Social media business swoops in acquisition of ‘feelgood’ specialist

From left: Ryan Williams, Andrew Trotman, Matt Thomas of It's Gone Viral

It’s Gone Viral – the Manchester-based social media marketing company – has acquired Rochdale-based Happiest Media for an undisclosed sum.

The deal is the latest addition to the growing number of social media brands owned by It’s Gone Viral. Others include Go Fetch, the UK’s highest viewed pet-related social page, Ultimate DIY and various gaming brands.

Since its inception in 2016, Happiest has focused on bringing the most entertaining and uplifting content and real life stories each day to its nearly three million followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The wellbeing brand was created as an antidote and to showcase all that’s good in the world so its followers are always inspired to be the happiest possible version of themselves.

Andrew Trotman, co-founder of It’s Gone Viral, said: “Happiest Media has a really strong emphasis on wellbeing and promoting inspiring stories, which fits perfectly with our core values as a business.

Social media is often criticised for the harm it does, but it can also play an integral role in making people feel good about themselves. Happiest Media is all about doing just that so makes it the perfect fit for the It’s Gone Viral stable.”

It’s Gone Viral revealed it has also hosted “The Outbreak” in partnership with Zombie Nation, the first live interactive horror-themed game on Facebook.

The audience decided the fate of a survivor at the beginning of a zombie outbreak, choosing which actions and decisions to make along the way in this interactive experience.

They were able to choose the weapons they used, what they held in their inventory and whether to help other survivors or not.

The game was staged on It’s Gone Viral’s main Facebook page and in partnership with Zombie Infection.

It attracted 1,400 concurrent viewers for the whole broadcast with a total viewership of almost 50,000 people.

Andrew Trotman said: “We were interested to see how this format worked on a platform like Facebook where thousands of people can be voting on a decision all at the same time.

“The response was phenomenal and proves there’s a real appetite out there for it.

“Our team, along with Zombie Infection, did an amazing job bringing the concept to life and I hope this will be a springboard for similar games and live interactive events in the future.”

It’s Gone Viral’s reach and viewing figures for the past year stand at 12 billion impressions. It now has more than six million followers across its Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Tik Tok and LinkedIn accounts.

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