Peter Winick argues that chasing viral content backfires. Instead of gimmicks like wearing purple for trends, focus on authentic stories about your real work and impact. Genuine connection builds lasting relationships, and virality follows naturally if it comes at all.
Hi there, it's Peter Winick. I'm the founder and CEO at Thought Leadership Leverage, and here's the idea that I'd like to share with you today, and that's this: far too often I hear from clients and people I'm talking to— authors, thought leaders, academics, and such— that all they want to do is go viral. They want to try to create content that goes viral because if you go viral, all sorts of amazing and wonderful and special things will happen. What I say to that is don't try to go viral. Try to be very real. The things that go viral that matter are things that start by— start with your authenticity. Start with your sharing your experiences. Start with your sharing the impact that you know your work has on others. Don't be kitschy and don't try to use the— jump ahead of the algorithms or, you know, wear purple if somebody tells you to wear purple to go viral. Be real to go viral. And the more real, the more authentic that your work is, and the way that you present it and the way that you represent it is, the higher the probability that eventually something may or may not go viral, which really isn't the point. The point is to have a real connection with the people that matter most to you.
