Finding viral content isn't about direct plagiarism. The most effective strategy is to identify a trending idea or format and then apply your own unique perspective or 'take' to it. This approach leverages existing audience interest while creating a new, original piece of content.

Leverage X's native AI, Grok, by prompting it to find trending posts in your niche from the last few days. This provides a quick, foundational list of high-engagement content, allowing you to identify what topics and formats are currently capturing attention without tedious manual searching.

Use X's (Twitter's) short-form, high-feedback environment as a low-cost testing ground for content ideas. Once a concept gains traction and high engagement, expand it into longer-form content like a newsletter or YouTube video. This workflow ensures you only invest significant effort in pre-validated topics.

When researching viral content, the goal isn't to copy but to find a proven concept and add your unique perspective. The host argues there are no truly original ideas, only unique spins. This approach allows creators to leverage successful formats and topics while maintaining an authentic brand voice, turning inspiration into new content.

Keep a swipe file of viral content to identify underlying themes or formats (e.g., "harsh truths"). Instead of copying, adapt the successful theme to your specific audience (e.g., "harsh truths of being a CISO"). This leverages proven psychology for your niche.

Focus less on your main social handle and more on distributing content across numerous niche accounts. Modern algorithms prioritize user interests over follower graphs, meaning a clip on a new account with zero followers can go viral and build a business from scratch.

Information and conversations often originate on Reddit before migrating to platforms like Facebook or Instagram. By actively monitoring relevant subreddits, marketers can get ahead of trends, source new content ideas, and understand nascent conversations in their industry before competitors do, giving them a first-mover advantage.

Don't just cross-post the same content. A more effective strategy is creating meta-content that leverages audience curiosity. For example, discussing TikTok trends on LinkedIn performs exceptionally well because it brings valuable, 'foreign' insights to a curious professional audience.

To decide which archived content to revive, don't just guess. Look retroactively for small signals of past resonance—a 'blip' of traction on any platform (Facebook, X, etc.). These indicate content-market fit. Your job is to then amplify and modify that proven idea, not invent completely new ones.