Going Viral BS: Why Going Viral Can Kill Your Brand

Have you ever noticed how everyone seems obsessed with going viral?
Like that’s the ultimate business strategy right now, Not building a great product or not crafting of smart funnel, not creating consistent value or service that people rave about.
It’s just going viral.
And I’ve had found a say with a straight face, they just say our strategy in this quarter, well, we’re just going to make a viral video, then the business will just kick off just like that.
I hate to break it to you, but that is not a strategy.
It’s essentially wishful thinking with a little element of delusion included in it.
Because the reality of the matter is going viral might make you famous, but it can also destroy your brand.
And I know some people won’t care about the latter if they get the former.
But if you’re someone like me who wants to run a legit business and maintain a good reputation, then listen carefully in this episode as I am unpacking why this obsession with virality is one of the most dangerous traps in entrepreneurship.
Hello and welcome to Sniffing Out the Bullshit, a podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs who want help wading their way through the bullshit jungle of entrepreneurship and then the tools, skills, and mindsets that are actually required for success.
I’m your host, Sabrina Chevannes-Denman, the No Bullshit entrepreneur.
There’s this seductive idea floating around where people basically say if we could just get that one post, that one video, that one mean to just blow up, then overnight our brand will explode, the sales will flood in and the business will take off.
This stuff is everywhere.
Social media, YouTube, TikTok, podcasts, entrepreneur forums, the same messaging which is like, you want growth go viral.
And I mean, it sounds great, right?
It taps into our desire for scale, for shortcuts, for fame.
But the problem is the reality is almost always treated as some kind of strategy when in fact it’s mostly accident.
And building a business about accidents is a pretty terrible foundation.
So the question is, why do people believe it?
Well, thing is rare, and I’m, I mean, rare viral successes are somehow dressed up as like hero stories, like Brandec’s got 3 million views and they sold out a day.
The likelihood of that actually happening and being that accurate is slim.
And you know why other people believe it?
Because platforms reward visible spikes of engagement, so attention seems like the hidden currency of social media.
And because we also crave one big break rather than slow, steady work, because that just seemed so much more attractive and fun and exhilarating.
But the thing that I don’t tell you is attention does not automatically equal income.
And worse, it often brings noise, risk and distraction.

So let me give you some examples of people who got viral attention and how instead of like shooting them into the strategy and the way they expected it, it actually caused a little bit of damage.
So I’m going to start with Ashton Hall because he has achieved mad fame for some crazy video that he did.
And I don’t even use tech sock right.
And I know about this dude thanks to his ridiculous morning routine video.
Like I’ve seen it so many times across different platforms and different influences sharing it.
So for those who don’t know, where have you been for a start?
But for those who don’t know, he’s a fitness influencer and entrepreneur and he posted a somewhat controversial morning routine style video because it was filled like all kind of wild rituals like ice bars, banana peel facials.
And then like mentioned casualty, some premium water brands.
Well, anyway, completely exploded.
And I mean exploded because it got over like 600 million views on this one platform.
And I’m pretty sure in total it got like an American billion views.
I mean, when I’m in American billion, I mean like a million billion instead of all, like a million million thousand million instead of our million million.
Confusing myself there.
So yes, in, in in the UK our merely our billion definition is different to the American billion definition.
So pretty sure he got an American billion definition of views, which is total nuts, right.
And you know, for a morning routine video and yet so many influencers are doing morning routine videos.
I see them everyday.
So the question is why did he get so much attention?
Well, really, it was for bad reasons.
Most people mocked that video.
I never saw a single person compliments in that video.
And be like, I’ll check out this guy.
It’s really cool.
He was out using Saratoga spring water to dip his face in in the morning, which is like $6.50 a bottle.
So it’s already stupidly expensive to drink and even more stupidly expensive to wash your face with.
And it was the 3:56 AM start and you know, everything else that proceeded that just made people think it was just ridiculous.
And like this guy, Ashton Hall may have been the most talked about man for a little while, but most of it, like I said, was not for a good reason.
Sure, he did end up getting a tonne more followers.
And actually people did end up buying his courses.
Not that many, but you know enough.
But thanks to like his video, they were also scrutinizing him in a lot more detail than they would have done before.
