Going viral on Twitter is a great feeling. You can make a ton of money, gain loads of new like minded followers, see your personal brand grow in real time, earn the exposure you deserve, and a whole lot more.

However, there are people who try to go viral on Twitter for years and are lucky if any of their tweets break double figures.

There is an artform to going viral on Twitter. 

It isn’t a case of simply showing up and posting bangers from the off.

This may work for a small percentage of Twitter accounts – but they’re often established on other social media platforms or online circles.

If you’re a complete nobody, a John Doe, then you must adopt a few strategies before you drop your best content on the world.

Why You Should Go Viral on Twitter

Twitter has tens of millions of users who login on the platform every day.

Twitter users can change your life.

From creating a personal brand to escape the 9-5, to getting your art/music noticed, to have others enjoy you for your sparkling personality.

Whatever your reason may be, going viral on Twitter has its upsides.

Unless you openly partake in unsavory things (which we won’t go into detail), all publicity is good publicity.

You can connect with potentially millions of individuals that share your interests and values.

There are also tens of thousands of Twitter users that make full-time incomes off the platform alone.

And there are even more who would love to perform their craft using Twitter as a conduit for success, but relentlessly tweet to no avail.

Unfortunately, you can expect your best content to get picked up if you have little-to-no online presence – which is why we recommend you do a few things before you drop the proverbial nukes on the platform.

Sure, there are accounts with 6 followers who are lucky enough to get picked up and go viral from their account’s infancy.

But they’re often the exception that prove the rule.

Save most of your stellar tweets until you gain at least 1-5k followers.

To find out how you can grow your account from its inception, read our guide here.

There are ways you can expedite the growth process on Twitter, which we have written about here, but it also contingent on your having good content.

If you don’t have good content, without starting a Gimmick account or a meme page, you will struggle to grow.

If you’re a personal brand, you need to resonate with people. Posting soulless viral content won’t generate much of a discernible following.

Before we continue, let’s address why you want to go viral on Twitter and the kind of content that has viral potential.

Why Do You Want to Go Viral on Twitter?

For exposure, dummy!

Yes, yes, aside from getting your dopamine fix, there must be an ulterior motive to your reasons why you want to go viral on Twitter.

Are you seeking to cultivate a personal brand? Do you have a product or business you wish to promote? Are you an artist/musician looking to gain exposure and a following? Are you simply chasing clout?

Fine. We won’t judge you for your reasons for wanting to go viral, we want to help you to achieve these ends.

You will need to ask yourself why you want to go viral on Twitter before you simply jump right in.

It is usually to self-promote in some way other than doing it out of the goodness of your own heart.

Going viral on Twitter can significantly increase your traffic, following, sales, and then some.

Some content can get MILLIONS of impressions yet fail to build rapport with their audience.

But if it is a personal brand you’re trying to grow, then we recommend that you try to be as authentic as possible. Driving raw traffic to your products and gaining notoriety are great, but you need to consider the type of audience that may see your content. 

Ask yourself:

– Are they following you for you?

– Are they your target audience?

– Do they care about your personal brand or viral content?

– Is my content high quality?

Viral Content

There are a few ways you can go viral on Twitter.

Before you do, you need to try to go viral within your niche and attract the type of followers you wish to keep.

You will also need to have something of a following before you can expect to go viral with regularity.

There are four main emotions you can tap into to go viral:

1) interest

2) awe

3) humor

4) rage

If you have the cash or some form of leverage, larger accounts can retweet your content to help you go viral quicker.

We do not recommend this course of action as it is against Twitter’s Terms of Service and can have you banned from the platform.

Tweet Threads

Like with most information services online, content is king.

Is your content good (high quality information)?

Does it solve a pain point?

Will it resonate with your target audience?

Is it interesting?

Do you have an irresistible hook?

Have you put your own unique spin on it?

If you can answer all six points then it is simply a matter of time before you enjoy the traffic that your content deserves.

Try tapping into the four emotions we listed above — interest, awe, humor, rage — to evoke a rollercoaster of emotions for your thread readers.

Surprisinly, people want to feel rage on social media — which is why stoking anger can have a lot of viral potential.

But it is also a double-edged sword as you will attract the wrong kind of following.

Try to create interest, inspire awe, and keep a little bit of wittiness within your content.

When addressing a pain point (say for fat loss), you can stoke a little bit of rage (for example: how McDonald’s is Cheaper than healthy food if you’re writing about fat loss) to really keep interest in your thread. 

Check out our article on how to write good tweet threads for more info on the matter.

Here’s an example of a tweet thread that did remarkably well but contained lowish quality information.

Here’s an example of a tweet thread that also performed well but failed to build rapport with their following.

Finally, here’s an example of a thread thread that did well and got much positive engagement.

You can spend all the time in the world writing a Twitter thread, but if the quality is lacking or if your account has low authority, then you will struggle to get noticed.

Funny Screenshots/Memes

This is a great way to go viral fast!

Have a funny meme? Let’s see it.

I have made multi-6 figures online through the use of memes.

But they don’t foster much of a marketable audience.

There are various ways you can find memes if you have no artistic or comedic talent.

You can go to other social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook (including various groups), TikTok, Reddit; even some message boards have decent memes.

Just know where to go — but make sure you cross-promote!

Stealing somebody’s content straight from Twitter is a good way to get haters, fast!

If you’re going to recycle content, just make sure it is from another platform.

