Making Your Video Go Viral: Core Strategies

80% of online businesses use viral marketing tactics, which can become even more effective when paired with the trendiest type of content to date — videos. Viral videos are great for boosting engagement and making the online community discuss your brand. And in contrast to the popular opinion that viral videos appear organically, creating them with a marketing strategy in mind is still possible. Let’s find out how to create a viral video and make some noise with it. 

What Is a Viral Video and What Makes a Video Go Viral? 

A viral video is one that gains a huge number of views, likes, comments, and shares (usually from several million to a billion) in a short time (24-48 hours). Such videos quickly become popular, they are actively shared and reshared across social media and the users discuss them actively. 

Below are some of the video virality features to get a better impression of viral videos nature: 

• Short length. Viral videos are usually short so the users don’t need to spend a lot of time watching them and catching the main idea. 
• Simple and understandable message. Viral videos are usually simple and pretty understandable. They dwell on the situations a lot of people can relate to, and this is another feature that makes viral content popular. 
• Emotional context. As a rule, viral videos provoke a strong emotional response among the users. This is one of the reasons that make the viewers share, contributing to the video virality. 
• Simple graphics. The most popular viral videos ever appeared organically, being shot with a smartphone. So, a viral video idea is, in most cases, more important than the quality of the visuals. The only exception is producing viral videos for marketing purposes since in this case the idea, the video content, and branding are equally important. 

What’s more, the latter tactic is particularly beneficial  — and here is why. 

Viral Content Benefits for Business

Viral YouTube videos, as well as the ones published on other video platforms, are strong marketing tools. Before we discuss how to make a video go viral, let’s have a look at the core benefits of viral marketing:

• Brand awareness. On average, viral videos get 5 million views in 3-7 days, and this is a pretty huge brand awareness boost. 
• Increased engagement. Viral videos are more engaging than any other video type, like demo videos or explainers. The matter is that the goal of a viral video isn’t to sell but to get an explosive effect for brand awareness, as the first aim. The main goal of viral videos is to increase brand awareness while forgoing sales.
• Viral content affordability. Creating viral videos doesn’t need expensive equipment – the most viral videos ever were shot with a smartphone. In this case, investing in idea development makes the most sense. 
• Emotional connection with the audience. Viral videos are usually highly emotional. For brands creating them, it means the opportunity to build emotional bonds with the audience and pay attention to the brand’s values. 

How to Go Viral with Your Video — Tips, Tricks, and Tactics

While there are no exact statistics, 100% guarantees, or a must-follow algorithm on how to go viral on YouTube, there are still some practices that increase the chances of creating engaging viral video ideas. Let’s review them in more detail. 

1. Know what makes users share

According to the research, most users share the content seeking the opinion of their friends or connect with them via a shared interest. Other reasons for video sharing are also social – the users either consider the video to be useful to their friends, or they want to be the first to tell them something, demonstrate their knowledge, or start a conversation with the help of a video. Some users share a video for social good or use it as a way of self-expression. 

So, when creating your viral video, get started with revising the reasons for video sharing. Find a way to align your story (see the next point) with one of the reasons and your brand values for a better emotional response. 

2. Tell an emotional story

The emotional response is another thing that makes users share viral content. Telling a close-to-life story is one of the best ways to trigger positive emotions and drive sharing. The feelings of warmth, happiness, and compassion are the most powerful emotions to make the viewers feel, so come up with some ideas for a branded story to evoke them. 

3. Polish the message

Viral videos are ultimately clear and understandable for a wide audience, even when they are created for a specific group of potential customers. They usually deliver a simple and powerful message, carefully packaged in a story. 

Thus, the message should be at the core of a viral video, while the story is a way to deliver it to the viewers. That’s why it is better to start with polishing a message you want to transfer, and then, create a story around it. And keep the ever-green rule in mind — one video = one message. 

4. Keep your video short

Viral videos are usually short – they take 30-90 seconds to convey the message, entertain the viewers but don’t have their attention for too long, and end with a positive aftertaste. This video length is also optimal for sharing on social media so find the way to fit your story within this time limit. 

5. Stay engaged

Communicating with the viewers, replying to the comments, and triggering a long-lasting discussion is a good tactic to support their engagement and create some hype around your brand. That’s why you are welcome to analyze your viral video performance, track the metrics of success, and respond to the comments the users leave on different platforms. 

6. Consider professional viral videos production

Creating a viral video in a professional way is the ultimate winning tactic. When it comes to viral video content, the idea behind it becomes as important as never before. Indeed, visuals are essential as well since the best viral video for marketing combines both compelling graphics with a simple and emotion-provoking scenario.

Conclusion

Creating viral videos is challenging. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that the video will go viral since the preferences of modern viewers can hardly be predicted. Instead, you can use the best practices for viral video content production, and we welcome you to follow them with our help.

The creative and unbiased thinking of our specialists will allow us to come up with an explosive idea for your future video, so let’s get in touch! 

Bob

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Сreative animation specialist and your provider inside Wow-How Studio