Over the years, I’ve seen a handful of social media challenges that, I can say with full confidence, are just ridiculous.
To name a few that I remember from the top of my head:
The Don’t Judge Me Challenge.
This was where people would use makeup to make themselves look as ugly as possible. I’m talking about unibrows, polka dots all over their face, buck teeth, black teeth, abnormally huge lips. Then their hand would cover the camera and all of a sudden they transform into their normal, visibly tolerant version of themselves.
Supposedly, this was the people of social media’s attempt to end body shaming, but I personally don’t see the relation between the two.
Next, we have The Boiling Water Challenge.
The point of this is to pour boiling water on someone and watch their reaction. Just…why?
The Fire Challenge.
Where you pour flammable liquid on your body and light yourself on fire. Again, why?
And then there was the Tide Pod Challenge, where people are literally eating poison.
Why would people participate in these challenges?
My theory is, to get a taste of online fame.
But that doesn’t mean there are viral social media challenges out there that did good.
Take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge of 2014 for example.
Although pouring ice-cold water had nothing to do with educating people about ALS, it helped raise over $100 million for the ALS Association during the two months the challenge was active, compared to summer of 2013, which was around $2 million.
And so that brings me to the point of this email.
If you’re looking for different ways to market your business, I recommend you read the book, Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares.
They lay out 19 different ways to market your business so you can achieve explosive growth, one of which is viral marketing.
But to find out the other 18, click the link below to get your copy of the book.
Yes, it’s an affiliate link. So if you buy the book, I will be getting pocket change from Amazon thanks to their *generous* commission fees structure.