My Facebook post went viral. It wasn’t what I expected.
By: Dovydas Van Gucht
Tags: Self Improvement, Marketing, Tips, Personal Development, Facebook

Before this incident, I never comprehended how much hate is out there and that so many people have time to just go and hate on others. I knew the saying “Haters gonna hate”, but I never experienced it with my own skin. Kudos to celebrities, who deal with that daily, I couldn’t do it. So I just turned off notifications and went on to work and focus on what matters.

People will support

On the other side of the table were people who supported me and laughed about the situation — which was my initial intention. They were replying to mean comments and telling there own stories of clients that were constantly trying to get freebies. I knew that I wasn’t alone. Others experienced such clients and had bad experiences too!

Actually, the majority of reactions were positives and showing support, yet I had a hard time seeing them because my mind was focused on the bad ones. I consciously had to turn towards the good and, with the support of my family and close friends, rationalize this situation. Once I did it, I understood that this entire situation brought way more beneficial outcomes than not.

Lessons

1. Conflict sells

I analyzed why did this post do so well, while others where I genuinely tried to deliver value didn’t. The key component was the conflict between the two sides. I didn’t have to write a single comment and it got traction all by itself. People love arguing online and you just have to give them a topic to argue about.

2. Be relatable

My intension wasn’t to get known with this post or even get 10 likes. All I wanted to do was share a good laugh with fellow freelancers. I knew that people who work as freelancers experience this problem and that I’m not alone. I had a gut feeling that my chat will be relatable and the fact that it was made it grow and have a supporter-base. Even those who disagreed with me could relate to it — they could hate it. That’s what made it grow so quickly — the target audience was right.

3. Focus and learn

I could have spent all day replying to comments and trying to defend myself. I didn’t — I focused on delivering good content, making videos, writing articles, and doing what I can to help others and bring myself a better tomorrow. It can be extremely hard to stay focused on the main road and not distracted by all the fuzz that’s going around, but at the end of the day it doesn’t deliver value — nor to us, nor to the ones we care about. I took my lessons, understood my clientele better, and move forward better than I was. These are lessons that are insanely valuable and although my first viral post was driven by conflict — I got my first viral post and I could share my lessons with you!

If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner. — Tallulah Bankhead

Outcome

The outcome as of now is that I’ve got new clients and followers. I’ve learned a bit about posting on Facebook and understood who my power clients are. It strengthened my character and now I feel prouder of myself than before. Doing something will lead to having people who will dislike and judge your actions, but as long as I know, who I am and what my values are — life goes on and I feel blessed for those lessons.

Let’s grab a coffee and up to the next challenges, cheers!