The best way to grow your Instagram account is to post something that is going to go viral. But how does one know if a post has viral tendencies? The truth is, no one knows! That’s still a mystery, even to most Social Media Managers. Some think they know what content will go viral, but it’s really a hit or miss.

Did you know that there was a picture of an egg that had more than 52 million likes? There was nothing special about the egg, but it was posted by the user @world_record_egg, and the caption says it all. The amazing thing about it was, people complied! Imagine 52 million people liking a photo of an ordinary egg? You’ll never know what could go viral!

One the other hand, most people take advantage of the season. If McDonald’s will release an ad that resembles a mini love story during Valentine’s day, that will surely garner lots of views, likes, and comments. But releasing the same mini love story during Halloween won’t do them any good. This is what big companies are paying their Social Media Managers for—brainstorming what types of content they should release in a specific time.

However, for a simple John or Jane Doe like yourself, you won’t have the budget to hire a Social Media Manager to do this for you. Most of you have to do the brainstorming yourself, and that sucks.

However, here are some of the most common components of what a viral post should include. This will help you brainstorm on what to post, which will hopefully launch your page to massive growth:
1. Value-heavy posts: People love to learn new things from others, especially if the person they’re listening to is an expert in the field. If you offer fresh ideas, your posts will be shared and saved by others, and people will tag their friends and family on your posts.
2. Controversy: Perhaps, the fastest way to become viral is to post controversial content. Be wary though, as it could go either way. Logan Paul’s YouTube video of his visit to Japan offended the Japanese and other cultures, but that single video gained him more than 80,000 subscribers on his channel.
3. Negativity: This is very common among Instagram posts. If you open your Instagram app, you will see a lot of negative posts about life, money, career, relationships, etc. These types of posts usually awaken people from inaction and encourage them to make their lives better. These types of posts usually get a lot of traction.
4. Relatability: People love to see photos and watch videos that they can relate to. They will most likely like or comment on posts that reflect their lives and current situations.
5. Humor: Who doesn’t like humor? Funny photos and videos are most likely to be shared by people to their peers and family. If they share it on their stories, that’s a major plus as well! Their followers will be able to see their stories, and your username will be tagged on it.
6. *BONUS* Using Call to Actions: In the captions part, don’t just put written statements on there. You have to include open-ended questions at the end of your captions. Remember, people won’t do any action on your profile not unless you tell them to. That is the reason why single-paged landing pages are so effective is because they are littered with more than 10 calls to action from top to bottom. You can use, “What do you think about XXX? Share your experiences in the comments!”, or maybe, “Tag someone that reminds you of the girl in the post!”