by tapping into both emotions and trends in 2022. When the first part of the Wednesday series was trendy at the end of the year, they printed a custom T-shirt with Wednesday Addams. They also chose the song from the character’s viral dance to strengthen the post’s emotionality and sentimental appeal.

Customer or Influencer Push-Up

Customer Review as Powerful UGC

User-generated content (UGC), such as customer reviews/testimonials, is like magic for social media virality. It is all thanks to influential social proof that converts.

For example:

If you peek into Instagram reels from Freedom Debt Relief, you’ll see a noticeable tendency. The top-shareable videos are those where customers tell stories about their experiences with debt relief programs. Each customer testimonial gathers at least 10K views, with the highest number of likes and shares on the platform.

Influencer Amplification

Influencer marketing is another virality booster.

In fact, influencers have the best post engagement rates, and YouTube influencers hold it the highest—49%.

Whether you reach out to influencers on YouTube or Instagram to drive your posts viral, find the proper content creators relevant to your niche and audience. They will boost your post shareability not only among their fans but also among your followers.

For example:

Let’s look at the fitness niche.

Flat Tummy Co is successfully partnering with healthy-living bloggers and influencers who lead a sports lifestyle. Their posts are tremendously popular on Instagram, with thousands of impressions and shares.

Simplicity

Just an egg.

It was a simple photo of an egg shared by @world_record_egg in 2024. It went viral with 60.7M likes and 3.8M comments on Instagram.

The Instagram post caption goes like this: “Let’s set a world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram.”

What’s the secret ingredient of its success?

That’s right—simplicity.

To go viral on social media, don’t write over-complicated scenarios for your posts as if tying never-to-be-untangled knots. Instead, try boldness and straightforwardness. Take your target audience aback with something so incredibly simplistic they can’t help but share.

Why Some Posts Flop and Never Gain Virality

They Start with Context Instead of Conflict

Let’s face it—beginning with “Back in the 1990s…” might be adequate if you’re writing a blog post. But on social media? Z-z-z… Can you hear people snoring already?

Social media users adore sharing dramas with gasp-worthy moments and conflicts.

What can they be?

Several interesting ideas are as follows:

• Expectation vs. reality
• Old vs. new state of things
• Personal struggle/problem
• The “David vs. Goliath” conflict
• Moral dilemma
• Tabooed topic

For example:

Dean Seddon, Founder and CEO of Maverrik, analyzed 4,862 viral posts on LinkedIn. What did he find? Those with the highest LinkedIn engagement started with dramatic hooks like this: “I just got punched in the face.”

They Try to Please Everyone

You must have heard this old saying: “The person who tries to keep everyone happy often ends up feeling the loneliest.”

This is likewise true when it comes to your posts.

What you need is social media segmentation. If you target the right customer group (segment) via social channels, they will get you the highest post shareability.

For example:

The photo of a chalkboard sign from Lower Red Lion went viral immediately among dog owners and voluntary childless audiences on X. Why? It had the phrase “Dog-Friendly, Child-Free” on it.

They Don’t Resonate with the Platform’s Culture

—and let sleeping sparks lie.

Each social network is like a digital country with its peculiar language (and dialects), laws, traditions, etc.

So, your task is to:

• Understand the vibe.
• Respect the vibe.
• Follow the vibe in your posts.

For example:

What works on LinkedIn flops hard on TikTok, and vice versa. Lengthy posts with honest stories and expert tips perform better for LinkedIn marketing, whereas snappy and funny videos are the best TikTok content ideas.

In fact, 53% of SMBs leverage trends, and 34% try to make people laugh to go viral on TikTok.

Overcoming Challenges on the Road to Virality

The journey to viral success isn’t always smooth. One of the biggest challenges is creating content that truly resonates with your target audience. To overcome this, it’s essential to understand who your audience is and what kind of content they find engaging and relatable. Tailoring your message to their interests and needs can help your posts connect and spread.

Another hurdle is managing the sudden surge of attention—and sometimes criticism—that comes with going viral. Having a plan in place to respond to feedback and maintain your brand’s reputation is crucial. Additionally, future research into the factors that drive virality can offer valuable insights, helping you refine your strategies and increase your chances of success. By understanding the challenges and opportunities of going viral, and by continually learning from research and experience, you can start creating content that not only reaches a wider audience but also stands the test of time in the fast-paced world of social media.

On the Final Note: Monitor Your Social Media Performance with Sotrender

Would you like to actually know (not guess!) what exactly works throughout your socials?

Use Sotrender to track your content performance and generate social media reports! Stop sending your posts into the digital void and hoping for virality. Start your free trial today with Sotrender, figure out the right content strategy for your brand tomorrow, and maybe you’ll see your post going viral the next very day. Who knows?