Like, people were complaining like crazy that his coaching business was designed to be this like high ticket service with like, obviously a high price attached to it.
And, you know, supposedly, you know, good quality and high end stuff.
But then Ashton apparently provided generic materials and he would ghost them and that he was even accused of faking his own results with his body and being called a fake daddy as he always claimed that he had got gains naturally.
And then that all came and discreeted him.
And even worse still, they were then pictures of Ashton supposedly getting evicted out of his home because he couldn’t afford his rent.
And so people then started to debate about whether any of it was actually true and like, if it was all just this fun, him living that lifestyle.
And since his viral video, he’s been the subjects of tonnes of like mean morning routine videos, like skits on TV, boys, celebrities and general mockery.
Like now, I don’t know, somebody might think this is really cool because he’s like literally said, but he’s know who he is.
But to me, he hasn’t gained respects.
He’s got quite the opposite.
And in fact, the latest I’ve saw was that someone made an AI video of him dying.
Like they said that he died from one of his 4:00 AM morning routines and it’s come and like bit him in the arse, but it was Bake and he’s alive and well.
That’s what I’m aware.
And so on the outside, many people would have thought Ashton Hall was insanely lucky.
He went viral, He went famous.
And it was like, Oh my God, I’m so jealous.
But you know, he got his moment of fame.
But I would love to hear an honest opinion from the guy himself about what his life has been like since, because for me, it hasn’t looked pleasant from where I’m sitting.
But again, it depends what you want from it, right?

And I want to give another example from a while ago because this case really, you know, it stays with me and I, I think about her.
So it’s, it’s a girl called Asena O’Neill.
I don’t know if you remember her, but she was this Australian social media influencer model from like the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
And she’s a start posing like on Instagram.
And she put like modeling photos and lifestyle photos all over like her Instagram and then like YouTube and even like Tumblr back in the day, because it was like 20/12/2013 when she first started.
And by 2015, when she was just 18 years old, she’d become one of the biggest like young Instagram influence in Australia.
She had like 600K on Instagram.
She had course of million subscribers on YouTube and like, like a tonne more on like a Tumblr, on Snapchat, right?
And she would post these like, really polished fitness and fashion videos and like perfect live shots, like the kind of aesthetic that later became the blueprint for Instagram influencer culture.
And she would earn money through sponsored posts and brand collaborations.
And she was like, reportedly earning like up to two grand per post at a peak.
But in October 2015, she did something that nobody really saw coming.
She literally quit social media publicly, dramatically and very, very virally.
She edited hundreds of her old Instagram captions to reveal the truth behind them.
So she like, yeah, delete some stuff.
And then she just went through all the old posts and, and edited them.
So for example, like, like she would have this bikini shot and she’d have the classic like hashtag Pittsburgh on it, but then she’d edit that and she’d put stomach, sucked in strategic post, pushed up boobs.
I actually took over 100 photos until I got this one and I didn’t eat that day.
Like she would do that to show what it was really like.
And then, for example, like the candid laugh one where she’d be like, oh, candid like she’d then be like, this was actually taken 50 times to get this angle and I was miserable.
So she was sick of it.
She then renamed her Instagram account like at Social Media is not Real Life and then deleted more than 2000 posts and uploaded a video to YouTube called Why I Really Quit Social Media and that video exploded.
It got millions of views in days like front page global coverage on the BBCCNN, Guardian, Time magazine, Busby, New York Times, you name it, right?
Her story went viral, mega viral for exposing how fake the influencer industry could be.
And the reaction was interesting, right?
First, people celebrated her honesty.
She was hailed as the girl who broke Instagram.
And, you know, people would just be like, yeah, it’s so amazing to have a like, refreshing take on this.
But then the backlash soon came.
Some people accused of hypocrisy, arguing that her, like anti social media video was still basically a form of self promotion.
Others questioned her motives.
And like, when she launched the website and Patreon asking fans to like, support her authentic creative work, they basically were like, what you up to?
This is obviously a play.
And you know, when her site crashed from traffic, like because she was so popular after all that stuff happened, she later said she couldn’t afford to keep it running and it caused even more backlash about that.
And then she essentially disappeared from public life.
A year later, she just deleted her accounts again and she stepped away completely.
And you know, she I’ve seen that she’s repeat reappeared like very occasionally in small interviews, but she’s never built her influencer presence again.
