The primary reason individuals and businesses create content is to provide exposure to their brand, products, or services. Whether you are creating educational or entertaining content, your content cannot make an impact if nobody sees it. With the desire to have their content seen, many creators strive to create viral content. After all, it's everyone’s dream to make videos, pictures or written content that everyone is talking about.

In most cases, viral content is usually short-term and isn't suitable for a long-term social media strategy. People like, comment on, and share it before moving on to the next piece of viral content. On the other hand, there is evergreen content that may not receive the same level of visibility as viral content. But it never grows old and will always attract an audience to your content. In this article, we will look at whether you should focus on viral or evergreen content for your long-term content strategy. 

What is Viral Content?

Viral content often capitalizes on a trend or pop culture. The virality may have been propelled by a story that gained widespread attention in the news media. Alternatively, a movie could be released on a streaming service, sparking widespread discussion. All these provide you with an opportunity to create viral content. You can read our guide on creating viral TikTok videos.

Viral content is often the result of a short-term content strategy that has to be repeated if you want to gain long-term success. The good thing about viral content is that it can enable you to rack up millions of views in a few hours, increasing the visibility of your brand. Viral content also contributes to SEO success.  

However, the downside of this type of content is that it can be particularly challenging to achieve virality. Even the videos that often go viral may do so by a fluke. Therefore, no matter how hard you try to make your content go viral, there is no timeline for when it can happen. At times, it can take days, while at others, it takes years or never happens at all.

Pros of Viral Content

Viral content has several benefits, such as:

• Great visibility for your brand.
• Fast ranking when published early.
• Higher engagement rate.

Drawbacks of Viral Content

• A drop in the result after a trend has ended.
• Need to be posted early to benefit from the trend.
• You can have obsolete pages.
• Not easy to rework the pages.
• It's never easy to go viral.

What is Evergreen Content?

Evergreen content refers to content that remains relevant and valuable over time, requiring only occasional updates to maintain its relevance. It consists of topics that people search for throughout the year, which means the content remains relevant throughout the year, providing a greater long-term SEO strategy.  

Compared to viral content, evergreen content often has a long lifespan. It's able to maintain relevance and continue to receive targeted links and traffic that have SEO benefits in the long run. Even when it appears to be losing its appeal, you can republish, rework, or reformat evergreen content so that it continues to offer great value. 

Evergreen content offers creators a certain level of control they don't have with viral content. With evergreen content, you can control the messaging. On the other hand, viral content can get out of control, hurting your brand. While evergreen content isn't as flashy as viral content, it can be beneficial in the long run.

Pros of Evergreen Content

Evergreen content has various benefits, such as:

• Consists of topics and keywords with consistent search volumes
• A steady traffic flow for the content
• Easy to refresh the content 
• Continues to attract long-term traffic
• No need to rush your content creation process
• Has a better ROI

Downsides of Evergreen Content

Evergreen content also has its downsides, such as:

• Takes a bit of time before it gains traction.
• Low visibility compared to viral content.

Viral vs. Evergreen Content: Which is Better?

With both types of content having their pros and cons, you may be left wondering which of these you should choose. The choice will depend on your specific business needs. If your business depends on ad revenue, it can benefit from creating viral content. However,  evergreen content is a good choice for most companies.

If you are creating evergreen content, it might not get a lot of traffic at the beginning, but it will increase your ranking on search engines, which can result in higher conversions. However, a good idea would be to leverage both viral and evergreen content in social media campaigns and SEO. Ensure your content has both components of evergreen and viral content. 

Create content that is positive, heartwarming, educational, and entertaining, like viral content. On the other hand, it should have the attributes of evergreen content, such as long-lasting and controlled messaging. In the best-case scenario, you might see your evergreen content going viral.

When combining both content formats, a good idea would be to have a higher number for evergreen content. For instance, you can create ten evergreen pieces of content and one viral piece of content. You can then test the content and keep adjusting as necessary. Remember that in some industries, it's easier to discover viral content than in others. This is because we have breaking news in some sectors more than in others. If you are in such an industry, you may focus more on creating viral content than evergreen content. Other factors to consider include:

• The platform on which you will be posting the content
• The content type you are publishing

It would be helpful to ensure you understand your brand’s audience to determine if evergreen content will serve you better.

