Speaking at Ad:Tech Australia in Sydney this morning, Kathryn Friedrick, head of global Monetisation at YouTube, said if she knew how to make things go viral then she wouldn’t share the secret with anyone.

In the absence of the magic formula, however, the American instead shared her 10 fundamentals on content strategy, apparently the next best thing for marketers who want their content to go viral.

Friedrick – the conference’s keynote – opened her speech stating: “Over the last 10 years, something terrible has happened. Consumers can skip your ads”.

Her solution? “We need to make better ads.”

She then went on to outline the 10 fundamentals on how to make great content.

How to Build your Audience (and here come the buzzwords…)

1. Think about shareability. There are three reasons viewers will share your content – if it’s topical, valuable or relatable. What will people say when they share your link, can they describe it in 10 words (hint, if the answer is no then it’s probably not shareable).
2. Think about discoverability. Content can be trending and leverage what humans are searching on the web. A great example was Gyco tapping into the screaming goat search trend.
   
   Or content is evergreen and timeless like make-up videos and cooking recipes.
3. Think about accessibility. Specifically relating to YouTube, can every episode be appreciated by a brand new viewer?
4. Think about collaboration. Who has an audience that you can tap into, who can you partner with to grow your audience?

How to Keep your Audience

5. Be conversational. Digital allows you to speak directly to your audience. You might not always like what they have to say but listen to the feedback and it will help you grow and improve.
6. Be interactive. Involve your audience in your idea and products. Like Jamie Oliver has done on his YouTube channel. It’s very clever and and we don’t get how it works but mind, blown!
7. Be consistent. This doesn’t just apply to timing and making sure you are publishing regular pieces of content but also with your format. If your audience know what to expect and love it, don’t break the formula.
8. Be targeted. You don’t need to reach everyone in the world. Know your audience and focus on talking to them.

“String your tent poles together”

9. How to be sustainable. If the audience loves your content, how do you feed the beast and keep making more of it? And out comes YouTube’s buzzword from 2014 as Kathryn tells us to have a “hero, hub, hygiene” strategy. Friedrick says that marketers and businesses all have their “tent pole moments” but it’s important to “string your tent poles together”. In essence, don’t switch off completely between product launches and campaigns but feed your audience with titbits in-between meals.
10. Be authentic. Your consumers live everywhere so make sure you are on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat but ensure you aren’t sending disparate messages on different channels that don’t make sense for your brand.