If you’re familiar with the Conversion Funnel, you’ll know that in order for your site (or content) to deliver conversions, you will have to get a good grip on the first top part of the funnel which is where new visitors (readers etc) are all found.
Of course, you will have to somehow maintain the level of interest that they get from the first time they get “in the funnel” right through the other levels. But, catching the people’s attention the very first time is one of the most crucial parts of it.
There’s a number of cool ways to catch the attention of new readers out there. A lot of strategies and techniques to make a content that’s automatically sharable, something that people will immediately share for you and become viral even. A few of which, can be picked up from a recent trend for charity. The Ice Bucket Challenge.
This challenge has been recently been virulently spreading through social media these past few days. People post videos of themselves dumping (or being dumped on by friends) ice cold water on their heads to raise awareness and donations for ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and then nominating or daring other people to do it, or donate $100 to charity. I’ve read somewhere that the donations have already gained $23 million. But on this post, we’re going to talk more about the awareness part.
I’ve been seeing these videos of people dumping freezing cold water on top of their heads a few weeks ago already but it started to really grab my attention when the people I know started doing it themselves. I am an example of one of those new “viewers”. (or if we interpret it in content marketing, one of the new ”Visitors/readers”) I am now more “aware” of the trend as a result. It works!
And so here are the very simple tips onto how this works so well. And how these can be applied to our strategies for our own content.
It’s fun. And heartfelt.
Well the disease on which it’s trying to give awareness on, ALS isn’t but the fact is, it’s got that drama going on. Like, despite the cruelty and gloomy nature of the condition, the actions being taken in order to gain awareness of the disease is quite actually positive. The messages that people give out before getting wet also gives empowerment. Content that can move a reader has more staying power and would more likely have more chances of being shared by more people.
It is incredibly simple.
The challenge is superbly simple. Make a video, tell people what it is about dump arctic cold water on your head, use a couple of hashtags, then dare a friend. THAT is it. No payments, sign ups, nothing. Anyone can do it. It’s the same with content. Making something that doesn’t require the reader or visitor too much effort to understand or to grasp the topic or content is better than something that is immensely boring and complicated. The trend was so simple as a matter of fact, that when celebrities started doing it, it became more viral.
It has clear Meaning.
Underneath all the funny and hilarious prank like feel of the video trend is a very strong and meaningful cause. And a noble one. This is why a lot of people WANT do it, share it, and in turn, make it more and more viral. Hence increasing its awareness upon the subject. Do you want Rand Fishkin to share your “SEO content”? make sure it’s got something that he himself would want to share.
All in all, making a content turn viral isn’t really very easy. But you can easily see examples from almost anything. It’s just a matter of how you’ll interpret it and how you’ll apply it to your version of content marketing.
So to end this, here are all the videos of the ice bucket challenge (in chronological order) that I’ve enjoyed watching since seeing the first one that grabbed my attention.
Robert Downey Jr. Ice Bucket Challenge ALS – RDJ ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Tom Hiddleston ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (Complete Version)
Chris Hemsworth Ice Bucket Challenge ALS- Chris Hemsworth Accepts Robert Downey Jr.’s Ice Bucket
冰桶挑戰 戴夫·格羅爾 Dave Grohl Spoof ‘Carrie’ ALS Ice Bucket Challenge 惡搞 魔女嘉莉
