Viral videos don't just happen. They require luck and serious data science research. Here are 5 proven complete strategies to use data to determine what viral video content will have the best chance of catching fire. These marketing strategies can be used for video, content marketing, social media marketing and SEO. They are from a presentation that I did at Digital Marketer's Traffic & Conversion Summit.

1. BLACK HAT RESULTS
With White Hat Tactics…

2. 5 Strategies Driving Millions Of Website Visits Per
Month
3,405,926 Website Visits In January 2015

3. Rank on page one of Google for hundreds of
keywords with a single blog post
Multiply organic traffic 100% - 1,500% with
“viral lift” from social shares
Pixel it all and get paid $0.33 for every single
organic website visitor

4. SurvivalLife.com: 487 Page 1 Keywords From A Single
Post

5. January 2015: Revenue From Organic Pixels

6. Use data-driven, ROI-aware content marketing to win
the most customers, build valuable web properties &
dominate your niche.
Chief Data Scientist & Chief Marketing Technologist will be the
hottest marketing jobs for 2015 and several years to come.
One piece of correctly created, curated content can drive more
visitors to your site than dozens of random pieces of original content.

7. Discover
Consider
Customer
Viral
Audience: Everyone
Goals: Create general awareness,
attract links & influencers
KWs: Very broad, cultural,
celebrity, newsmakers, events,
trends, quizzes
Audience: Interested in your
brand/content/issues, media,
influencers & demo/psycho match
Goals: Create brand & issue
awareness, position for consideration
KWs: Brands (yours + competitors),
data/search based broad customer queries
(interests + products),
Audience: Potential customers, media
Goals: Provide product info
(features/benefits) to potential customers
+
media, drive conversions and stick.
KWs: Product & brand search
queries, customer search terms
Audience: Existing customers
Goals: Customer satisfaction, stick,
help them to consume your product.
KWs: Product/brand names
Create Content For 4 Different Customer Lifecycle Stages
Discover

8. Discover
Consider
Customer
Viral
Create Content For 4 Different Customer Lifecycle Stages
Discover
“Can We Guess Your Real Age?”
“How To Make Cheese With Your Feet!”
“17 Bad Jokes Only Marketers
Will Get”
“Who Really Gets Your
Money If You Die Without A
Will? The Answer Will Shock You!”
“23 Cheese Recipes Beginners Can
Make At Home.”
“10 Random Words That Are Killing Your
Marketing Messages.”
“Which XYZ Financial Plan Is Right For You?”
“30 Minute Mozzarella & Ricotta Cheese
Making Kit Live Test [VIDEO]”
“How To Write An Amazing Sales
Letter In 30 Minutes Or Less.”
“How To Get The Most From
Your XYZ Financial Advisor.”
“5 More Advanced Cheeses You
Can Still Make At Home.”
“Our 22 Highest Converting Templates
Of All Time.”

9. STRATEGY #1
Create search query driven content
50% of total content

10. Resource: semrush.com

11. 50% of content should be search query
driven

12. What Search Driven Content To Create

13. Building A High Ranking Search Query Driven Post

14. “Create a list post based
on 25 or more search
queries for your topic. In
the description for each list
item include the search
phrase, then link out to
high authority sites with
relevant content”
How To Rank For Multiple Page 1 Keywords With 1 Post

15. Building A High Ranking Search Query Driven Post

16. Create event or trend driven
content
20% of total content

17. Case Study: Tie Current Events To Your Audience

18. Holidays
Movies Celebrities
Sports Events

19. Holidays
Movies Celebrities
Sports Events
Trendy Sayings, Phrases, Places

20. Resource: buzzsumo.com

21. Use BuzzSumo To See What Content Gets Shared Most

22. Resource: spike.newswhip.com

23. Resource: spike.newswhip.com

24. What’s Trending On Broader Sites?

25. What’s Trending In Your Niche? (Keyword)

26. Match Up Search Driven, Trending & Brainstormed Content

27. Match Up Search Driven, Trending & Brainstormed Content

28. Match Up Search Driven, Trending & Brainstormed Content

29. Match Up Search Driven, Trending & Brainstormed Content

30. Create content around proven
winners
20% of total content

31. Step 1: Find link-worthy content
Source: http://backlinko.com/skyscraper-technique
Step 2: Make something even better
Step 3: Reach out to the right people to let them know about it

