It happened. Call the folks, order the confetti, and strike up the band — you’ve gone viral. Congratulations!
Uh…now what?
It’s not easy to capture imaginations at a scale of hundreds of thousands of pairs of eyes and literally multiple millions of views. To be able to SAY you’ve gone viral, even just once, is a brag that few can say they’ve shared. Even fewer can say they’ve followed their initial unexpected hit with consistent success, let alone another explosive follow-up.
So, assuming you’ve struck lightning gold at least once — or that you WILL someday — what can you do to keep the momentum going?
What Do We Mean When We Say Viral?
Let’s pause for a moment. What exactly is virality? And what do you need to know about going viral on TikTok, specifically?
Like ‘thick’ and ‘edgy’ before it, the notion of going viral has gotten a bit warped since the term first hit the scene. In its truest sense, a viral video catches hold organically and spreads exponentially…like a virus (as we’re all more painfully aware of in these increasingly precedented times).
Unfortunately, ‘exponentially’ and ‘organically’ have also been buzzworded straight to hell, so let’s define those before we move on.
Exponential spread, mathematically speaking, means spreading by a multiple over and over, as in 5^2 meaning 5×5 (25), 5^3 meaning 5x5x5 (125), and so on. People get charmed into thinking these pyramid scheme numbers can happen with something as ubiquitous as decent cookware — those “I’ll tell five people, and they’ll tell five different people, and THEY’LL…” (spoiler alert: this is not sustainable).
Organic means…well, legally, a lot of different things as far as what you’re eating and bathing with, but for our purposes here, it means not engineered or sponsored in any way.
If you didn’t click that first link, let’s quote the author, Matthew Saccaro, directly: “There’s no such thing as a jovial, spur-of-the-moment idea when brands rear their disgusting, bloated heads. The [2014 Ellen DeGeneres] Oscar selfie was a corporate ruse developed by Samsung, arguably the most pervasive instance of product placement in human history. The advertising firm responsible for the idea behind the photo values the selfie at approximately one billion dollars.”
That contrasts directly with how we defined ‘virality’ at the beginning of this article, but it’s hardly a No True Scotsman fallacy to point out that for our sinister purposes, we’re only talking about the original meaning of viral.
We’re outlining the happy — but also a little bit nerve-wracking — accidents. The “Wait, it got HOW many duets already?” types of TikToks. Because what follows is how to deal with an unexpected spotlight.
We can talk about the payoffs of lucrative strategies all day, but dealing with the aftermath of sudden shine is more like damage control than a plan for success. As such, it warrants a different kind of discussion and a whole different kind of plan.
What You’ll Need Beforehand
The best defense against a sudden illness is preparing your body to be healthy beforehand. Ameliorating your navigation of those all-too-easy pitfalls that come with actually exponential exposure is much the same.
An editorial calendar
As you get your presence on TikTok and other platforms together, you’ll want to keep an editorial calendar; ideally two months, planned out in advance. Having a map of your content, a plan of what to shoot, script, buy, etc, saves stress and time and makes you and your channel fresher and fitter.
The beauty part of having a calendar prepared ahead of time, all the time, no matter what is that when something takes you off track, like, say…an accidentally iconic gesture that turns you into a temporary superstar, you always know what you’re meant to steer back to.
Your bios and elevator pitches
Are you the kind of person who hates icebreakers because the second you’re asked for a fun fact about yourself, every moment you’ve ever lived through flies out of your head and splatters itself on an office building the next county over?
If so, you’ll want to pay extra attention to this one.
Remember, unless you’re somehow only putting yourself through the rollercoaster of content creation for kinky kicks, the whole point of this endeavor is to put your efforts in the bank. That means you need easy sound bites about yourself, what you do to sell others, and why they ought to pay you any attention.
Going viral means a high possibility of getting tracked down, of a morning talk show appearance, of your face and handles getting plastered everywhere, even if only for a week. And that means questions you’ll want to have easy, practiced (but not too practiced) answers to.
Take a little while to whittle your many good qualities into something pithy and witty, post it somewhere easy for newcomers to see, and then pat yourself on the back for being that much more prepared.
Now you’re ready for your closeup.
Your FAQs and standard responses to media inquiries
No, we’re not double-dipping with this one, and how dare you even think it. Though they sometimes get exchanged, this section is all about how best for well-meaning, well-paying strangers to get in touch with you and what you will and won’t do professionally.
