Gangnam Style, Dramatic Gopher, Star Wars Kid… if you’ve been around on the internet for a while, you’ll no doubt know about them. Even if you haven’t seen them, chances are you have heard of them, because that is the power of the internet. It can take a video of a cat who looks grumpy and make it into a global household name.
There are no guaranteed methods for making a viral video. Sure, Psy may have dreamed about becoming the first video on YouTube to reach 1 billion hits, but so did countless others – he just happened to do everything right.
The most important thing to do is make a good video. This seems obvious, but it seems that there are too many people online who expect that just because they put a video online of their friend falling off a chair, it will instantly hit viral status and earn them millions.
A good video with the potential to go viral should be short, original and shocking. Now, shocking doesn’t always have to be Grandma kicking a baby across a field; it can be the voice of an angel coming out of a suburban Scottish grandmother, a middle aged man putting an iPhone into a blender, or a dog owner shouting “Fenton” as his beloved pooch chases deer through a field. In a world where it feels like every idea has been done to death, shocking means to be unexpected.
Of course, even the greatest videos will need help. Don’t be afraid to help your video along the way through marketing. Even Psy, one of the biggest YouTube stars ever, had a lot of help getting to that magical billion mark.
YouTube promotional views can, and do, help videos to hit viral status. They help a video find an audience they wouldn’t usually find, and in turn that increases sharing and coverage across the web.
The word ‘clickbait’ is often considered a dirty word, but there is a reason it is thought of so unfavourably – it works. Giving your video a title such as ‘You’ll never guess what this cat does!’ may seem ambiguous, but excuse me for one moment I just need to click this link to find out what this cat does. A title works like a movie poster, drawing in views. Put it this way, would you rather watch ‘Hitler reacts to Kanye West at MTV awards’ or ‘Kanye goofs up at awards’.
For more information on YouTube promotion and how Viral Seeding can help make your video viral, contact us today.
