Facebook is the number one social network online right now. Millions of people are on the site daily liking, sharing and chatting about everything and anything that pops into their mind. So, as a business owner, how can you leverage the social mecca of this site? Post viral content, so people spread the word about your business.

Understand What Viral Content Is Before You Create It
What’s viral content? It’s content that people can’t help but show their friends. They’ll like it, share it, and even add their two cents in to give it even more visibility.

Viral content evokes emotion. It makes people happy, sad, motivated, or mad.

It gets people to take action. Whether it’s click on the content to see who is creating it, or to see how they can calm or continue the emotions they are experiencing.

Viral content is what everyone is after these days because it’s what sells a service or product. It’s what increases brand awareness, and what makes people want to visit a business’ website.

The secret though is how to create viral content. Remember, it has to move people. It has to get them hyped up and proactive. Here are the best ways you can do that.

Give People Attractive Images with an Emotional Message
Images are popular on Facebook right now. Most of the images have a quote on them. The image and quote work together. The image attracts people. If the image isn’t attractive, no one will stop to look. If the image is shocking, beautiful, or just unique, people will think, “Hey, what’s this about.” From this thought, they read the quote. If the quote is profound, people will look at the image and then read the quote again to make the connection. If they see a connection and most importantly feel a connection, as in they identify with it, they will most likely share it.

Help People Solve a Problem
People are always looking for the secret to success. Content needs to inspire people to do something different in their life that will lead them to that success. When you write an article or create a video, remember that people often know they need to change their life, but they don’t know how to do it. Give people action steps. Spell it out to them. If you can create content that gives them the ability to do something and they do it with success, they will recommend you to everyone they know.

Make Content Weird, Funny, and Surprising
Flip the script on your Facebook audience. Post something that doesn’t make sense at all, so that people will take a minute to try to figure it out. The trick is that it has to be something they can make sense of and it has to be something that defines your brand.

For example, “We’re number one in the number two business.” For most people, they have to stop and think about it. They are #1 in the number TWO business. This company is referring to number two as having a bowel movement. It’s the tag line for a major sewage company.

Take your brand and put a funny spin on it. Create a video or an image that explains it in a creative, interesting and funny way. That’s how you get people to pay attention, like and share it. People need to be entertained with your content, and people will be entertained if they think it’s funny.

Shock People with Something They Don’t Believe
People believe a lot of things that aren’t true. Columbus thought the Earth was flat until he didn’t fall off of it. So, do your research and debunk a “truth” that most of your target audience believes. It will surprise a lot of people and even make some people mad. That’s okay though. As long as people react to the message, you’ll start to see them share it with their friends. For some reason, people love to share the reactions they experience, so give them that reaction to share.

Stand Out from the Crowd
The most important thing you need to remember when creating content that goes viral on Facebook is to be original. People see hundreds of posts on Facebook, so they want to see something new and interesting once and a while. Research what your target audience often sees on their newsfeed by following your industry’s pages. Think of something others have not done yet that will still appeal to your target audience. Once you do that, you can start to create content based off that original thought. Before you know it, your brand will be shared across the globe because you have delivered something no one else in your industry was able to do. Now, that is what it means to create valuable viral content.