This is Day 9 of the 30 Days to 3,000 Fans program. You can learn more about the program here.
Remember the viral Facebook note about “25 things about me”? If you don’t then you probably haven’t been on Facebook for long. The 25 things about me note spread through Facebook and touched millions of users before it eventually died out. The main ideas behind the note was similar to a chain letter. You write 25 things people don’t know about you and then tag your friends and ask them to write the note as well. The end result was that million of users ended up writing 25 things about themselves and it ended up getting covered by people in the press because so many people had participated.

How To Create A Viral Note

I wish that I could give you a step by step guide that will result in millions of people sharing your note but alas, I don’t have the secret answer. What I do know however, is that you can tag people from notes that are posted to your page and thanks to that feature you can begin to have notes spread throughout the social graph. So how do you come up with a note that’s going to be seen by everybody and will be attributed to you?

While I hate to tell people that they should create a note which is similar to a chain letter, Facebook’s note system works extremely well through standard chain letter models. The most important component of a note is that users need to be able to share something personal about themselves. Facebook is a site for sharing and any game or activity that encourages personalized participation is much more likely to succeed.

Create More Effective Titles

Want to really get someone’s attention? An effective title can make all the difference. I’ve previously written articles using advertising headlines that I modified from a book I have about headlines (you can get the book here) and the results have been phenomenal. While the content is extremely important, you will gain or lose the vast majority of readers via the headline. Make sure your note’s title stands out and you’ll be well on your way to developing a viral note. If you want other tips on effective copywriting, I highly recommend checking out Copyblogger.

Create Multiple Notes To Tag Smaller Groups Of People

While you could create a note and tag all of your contacts, it would be more effective to spread your note postings over a period of time. This way more people will see the note and you can also spread out the number of people that you tag in any given note. Tagging people is essentially the way that notes are spread and it can also be leveraged just like the classic game of tag: “Tag you’re it!”

Adding The Branding Component

So you are trying out your hand at developing a note that will spread throughout the social graph but there’s no branding component of the note! That’s definitely an issue. By doing things for the betterment of your network (out of the good of your own heart) you can still generate a lot of recognition and influence. However I know that many people want instant traffic to their Facebook page so I’ve come up with a few ideas. I suggest trying a few things but keep in mind that the more you brand a note, the less likely it is to spread. Here are two of the primary ways to brand a note:

1. Put your brand name in the title – This method is pretty aggressive. I personally believe that this is a sure fire way to have your note fail at growing beyond the people you first tag but if you are an aggressive marketer you can feel free to test it out. Just remember that I warned you!
2. Go chain letter style – I hate to suggest that companies create chain letters but there are some important things to learn from chain letters. Chain letters are called chain letters for a reason. One of the primary reasons is that they actually work! So to get more recognition have people do a traditional pyramid list (we are not sending money here, just playing a game). Have people write down the name of the last 5 people that were in chain at the end of the note.

There are plenty of other ways to consider branding your note including encouraging users to link back to the source of the note. Whatever method you come up with, branding is something that needs to be delicately balanced with contributing to the community. Always keep in mind that sparking the conversation is more important than the branding being received.

Daily Task

Brainstorm three ideas for notes that you think people will be willing to spread to their friends. Ultimately this task takes some extra effort but if you want to generate buzz you should take advantage of all of the promotional channels available to you on Facebook and the notes application is one of them.

Note
This day was the furthest stretch for a marketing activity on Facebook. Throughout the 30 days process there are numerous other suggestions that will have much greater results and are less aggressive. However, it never hurts to work on improving your ability to create a viral sensation!