How to Make a Viral

Video:
11 Tips to Create a
YouTube Sensation
By Mike Rosen
Illustrated by Jon Jennings

Produced by

How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation

How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation
Every videographer dreams that their work will go viral, that they will
shoot something that so speaks to people that it spreads like wildfire over
the Internet. A viral video is a great way to bring attention to your business
or show off your video-creating talents. And while its almost impossible to
predict what will go viral, there are certain things that you can include in
your videos to increase the odds that youll have a smash Internet hit on
your hands.
A viral video is any video that becomes popular by being passed from
person to person via the web. (Its quite similar to a meme, which refers to
any content that is passed along in the same manner.) Marketers, entertainers, and videographers spend a lot of time trying to create videos calculated
to go viral, sometimes with great success. One of the earliest examples
from the early days of YouTube was Lonelygirl15, a supposedly-true-life
adventures of a girl being pursued by a mysterious illuminati-like cabal.
The video captured worldwide attention after it was revealed to be a hoax.
You dont need to invent an elaborate fictional universe to make a popular
viral video, though.

Here are some things to keep in mind that can increase your
chances of going viral.

How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation

Tip 1
Keep Things Simple. Remember, with a viral video, your goal is to en-

courage every viewer to share the video with their friends. So every time
you start shooting a video, ask yourself: If I were to randomly find this video while searching Vimeo or YouTube, would it catch my attention? Would
I watch it through to the end? Would I like it enough to want to share it
with people that I know? To that end, viral videos should be easy to understand. If the action takes too much time to explain or requires knowledge
of some back-story, chances are that most viewers wont bother to pass
them along. Keep things simple and to the point, so even the viewer with
the shortest attention span can understand whats going on. How simple?
Research shows that the best length for a viral video is generally between
15-30 seconds and five minutes.

Tip 2
Interesting Content. Videos that have some sort of hook whether they

be cute, funny, or unusual are much more likely to go viral. Consider Nyan
Cat. In some ways, Nyan Cat is the perfect storm of viral video elements.
Its got something funny its a cat with a poptart for a body, flying through
space on a rainbow trail to the tune of some wacky Japanese pop song. Its
got something cute ts a cat, after all. And its animated in class 8-bit video
game style, a style that appeals to the nostalgia of the key late 20s to early
30s Internet demographic. Youll want your video to instantly grab a viewers attention, so you will need to have something really eye-catching and
memorable!

How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation

Tip 3
Add Music! Everyone loves music. Music videos can catch on for a

number of reasons., of course, the strength of the music carries the video
into stardom. Sometimes, its more because the video has an innovative gimmick that tickles viewers fancy Ok Gos famous treadmill video
is a good example of this. And sometimes, theres viral stardom in just
being terrible. Rebecca Black thought that she would get a record deal
when she released her vanity project Friday online, but instead listeners couldnt get enough of the ridiculous lyrics, silly party sequences, and
over-autotuned vocals. Unfortunately, this doesnt help you purposely
making a bad music video that still manages to entertain people is quite
difficult. Not to mention the fact that, once people realize that youre not
genuinely bad, they may quickly lose interest. However, if you present
your bad video as a parody of bad videos, then viewers might not feel
cheated when they realize that youre not actually as incompetent as they
initially believed.

How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation

Tip 4
Be Funny! Humorous videos are the most likely to go viral. Everyone

enjoys a good chuckle and, when something makes you laugh, youre eager
to share the joke with others. Of course, humor is highly subjective, so its
hard to say what jokes will best resonate with the video-sharing community. Many of the funniest videos circulating on the web document real-life
incidents. The popular Winnebago Man videos, for instance, are simply
bloopers from a circa 1980 Winnebago commercial wherein spokesman
Jack Rabney continuously flubs his lines while growing more and more
frustrated. Capturing moments like that requires a lot of luck. But staged
videos also have a lot of potential. The Landlord follows actor Will Ferrell as he argues with his landlady, who happens to be a small child for
reasons unknown. Its a strange set-up but its easy to understand and the
gimmick isnt any less funny for being scripted.

How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation

Tip 5
Scary Videos can go Viral too. The Little Fears YouTube channel

gained sudden popularity by posting low-key videos, often showing mundane daily scenes, while a deadpan narrator recited unnerving urban legends. The combination worked, and the videos took off. A spooky horror
video also has potential to go viral, but its less likely than a funny video.
Everyone loves a good laugh, but only certain people like a fright. That will
limit the audience for your video. Also, please be aware that a creepy video
is NOT the same as a screamer. A screamer is a video or animated gif that
flashes an unexpected, grotesque image. In general, a scary video is an unlikely candidate for viral status, but its worth considering if you feel this
is where your strengths lie. Take some time to study other scary videos that
have gone viral; the atmospheric YouTube serial Marble Hornets is a good
starting place.

