In Part 1 of this post, I broke down the secret to going viral. Now, I'm going to tell you why you might not always want to.
Really.
The Two Measurements of Social Success
Every brand or organization on social media is trying to balance two key goals:
Sharing who they truly are (their values, offerings and purpose)
Getting that message in front of as many people as possible
Let's call these "alignment" (how well content reflects your organization's essence) and "reach" (how many people see it). When can even map them against each other to get something I like to call the Content Matrix. (cue the trench coats and sunglasses 😎)
The Content Matrix: Understanding Where Your Posts Land
If we place "alignment" along the horizontal axis and "reach" along the vertical we end up with four possible zones for our content:
Quadrant A: The Golden Zone
High Reach, High Alignment
This is the content we all strive to create: posts that share who you are, what you offer, and your values while reaching a wide audience. When we succeed, it's usually because we've married a clear understanding of our audience with relatable storytelling.
Exactly how high your post lands on the Reach axis is based on a number of factors, but when your post does well (moderately or considerably) and you've also conveyed some core element of your overall values or messaging, you're in the golden zone.
Quadrant B: Generic Glory
High Reach, Low Alignment
Ah, the siren song of viral content. These posts get impressive view counts but don't actually say anything meaningful about your brand. Remember those (terrible) fart compilation videos from Part 1? They get millions of views because, well, everyone farts, and everyone's tried to hide it. But unless you're selling fart-related merchandise, what's the point?
A lot of people mistakenly count these types of posts as "wins." But being widely relatable doesn't automatically make content good, or useful, or help your organization do what it's trying to do. We're not influencers. Audience size isn't an end goal in and of itself.
And this can be less egregious than a fart compilation. The most common Quadrant B trap is memes. Think of when every single organization made their staff dance to Gangnam Style back in the day. Or how everyone had to joke they were "very demure, very mindful" this year.
Memes are a great way to poke fun at yourself and up that relatability factor. But if you're not using that trend to say something authentic about your brand, you're in the generic glory zone.
Quadrant C: The Loyalty Niche
Low Reach, High Alignment
These posts are the unsung heroes of social. They might not go viral, but they speak directly to your core audience and values. As content creators, we often have to fight for these posts because the numbers don't immediately impress.
But here's the truth: while expanding your audience matters, nurturing deeper connections with your loyal followers matters more. No one ever went wrong by building deep relationships with the followers they already had--and sometimes that means creating content that digs deeper into your purpose, messaging and values, even if it doesn't grow your audine.
Quadrant D: Hard Pass
Low Reach, Low Engagement
Here there be dragons. These posts neither represent your brand nor reach many people. Nobody tries to land in this quadrant, but we slip into it sometimes, especially when we feel pressured to create content outside our sphere, or at too fast a pace.
Classic example? Holiday posts that share a generic Canva image with text like "Happy Ramadan from all of us at [Company]!" Unless you've found a way to tie that holiday to your brand in a genuine way, congratulations - you just contributed to the white noise of the internet.
It's the difference between this (Quadrant D)
and this (Quadrant A)
Finding Your Sweet Spot
We should just always create Quadrant A content, right? Not so fast.
You should always aim to stay as far along the "alignment" axis as you can (at the end of the day, how many people you're reaching is inconsequential if you're not saying anything meaningful) but there's a time and place for content at all levels of the "reach" axis.
Think of content strategy like fishing: you need to cast a wide net (high-reach content) to grab as many fish as you can, but then you need to draw that net in, bringing people closer to what you really care about. Sure, some followers will slip away, but this rhythm of reaching out and then going deep helps build an audience that's both broad and genuinely connected.
The key? Balance. You need some high-reach content to grab attention, even if it's not deeply aligned with your core message. But chasing reach alone leads to vapid content. To avoid racing to the blandest bottom, we need to alternate between viral-friendly posts and deeper content that actually moves our goals forward.
You can use this content matrix as a planning tool. Too much deep, loyalty-focused content on the dock? Time to lighten things up with a few generic, relatable posts. Find yourself chasing view counts and copying too many memes? Re-focus on your core messaging and plan some posts that dig deeper.
