The Growth Newsletter #172

Go extremely over the top to go viral (and make it count)  ‌ ‌ ‌ [Demand Curve]( [Read on demandcurve.com]( The Growth Newsletter #172 Go extremely over the top to go viral (and make it count) Going viral is both an art and a science. Today, we talk about the most likely way to go viral. And how to get something out of it. Because attention is nothing but dopamine unless it can be channeled. Let's dive in  – Neal Brought to you by [Ignite Digital](  There are 8.5 billion searches per day on Google.  Are you showing up at the top?  If not, you’re losing sales. Ignite Digital are SEO experts with 13+ years of experience. They’ll design a custom strategy to help you drive website traffic and online sales. Until Apr 30th, you can get a free competitive analysis. They'll respond same-day with a sneak peek of your competitor’s strategy & a plan to beat them. [Get your free competitive analysis →]( Want to be featured in front of 98,541 founders and marketers? [Learn more here](–booking 4 weeks in advance. Go extremely over the top to go viral (& make it count) Insight from us, but with loads of examples.  I’ve spent far too many hours scrolling through the top posts on Reddit, YouTube, X, and Instagram to reverse-engineer what made them go viral.  Three distinct types of posts go viral: - Remarkable world news: pandemics, wars, explosions, new presidents, etc. This goes viral because of its real-world impact. - They’re cute, hilarious, funny, amazing, inspiring, infuriating, or heartwarming. - A woman’s car melted by a fire, but her Stanley mug [remains pristine](. - The Dallas Zoo simply [tweeted](: “The Zoo is closed today due to a serious situation.” Comedy gold. - Greta Thunberg [dunks]( on Andrew Tate. - Someone went extremely over the top and did something 99.9999999% would not. More on this below.  #1 and #2 are quite hard to manufacture.  But with #3, you have a serious chance if you’re creative and put in the work.  Some examples of going over the top: [[ratio] Â]( - Mr Doodle spent 2 years doodling all over the walls, floors, ceilings, and furniture of a completely white house and filmed it as a stop motion video – 6.4M views on YouTube and 158k upvotes on Reddit - [MrBeast spent 17+ hours]( saying "Logan Paul" 100,000 times – 23M views - This is MrBeast’s thing. Doing insane stuff that no one else will: recreating Squid Game, burying himself for 50 hours, rebuilding Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, or going through the same Drive-Thru 1,000 times. - A man turned his missing eye into a [working flashlight]( –192k upvotes on Reddit - KamuiCosplay spent 1.5 years creating an [insanely detailed cosplay costume]( with over 1,000 LEDs – 152k upvotes on Reddit - Richard Linklater filmed the movie Boyhood over 11 years with the same cast to accurately portray growing up – $57.3M box office on a $4M budget.  The above are flashy consumer examples, but it can be applied to B2B as well  The bar (and the viral ceiling) is often much lower. Some simple and effective examples: - The massive CopyHackers guide [Every Copywriting Formula Ever](. It's an obvious bookmark as a copywriter. - Lenny’s Newsletter’s [goes incredibly deep in his articles](, often featuring quotes from dozens of people he interviewed at hot startups. - Naim Ahmed’s [post,]( where he analyzed 100 hooks in detail. - Richard van der Blom’s annual [100 page PDF reports]( on the LinkedIn Algorithm. - GrowthInReverse’s [deep analyses]( of how creators grew to 50,000 subscribers.  You want someone to say: “Wow, this is insane! I can’t believe someone did this.”  Because if they do, they’ll forward it to someone else.  An important caveat  So yes, this may be the most likely way to go viral.  But it requires a really good idea and a TON of work (that's the whole point).  To be more than a simple flash in the pan, you need to find something related to what you sell. Otherwise, it's just a cool thing that people share, and you don't get anything lasting out of it. Your product/service needs to be an inherent part of the story.  Takeaway: Make your message so integral to the narrative that people can’t tell or experience the story without it.  Mr Doodle's is a great example of that. He took his regular art to an unparalleled level. If you liked the video, you'll love his art. You can't tell the story of the video without talking about his art. KamuiCosplay, too, created a great piece of marketing by highlighting her skill.  But, the man who turned his missing eye into a flashlight got nothing but a few days of dopamine from all the fleeting attention. No one knows or cares who he is specifically.  So find something that no one in your industry has ever done or is likely willing to do, and do it in a way that makes your product an integral part of the story.  I recommend the book [Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger](. What did you think of today's newsletter? 😍 Loved it: Forward to a friend, or reply—a simple 😍 will do! If really helps. 🤷‍♀️ Meh: You can unsubscribe [here](), or manage your subscription [here](. 🤔 I'm new here: You can join the party [here](. Something fun  Scouted by [Elena Verna](. Click to see [the video](.   How we can help you grow - Read our free [playbooks](,[ articles](, [growth guide](, and [teardowns](—we break down the strategies & tactics used by fast-growing startups. - Enroll in the [Growth Program](, our marketing course that has helped 1,000+ founders get traction and scale revenue. - Become [UNIGNORABLE](. Enrollment is open for the April 22nd cohort of our audience building course. [Learn more and enroll](. - Need help running ads? We’ve built [the]([ ads agency]( for startups. - Looking for a growth freelancer or agency? [We’ll match you]( with a vetted partner for free. - Get in front of 98,541 startup founders by [sponsoring]( this newsletter. Thanks, everyone! See you on Friyay. [Neal]( [Neal O'Grady]( [Grace]( [Justin Setzer](   © 2024 Demand Curve, Inc. 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