If you don’t do food sponsorships because a meal kit killed your parents, that hard boundary should be somewhere visible. If you have an email that isn’t your TikTok handle for serious press or interview requests, that should also be easy to find. You’re posting publicly, and if an outlet that could have been great exposure decides you’re too difficult to contact, they’ll just share your moment without your involvement, riff, and wait for the next wave.
Don’t kill your momentum by playing hard to get!
The best time to get the above together was when you started. The next best time is five more minutes unless you trust yourself to open a new tab, finish these objectives, and come back.
Know what? Let’s say we assume you’ll do the pregaming in a bit and just keep reading.
After You Go Viral
Here’s what you need in the aftermath of a viral event.
Acknowledge it with something
You’re not a Kardashian, right? If something you do gets major attention, you don’t have the pedigree to pretend it’s just another day, so why bother? And it doesn’t have to be anything big.
A quick “Thanks for coming,” a primer on your space (remember that pitch and bio we talked about earlier?), and a newcomer promo, if applicable, are all you need. Know your style: if you’re a scripter, script. If you’re an off-the-cuff content creator, keep it there as best as you can.
But no matter what your style is, making your response to the response a prompt one is important! Make sure you show your old familiar fans some love in the comment section, too — and keep some of those “I always knew you’d get a shot at the bigs” comments in your heart for later.
Say yes to fewer things
Do you know what happens to sick animals in the wild? They get preyed on. Virality brings out the predators, especially when they see a first-timer. Now more than ever, it is time to look deeply into other people’s catalogs and make sure they’re legit as a presence AND that they know what they’re doing.
Contact your reps
No, not your senators, not this time. Post-boom, if you don’t have any already, you’ll want to get a lawyer and an agent protecting your interests. It’s not guaranteed that A Large Corporation is going to get in touch, but it’s also not impossible they swoop in, wheel, and deal and screw you over with fine print that won’t even leave you with your original IP.
It’s not highly likely that A Well-Known Streaming Service will call you the next day with a deal, but it’s also not impossible that a savvy agent could translate your sweet new heat plus your prior body of work into the kinds of gigs you can build on.
Consider the work of Franchesca Ramsey. Her viral hit landed before Vine even started showing signs of stress. Over the last 13 years, she’s been a published author, a keynote speaker, an actress, and a TV writer, and people still know who she is because she knew how to harness that rush of recognition. Part of that was ensuring she was in good hands (by her admission) and you need to do the same.
Get your automation tools in order
You’re not going to sift through every comment you get on a post that goes viral. Point blank, you’re not — you need to eat and blink and work on building on your good fortune. Leave some responses with your friendly neighborhood convobots like the good and incredibly attractive people at Manychat, then let the magic happen at your leisure. Not a lot doesn’t require your oversight (or at least your signoffs) as a creative, so take all the outs you can when they’re available.
Lastly, Some Capital D-Don’ts
Nothing stops growth like the weight of desperation. You’ve got the tools to handle yourself well enough in the wake of your first 15 minutes, but the temptation to mess things up is always there. So here are a few ‘what NOT to do’s before you forget us little people.
Don’t try to make lightning strike twice
Follow the follow-ups (after a little digging) to famous one-hit wonders, and you’ll notice that many acts will try to do a similar song to catch the same wave. Kung Fu Fighting was followed by Dance the Kung Fu. Baby Got Back was followed by Put Em on the Glass.
Not only did none of it work, but the failures were even sadder for the transparent attempts at reaching the same highs. Even so, the folks who had the one hit will have that hit forever.
TikTok virality, though, won’t even leave you with jokey cameo roles to play off. View your virality with the acceptance that it will very likely never happen again, and don’t make a fool of yourself trying to chase it.
Accept some falloff
Not everyone who came for the big show will stay for your regularly scheduled content. Those views might not translate into followers or better (sustained) engagement. Sometimes, people just want to see what the fuss is before they take their leave.
Don’t start revamping, rescheduling, and refinancing until you’ve got other plans past that initial boom, or you’ll go bust.
Don’t try to respond to everything
Massive spikes in attention will mean massive spikes in criticism as people ride your wake. Whether it’s deserved or not (and you know what you did) isn’t the point, but rest assured, there will be pushback, copycats, challengers, and so on. Not all of it will need your input.
Pretty much none of it will.
Think about what you’ll say when asked about it, but the odds that you need to take time to make a statement about anything are low. And if any of the responses veer into infringement, harassment, or slander — you’ll have that lawyer we mentioned earlier to help.
Now get out there, get lucky, and then get to work. (And tap in Manychat’s TikTok automation if you need it.)
