What I Learned When My Facebook Post Went Viral

I take a lot of notes throughout the day, for stuff I want to write later. If you’ve seen me tapping on my phone, I’m not being rude. I’m writing. My family gets that about me. It’s fine.

Sometimes, I see something that triggers a memory, and I gotta connect the two time-zones before the thrill is gone.

That’s what happened on a recent family road trip. My kid saw a toy she said was for me, and I was a kid again.

I took a picture and tapped 5 minutes of notes. For later. For me.

But then I had a thought. This was bigger than me. My friends needed to see it.

So I wrote some more. And then I thought about it.

‘Should I post it? It’s a story about me.’

‘Not just you,’ said Neil.

And it wasn’t. I had something to say to the disabled kid I was, people who grew up feeling the way I did, and the kids of today.

We matter as we are.

So, I posted it. On Facebook.

And the photo and my caption went viral. I’ve already talked about the background of the post.

But this post is about what I learned from having a viral Facebook post and the aftermath of the post itself, regardless of what it was about. Kinda.

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1. You can’t force a viral post. I didn’t. More thought went into the writing than the posting. I had something to say, and I said it. We matter as we are.
2. People will tell you what they think the post means. Even if actually no, that’s not the point.
3. Our words are not our own. Once we put stuff out there, people can take it how they will. Our messages are bigger than us, and there’s power in shared stories.
4. Don’t argue with people on social media. Unless they are wrong, or attacking other people.
5. There’s a point where you’re not in the conversation. The point is not who started it, it’s that conversations are happening.
6. Your page will grow. I went from 1.5K groovy Facebook people to 7K groovy Facebook people in a week.
7. I did not boost the post, or pay for it to be seen, but that’s an option.
8. This growth doesn’t equal blog traffic, but traffic will happen. The week after the post happened, 11K people found their way back to my blog. The reach of the post is now 6.9 million, shared 46K times, and 11K people actually read my blog during and after. I added a follow up blog post to the thread, and as another post.
9. I changed the call to action on my blog’s Facebook page, (the thing you can encourage people to do) under my Facebook banner, It’s now sign up for my email list. I’ve had 300 groovy people sign up for my email list since the viral post.
10. Email lists ARE really important.
11. While awesome, social media traffic is unsustainable. Before the viral post, I went through Traffic Transformation. Using more long-term traffic tips grew my blog traffic before the Facebook post, and going viral was a nice bump, but not something that lasts.
12. If you have a Facebook post that goes viral, and it’s really connected with what you write about on your blog (because why wouldn’t it be) you will connect with more of your people. I love the emails I’ve gotten from other disabled people.
13. Your blog might end up in Italy.
14. A viral Facebook post is A HUGE indication of what you should write more about. Because the new people who just found you found you for a reason.
15. Even though a post takes off, your blog is still your blog. I kinda forgot that.
16. Even if it isn’t your job, pretend blogging is your job.
17. Traffic will ebb, but if you find a way for new people to stick with you, your people will.
18. My favorite part of blogging is the writing part. And the connecting part. I pledge to do more of that.
19. Viral posts are flukes. You’ll still be the same blogger the next day. Use the boost and keep going.

If you’ve had a post go viral, what was it about? If you haven’t, what would it be about?