Author: Bob Dec 17, 2021 6 min read
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.
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:
What’s more, the latter tactic is particularly beneficial — and here is why.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!