A real-world example
You should be able to map all categories of your content onto the matrix. And I'm going to use a real-world (in fact, a real-Winnipeg) organization as an example: the Human Rights HUB, an organization that works to connect people in Winnipeg with human rights events and influencers doing great work in our city.
With a few thousand followers, "going viral" for the HUB usually means getting between 4-8K impressions. (Those aren't huge numbers, but we want to be looking at examples from people 2 steps ahead of us, not 20, when we're trying to grow, and the HUB is a good example of that for many organizations in this city.)
I've been creating content for the HUB for several years, and we aim to cycle through Quadrant A and C content, with a little Quadrant B thrown in for reach and good measure. Let's see how that plays out in practice:
Event Roundups
Every week we share a list of human rights-related events in Winnipeg.
Reach varies, but alignment is consistently high. These posts serve our core purpose: connecting local activists with opportunities to get involved.
Theme-specific event roundups
A sub-section of these roundups are event-specific collections. When we gather events around a specific commemorative day or theme, our reach typically jumps. Why? Special occasions are more generally relatable than regular activism.
They also fill a gap in the market: many organizations try to promote their own events, but we're one of the only organizations I know working to collate everyone's events in one place so people can compare - and that makes us stand out as an authority.
If we could post roundups like this every week, we would - but we can't invent relevant days and events out of thin air, so we've just learned to be proactive and ready to create this kind of content whenever we can.
Memes and Trending Sounds
When it feels right, we'll jump on a meme or trending sound--but only when we can genuinely connect them to our mission.(Click through below to hear the audios for these ones, which are often central to the concept).
Not every post like this lands, but when we get the concept and the imagery right type of content extends our reach while staying true to our values.
This is the goal of anything that inches into "generic glory" territory: you're trying to pique people's interest by making your message as relatable as you can. It's the work of the rest of your content to draw them deeper.
Podcast Clips
The HUB's bi-weekly podcast interviews human rights leaders and changemakers in Winnipeg. Stuart, our host, digs deep into their work, their journey into activism, and how others can get involved. This content is important to our organizational goals: elevating the HUB beyond a simple event calendar into a richer resource for human rights education and inspiration.
That said? Podcast posts have a smaller reach. However, other engagement metrics (likes, comments, shares, and saves) often match or exceed our more viral posts. This is "Loyalty Niche" territory: the spread of these posts may be lower, but the people they're reaching are connecting more deeply, at a higher rate, with the content: and that shows true alignment and value.
Think of it this way: event listings might spark immediate action ("I should attend that!"), but podcast clips build lasting understanding and deeper community ties. They're not about maximizing views—they're about maximizing impact with the viewers who matter most.
Deep Dives
Sometimes we want to really dig into a topic - to get into the nitty-gritty, recommend further resources, or do some mythbusting.
These posts actually sit a bit further back on our "alignment" axis than other posts I've mentioned. They often address human rights topics from a broader perspective rather than focusing specifically on Winnipeg. But what they sacrifice in local focus, they make up for in depth and authority.
We don't expect these posts to go viral (and they never surprise us by doing so) but they serve as proof of our commitment to human rights education. Even if they don't get seen by thousands, they're there when people want to learn more, establishing our expertise and providing value to those ready to move beyond surface-level engagement.
Put together, these 5 types of content make up the bulk of social posts for the HUB. We didn't start with our matrix looking like this - but over time with careful tweaking, we were able to assess how to keep our content as high on the alignment scale as possible, while shifting between a mix of relatable, high-reach content and more in-depth, substantial posts.
Mapping Your Matrix
Think about the types of content you usually create, and try mapping them along these two axes: (1) alignment with your values and (2) potential reach.
When planning content, ask yourself:
How well does this align with our values and messaging?
How relatable is it to a general audience?
What's the right balance for our current goals?
Remember: you can experiment with less-aligned content if you do it strategically (and sparingly). The key is maintaining a rhythm between casting that wide net and drawing people deeper into what makes your organization unique.
Because ultimately, going viral isn't an end goal. Building a connected, engaged audience that actually cares about your message? That's the real win.
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