The Hidden Power of Internal Brand Advocacy

Table of Contents

Stop Chasing Virality: Build a Brand That Outlives the Algorithm

Let’s get one thing straight: if your marketing strategy is “go viral,” you might as well be playing darts blindfolded in a hurricane. Sure, you might hit the bullseye once, but odds are you’ll just poke someone’s eye out and get banned from the bar.

Virality is not a strategy. It’s a side effect. A symptom. Like sneezing when you look at the sun. You can’t plan for it, and you sure as hell can’t build a business on it.

The Cult of Virality: A Modern Marketing Mirage

We’ve all seen it. The CEO who reads one TechCrunch article and suddenly wants the marketing team to “do what that TikTok brand did.” The problem? That TikTok brand spent years building a voice, a community, and a product people actually care about. You’re not going viral because you haven’t earned it yet.

Here’s the truth bomb:

“If your brand isn’t worth talking about without an algorithm, it’s not a brand—it’s a digital one-night stand.”

Let’s break down how to build a brand that doesn’t need to flirt with the algorithm every Friday night just to feel seen.

1. Nail Your Brand Positioning (Before You Post Another Damn Reel)

Before you even think about content, you need to know who you are, who you serve, and why anyone should give a flying funnel about it.

Use the 3C Framework:

Customer: Who are they? What keeps them up at night (besides doomscrolling)?
Category: What game are you playing? Are you the underdog, the innovator, the rebel?
Company: What’s your unfair advantage? Your secret sauce? Your “we’re not like the other brands” energy?

Once you’ve got that locked, your messaging becomes magnetic. You stop shouting into the void and start whispering directly into your customer’s soul. Creepy? Maybe. Effective? Hell yes.

2. Build a Content Engine, Not a Content Casino

Too many brands treat content like a slot machine. Pull the lever, hope for likes. That’s not marketing—that’s gambling with your reputation.

Instead, build a content engine:

Pillar Content: Long-form, high-value pieces that show you know your stuff (like this one—meta, right?).
Micro Content: Chop that pillar into snackable bits for social, email, and ads.
Distribution Plan: Don’t just post—promote. Email it. Boost it. Slide it into DMs like a smooth operator.

Consistency beats virality every time. One viral post might get you 100K views. A consistent brand voice gets you 100K loyal customers.

3. Community Is the New Currency

Want to future-proof your brand? Build a community. Not a “we have a Facebook group with 12 people and a bot” kind of community. A real one. Where people show up, share, and stick around.

Look at brands like Notion, Glossier, or Duolingo. They didn’t just build audiences—they built cults (the good kind, not the Kool-Aid kind).

How to start:

Engage like a human, not a press release
Reward your superfans (they’re your unpaid marketing team)
Host events, AMAs, or just show up consistently

Community doesn’t scale fast, but it scales deep. And deep is where loyalty lives.

4. Measure What Matters (Spoiler: It’s Not Likes)

Vanity metrics are like cotton candy—sweet, fluffy, and completely empty. Stop obsessing over likes and start tracking:

Engagement Rate: Are people actually interacting?
Conversion Rate: Are they doing what you want them to do?
Customer Lifetime Value: Are they sticking around and spending?

Remember: 1,000 true fans > 100,000 passive scrollers. You can’t pay your team in likes. (I tried. HR was not amused.)

5. Play the Long Game (Because the Short Game is a Dumpster Fire)

Marketing isn’t a sprint—it’s a series of marathons, with the occasional bear chase thrown in. If you’re only thinking about this quarter’s numbers, you’re missing the point.

Great brands are built over time. They’re consistent, clear, and courageous. They don’t pivot every time a new platform drops or a Gen Z intern says “we should be on BeReal.”

They know who they are. And they show up. Every damn day.

Real Talk: Case Study Time

Let’s talk about Liquid Death. Yes, the canned water brand that looks like it should be sponsoring a metal concert. They didn’t go viral by accident. They built a brand so bold, so weird, and so unapologetically themselves that people couldn’t help but talk about it.

They didn’t chase virality—they built a brand that earned it. And now they’re valued at over $700 million. For water. In a can. With a skull on it.

If that doesn’t make you rethink your “safe” brand voice, I don’t know what will.