If there is anything I have learnt personally, since I began to read about personal finance in 2004, it is this: No matter how timeless and life-changing the personal finance principle, personal finance is still 'personal'. Each person has to find his level and accept his problem for himself, and then apply the universal principle(s) to helping himself. Funny thing is that I confirmed that in a odd place recently- Nigeria's politics.
The lesson is simple- DON'T TRY TO HELP PEOPLE (make a decision, a choice, an investment, etc), HELP YOURSELF! When they see it work for you, and realize that theirs isn't working, they will come over to your side.
In other words, YOU CAN'T FORCE ANYTHING TO GO VIRAL! And you definitely can't keep anything in a viral state if it (mistakenly goes viral but) does not truly have the stuff of virality.
Yes, I know it is controversial, but it is true notwithstanding. And understanding it, is the secret to making anything go viral, and remain so.
When you are convinced you are right, keep saying it and doing the right thing, regardless of whether it is popular or accepted at the moment. When the crowd come to see that you are right, they will help themselves by joining. And then the idea/personality will go viral.
I got an understanding of what it takes to sometimes make an idea/ideal/personality go viral from the Nigerian presidential election that just ended.
A candidate who had lost the same election three times in the past, kept on trying till he eventually won- not by rigging, but by the people coming to realize that HE, is what they need and then voted for him. It makes you understand that you can't help anyone...they have to come to full realization that they need help, and then help themselves.
You just have to make sure the marketing idea, or investment plan, or dream of yours is solid, planned and fully prepared, and the rest will take care of itself. Time factor is also important. If you haven't broken through yet, it doesn't necessarily mean your plan or idea or practice is wrong or not worth it. If people find it unpopular, it doesn't mean you should stop. It just mean you should be firm and resolute, and not give in or give up.
There is something called 'Crowd mentality'. And it isn't necessarily always right. But one thing is certain, it doesn't take long for the crowd to accept what they have seen and come to know to be true and right. And when they do, virality ensues.
If you have an idea, an ideal, a concept, a personality, anything at that, that you want to make go viral, don't try to appeal to people, conforming the idea, principle, etc to their taste. If you already hold yourself to a high standard, you won't find it hard to make your idea of high standard too. Simply make it appeal to you/the standard, and people will come to find it appealing, or not.
Many times, we want to do people a favor, and we want them to take it forcefully- "At least I want to help them", you say. But you can't help people...they help themselves. You just do your bit, and the rest will sort itself.
Moreover, having good luck is no excuse to not be truthfully, or sincere with yourself. If you (or the idea) don't have what it takes, accept that fact on time and make adjustments.
If you do otherwise and make people believe something untrue is true, you might succeed at first, but soon the truth will be out and you would have given yourself a reputation of being fake- a scam artiste.
Our outgoing president went viral in 2011 during his campaign for election, but didn't have the true substance of the personality his marketing experts told him to sell to us- he was not a true leader. It only took about a year for us to realize (subsidy protests of 2012), and then in the just concluded presidential campaign and elections of 2015 we revealed that to him and made the right decision of voting him out in spite of the billions he wasted to secure re-election.
Virality, or acceptance, isn't about the people...it is about you- the idea!
If 'you' are a product, will you buy and use 'you'?
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