Tips to Create Evergreen Content That Goes Viral

For your evergreen content to go viral, it should resonate with your audience. Here are tips on creating such content:

Solve a Burning Problem

In a world where people are searching for solutions to their problems, providing value with your content can help capture their attention. 

Conduct market research to identify the problems, questions, and pain points that the target audience is facing. You can do that using keyword research tools and social media listening tools to discover the issues. Consider if there are common trends and themes that your audience is creating.

• Creating content. After identifying your audience's pain points, you can now document how to create content that addresses these issues. Depending on the platform you are using, you can create various types of content, including video tutorials, blog posts, infographics, and podcast episodes. Utilize a content format, such as storytelling, to increase the engagement level and relatability of the content.
• Content promotion and distribution. After creating the content, document how you will promote it across various channels and platforms, and share the content on social media and through your email list. Consider also collaborating with an influencer in your field who may be interested in sharing the content.

Share Common Hacks

Another effective strategy is to create content that offers people innovative solutions or hacks that simplify their lives. While in the past, the strategy focused on addressing a challenge your audience is facing, it now involves providing a solution to a significant problem that a large audience is facing. Ensure you give a straightforward solution to the problem with improved results.

You can now create content that showcases the solutions and hacks you offer. Make your content more interesting by using a step-by-step guide, visuals, and before-and-after images. These will help to make the content easy to follow and more engaging. Ensure you also highlight the benefits and convenience offered by the hacks. You can now encourage your audience to share the hacks. Putting the content in the form of infographics and shareable graphics can help you showcase the tips.

Bust Myths and Misconceptions

There are no niches without myths and misconceptions that you can debunk and generate a buzz with your content. This type of content is usually interesting for most people because they are drawn to content that challenges their beliefs. Therefore, begin by researching a common myth or misconception, such as a widely held belief, a common practice, or a piece of wisdom you don't find accurate.

Ensure you select an interest that is relevant to your target audience. To make it convincing, use relevant expert opinions, evidence, and data to support the claims. Ensure you remain constructive and respectful in the approach, as your goal isn't to alienate your audience but to leave them informed and educated.

Like our other content strategies, you will need a social media marketing plan to promote and distribute the content. Also, encourage your audience to share the myth with their family and friends who might find the revelation surprising. Spark debates and discussions around the topic to increase its chances of going viral.

Mash up Several Topics

Another great way to pique your users' attention is by combining two unrelated topics. This can help spark your audience’s attention and intrigue. Start by searching for two unrelated issues, but you can use your creativity to combine them. You can merge different hobbies, art forms, or industries. The goal should be to find a unique perspective or angle connecting the topics.

Now, you can start creating content for your chosen topic. Whether it's a podcast episode, blog post, or video, ensure you don't force the ideas to fuse, but allow them to flow naturally. Your goal should be to create content that surprises and entertains your audience. When promoting the content, you can highlight the unexpected combination of topics. Highlight your creativity and novelty to capture your audience’s interest and get new followers.

For instance, if you run a YouTube channel that focuses on cooking and science, you can create a topic on  “The Science Behind Cooking: Combining Culinary Arts and Chemistry.” You can then go ahead and explore the various chemical reactions that occur during cooking and how these affect food textures and flavors. This piece of content helps you attract audiences who are attracted to cooking and science.

Focusing on a Niche or Subculture

Niche cultures and subcommunities can offer a good opportunity to make your evergreen content go viral. This is because the communities consist of passionate and dedicated members who are hungry for content that meets their needs. Therefore, begin by identifying the niche communities, subcultures, and forums in your niche. These may be social media groups, online forums, or physical gatherings. Review the questions, discussions, and interests of the members to generate ideas for content creation. 

Once you start creating content, ensure it aligns with the preferences and interests of the subcommunities. Ensure the content addresses the pain points in their language, while positioning you as an expert in the niche. This will also make your content highly shareable.

You can share the content with the subculture and niche community you are targeting. Ensure you engage with members by participating in their discussions and offering them valuable insights. When people see that the content is resonating with them, they are more likely to share it with others, increasing the chances of the content going viral. 

Final Thoughts

If you want to go with viral or evergreen content for your long-term social media content strategy, consider both. With a combination of strategy, creativity, and understanding your audience, it's even possible to create evergreen content that can go viral.

To do that, you need to address your audience's pain points, provide some innovative hacks, and debunk different myths. You should also mash up different topics and tap into niche communities and subcultures.