32. Resource: Open Site Explorer / moz.com

33. Use OSE To Find Content With 25 Or > Referring Domains

34. Look For Interesting Articles With Lots Of Links

35. This 6 Year Old Post Is Ripe For Improvement

36. Make it look better (improve design /
photos / make an infographic)
Source: http://backlinko.com/skyscraper-technique
Update it (it’s 6 years old)
Increase length (make a 10 things list 99 things)
Make it more in depth (add video,
more pictures, do’s and don’ts, etc.)

37. Now, Let’s Look At The Actual Linking Domains

38. Paste The Article URL Into The Search Box

39. Click On The Backlinks To See The Full List

40. Export The List To A Spreadsheet To Refine It

41. We Use Excel, But CSV Will Also Work

42. Go Through The List To Find The Best Prospects

43. Send The Best Prospects An Email Like This
Source: http://backlinko.com/skyscraper-technique

44. Case Study: DIYReady

45. Case Study: DIYReady

46. Create content to acquire high value
links
10% of total content

47. Resource: ahrefs.com

48. Resource: ahrefs.com

49. Resource: ahrefs.com

50. Resource: ahrefs.com

51. DOES IT WORK?
Let’s find out…
51

52. Adding These Strategies Dramatically Improved Growth

53. Huge SEO Benefits From Each Post

54. SurvivalLife.com: 487 Page 1 Keywords From A Single
Post

55. Fewer Posts Needed Because They Perform So Well

56. DIYReady.com: 241 Page 1 Keywords From A Single Post

57. Amplify content by 100% to 1,500%
with “viral lift” from social shares &
influencers

58. Each social share (or
tweet) results in 1 to 1.5
visits to your website…
Source: blog.simplereach.com/how-
does-social-engagement-translate-to-
website-traffic

59. Problem: Getting people to share is not
easy

60. Problem: Getting people to share is not
easy

61. It’s Hard To Get Shares Across All Social Media

62. Resource: sharetally.co

63. Viral Lift Stats

64. Viral Lift Stats

65. Viral Lift Stats

66. WHAT CONTENT DO
PEOPLE SHARE?

70. NOSTALGIA,
HEART-WARMING,
LIFESTYLE

71. THINGS THEY
WANT THEIR
FRIENDS TO
THINK THEY LIKE

73. INFO-
GRAPHICS

74. WHAT FORMATS GET
SHARED THE MOST?

75. What Content Gets Shared The Most?

76. Case Study: Share Of Voice On Pinterest

77. Case Study: Share Of Voice On Pinterest

78. Case Study: Share Of Voice On Pinterest

79. Ads should not be too heavy
handed
They should tell stories
They should tap emotions

80. Ads Should Connect Emotionally & Tell A Story

81. Can we learn anything by
studying Upworthy’s top 10
most shared posts?

82. Case Study: Upworthy’s 10 most viral
posts

83. 3 Out of 10 Share “Mind-Blowing Stuff”