And for me, her case is a perfect example of the bullshit surrounding formality.
Like she was this small creator who achieved viral fame twice, essentially first for her curated perfection that she knows she was, you know, this perfect influencer and she gets to go viral because she had this perfect lifestyle.
And then she went mega viral again for rejecting all of that.
And her reality didn’t bring long term successes really.
It brought scrutiny, burnout, and eventually withdrawal.
And so she’s showed how chasing validation exposure can holler out authenticity and mental well-being, too, and how even, you know, viral honesty can backfire when people think it becomes some sort of spectacle.
So like, both of these examples really highlight the danger of going viral, and it’s not always what it seems.

So I think it’s time to get better.
How does morality actually happen?
What are the levers behind it?
Because if you understand that, you can hopefully stop chasing viral and start building more predictable growth because algorithms reward engagement, not quality.
So platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube X, all of them, they don’t say let’s promote genuinely useful content.
They promote what keeps people on the platform watching, commenting, sharing.
And often that means shotgun outrage and novelty and mystery, right?
It’s not the most interesting, well researched content and useful stuff to help you grow your business.
For example, like it, that’s that’s not going to do it.
So if you design for algorithmic hooks, you end up designing for sensationalism, which is a seriously dangerous path because human psychology works in the way that we share to look clever or connected, right?
And so think about why you share stuff like you saw something wild maybe, or surprising, and you go, you have to see this.
To me, there’s less about the brand and more about your identity story and how you connected with it.
So if your content is made to go viral, it’s often made to shock, not to solve.
And then people share the shock value, but not your brand proposition.
So therefore, lots of shares, it’s not the same as lots of buyers.
And so the question is, do you care more about going viable or do you care about the quality that you put out there?
Because usually you don’t have both.
I mean, I rarely see genuinely viable posts that are shared because it’s useful and will help you get business because not everything is helpful to everyone, right?
And things that help you get business should be targeted at your target audience.
And that really should only be a few people.
So if you’re going viral, technically something’s gone wrong.
And you know, one of the foundational rules of business is trust leads to purchase.
So if someone shows up by a viral clip and they often aren’t familiar with you, your story and your values and everything, they’re just spectators.
So they might comment occasionally, but they’re unlikely to become paying clients.
And so you might get thousands of eyeballs on your posts, but not thousands of wallets.
And so this is pattern like you get this spike of attention, but then you flatten out unless you have a funnel, an offer or system that converts and then keeps working because that spike is fleeting and even somewhat distracting.
And now whilst the numbers, like the exact numbers are tricky to get because platforms don’t always share them, multiple reports have suggested that most viral posts actually fail to translate into meaning meaningful business outcomes.
For example, like there’s loads of commentary on influencer fails and these stats emphaszse this mismatch.
So unfortunately, the mechanics don’t guarantee business growth.
So I want to now delve into like the dark side of chasing virality because this is where like the myth meets reality.
It’s like, what is the actual cost of chasing virality?
Well, I think there’s a few negative things which happen.
So first is this toxic incentive loop, right?
Creators, entrepreneurs and marketers all fall into this.
What if I just find the next viral hook thing?
They become obsessed with the formula rather than actual value.
They mimic trends, they copy viral formats, they chase algorithmic loopholes.
So this means the content they create becomes hollow and their brand becomes shadow and their quality massively declines without them even noticing it because they’re too busy trying to go viral instead of actually talking to their audience.
And this constant chase doesn’t go away either.
The creators are non-stop looking for reality because it’s in their face all the time on social media, right?
And it’s everywhere around them.
And like their competitors are doing it and even those who purchase engagement are like are, are faking reality.
And, and even though though people know they’re faking it, it still plays an emotional impact on others and they kind of feel like they need to compete and also go viral.
So it’s kind of nuts.
And I’d say that like, the second thing is algorithmic burnout because if you’re chasing viral, you keep pushing for bigger, faster, crazier, and then you end up burning out because the strategy demand constant hits and that’s just not sustainable.
And plus, if your business is built on being viable, then you’re building it on pretty unstable grounds, right?
Which then brings to the next point, I think audience mismatch is a big problem.
Like, so think about what happens when you go viral.
As I said, you attract all sorts of people.
