Top 8 tips to make a viral social application

There are different ways of optimizing your social application’s virality. Here are 8 great tips:

1) Create an application that gives value to the user. Ask yourself: “What would make me, as a user, add this application?” If you can’t come up with a good answer, you’re probably not thinking of the right application to make. As Tom Kincaid writes:

“Unfortunately, people will not flock to put something on their profiles just because YOU care about it. People will put something on their profile because it provides value to THEM.”

2) Give users incentives to share the application with their friends. You can use incentives such as ranking or virtual money which they can use to win prizes. Don’t require users to invite 20 of their friends to join the app before they can use it. This tactic is just annoying and many groups have already emerged on Facebook boycotting such applications.

3) Don’t create a one-time use application. These applications will be the first to be removed by users from their profiles since they render no continued added value to them.

4) Build an app which allows the user to increasingly enjoy it if his friends also join.

5) Make it easy to invite friends by providing a link in a visible spot and allow for different ways of sharing the application.  For example, if you created a quiz application, allow people to send their results to their friends.

6) Build an application which allows for various interactions with friends, thereby increasing its visibility and adding value.

7) Allow users to create their own content. Users will want to promote and share the content that they created.

8) Make sure people know about your application. Promote your application in the right channels. If you created a dating app, make sure you’re promoting it in dating groups and communities.

It’s all about quality, folks

Hopefully these tips will help you create a more viral app, however, at the end of the day, these suggestions will only take you so far. Above all, In order for your app to be viral, it needs to be good. I know this is easier said then done, but I believe that with enough researching, brainstorming, and planning, you’ll be able to come up with something.  For more information, check out my post: What Does It Take To Become A Sustainable Facebook App?