Going Viral on Facebook: Should Your Business Even Try?

Everybody wants to go viral. Or at least that’s what we’re told.

For years, businesses have looked at the Facebook post that suddenly gets shared thousands of times and thought, “How do we do that?” Today, add Reels, short-form video, creators, algorithms, and AI into the mix, and the temptation is even greater.

Make the right video. Catch the right trend. Say the right thing at exactly the right moment and—boom—millions of people see your business.

Sounds great.

But I’ve got a question.

Why do you want to go viral?

Because if you’re a small or locally owned business, a million views from people scattered across the country may be considerably less valuable than 1,000 views from people who could actually walk through your door.

That’s the part of going viral on Facebook that tends to get lost in all the excitement.

What Does Going Viral on Facebook Mean?

There isn’t a magic number that suddenly turns a Facebook post into a viral post.

Generally, we’re talking about content that travels well beyond the audience that normally sees your business. People watch it, react to it, comment on it, send it to friends, or share it, which introduces the content to more people.

Then some of those people do the same thing.

And away it goes.

Facebook itself has changed tremendously since businesses first started chasing viral posts. Video now plays a much larger role, Reels have become an important part of Facebook’s content ecosystem, and Meta uses increasingly sophisticated recommendation systems to decide what people may want to see.

That means a person doesn’t necessarily have to follow your business before Facebook can introduce them to your content.

That’s a pretty remarkable opportunity.

It still doesn’t mean virality should be your marketing strategy.

Going Viral Isn’t a Marketing Objective

This is where I think businesses get themselves into trouble.

“We want this to go viral” sounds like a goal.

It isn’t.

What happens after it goes viral?

Do you want people to visit your store? Remember your name? Buy something? Book an appointment? Attend an event? Understand what makes your company different? Tell someone about you?

Those are marketing objectives.

Going viral is distribution.

And massive distribution isn’t automatically useful distribution.

If you’re a restaurant in Southern Oregon and 750,000 people in Florida, Texas, New York, and England watch your funny Reel, congratulations. You made a popular video.

How many of them are coming in for lunch?

Probably not many.

That doesn’t make the exposure worthless. Brand awareness can travel; people have friends in other places, and unexpected exposure occasionally creates unexpected opportunities.

But let’s not confuse attention with business results.

Would You Rather Reach a Million People or the Right Thousand?

For most local businesses, I’ll take the right thousand.

Every time.

This is one of the fundamental things we’ve learned from working with small and mid-sized businesses. Bigger numbers look impressive in reports, but bigger isn’t necessarily better.

A Facebook post reaching 2,500 people in your actual market may be far more valuable than one reaching 100,000 people who have no meaningful connection to your business.

The same thing is true across marketing.

Website traffic isn’t valuable simply because there’s a lot of it. An email list isn’t better simply because it’s enormous. Social followers don’t pay the electric bill merely by existing.

The question is whether you’re reaching people who matter to the business.

That’s why a sound social media strategy starts with your audience and your business objectives, not with the latest trick for beating an algorithm.

So, Why Does Some Facebook Content Take Off?

If there were a guaranteed formula for viral content, we’d all be doing it before breakfast.

There isn’t.

But content that spreads usually gives people a reason to act on it.

It might be funny.

It might be surprising.

It might teach them something.

It might make them angry, happy, nostalgic, curious, proud, or amazed.

It might say something they’ve been thinking but haven’t quite known how to say.

Or it might simply be so useful that they want somebody else to see it.

That’s an important distinction.

People don’t share things just because your marketing calendar says it’s Tuesday and you’re due for a Facebook post.

They share because the content did something for them.

People Share Things That Make Them Look Good, Too

This has always been one of the more interesting social media pieces to me.

When somebody shares your content, they’re not only saying something about your business. They’re saying something about themselves.

“This is funny.”

“This is something I believe.”

“Look what I discovered.”

“You need to know this.”

“This is so us.”

“I can’t believe somebody else does this, too.”

People share content partly because it helps them communicate who they are to those around them.

So if you want people to share something, for a moment, quit asking what you want to say and ask why someone else would want their name attached to it.

That’s a much better question.

Facebook Reels Changed the Opportunity

One of the biggest differences between Facebook today and the Facebook of years ago is the importance of short-form video.

Reels give businesses an opportunity to create content that’s easy to consume and can be discovered beyond their existing follower base.

For a small business, that’s useful.

You can demonstrate something. Answer a common question. Introduce an employee. Show how something gets made. Give people a peek behind the scenes. Show a before and after. Explain something people misunderstand about your industry.

