Viral Marketing: How to Make Content People Share

• Big hits are mostly broadcasts

  Across a billion Twitter diffusion events, popularity was “largely driven by the size of the largest broadcast”, not long chains of sharing. Goel, Anderson, Hofman & Watts, Management Science (2016)

• Success is partly luck

  In the MusicLab experiment, showing download counts “increased both inequality and unpredictability of success”. Salganik, Dodds & Watts, Science (2006)

• Emotion and usefulness matter

  “Positive content is more viral than negative content”, high-arousal emotions travel further, and practically useful content is shared more. Berger & Milkman, Journal of Marketing Research (2012)

1. Module 1. What “viral” really means, and what nobody can promise

   • Why things spread, and why nobody can promise you’ll go viral (open lesson)Broadcast vs person-to-person spread, the MusicLab result on luck, and a first look at STEPPS.
   • Broadcast vs person-to-person: what a study of a billion shares foundWhat “structural virality” measures, why most big hits are broadcast-led, and what that means for your launch plan.
   • Luck, social proof and unpredictability (the MusicLab experiment)How visible popularity amplifies early luck, why that makes hits unpredictable, and why faking social proof is banned.
   • Campaign goals that aren’t “go viral”: awareness, sign-ups, sales, donations, recruitsTurn “go viral” into a goal you can measure, with one metric that matters and supporting signals.
   • Project: P1 Your goal ladder and the one metric that matters
2. Module 2. The science of sharing

   • STEPPS, explained with examplesThe six STEPPS (Berger’s framework), each with a real example and a small-business version.
   • Emotion and arousal: what Berger and Milkman foundHigh-arousal emotions travel further; positive content beats negative on average; sadness travels less.
   • Practical value and social currency: why useful, identity-affirming content travelsWhy people pass on useful things and things that say something about them, and how to design both honestly.
   • The ethics line: no rage-bait, fear or manufactured outrage, even though they spreadAnger and anxiety spread, so where’s the line? Rage-bait, fear, dangerous challenges and trivializing serious issues.
   • Project: P2 Score three past posts with the STEPPS scorecard
3. Module 3. Audience and insight

   • Who shares, and why they’d share your thingFind the specific people likely to pass your idea on, where they spend time, and what sharing does for them.
   • Listening: comments, reviews, search autocomplete and forums (as signals, not facts)Where to listen, what each source can and can’t tell you, and how to record what you find honestly.
   • Using AI to cluster what people say, without inventing itA safe workflow for sorting real comments into themes with an AI tool, and checking that every theme is backed by quotes.
   • From insight to “share trigger”: the sentence your idea hangs onTurn a checked theme into an insight sentence and a share trigger: why this person would pass it on, now.
   • Project: P3 Your audience insight canvas · WE3 Harbor & Pine’s insight (fictional)
4. Module 4. The big idea

   • Seven campaign formats: challenge, participation and UGC prompts, utility or recap, stunt, series, reactive, storySeven repeatable shapes a shareable campaign can take, what each needs to work, and where each tends to go wrong.
   • Case studies: ALS, Dove Sketches, Old Spice Response, Spotify WrappedFour well-known campaigns, read from their owners’ own records, with what each did and what it doesn’t prove.
   • Generating ideas with AI, then killing most of themUse AI to widen the options fast, then score and cut them hard, so the ideas you keep are yours and checkable.
   • The risk screen: harm, imitation, trivializing serious issues, brand fitFour questions every concept must pass before you brief it, with the platform rules and past mistakes behind them.
   • Project: P4 Three concepts, scored and screened, then a one-page brief
5. Module 5. Platform playbooks: TikTok, Reels and Shorts (and where else)

   • How TikTok recommends videos, in TikTok’s own wordsWhat TikTok says its For You system uses, what it says doesn’t matter, and what that means for planning.
   • How Instagram ranks Reels: trial reels and View RateThe signals Instagram says it uses for Reels, how trial reels let you test with non-followers, and what View Rate measures.
   • How YouTube Shorts are recommended: viewed vs swiped awayYouTube’s own account of appeal, engagement and satisfaction, and what the Shorts “stayed to watch” metric means.
   • Search on social: captions, keywords and on-screen textPeople search inside TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest. How to find their words and put them where platforms read them.
   • LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook and email: when they beat short-formWhen a professional feed, a visual search engine, local groups or an email list will do more for your goal than another short video.
   • Project: P5 Your platform plan and posting calendar
6. Module 6. Hooks, scripts and stories for short-form

   • The first seconds: what the platforms actually sayWhat TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest each say about openings, and why there’s no single magic number.
   • Twelve hook patterns, and why “guaranteed hooks” don’t existTwelve opening patterns you can adapt, how to choose between them, and why lists of “hooks that always work” are a red flag.
   • Retention structure: hook, build, payoff, call to action, loopA five-part structure for short videos that keeps people watching to the end, with honest calls to action.
   • Scripting with AI: prompts, voice, and checking every claimHow to brief an AI tool to draft scripts in your voice, then check every fact, claim and quote before anyone films it.
   • Project: P6 A hook bank, two finished scripts and a storyboard
7. Module 7. Production and editing with AI

