Posts That Went Viral In 2019
With 2019 coming to an end and a new decade approaching, the Moondust team are reflecting on this year’s marketing landscape. Recently, we rounded up our favourite social media campaigns of 2019 and now we’re talking about what went viral this year. Join us as we zone in on some of the most weird, meaningful and hilarious trends of 2019. Here are the posts that went viral in 2019. Hold onto your hats, there’s a whole lot of craziness out there.
Photo by ROBIN WORRALL on Unsplash
‘Going Viral’ – Hashtag success
Before we explore the top viral posts of the year, let’s check out a couple of viral hashtags and why certain themes were a success this year.
· #Vegan was a top viral hashtag in January with median daily tweets leaping by 70% at the start of the year. This was largely inspired by Veganuary – a non-profit organisation which encouraged people to ‘go vegan’ for the month of January. Veganuary saw more than 200,000 global users have the word ‘vegan’ or ‘plant based’ on their Twitter bio. It caused widespread media coverage…
…and Veganuary is set to return once again with well-known support from high-profile celebs.
Why was this hashtag a success?
- Timing is everything with #vegan and #veganuary capitalising on the ‘fresh start’ approach of many following the gluttony of the Christmas holidays.
- Veganuary also helps to support people who have made not eating meat a New Year’s Resolution.
- Influencer marketing, with celebs showing their support for well-known campaigns helps to inspire consumers.
What does this show? Campaigns which inspire action and mass adoption can be a highly lucrative marketing opportunity especially when accompanied with a hashtag that’s easy to share on social media platforms.
· #Movember brought out the creative side of brands, with Billie’s Movember ad receiving thousands of likes on Twitter and 408K views on YouTube to date. The campaign featured women with real-body hair and worked hard to normalise a topic which is often stigmatised.
Why did this #Movember marketing work?
- It capitalised on a major theme. #Movember has raised over $900 million for men’s health so far, with over 5 million people taking part. With females making up between 15-20% of the Movember movement, acknowledging this demographic was the right thing to do.
- The campaign is somewhat controversial and that gets people talking. It was also revolutionary, with Billie’s being the first razor company to show female body hair. Being thought leaders, trend setters or the first to break news is effective at attracting social followers.
Top tips for creating posts around trending hashtags:
- Be unique and memorable
- Push boundaries that match your ethos
- Ensure your campaign is relevant and not simply trying to benefit from a successful movement
- Use trending hashtags with branded hashtags to promote your company.
- Use visuals. Tweets with images get 35% more retweets than those without.
Now, here’s a look at the viral posts which stormed the internet and why they were a hit.
#1 Insta egg beats Kylie Jenner’s most-liked post record
Instagram was all a scramble when an egg cracked Kylie Jenner’s most-liked post record. But how did this madness come about? A picture of a simple hen’s egg was posted to the account @world_record_egg on 4 January. The idea came from advertising creative, Chris Godfrey, who wanted to see if an egg could become more popular than a well-known celebrity’s baby announcement. And it worked. Just a week and a half after it was first posted, the @world_record_egg post overtook Kylie’s 18 million likes becoming the most liked post ever on the platform.
Why it went viral:
- Original, unique and downright crazy. There’s no doubt about it, an egg having the most-ever Insta likes is amusing. The fun factor is sure to have played its role in getting people to respond to the post.
- Passive-aggressive retaliation against influencers. The recent backlash against overpaid influencers saw Instagram users liking the egg in their droves. This passive aggressive retaliation speaks volumes about the shift in attitudes. In fact, Instagram sponsored post engagement fell from 4% to 2.4% in 2019. Are we seeing the end of influencer marketing? Are we seeing the end of influencer marketing?
- An element of competition. People love a challenge especially when there’s a world-record at stake. Incentives are very useful when it comes to crafting marketing messages.
In true influencer style, Kylie Jenner responded to the egg scenario with a video of her throwing an egg into the road. This received thousands of liked and circulated the web like wildfire.
#2 Viral egg cashes in on new-found fame – but not like anyone expected
It turns out that having the most-liked post on Instagram is a lucrative opportunity to talk about important social topics like mental health.