And you don’t need a television production crew to do it.

In fact, sometimes being a little less polished makes the content feel considerably more human.

We’ve been saying for years that social media works best when businesses remember there are human beings on the other end. The technology changes. That part doesn’t.

If you’re looking at Facebook as part of a broader plan, our Facebook Marketing Guide explains how the platform can fit into your overall marketing strategy.

Don’t Chase Every Facebook Trend

Here’s where the desire to go viral can make a perfectly respectable business look a little ridiculous.

A trend takes off.

Suddenly, every brand thinks it has to participate.

Sometimes it works.

Sometimes you watch it and think, “Why is the accounting firm doing this dance?”

Not every trend belongs to every business.

Your brand still matters.

Your audience still matters.

Your personality still matters.

If a trend gives you a natural opportunity to say something that sounds like you, have some fun with it. Social media doesn’t have to be deadly serious.

But don’t abandon your brand because everybody else is chasing the same shiny object.

By the time most businesses discover a trend, there’s a decent chance the internet is already getting tired of it anyway.

Original Content Matters More Than Copying What’s Popular

There’s another problem with chasing virality: it encourages businesses to copy what already worked for somebody else.

That’s backward.

The things most likely to make your business interesting are usually the things that are actually yours.

Your employees.

Your customers.

Your expertise.

Your sense of humor.

Your community.

Your process.

Your history.

The strange little things that happen in your business every day that seem ordinary to you because you’ve seen them a thousand times.

Those can be fascinating to somebody who doesn’t do what you do.

That’s content.

And it’s considerably harder for your competitor to copy.

Make Facebook Content People Actually Want to Watch

Whether you’re creating a Reel, a video, a photo, or a regular Facebook post, don’t make people work too hard to figure out why they should care.

Get to the point.

Give them a reason to stop scrolling.

Show the interesting thing instead of spending 30 seconds introducing it.

Write like a person.

Use visuals that actually help tell the story.

And remember that many people encounter your content while they’re doing something else.

You’re competing with family pictures, breaking news, funny dogs, sports highlights, vacation photos, creators, other businesses, and whatever bizarre thing Facebook has decided somebody needs to see today.

Your content has to earn attention.

Our article on creating a great Facebook post gets into that in more detail.

What Should You Do If a Facebook Post Actually Goes Viral?

Enjoy it.

Then get to work.

If a post suddenly begins reaching a much larger audience, pay attention to what’s happening.

• Respond to relevant comments.
• Make sure your Facebook Page clearly explains who you are and what you do.
• Check that your website link and business information are up to date.
• Look at what people are responding to in the post.
• Consider whether there’s a natural follow-up piece of content.
• Watch for questions that could become future posts.
• Pay attention to whether the increased attention produces website visits, inquiries, followers, or customers.

Don’t immediately make seventeen versions of the same post, trying to recreate lightning in a bottle.

Learn from it.

What connected?

Was it the subject? The format? The personality? The timing? The opening? The emotion? The usefulness?

You may not be able to duplicate the reach, but you can usually learn something about your audience.

Should You Pay to Promote a Facebook Post That’s Doing Well?

Sometimes.

If a post is already resonating organically and it supports an actual business objective, putting some advertising dollars behind it can make sense.

But again, don’t spend money simply because the post has a lot of likes.

Ask whether extending its reach helps accomplish something useful.

Paid Facebook advertising also lets you be much more deliberate about who you’re trying to reach. That’s particularly valuable for local businesses because you can focus the investment on people who could realistically become customers rather than simply pursuing the largest possible audience.

That’s the difference between popularity and strategy.

Our article on Facebook audience targeting explains why that distinction matters even more today.

Stop Trying to Manufacture Viral. Start Trying to Be Worth Sharing.

I think that’s the better goal.

Trying to “make something viral” puts your attention on the algorithm, the number of views, and the size of the audience.

Trying to make something worth sharing puts your attention on the person watching it.

That’s where your attention belonged in the first place.

Create something useful.

Create something interesting.

Create something funny when funny makes sense.

Show people something they haven’t seen.

Teach them something they didn’t know.

Let them see the humans behind your business.

Give them a reason to remember you.

And if Facebook decides to show it to a million people, terrific.

Just don’t forget about the thousand people you really needed to reach.

If you’re trying to turn Facebook into something more useful than another place you’re supposed to post three times a week, give us a quack. We’ll help you build a social media strategy around your business, not the latest algorithm rumor.