It’s something most people who use social platforms for business dream of: a post that goes viral, whether on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Pinterest. Having millions of people like and share your post seems like the ultimate validation.
It all begins, of course, with writing a great post. We should actually rephrase that, and say that it pretty much begins and ends with writing a great post. As Corbett Barr so famously said in his must-read Fizzle post,
Write epic shit.
Easier said than done? The problem with having that bit of advice in your head all the time is that it absolutely puts the pressure on. What if you write a piece that is less than epic? What if it’s a good, thoughtful piece that you believe in anyway?
What we’re trying to say is, go ahead. Go for writing the epic stuff, but make sure it’s something you care about. A good post, one worthy enough to be shared, is one that disseminates information; something that leaves your reader, if not feeling awe-inspired, then at least a little bit more informed.
For example, let’s say you’re writing about a hot topic that’s been in the news lately: wartime comfort women. Recently, a group of South Korean women actually filed a lawsuit against their own government, demanding that they be compensated for being forced into sexual slavery for the US military at the close of the Korean War. Maybe you feel strongly about this topic because of your Korean heritage, or because you’re a woman, or simply because- well, because you’re a human being. The point is that this is a topic you care about.
So you write about it. You look deeper into the horrors of the Korean war, and discover that comfort women were a casualty of many other wars. You read about the Japanese comfort women of World War II and how Japan’s government set up a fund in atonement of their treatment. You write a post. You write a great, heartfelt post, and share it on your social networks, hashtagging properly, using whatever tools you have in your arsenal to make sure it gets in front of as many eyeballs as possible- and you hope it goes viral.
Or do you? Because, at this point, does it matter? The post is out there. You put your heart into it, and you know that whoever reads it will gain a greater understanding of the topic, a deeper glimpse into history and humanity.
There’s no need to reach for that magical “viral” post. Write about what you care about, and write to other people’s hearts, from your heart- and all your posts will be epic.
