My Content Is More Viral Than Your Content

There's no surefire formula for creating viral content. However, there are a few attributes that most viral things have in 
common. If you follow the recommendations below, the material you create is much more likely to be passed along.

Keep it bite-sized

Viral content should be able to be consumed by the viewer in 30 to 180 seconds. Notice that the unit of measure is seconds, not minutes. One more time: Think in seconds, not minutes. I don't think twice about forwarding along a quick video, set of images, or clever paragraph or two. Even if the receiver didn't appreciate it as much as I did, it didn't waste much of his or her time. The longer your content is, the fewer people will get to the end of it, and the fewer people will share it.

Keep it rough 
and authentic

Your audience, volunteers and donors aren't looking for a highly manicured product. They want something real. This doesn't mean you shouldn't put a lot of time and thought into your content. You should. But don't be afraid to let the humanity show. Think of reality TV here. People have some bizarre fascination with it.

Use great headlines

Most bloggers call that "linkbait." The headline should be something that a) makes people want to read it and b) is named in a way that they would feel comfortable passing it on. It needs to be compelling and catchy. A recent one that comes to my mind is "What Every Entrepreneur Could Learn From Justin Bieber." I clicked on it, and I shared it. As a general rule of thumb, you should spend as much time coming up with a clever title as you do creating your content.

Use images

There's an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. It is. Use powerful pictures. Hire a good photographer. But keeping with point No. 2, don't stage the pictures. Capture real, candid images.