Viral F.O.C is baked into Social 2.0

Remember when ‘We want a viral campaign please’ was a client request.

Then it went away.

When we started on TikTok in 2020, we used to say to clients “It’s a hits business, like the pop industry” and “You need many bites of the cherry to stand a chance to win…”

Sometime in the recent past ‘viral’ returned as organic social hits, part of a brand’s always-on content. With no paid media. Free Of Charge.

Social 2.0 brands like Currys, elf Cosmetics, Footasylum know this.

We regularly see our posts for brands hitting viral status - 1m, 2m, 3m organic views, but we know we need to make 15 posts to get 1 viral hit. (15 bites of the cherry).

We have 2 theories how this works:

The algorithm gets to know the brand, starts liking the regular content, sees the community are engaging, then just decides to make a post pop to viral status with a look-alike audience.

Or the algorithm scientifically deconstructs the combination of talent, message, context, the creative potential of an asset and if all line up, pow! Viral F.O.C.

Which do you think?