One of my favorite things about this time of the year is how predictable it is when it comes to traffic. For example, every year we know people search for Halloween costumes, scary movies, recipes for their parties and events etc., which makes it really easy for us to show up with what they’re looking for.
Focus On Serving Your Audience
All we have to do is:
- Look at the trends and data. What are people searching for? What do they need right now, or what will they need in the near future?
- Check to see if and how we fit in.
- Then create or curate content that meets our audience's needs in this moment. But more importantly, do it our own way with our unique flair.
And going viral isn’t something that I talk about much because that should never be our end-goal, but Halloween content goes viral pretty easily. People just love the holiday and they really get into it (me, I am people).
I’ve created viral content for clients several times, but the first time I personally went viral here in the US (real first time was in South Africa), I ended up on Reddit and Imgur’s front pages for two different costumes!
My Viral Dove Ad Costume
Then my Dove Ad costume got picked up by The Shade Room, The Root, Afropunk, Huffington Post etc. It was INSANE. People I hadn’t spoken to in 10 years were DMing me screenshots of my face in their local news, I was getting messages from as far as Hong Kong and Australia, and I got so many interview requests - I actually couldn’t keep up!
I ended up logging off of social media for about a week because the notifications were overwhelming, but that experience did teach me how to ride the wave and leverage the visibility, rather than getting thrown off by all the action.
I Learnt The Lesson, Now I Teach It
That’s one of the reasons that I teach my clients how to leverage visibility as a part of the work that I do with them. Getting media coverage is only the half of it, we want the traffic, partnerships and collaborations, and other opportunities that come with it so we can really have an impact, right? That's my take on it.
And I've found that having a plan not only allows us to be more intentional and goal-oriented with our moves, but it protects us. Especially when we have multiple requests and invitations coming our way because we're highly visible. It's easy to get out of alignment and become scattered when things get crazy busy like that.
tldr Going viral should never be your end-goal, it should be sharing your message and gifts with the right people. But if there’s ever a good time to go viral, it’s now!
If you want to learn how to leverage your message to reach more people, especially around holidays like Halloween, grab my free case study video, "How To Get Publicity Without Breaking The Bank."
ABOUT BLACK GIRL PR™
Black Girl PR™ is a Black-owned digital PR firm. We teach Black womxn in ecommerce how to curate content that gets publicity and media coverage, so they reach more people and have a bigger impact. We proudly serve Black womxn here in the US, in Africa, and across the diaspora.