When presenting an argument, Western education stresses reliance on science, reason, and logic.

But it turns out, that’s the wrong formula for creating viral content online.

The reality is, we decide based on our emotions and rationalize our decision to ourselves based on information.

Facts are not what persuade us. Sure, facts may be peppered into your story. And you can certainly have a persuasive story that includes facts.

But the real secret to going viral with your content and reaching millions of people is about striking an emotional chord and using persuasive language to make it memorable. In viral marketing, that means coupling emotionally charged stories and A/B testing to discover the headlines that resonate best. 

But how do we do that? And how do we replicate those results time and time again?

While some chalk viral marketing up to chance, Joseph Romm PhD,  former acting asst. secretary at the US Dept. of Energy and 6x best-selling author disagrees.

Understanding the art of creating something that’s “clicky and sticky” is what Joe has dedicated his career to. 

How to Go Viral and reach Millions by Joseph Romm delivers on the title.

While discussing some of the takeaways from his latest book: How to Go Viral and Reach Millions on a recent podcast episode, he shared some tried-and-true ways to make content sticky and clicky.

Science of Viral Marketing 

It is the ego that drives our desire to be win arguments. We all want our words to be influential and persuasive. But the people who have succeeded at that truly understood the history of human communication.

Reading and writing are relatively new concepts. Long before we had iPhones and Google, most of the population was illiterate.. 

In those days, we learned through stories. 

And the storytellers of the past played on our  emotions to help people remember those stories and, ultimately, to try and bring us over to their way of thinking.. 

The three emotions most likely to lodge information into our memories are::

Awe

Anger

Anxiety 

To go viral, you need to illicit one of these emotions, and you need to do it in your headline. Because the reality of the digital world is that most of the content you create today will disappear without ever being read. The headline, on the other hand, is quite likely to get read. Our perceptions are driven by sound bites or viral content that few ever actually read.

Nineteen out of 20 blog posts are not read past the headline.

What’s Remembered is Believed 

As a marketer, it’s your job to know how to tell stories. 

Going back to my opening idea here, it’s not the facts that make people believe what you are saying. It’s how well they remember it. 

Start with a deep understanding of who you're talking to. Then, take these 3 steps to create memorable, viral content:

Tell a story

Use figures of speech like rhyme, repetition and metaphors

Trigger one of the three memorable emotions 

Even if you understand the concepts of viral content and viral marketing, you still have to test. What people will click on and what they actually do, is unpredictable..

Fortunately (or unfortunately), we live in an era when we can use technology to show us what re...