Designing a site for viral growth

Traditional site design typically consists of building features, focusing on usability, or creating a cool feel for a site.  While these elements are important, they are secondary to a few other key aspects that will promote viral growth of a site.  Sites are designed by people familiar with the site, who set goals based on what they think their existing users will like, not focusing on how the site will spread or whether people will talk about the site.

When thinking about social media you have to design the site around a viral element.  A key video, tool, piece of content, or even the product itself, possibly.  This is the hook.  This is what captures the audience.  When identifying the viral element, you have to take an honest look at your site.  Will anyone really care about what you are trying to push their way?  It is a tough pill to swallow, that most of the time, if the site is not growing quickly, the site isn’t really interesting.

If the site is interesting and has some sort of viral element, then you have to look at sharability.  This how easy it is for someone to share your viral element with their friends.  If it is hard for someone to share it, that limits viral potential.  It could be something as simple as adding your article to StumbleUpon, immediately after it is posted.  This helps get the ball rolling on your content because visitors will be less inclined to write an article about your site than they would to just add a Thumbs Up. 

Another issue that affects sharability is the value proposition.  If people can’t quickly ascertain the purpose, function, and benefit of your site, they can’t tell people about it.  In addition, value proposition and it’s clarity is key to the success of a site.  If someone shares your site with their friends, but their friends visit your site they aren’t engaged because they don’t know what it is for there is really no net benefit.  The most difficult part of this is that, for a viral campaign, your homepage is more often than not a secondary or tertiary entrance point.  The people sharing your viral element will share the element itself, and if that isn’t your homepage, then people won’t see what’s on your homepage. 

It is a difficult task to design a site for social media, but it can be done with some careful planning and careful thoughts on these elements.