What Makes A Video Go Viral? The Tips And Tricks You Need To Know
By: Christiaan Harden
Creating a video that goes viral and racks up millions of views is the ultimate goal of nearly every person who uploads a video onto the internet. With millions of new videos added daily, the competition is fierce and generating views is no longer just a matter of simple luck. Here are a few tips that will encourage web-users to share your video and help it "go viral".
Let's begin looking at some viral videos that have become highly successful without a large budget or brand name behind them. Firstly, the 'Facebook Song' made by Rhett and Link. This dynamic duo made a song about their obsessiveness with the social networking giant Facebook. This catchy and original song eventually led to the pair's online fame, which includes their own paid web video series, high sales in Rhett and Link merchandise as well as televised adverts on channels such as Aljazeera. Secondly "Take Me Out" by Atomic Tom, a newly released viral video, which was recorded on an iPhone, showing the band Atomic Tom performing one of their songs live on a tube train, using only musical iPhone applications. This video generated an astounding amount of views on the very first day it was uploaded to YouTube and has since delivered a huge amount of press, a new fan base and a potential record deal.
Now of course, both of these videos enjoyed a certain amount of luck in attaining Internet fame, but both of these videos had several key factors that contributed to their popularity, such as short and snappy titles; a lot of YouTube users think that shoving as many key words in a title will generate views. This is completely the wrong way to do things.
I have found several video creators who seem to think that inserting hundreds of keywords will generate views. What this actually does is generate a lot of spam-styled videos, which ultimately amount to a very low view count. The reason being is that people are searching for something in particular and they want to find a video showing just that. They are not interested in a random video, which holds no relevance to the keyword they are searching for.
So, now that you have a rough idea of a few strategies that work, let's delve deeper into a few tips every video creator should think about implementing.
Title
Keep it short and concise. Make sure it sounds original and describes exactly what the video is. A good example of a very popular video is titled 'Surprised Kitty'. The title says it all, it is simply a kitten being tickled and surprised. The success comes as people are looking for, or interested in, kitten-related videos; and this delivers exactly that.
Tags
As I explained above, tags are of vital importance but they should be used in moderation. Do not flood your videos with tags, be sure to use relevant keywords and perhaps one topic, which is popular but also holds some relevance to your video. Do not use celebrity names frivolously as your keyword would be competing against several million other users who have used the exact same tag.
Description
An appropriate description of your video is just as crucial as relevant tags. Be sure to word a description that appeals to your target audience and try adding a question within the text, which will help prompt users to engage with your video via commenting and subscribing. It also provides an opportunity to drive users back to your website and other video content by adding a full http:// link within the description, preferably in the first couple of lines.
YouTube Annotations
Annotations are the small text boxes that appear on videos allowing the owner of the video to interact with the viewers. These have been proven to make viewers feel more involved with a video and also maintain their focus longer. So ensure your annotations are informative, witty and add a touch of humour to engage with your audience.
Cross Promotion
If you have a Facebook or Twitter account then be sure to post links on your Youtube profile page and ask your friends share your video online. Social networking continues to grow, so a lot of the hard work can be done by your friends that will produce big results. Secondly, post your video on a number of other video sharing websites. YouTube is not the only online video website which can generate fame and viral success. Try websites such as Vimeo, Daily Motion, Twitvids and Sevenload.
Conclusion
If you implement these tips, it won't guarantee that your video will "go viral", but will it definitely improve the chances. Just remember, it only takes a few people to like and share your video to kick start its road to viral fame.
About the Author:
Christiaan Harden is the Business Development Manager at Spectrecom Films Ltd, an award-winning corporate video production company, the UK's leading online video marketing authority and owner of Waterloo Film Studios, a four stage white / green screen London film studio complex for hire.
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