A song that came out last month went viral immediately in China and spreadacross the world. Since becoming viral wasn’t the singer’s intention tobegin with, there wasn’t any official account to track the viewership. To meethis fans’ request, the singer, Dao Lang, recently opened his official accounton Douyin (TikTok in Chinese) and shared his work with the public.Within 3 days, he gained 13 million fans and the number is still growing.
The song went viral because it said something the people felt but couldn’t sayit themselves. The resonation is deep and broad. Seeing how the fans interactwith the singer, I couldn't help but think of the phrase "the smallestviable audience". Viral isn't small, but viral is about viable.
Many of us thought the keyword in the phrase was the “smallest”, but the viralexample is saying something else. It turns out that thekey is “viable”: finding the right audience, especially when we aretesting some ideas, completing the service process, evaluating results, orfiguring out marketing tools. Very few people get the “smallest” wrong, but manymisunderstand the meaning of viable and what it looks like.
With the viable audience, we get valuable information and feedback because weaddress their pain points and alleviate their pains andsuffering. Only with the right people, does the work resonate the way it’sdesigned to do. Only with the right people, do our ideas get to be trulyrecognized (both positive and negative) and talked about.
Instead of seeking assurance and comfort (family and friends), find the viable audience. Even it’sjust a handful of people.