Following the original egg posts, a cracked egg started to appear on the platform with no explanation sending the internet into overdrive as they tried to figure out why. The answer was finally revealed on Super Bowl Sunday when a new show entitled The Reveal went live on Hulu. Instead of a branded sponsorship, there was a succinct message in collaboration with Mental Health America, reminding people to talk to someone before ‘cracking.’
And this got people talking – especially on Twitter where opinions were divided.
While some followers appreciated the campaign…
Others were left disappointed…but the egg continued to garner a whole lot of attention.
Why it went viral:
- On trend. The topic of mental health was well covered on social media in 2019 with celebs and big brands supporting wellness initiatives. The Reveal was therefore bang on trend and in line with other seasonal topics.
- Timing. The mental health awareness campaign followed the world record attempt and therefore capitalised on the account’s popularity. The ad also made the most of Super Bowl Sunday promo time to maximise exposure.
#10YearChallenge
Insta challenges pop up all the time, but the #10YearChallenge set the internet on fire during early 2019, generating over 4 million posts. Users were encouraged to share a picture from 10 years ago alongside a recent snap, with everyone from talk show hosts to influencers getting in on the action.
This challenge was popular for many reasons. Firstly, it was the chance for people to see celebs as they’ve never seen before and interact with such posts. Secondly, the challenge was relatively easy for anyone who had an old picture of themselves. It also appealed to selfie-addicts, of course, with many using the #2009v2019 hashtag.
Some of the results were of course hilarious.
Why it went viral:
- It’s nostalgic. Millennials are the most prolific social media users. They’re also an incredibly nostalgic generation and therefore posting pics from 10 years ago is right up their street.
- It’s a chance for self-promotion. Whether you’re subtly trying to showcase how good you STILL look after 10 years or take a more honest “I’ve aged” approach, the challenge was still good for a bit of self-promotion, especially if you’re a celeb with millions of followers.
#4 Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper inspire meme trend
How could we forget Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s romantic and somewhat passionate performance of Shallow at the Oscars? Their on-stage chemistry left everyone speechless – well except on social media where people went to town posting a series of funny memes.
Social media is the place-to-be for breaking news and to keep up with popular events. So, it’s perhaps no surprise that Twitter was lit during one of the biggest nights of the year, with hundreds of memes popping up left, right and centre.
Why It Went Viral
- The Oscars is big news. 29.6 Americans watched the ceremony. The hashtag #OscarsAllAccess was used 11.3k times and Oscars All Access: Red Carpet Live was streamed over 5.5 million times during 24-hours. With so much attention, it only takes one moment for the internet to flare up and that’s what happened with Shallow. When people follow suit using the relevant hashtags, a trend emerges.
#5 FaceApp with age filter causes a social storm
Fuelled by FaceApp’s age filter, a new viral trend was born in the summer of 2019. In just over a week, the app was downloaded 12.7 million times, with users desperate to share their aged faces across social media sites including Facebook and Instagram. Indeed, FaceApp went from 65,000 new users a day in mid-June to 1.8 million users per day following the viral trend.
With sites such as Instagram being all about the visuals, it’s no wonder apps such as this caused such a stir in 2019.
Why It Went Viral
- Easily accessible. FaceApp is easy and free to download making it simple to access.
- Curiosity and FOMO. Filters were all the rage in 2019, with the age filter being yet another trend people could jump on. It had viral appeal for many reasons. Firstly, people were curious about what they looked like older. Secondly, they didn’t want to miss out on what everyone else seemed to be doing. Yes, social proof is still a thing. Thirdly, photos like this uploaded to social accounts are easy to share thereby increasing engagement.
#6 Beyoncé creates next big dance craze
Just days before Beyoncé released her new documentary, Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé, a new dance craze emerged on Insta Stories with the hashtag #BeforeILetGoChallenge. This was followed by videos of fans doing the challenge and quickly caused a stir on social media with the Bey Hive falling Crazy in Love with the Insta initiative. With over 135 million followers on the platform, fans were undeniably Drunk in Love with the interaction.