84. 4 Out of 10 Are Human Interest

85. 7 Out of 10 Are Good Guys vs Bad Guys

86. 9 Out of 10 Show the Good Guys Winning

87. All 10 Say What Everyone Is Already
Thinking

88. What headlines are most
likely to be shared?

89. Case Study: YouTube 1 Million Vs. 17 Million Views

90. Most Common Words In 3,016 Viral Headlines
blog.bufferapp.com

91. Most Common Unique Words In 3,016 Viral Headlines
blog.bufferapp.com

92. Most Common 2 Word Phrases In 3,016 Viral Headlines
blog.bufferapp.com

93. Most Common 3 Word Phrases In 3,016 Viral Headlines
blog.bufferapp.com

94. Most Common 4 Word Phrases In 3,016 Viral Headlines
blog.bufferapp.com

95. Create A Curiosity Gap

96. The Mom Rule

97. Resource: Visual Website Optimizer - vwo.com

98. Can a tool predict
headline virality?

99. Resource: Emotional Value Calculator -
aminstitute.com/headline/

100. Resource: Emotional Value Calculator -
aminstitute.com/headline/

101. DIYReady: Emotional Headlines Get Viral Lift

102. DIYReady.com: 241 Page 1 Keywords From A Single Post

103. DIYReady.com: Posts Most Shared On Facebook

104. DIYReady.com: Posts Most Shared On Facebook

105. DIYReady.com: Posts Most Shared On Pinterest

106. DIYReady.com: Posts Most Shared On Pinterest

107. http://www.contentrow.com/tools/lin
k-bait-title-generator
upworthygenerator.com
buzzfeed.com/awesomer/what-would-the-buzzfeed-post-about-you-be-called
blog.newswhip.com/index.php/2013/09/the-clickbait-headline-generator
Viral Headline Generators To Cheat With

108. What can we learn from 1,167,426
blog posts from 4,617 blogs with
1,915,428,305 shares?

109. Write At A 5th Grade Level

110. Write 60 Character Post Titles

111. 80 To 180 Word Posts Get The Most Interaction

112. Use Photos In Your Posts

113. Use A Compelling Share Image

114. Case Study: Add Images To Increase Engagement

115. Resource: datawrapper.de

116. Case Study: Add Graphs To Increase Engagement

117. Use Negative Superlatives To Boost Engagement

118. Use 5 To 8 Hashtags

119. Ask A Question To Double The Share Rate

120. Use Exclamation Points

121. Post On Saturday & Sunday For Most Interaction

122. Post Between 6PM & Midnight For Most Interaction

123. 1. Write at a 5th grade level
2. Keep headlines to 60 characters and ask a question
3. Use negative superlatives in headlines (“never,” “worst”)
4. Use 80 – 180 words per post
5. Use compelling photos
6. Use 5 – 8 hashtags per post
7. Post on Saturday or Sunday between 10PM – 12AM Eastern time
8. Tease but don’t give it away in share text, headline, excerpt & image
9. Don’t write anything your mom would hate

124. How do you find and
persuade influencers to
share your content?

125. Boost Viral Lift: Get Influencers To Share Your Content

126. Resource: Authority Spy

127. Use Authority Spy To Find & Content Influencers

128. Feature Them In A “Best Of” Post & Tell Them About It

129. Try Different Tools To Automate The Process

130. IS ALL THIS EFFORT
WORTH IT?
What’s the value of this organic
traffic?

131. January 2015: Revenue From Organic Pixels

132. Use ROAR & ROCS To Optimize Your Content Budget
1 - =

133. How To Calculate “ROAR”
TRR (Total Retargeting Revenue) = $158,130
CPP (Cost Per Pixel) = $.05
TPP (Total Pixels Placed) = 480,000
RAS (Retargeting Ad Spend) = $85,088
1 - =

134. Calculating ROAR For SurvivalLife
TRR = $158,130
CPP = $.05
TPP = 480,000
RAS = $85,088
1 - =
($.05 x 480,000) + $85,088
$158,130
=
1- 31% ROAR
( )

135. How To Calculate “ROCS”
CPP (Cost Per Pixel) = $.05
TPP (Total Pixels Placed) = 480,000
RAS (Retargeting Ad Spend = $85,088
TCC (Total Content Cost) = $25,000

136. Calculating ROCS For SurvivalLife
TRR = $158,130
CPP = $.05
TPP = 480,000
RAS = $85,088
($.05 x 480,000) + $85,088
$25,000
x 100 = 455% ROCS

137. About 74,839 Social Referrals & 28,115 Search Referrals Per
Month
The Value Of 11 Random Posts On DIYReady

138. 74,839 SOCIAL REFERRALS
$24,697 AT $.33 PER PIXEL

139. SurvivalLife.com: 487 Page 1 Keywords From A Single Post
About 11,251 Pixels Placed From Social Referral
Traffic

140. 11,251 SOCIAL REFERRALS
FOR 1 POST = $3,713 AT
$.33 PER PIXEL