   • Phone kit, light and sound on a small budgetWhat you actually need to film good short videos on a phone, in order of how much difference each item makes.
   • Editing for retention: CapCut, Edits and Descript comparedThe editing moves that keep people watching, and how three popular tools differ, described from their own pages.
   • Captions and accessibilityWhy captions help everyone, how to check auto-captions, and five accessibility habits for short-form video.
   • AI video, voice and avatars: when to use them and how to label themWhere AI video, voices and avatars help, where they mislead, and what TikTok, YouTube and Meta say about labels.
   • Music and sound for business accounts: commercial libraries and licensesWhy trending songs are risky for business posts, where cleared music comes from, and the myths that get videos muted or claimed.
   • Project: P7 Produce two finished short videos
8. Module 8. Seeding and distribution

   • Big-seed thinking: owned, earned, shared and paidWhy the first audience matters so much, and how to plan the four ways a campaign reaches people at the start.
   • Working with creators and UGC: briefs, rights, usage and disclosureHow to brief a creator, agree who owns and may reuse the content, and make sure every paid or gifted post is clearly disclosed.
   • Partnership ads and paid boosts: when they help (your budget, your call)How partnership ads and Spark Ads work, what permissions they need, and a simple rule for deciding whether to pay at all.
   • Community, comments and employee advocacy (with disclosure)How replying to comments keeps a campaign going, what you’re responsible for on your own pages, and how staff can share honestly.
   • Timing, cross-posting and repurposingWhy there’s no magic posting time, how to cross-post without penalties, and how to turn one video into several honest assets.
   • Project: P8 Your seeding plan and creator brief · WE8 Riverbend’s volunteer-drive seeding plan (fictional)
9. Module 9. Rules, risk and reputation

   • FTC disclosure, from #ad to video and livestreamsWhat the FTC expects when a post is paid, gifted or otherwise connected to a brand, and how to disclose in captions, on screen, out loud and in livestreams.
   • Fake followers, views and reviews: the 2024 FTC rule and platform bansWhy buying followers, views, likes or reviews is banned by the platforms and, in some places, by law, and how to spot the scams and influencer fraud that sell them.
   • Giveaways and contests: Meta’s no-share-to-enter rule, official rules, and state law (general information)How platform rules and promotion laws shape giveaways, why “share to enter” breaks Meta’s rules, and what goes in official rules.
   • Copyright, music, remixes and duetsHow copyright applies to trends, sounds, clips, memes, remixes, duets and stitches, and what fair use and UK fair dealing do and don’t cover.
   • AI labels on TikTok, YouTube and Meta (and the EU’s Article 50)Exactly what each platform encourages and what it requires when you post AI-generated or AI-edited content, plus the EU AI Act’s deep-fake disclosure rule.
   • Community guidelines: dangerous challenges, minors and privacyWhy challenges that could hurt someone are off the table, how to keep minors safe and out of your targeting, and how to handle the personal data a campaign collects.
   • Australia and UK panels (ACCC, CMA/ASA)What the ACCC, the ASA and the CMA expect from influencer posts, reviews and social claims, including the ASA’s 2026 fourth-edition influencers’ guide.
   • Your crisis and response playbookHow to prepare for criticism, mistakes and pile-ons before launch, with a severity ladder, named owners and holding statements (template T13).
   • Project: P9 Complete the compliance checklist for your brief
10. Module 10. Measure, learn and iterate

    • The metrics that matter on each platformWhich numbers in TikTok, Instagram and YouTube analytics tell you whether people watched, shared and acted, and how they connect to the one metric from your brief.
    • Early signals: what the first hours tell youHow to read a post’s first hours without panicking, what early numbers can and can’t tell you, and when to act.
    • Designing small experiments: trial reels, title tests, hook swapsHow to test one change at a time using the platforms’ own test tools, and how to read results without fooling yourself.
    • When something takes off: capacity, replies, the conversion path, crediting creatorsWhat to do in the hours and days after a post spreads further than usual: protect capacity, answer people, fix the path to action and credit the people who made it happen.
    • When nothing takes off: the post-mortemHow to review a campaign that didn’t spread, separating bad luck from fixable causes, using the T14 post-mortem template.
    • Project: P10 Set up your 14-day dashboard and experiment log
11. Module 11. Capstone: plan and launch your campaign

    • Brief and goal (from Modules 1–4)Turn your earlier projects into one campaign brief: goal, metric, insight, share trigger and the idea you’ll make.
    • Produce at least three assets (Modules 6–7)Make at least three finished assets, scripted and checked, with captions, labels and cleared music.
    • Seeding and compliance sign-off (Modules 8–9)Plan how the campaign reaches people in its first week and sign off the compliance checklist before anything goes live.
    • Launch, and 14 days of measurement (Module 10)Launch, follow your check-in rules, run your experiments and keep the dashboard for 14 days.
    • Retrospective and your next campaignRun the T14 post-mortem, whatever happened, and plan your next campaign from what you learned.
    • Final assessment (40 questions)A 40-question assessment drawn from an 80-question bank, mostly scenarios, covering every module. Pass mark 80%; retakes allowed.
    • Project: Capstone rubric (self-assessed; results are not scored)

Course types, not named competitors. These are our general observations of each type, not a survey.