How to Go Viral with Reactive Content

If Fashion Week felt like it was everywhere, it’s probably because there were a few “meme-able” moments. Like this one where a serious walk down the runway turned into a hilarious meme that went viral for many brands. The below meme had almost 100k Likes and 1500 comments from Girl Boss and is an example of how to go viral with reactive content.

Source: @girlboss

What is Reactive Content?

It’s taking breaking news, trends and newsworthy topics and reacting to it by adding your own angle, thoughts or simply incorporating it into your content. Creating reactive content is perfect for TikTok where hopping on trends yet being original is rewarded. 

Reactive content is the opposite of what business owners and creators often hear from social media experts since planning content ahead of time and having a content calendar is advised. And while that is the case, we recommend making room for reactive content where you literally drop everything to… react and be one the first to post a TikTok, share on other social media platforms or write a blog post.

The key to using reactive content is to: 

• Be FAST. Being timely and the first to talk about a specific topic or “break” news in your industry is so valuable.
• Connect the news to your brand in some way otherwise it won’t land with your audience and won’t have the engagement you’re looking for. 

Why use reactive content in your marketing strategy?

• It often gets more shares, likes and engagement.
• It has a good chance of going viral. 
• It will have a better reach to get more brand awareness. 
• It can make your brand more relatable or show your personality. 

A simple post can drive engagement, brand awareness, grow your following and make your brand relatable. 

So, how can you create more reactive content?

1. Listen – Take time every morning to scan headlines, industry news, blogs that are relevant to your niche, etc. Use Google Trends to see what searches are trending on Google and keep an eye on trending hashtags on TikTok and/or Twitter. 

2. Determine your angle  – Can you add an entertaining spin on a specific topic? Is there something your audience will resonate with if you share? If it’s too big of a stretch or negative, then skip it. You want it to be relatable content for your audience. If you can see potential, brainstorm a few concepts and formats so that you can deliver the best content possible. 

3. Create & post immediately – Clear space in your day to create to film, design, write and/or edit as need be. If you have a team to delegate this to, even better! Aim to create and post as fast as possible. Timeliness is important to capitalize on this strategy!

4. Cross-post your reactive content – Create various iterations or formats to share on various platforms to ensure your content is seen by your audience in a way that suits the platform. 

5. Include keywords and trending hashtags in your captions to ensure your content can rise to the top of search results surrounding this trending topic/newsworthy headline. If you want to learn more about using TikTok SEO, join the waitlist for our TikTok for Brands course launching this October!

TikTok is a great platform to use to share reactive content.

However, to be agile, you need to feel confident with how to create and edit purposeful content with ease. If you’re new to the platform or even if you’ve been on TikTok for some time, but don’t have a clear strategy, we have a TikTok for Brands course, launching at the end of October, just for you!

In the TikTok for Brands course, you’ll learn how to: 

• Use our viral format to optimize each video and get more views
• Optimize for SEO to reach your target demographic and stand out on the platform
• Create short form video consistently
• Go from concept to edited video (including visual tutorials!)
• Apply our video framework that converts your new followers to paying customers
  

Sounds good, right? Join the waitlist to be the first to snag your spot inside the course when it drops!