There are more than 250 million active internet users across the United States and, on average, these users spend over 6.5 hours on the internet each day. You can’t get a bigger captive audience than that!
However, this doesn’t mean that going viral is easy. In fact, with more content online than ever before, the competition is fierce. This is why knowing how to make a viral video is key if you want your video to be a success.
This could be the key to launching your online career or business. So if you want to know how to create a viral video then you’re in the right place!
Read on to find out everything you need to do from editing to posting and promoting to make your video go viral!
Don’t Make Going Viral the Only Aim of Your Video
Okay, this might sound confusing but stick with us! Anyone who posts online may be trying to make a viral video. However, focusing on going viral can seriously distract you from making a good quality video.
This is why it’s important to step back from your video and ask yourself “will this be enjoyable even if it doesn’t go viral?” If the answer is no then it may be worth going back to the drawing board. The last thing you want is for your video to put a smaller audience off your brand.
That said, there are certain elements you can focus on that will help you and your content to go viral.
Create a Video That Elicits Emotions
If you want to make a viral video, then it’s worth looking at previous success stories. What do they all have in common? Well, first and foremost they elicit some sort of emotional reaction.
They may make people laugh or be incredibly frustrating to watch. Others will elicit compassion or even guilt, which encourages people to share them. Whatever the response, an emotional reaction stays with people and this encourages shares.
It’s worth thinking about this before you make your video. Decide what direction you want people to have and then make a huge list of different ways you could do this. You can then test these out with small groups of people to see which ones get the best reactions.
Think About Your Sharing Strategy
How to go viral is all about getting people to share your video, whether you know them or not. Because of this, it’s important to think ahead about your sharing strategy.
There are three elements to consider in this:
- Where you are going to share your video
- When you are going to share your video
- Who is going to share your video
There are plenty of different platforms video and social media platforms, such as YouTube, that you can use to share your video. However, it’s always worth exploring the alternatives to YouTube and other popular sites. When deciding where to share, look at how many people are in your target demographic use each platform, and go with the one that suits your content.
Timing is everything if you want to go viral. This means picking a time to share your video when a lot of people are online but not that many people are posting. This will mean your content appears high up on people’s feeds so they’re more likely to watch and share it.
Who shares your video is a key factor in how to make a video go viral. You should always share your video from an account with a lot of followers. This means that more people will see it, to begin with.
If possible, encourage relevant influencers to like and share your video for more views. You can also use popular hashtags to bring more traffic to your video.
Keep It Current
People are always interested in the things happening around them. This makes relevant content very popular.
Whether it’s a short opinion piece on a current event or a meme from a popular TV show, there is a big audience for relevant content.
If your video is going to engage with current events, however, it should give a funny, fresh, or interesting angle on them. Simply recounting what is happening will make your video feel uninteresting and it will become irrelevant with time.
Short and Snappy Is Best
Making a viral video is all about grabbing your audience’s attention and keeping it all the way through. This is why you should try to keep your video short and snappy.
On average our attention span for online content only lasts eight seconds, so if you don’t reel them in fast you’ll lose them forever. There are a couple of ways you can do this including:
- Creating suspense in your video so people keep watching for what happens next
- Jumping straight in with a shock opening
- Using an attention-grabbing caption that suggests something interesting is going to happen
Ideally, your video shouldn’t last longer than 20 or 30 seconds. If people don’t get to the end, they almost certainly won’t share it!
Respond to Shares
A frenzy of activity on a post will make it seem more popular and, to some extent, you can help boost this yourself.
As well as sharing your video, responding to comments on it or other shares will bump it to the top of people’s news feeds. This means more people will see it and this can increase your number of shares.
When responding to comments, make sure your reply is relevant. You can keep things simple with a “thank you” or by liking their comment. However, you could encourage more conversation by giving a funny or more engaging response.
Keep These Tips on How to Make a Viral Video in Mind
If you want to go viral then there’s a lot to consider before you post your video. Keep these tips on how to make a viral video in mind and you can’t go wrong.
However, it’s important to remember that timing is everything and sometimes things don’t land how you expect. So don’t be disheartened if your first attempt at a viral video doesn’t work out.
For more top tips on how to make the most of technology, keep scrolling!
