Is there really a winning strategy for making viral YouTube videos? In recent years, content creators have enjoyed experimenting, outlining better what works and what doesn’t in the video marketing sector: a sort of vademecum to fine-tune your own winning strategy.
Because, as you will imagine, a video that can be excellent for one company may not be perfect for another: which is why the “magic formula” must be studied for each individual case. In this article, we will discover together what are the best tips for making a viral video.
What is a viral video
Yummy food, funny skits, funny and cuddly animals… you will have come across a viral video a thousand times while browsing YouTube or scrolling through your Facebook or Instagram feed. Made specifically to be shared (and re-shared) on social networks, these videos are short and engaging, usually designed to inform and entertain users.
Thanks to these characteristics, viral videos represent a real gold mine for companies that, today more than ever, want to invest in these tools capable of making the brand really earn a lot because of their ability to convert.
Viral videos collect consensus and popularity quickly, reaching a huge audience, including people who do not follow your pages. It is also not uncommon for these videos to be taken from online newspapers, social pages or private chats, thus continuing to spread like wildfire on the net.
How is a viral video made
If you are reading this, you will surely have wondered how viral videos are born. Well, this is the hardest part. Yes, because, except for a few strokes of luck, most of these videos result from a lot of work carried out by a team of professionals (to which certainly a pinch of good luck is added, which never hurts).
As we have said, there is no magic formula that is valid for everyone, but rather the notions that can help you make a great viral video. Obviously, it is important to know the sector well and not to improvise as experts of the last hour to achieve the desired result.
What are the tricks that make a video go viral
To create the perfect viral video, it is important to know the right tricks to develop the most suitable magic formula to bring your brand to success.
1) The viral video must be short
The fact that user attention is increasingly scarce is a reality. Nowadays, people are constantly bombarded with visual stimuli, especially when browsing the web and using social networks.
Since the habitat “preferred by viral videos is that of social media as well as YouTube, it is practically mandatory to create a short multimedia product capable of capturing the attention of users from the very first seconds, thus justifying the interruption of their previous activity.
2) Don’t focus too much on marketing
When making a viral video, the first goal is to make sure that the product works regardless of any marketing strategy. In this way, you can better focus on the immediacy that makes this type of video unique.
Once a first draft has been created, the contacted team can recommend any changes to adapt it to a marketing strategy. Always, for example, launched a viral campaign to rewrite the rules of gender by focusing on emotionality.
3) Focus on a single message
Clear, simple, and concise content is a must. That’s why a good viral video should focus on a single message and explain it clearly, without getting lost in secondary themes.
Doing this makes it possible to create high-converting and potentially viral content because the user will be intrigued by your topic and how you intend to address it. For example, if you want to show how your product helps solve a problem, you can make a short product explainer video.
4) Tell a story
People love stories because they have a chance to empathize with them. Like a book, a film, or a TV series, the viral video must tell a story that can be entertaining, inspiring or moving the viewer. It is no coincidence that animals, together with humans, are often the protagonists of viral videos.
5) Add a viral title and a watermark
A potential viral video needs a click-proof title. We do not recommend using clickbait titles, especially if this goes against your brand policy: the goal is to entice users to watch the video while being honest about the content. The key is to understand what works for your audience to provoke an emotional reaction, emphasized by the title, that prompts them to watch the video.
Besides, you need to design a unique logo for your YouTube channel and add it to every video you upload to build your brand awareness.
6) Optimize video for mobile devices
Most users will watch your video from their smartphone or tablet, so optimizing your video for mobile devices is imperative. YouTube will facilitate this process as the bulk of the platform’s traffic comes from mobile devices.
To earn a good position on YouTube (recommended searches and videos), it is good to take care of:
- The quality of the video;
- The choice of tags;
- Final tabs and screens;
- Put the video in the foreground on the channel;
- Add the video to a playlist;
- Share the video on social networks or in private chats.
7) Provide value to users
We’ve already explained how important it is to focus on the message and the audience to grab attention. However, it is equally important that your potential viral video can have an added value compared to competing content.
This will strengthen your brand awareness both in the comparative purchase of products and services and in providing at the same time something additional that only you can give them. As we have already said, focusing exclusively on marketing can make people lose sight of what interests people: the challenge is to be original, staying true to yourself and your target audience.
8) Create a captivating preview
Even if your main focus is YouTube, you will also have to think about what will happen to your potentially viral video on social networks. As we have said, this type of video was created to be shared and re-shared several times; therefore, everything must be taken care of in the smallest details to work.
One of these details concerns the few-second preview that will appear to users as they scroll through their Facebook or Instagram feed. It’s very important to create one that captures the essence of the video and prompts the user to click.
9) Publish on Monday or Tuesday
We all know that people watch YouTube videos while they are at work and read the news while they are at work. There is nothing wrong with that because the workplace is usually where we spend the most time during the week. For this reason, we recommend to post your video on YouTube on a Monday or Tuesday so that it can gain momentum during the week.
Furthermore, the first two days of the week are usually quieter than those close to the weekend, a factor that must be taken into consideration. Plan carefully even when there are holidays, perhaps understanding when users interact the most with your content through tools.
10) Continue to pay attention after posting
Do you think the work on the video ends with publication? Wrong! For a video to go viral, taking care of the post-publication is very important.
At this stage, you will be able to check the progress of YouTube views and interactions, perhaps by making targeted reposts on your social channels or friendly pages to make your video go viral. Doing so will also give you an advantage for your subsequent creations because the algorithm will recognize your content as “valuable.”
How much does it cost to make a viral video
If you have read this far, it means that you are interested in making a viral video for your brand and you probably want to know the cost of this investment.
We tell you right away that we do not believe in a fixed cost for creating viral videos because every business need is different: the price depends on the work done, the client’s requests, and the budget that he is willing to invest.
To sum up
In conclusion, you will surely understand how important it is to look at viral video as an investment, regardless of the type of business and the message we want to launch. In fact, as we have seen, this type of video is beneficial for capturing users’ attention, informing or sensitizing them on certain issues, and encouraging the purchase of services or products.
There is no one-size-fits-all magic formula to answer our initial question: the important thing is to follow some essential steps that will make your video visible to more and more people. In a nutshell, you and your team must be the ones to discover your magic formula.