Why It Went Viral:
- Popularity. 500 million people use Instagram Stories every single day. Therefore, combine the popularity of this trend with the sheer number of Beyoncé followers and you’ve a recipe for success.
- User-generated content. Beyoncé shared user-generated content to her account. This is huge news for Bey lovers who were likely eager to get recognised or at least interact with the star in their own small way.
- Wide appeal. Dance crazes are popular with people young and old making them a good choice for entertaining engagement.
#7 Kombucha Girl becomes huge viral hit
What started off as a video on TikTok of a woman trying kombucha for the first time – a fermented, slightly alcoholic tea – turned into an internet sensation, with her reactions to the drink being totally relatable and receiving over 100 million views.
It’s no surprise then, that memes of the face roll started to pop up across Twitter.
#8 Game of Thrones and the coffee cup
We all love a good movie blooper, right? Who could forget when the cameraman’s hand made an appearance in Jurassic Park back in 1993? Well, the same hysteria still exists today when a coffee cup could be seen in the final season of Game of Thrones. While it wasn’t quite the chalice people had imagined, it did spark some rather amusing viral news.
Why is this sort of post interesting? Well, it shows how tuned in viewers are. The smallest of errors get picked up on and shared across social sites. This should heed as a warning to marketers that social media content should be taken very seriously.
Why It Went Viral
- The official @GameOfThrones Twitter account has over 8.6 million followers. That’s a huge audience and mistakes are hard to go unnoticed – but why the viral appeal? Well, firstly it’s all about gossip. If you know something about GOT that others might not – you want to share it, right? And social media is the perfect place to do so. Secondly, GOT fans got to have a bit of fun. News like this doesn’t break every day, so the uniqueness of such a find got people posting.
#9 Fiji Water Girl
When a girl handing out Fiji Water was spotted posing impeccably behind many celebrity photos, she soon became a social media hit with #fijiwatergirl making her the star of the Golden Globes.
As an anonymous yet ever-present figure with eye-catching good looks, she soon became the subject for many hilarious memes which spread across the internet, catapulting her to fame.
Why It Went Viral
- A hostess repeatedly stole the attention of A-list celebs. That doesn’t happen every day and with people watching and live tweeting about the event, this was quickly noticed.
#10 #BottleCapChallenge kicks into action
When it comes to the internet, it seems the stranger the challenge is, the more people are willing to accept it. The #BottleCapChallenge went viral in 2019, as people attempted to remove the cap of a bottle with one singe kick. It all started when Taekwondo fighter Farabi Davletchin posted his kick trick back in June, nominating action movie star Jason Statham to join in the fun. With over 23 million views and counting, Jason kicked the trend into a viral frenzy inspiring many celebs to get onboard.
Even Mariah Carey had a go. And when celebs are involved with their millions of followers, it’s hard to not see evidence of such a challenge on your feeds and stories. To be honest, we’re just glad it wasn’t Tide pods again.
Why It Went Viral
- The campaign was led by celebs with huge followings.
- Video content is incredibly popular with clips under two minutes getting the most engagement.
- The stunt is easy to replicate at home and share online – a great recipe for viral success.
#11 Greta Thunberg inspired international Climate Revolution
When a young girl decided to go on school strike to fight against climate change, little did she know she’d get to meet world leaders and spark an international Climate Revolution. Heralded as the voice of a generation, Greta Thunberg now has over 3 million followers on Twitter.
But with the internet being the internet, it didn’t stop there. A viral video of Greta Thunberg’s speech at the UN Climate Action Summit emerged set to Swedish death metal. The video, which was posted on YouTube back in September, has already received millions of views.
Why it went viral:
- A little girl with a big voice, Greta wasn’t afraid of media attention or breaking the rules. This attracted social media attention leading to media attention which spiralled to her being interviewed by world leaders. Her efforts have since become viral because of increased followers, TV coverage, tweets by environmentalist supporters and so on.
So, there you go, the posts that went viral in 2019. Which one was your favourite? Hit share and let us know. Want social media management from an agency that understands viral trends? Talk to the Moondust team.