Have you ever thought about what makes certain content go viral over others?
How can you create content which is widely shared and effective?
This can be a very valuable skill for you. If you develop this, then startup founders, business owners, law firm partners, e-commerce companies, everyone will want you to do content writing for them.
Ramanuj and Abhyuday had a lot of content go viral on Twitter and Linkedin many times. I am talking about thousands of likes, and hundreds of comments.
Take a look at this story about how I started my first startup, for example:
Or this story where Ramanuj mentions the experience of starting up with me:
You can check our LinkedIn profiles if you want to find more of our posts which went viral.
Not only your own story – you can write stories of others also
It’s a great idea to share victories of your clients/customers:
Every business owner or rich person wants to write viral personal stories.
They have had the necessary life experiences and knowledge.
However, very few of them have the necessary writing ability, though.
They need assistance.
You can help them as a content writer to do this.
If you can assist foreign clients to write viral stories about themselves or their customers, you will be in high-demand.
Why would they trust you?
Of course, in this case, the easiest way to establish that you have a track record of writing viral stories is by first writing viral stories on your own profile!
You can then pitch this service to your clients, sharing your posts that got viral.
So, how do you go about writing viral stories?
Here is a structure.
There must be a protagonist. It could be you, or someone else.
Life was going on, all normal. Suddenly, some serious difficulty or challenge emerges. Something bad or traumatic happens.
There are many struggles on the way.
But the protagonist emerges victorious.
Or maybe she is still fighting it, but the spirit in face of all difficulties is a victory itself.
Most serious challenges in life do not get resolved in one go. It takes a series of actions over a period of time to find a final solution.
Usually, we take some initial action, and then run into some new trouble, which we need to solve again.
Explain the new challenge the protagonist faced after taking some action, and then say how he/she solved the new challenge. Repeat the cycle. Remember that obtaining a final victory ultimately is important.
This cycle can be very long or very short. You don’t need to make it too dramatic – keep it real. You may need to skip some details too so that it remains short and relatable.
Explain the final victory and resolution.
Also there is a final message from it. What is the moral of the story? What does the reader take away from it?
This is also very important.
You can upload a photo that shows the victory or the initial pain. A photo adds huge reality.
For example, when Ramanuj describes the house where he grew up as a child, or how he has now lived as a digital nomad during pandemic, he adds photos:
Now, imagine that you were to write this story right now for yourself.
What could you write about?
Take your biggest challenge or difficult life experience.
Write about it.
For example:
- Did you struggle with money ever? What happened?
- Did someone at school, college or work place insult you? Did you ever face bullying or discrimination?
- Did you struggle to learn English, or Hindi or some other skills that you finally learned?
- Did people refuse to accept you somewhere? Did anyone harass you?
- Did you suffer hardships? Did your parents or relatives put you under the bus at some point?
Every human being has stories.
It’s just that you are not used to sharing them.
You feel shy.
You feel bad to show that you are vulnerable and you suffered.
The day you start talking about those things with honesty and courage, you will inspire many others around you.
Alright, it’s time to go ahead and write your first story!
Hit back and let us know your stories.
It will be a great idea to post these on social media as well!