Artists and musicians alike or even personal brands and companies can post memes to supercharge their Twitter engagement.

Not only will their account rise to prominence, but they can also plug their content in the comments.

A technique I’ve used in the past to great effect is to plug a lead magnet, course, or landing page under viral content. 

Posting a link by itself will gain very little engagement against a lively comment section where those amused by your content can find your stuff.

A Funny Tweet/Quote Tweet

Those to ooze wit in abundance can grow large followings through their “shitposts”.

You see these kind of posts all the time doing the rounds on places such as Facebook and Instagram.

This is a great opportunity to put your own spin on things — it can be about current affairs, celebrities, and even niche topics such as philosophy.

If you’re a wannabe comedian, this would be the best way you can get noticed on the platform.

Again, make sure that you already have something of a following before dropping your best content on the platform.

You don’t want to be tweeting into the abyss for nobody to see and for you to waste your time.

Consider the beginner of your Twitter journey as your warm-up act.

Quotes/Platitude

Some Twitter users have built extremely successful accounts based around quotes.

Many have even used Twitter bots and automation services to generate a money-printing gimmick using quotes or platitudes uttered by famous individuals.

Quotes and platitudes can also grow your account quickly, but can also attract a lower quality following looking to gain access to these quotes and platitudes rather than to forge a strong rapport with the account posting those platitudes.

Those who’ve built accounts around posting platitudes can farm additional engagement by turning quotes and platitudes into threads.

Quotes and platitudes can weave all four viral emotional triggers and help an account gain traction.

Let’s take a look at a few examples.

Posting Scandals/Scandalous News

I would argue from experience that this method to go viral attract the most toxic following possible.

Sure, you can elicit all four viral emotional triggers — interest, awe, humor, and rage — but the content will always, eventually, gravitate mostly towards rage.

Unless you have the mental constitution of a stoic and this kind of content is your passion, then we would recommend that you preserve your mental health.

If you want to become a political pundit, then by all means, do what you have to do, but if you’re trying to grow a personal brand, this would be the kind of following you’d want to avoid like the plague.

Many social media users stay on Twitter to keep themselves ahead of the curve when it comes to being informed.

However, political and news Twitter circles are often full of highly sensitive and neurotic individuals who will blast you for posting other content if you wish to pivot back to your main niche.

Championing the latest cause — be it controversial or not — can attract the wrong crowd.

But it is a good way to go viral beyond Twitter if you wish it so.

Let’s look at an example

Videos

Videos can elicit all four viral emotional triggers.

It depends purely on the kind of content you wish to post, but you can find various videos showcasing amazing feats of human achievement, cute animals, or even current affairs.

Just be careful when sourcing your video content as it may elicit a DMCA strike that can land your account in hot water.

Taking stills from videos shouldn’t breach any copyright laws, but you need to be sure which jurisdiction the content comes from.

A video is a great way to go viral as it can transcend the universal human experience.

Here’s how to post a viral video.

Creating a Gimmick Account

Gimmick accounts are a quick way to grow a following.

By either posting explicitly viral content within a microniche such as a movie, character, book, game, etc., fans belonging to said niche can flock to your account over time.

The content that needs to be posted would fall in line specifically with that niche.

Posting anything outside of that niche may fail to garner sufficient traffic.

While it is a fantastic way to grow fast, you may only grow fast within said niche.

However, if your gimmick has a loyal fanbase, you can monetize your traffic with an unofficial merch store.

Print-on-demand t-shirts, mugs, and hats are a great way to monetize that traffic.

If you wish to expand that following further, you may struggle to do so, plus the following would be lower quality overall than a well-developed personal brand.

How to Capitalize From Viral Content

Readers who only wish to go viral need not read any further, but if you are wanting to exploit the traffic that going viral on Twitter can generate, then I suggest you read on.

Here is a checklist of things to consider if you wish to make the most out of your viral tweets:

1. Optimize your account

2. Have a landing page in your bio

3. Have a pinned Tweet

4. Plug a lead magnet, mailing list, info product in the comment section of your viral post.

5. Check Your Metrics

1. Optimizing your account

We suggest that you read our post on growing your account to 10k followers.

There are various courses of action you should adopt to convert the most amount of profile visits into followers.

These will include: your Twitter name, your profile picture, banner, bio, and pre-existing tweets.

2. Have a Landing Page in Your Bio

This is very simple, but it is an opportunity to grow elsewhere, have new profile visitors find your products and learn more about you.

A Linktree profile is free if you do not have a website. But we would recommend starting a website as it gives your account more legitimacy.

3. Pin either your most popular tweet or something about yourself with a link to a landing page attached.

That way any interested profile visitors will have another opportunity to check you out elsewhere.

4. Plug SOMETHING

If you know that a tweet will go viral, we recommend that you plug a link where you offer an article, free info product, mailing list, paid info product, or service that you offer.

Posting a link by itself won’t even get a fraction of the traffic it may accumulate than under a viral tweet.

5. Check Your Metrics

How do you know what works and what doesn’t without checking your metrics?

The simple answer is: you can’t.

You can adopt a kaizen approach of ruthless trial and error, but checking your metrics and optimizing your content over time is the best way to guarantee your long term growth on Twitter.

Going viral on Twitter isn’t simply a haphazard concoction of luck and timing, but many of the best tweeters out their stringently analyze their content to double down on what works!