Like I said, many of those were never intended to be audience in the 1st place.
So they may watch the clip, they may share it, but then they often just move on.
Or worse, they might troll you or criticize you.
So you might get your attention, but usually the wrong kind.
And then there’s reputation risk.
Because morality does not care if the coverage is good or bad.
A viral moment can blow up your brand, but in a bad way.
And one mistake, one weird clip and 1 tone deaf moment and it gets magnified.
I look at those creators who generate viral content that feels sensational or fake.
Their credibility takes a serious hit.
So morality can destroy trust and trust is supposed to be your currency.
And there are now so many bullshit tactics behind trying to go viral because since people want this morality, there’s been like an ecosystem of gimmicks that have grown and you’ve probably seen them.
You’ve probably never really thought about it.
But like, as I said, bots engagement for a start, like from bots comment farms, AI, like even like even human engagement pods.
They’re paying other influencers to post on their their posts for them and they’re going viral every single time.
You’re thinking, oh, they must be so good at content.
They’re not.
It’s all fake.
And then the fake stunts and controversies like people stopping people on the street and happens and have something happen or you know, even people who are accusing Mr Beast of fake videos.
I don’t know much about him in that sense.
But you know, I know that in entrepreneurship, like most of these magic moments are just fake and they just don’t happen.
Or even made-up stories that are controversial didn’t happen.
Or even the cliche like comment X in the comments to find out more.
They basically just want you to like boost their algorithm by commenting loads, But really, you know, you could just provide the link straight away and and get them to the right place.
But no, you do this so that you boost your profile.
So it’s a selfish perspective.
You’re making them work harder for it in order to boost your profile.
There’s like this click baity watch on the end hook.
So again, manipulate the algorithm because the longer they spend on the post, then you know that’s better for your post and like Gen general shock content, right, which is designed for retention.
They’re not actually relevance to anything you do.
So people to create these posts, which had nothing to do with the business, but they’re just looking to go viral.
And then like, I’ve seen people doing like weird stuff by a mean page and already there’s all this sort of crazy stuff going on.
But you know, honestly, these things are nuts.
And like these tactics might trigger a spike, right?
But they don’t build a brand and they often lead to audience fatigue or regret or worse, they they expose you as inauthentic.
And so in short, the Bible hack mentality is basically marketing laziness.
It tries to bypass building the fundamentals, the offer, the audience of value, the trust and all that stuff.
And instead it relies on shortcuts and shortcuts rarely hold.

And so the $1,000,000 question is, what should you focus on as an entrepreneur who wants to wants like real growth, right?
And not just noise?
Well, I think there are a few things that you can do, and I’d say there are five things I’d like to talk to you about perhaps.
First one is to build community and not crowds.
And I know that community has become somewhat of a buzzword these days and it’s also slowly losing it’s meaning to, along with, you know, authenticity and all that.
But I do think real community is key.
Like a viral moment could give you a crowd and a very large crowd indeed, but you really want a community, people who know you, people who trust you and those who feel aligned to you because these guys genuinely engage because they actually want to, because they enjoy your content, and then they actually buy from you and stick around.
But the question is, how do you do that?
How do you build community?
Well, first of all, by creating regular, meaningful content and building authentic connections.
And I mean authentic, like I said, not the buzzword authentic, genuinely authentic.
So that’s not automating your comments or applying just for the sake of it.
I mean having real conversations and learning more about your audience and then have the systems to follow up because I think this is where people fall short.
They get those connections and then they don’t actually do anything with them.
So similar, no, I’d say you, you need to focus on repeat visibility rather than one time explosion.
Like so I think you know, so many people are hyper, there’s one big break, but actually all about having many small reliable hits, let’s put it that way, which is like consistency over sensationalism, reliable over random.
And what I mean by this is that you do need to consistently put a content that’s valuable to your audience.
And I’ve just said it, consistency and value.
These are overused words too.
But sadly this is the case.
I don’t mean post everyday.
I don’t mean give away all your secrets, I mean just show up when you say you’re going to show up and do it with your audience in mind, not to selfishly go viral because you want to be famous.
So I’d say #3 I want you to create content that people save and talk about and not just scroll past.
You want content that resonates deeply, that spurs reflection or action, and not just a quick share.
