About BuzzFeed’s Viral Content

It is extremely difficult to find a young internet user who has not been exposed to BuzzFeed’s content. The media platform dedicated to viral content production and monitoring designs messages based on the audience’s needs. It might sound obvious but this actually requires deep analysis. BuzzFeed’s content geniuses work based on key elements that will trigger the user’s desire to let others know how they felt when they received the message.

Creators first think about the emotions people will have after content exposure, as BuzzFeed data infrastructure engineer Walter Menendez revealed at a talk at Massachusetts Institute of Technology last September. He explained that each one of their posts is carefully designed to do a particular job that will ultimately help increase user engagement, according to Nieman Lab at Harvard.

BuzzFeed’s Strategy

Because the strategy’s purpose is to reach as many people as possible, they make sure the content has “shareability” beyond views and likes. To achieve this, they create content which targets very specific segments who will definitely react strongly to certain topics such as animals, music, sex, celebrities, fandoms, and quizzes, Menendez explained.

At the 2016 Social Media Week in New York, executives shared their classification of content.

The identity content has to do with specific characteristics that best describe a certain group of people based on their occupation, location, gender or sexuality. If the message is well thought and executed, the members of the target audience will think it perfectly describes the challenges that come with their identity and helps them explain them to others.

The emotional gift is the type of content that focuses mainly on happiness or sadness, stress relief, inspiration or awkward issues. People tend to share this kind of messages because it triggers certain reactions they want others to experience. Along with social information, these are the best ways to add value to online audiences. Which website produces your favorite content?