I want you to build content that builds relevance and builds on relationships.
For example, you create a video that people DM you about in six months time and they say that video changed how I think about my business and it was amazing.
So thank you.
That is gold.
Not a clip that gets the 500K views and then just disappears and no one really cares and you’ve forgotten about S #4 is making sure you’re aligning your content with your business goals.
Because if you’re face it, if you’re like, like trying to chase morality, you might end up drifting away from your business model.
So I want you to always ask yourself, does this piece of content bring me closer to the business outcome that I actually want?
And if you know your answer is ever, I’m just trying to create exposure, then ask yourself, what is the funnel behind it?
What’s the offer?
What’s the next step?
Because if you don’t know those answers, then you’re just doing it for the likes, which is not cooler.
And so the last one I’d say is be measurable, but don’t depend on metrics that you don’t own.
So for example, metrics like views and shares that like burn and people you know, look at them and compare them, but you don’t own them.
You don’t control the algorithm.
But what you do own are your e-mail lists, your messaging, your offers to build on those.
Use visibility to amplify those and to amplify the metrics like like engagement on social media, but don’t rely on those.
So you need a bit of a mindset shift to be able to do these things.
So instead of saying we need to go viral, try, we need to build an asset that scales, for example, our brand, our funnel, our audience, because that’s where long term value lives.

Now I’ve had my own fair share via all posts like nothing like Ashton Hall, of course, but like many viral posts, if you like ones that have reached over 1,000,000 people on LinkedIn and for me that’s shout right, that’s big.
I do not get that very often, but I’ve had a few in the past and people used to say to me, oh, your posts always go viral.
So you must do so well LinkedIn because they’re only seeing the ones that do well because they’re the ones that reach them.
But most of my posts don’t actually reach that many people, especially these days.
I don’t know what’s going on, but I reach like hardly any people that.
But weirdly enough, the leads that come through are the ones on the post that have reached the fewest people because they’re the ones that talk to only a few people, but they talk really deeply to those people and those people resonate with that content and the viral post, Well, they gave me hell.
Like I was flooded with comments and DMS and it was just really overwhelming.
Like they were coming in much quicker than I could reply to them and usually I like to reply to every comment I get but this was basically not possible.
And unfortunately most of the comments and DMS were negative.
Right and that’s the problem.
I get the wrong people looking at my posts because if I’ve gone semi viral it’s usually because I’ve given an opinion that many people don’t like.
And the people that my opinion pissed off then come on to the post and they tell me why I’m an idiot basically.
And then this causes other people to chime in and that’s basically how the reality happens.
So it’s never because I’ve done something great or people want to hear my latest insights into, you know, new marketing strategies.
It’s because they want to tell me that they think I’m a twat basically.
And the DMS are actually usually super hurtful and I end up getting really down about it all.
And now don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some great people follow me thanks to some of these viral posts.
And then they stick around and they look at my other content and actually in the night, 6 to 12 months later, they become a client.
So that works out great.
And that’s exactly why exposure works.
And technically it’s because a post went viral, but it’s nothing to do with that particular post.
It’s helps because it helps me get in for the more people to show them my real content.
And that’s something people misunderstand, right?
Of course, getting your content in front of more eyeballs is a good thing.
But if that’s your sole strategy to go viral, then this is not right and you will not enjoy the experience.
Transmit.
So here’s what I want you to take away from this episode.
Going viral might get your attention, but attention without intention is just noise.
So if you only chase morality, you risk attracting the wrong audience, burning out, chasing the next hit.
You risk depleting trust and credibility where that viral moment doesn’t convert and you risk building your business on shaky ground.
So instead, I want you to build your unwavering foundation, your offer, your audience, your authenticity and repeat visibility.
I want you to let content support your business goals rather than distract you from them.
And so I want you to use reach as an amplifier, not as the goal.
Think long term.
What does your brand look like months or years from now?
What’s your story?
Who’s it for and how do you serve them?
So in other words, don’t chase viral, chase valuable, and make sure you stay deliberate, strategic, and most of all, human.
So if this episode has made you rethink your obsession with viral campaigns, then please do share it.
Not because you want it to go viral, but because maybe it will save someone else’s brand from going off the rails.
And that’s it for me this week.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
So until next week, keep sniffing at the bullshit.