Tip 6
Connect your Video to Something thats Already Gone Viral. Have

you ever noticed how, after youve seen one video go viral, youll see dozens of mash-ups, remixes and parodies jumping on the band wagon? People
love to see new videos that reference things they remember. It gives the
viewer a sense of belonging, a feeling that they are in on the joke, that
makes them more likely to look kindly on your video and pass it along to
their friends. How many Friday spoof songs hit the Internet after Rebecca
Blacks hilariously bad song first broke? When youre putting together a
viral video, think about the contents of other recent viral videos and how
you can take advantage of their popularity. Remember that memes get old
very quickly, though, and its a rare viral video that can continue to enthrall audiences for very long. If you decide to take this copycat route to
success, you will have to move fast to make sure that you strike while the
iron is hot.

How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation

Tip 7
Stunt Videos. This is a category of video for experts only! Some peo-

ple believe that imitating dangerous stunts they see on television is the
key to fame and fortune. If you have a genuine skill, this is a no-brainer. Videos of exciting skateboard tricks or tricky acrobatics could catch
the attention of any viewer. However, you should never do any stunt or
allow yourself to get involved in capturing a stunt on video if you believe that you or anyone else might actually be injured. In some jurisdictions, you could even get in legal trouble for encouraging someone
else to go through with a dangerous stunt. This may sound like obvious
advice, but the lure of fame convinces some people to do stupid things.
People may be equally quick to watch footage of unsuccessful stunts out
of morbid curiosity, but those views wont do you any good if youre
dead. Practice common sense and know your limitations.

How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation

Tip 8
Shoot a Reaction Video. The reaction video is a close cousin to the

meme-backwagon video. Basically, a reaction video consists of footage of

someone reacting to something in an amusing way. Many reaction videos
often involve surprising a friend or loved one with a grotesque or shocking
image and filming their horrified response, but they dont have to. Reaction videos can be sweet or cute as opposed to mean-spirited. For example,
in one reaction video, the video creator showed his five year old daughter
the film Star Wars and then asked her to respond to it. He then filmed
her rambling but very matter-of-fact synopsis (The shiny guy always worries, she explained in reference to C-3POs visible anxiety.) Another popular series of reaction videos involves showing small children videos of
various Internet memes and asking them to explain their appeal (Most kids
are, interestingly, not very impressed with things like Double Rainbow or
Bub Rub.) The important thing is that the reaction must appear genuine! A
reaction video loses all its punch if it appears to be faked. But if you have
a young child or sibling who has a habit of spouting adorable or hilarious
non sequiturs, you might have the makings of an excellent reaction video!

How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation

Tip 9
Connect your Video to a hot pop culture phenomenon. Your video doesnt

have to reference a different viral video; you can also reference something thats hot
in general pop culture. Ask yourself, whats big with the kids right now? For example, in early 2012, the Internet was abuzz over the Skyrim videogame, the My Little
Pony TV series, and The Walking Dead. If you were to incorporate any of these
elements, your video would already have a built-in fanbase. You could even combine
them in new and novel ways to increase the cross-over appeal of your video. What
about a video of My Little Ponies running around the Skyrim world? It might not
make sense to you, but fans of either franchise would go gaga. The advantage of this
game plan is that you may find a wider audience, since your video could also appeal
to people who arent intimately familiar with other viral videos. Pop culture trends
are always shifting, so, while these properties may not be quite as ephemeral as some
meme-derived videos, they are still transitory. Some pop culture events have proved
to have remarkable staying power, so much that theyve entered our cultural lexicon.
For example, while the world may quickly forget the latest cartoon or video game
and the viral videos associated with it you can be fairly confident that a viral video
based on an enduring film like Star Wars will probably still have an audience
months or even years down the line. Consider how long you want your viral video to
remain popular when youre choosing your topic.

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How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation

Tip 10
Include an animal. Everyone loves animals. Many of the most popular viral

videos involve animals going about their daily business; videos as simple as a
baby panda sneezing or two otters holding hands have managed to capture the
imagination of millions of web surfers. The good thing about animal videos are
that they are remarkably easy to shoot; the bad thing is that, while they take little
preparation, they do require a lot of patience. Much of shooting an animal video
is just being at the right place at the right time and always having your camera
ready. If youre already a wildlife videographer whos always shooting video of animals, then the chances are good that youll have your tape rolling at just the right
moment to capture them doing something adorable.

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How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation

Tip 11
Make a video thats ripe for remixing. Remember what we said about all

those viral video remixes? A remix is a great way to take advantage of an

Internet fad, but why not create that fad yourself? Certain videos seem to
lend themselves well to all sorts of variations. For example, keyboard cat
is a video of a cat playing piano. Not for real, of course, the cats owner is
hiding behind the put-upon feline, manipulating his front paws to hit the
keyboard.

The video became an Internet sensation because it was so easy to append

it to the tail of other videos and have it fit perfectly. The dominant theme
of most keyboard cat remixes was that the cat would play his keyboard in
response to some sort of injury or failure so a video of someone slipping on
a banana peel, a bicyclist rising into a tree, or a politician flubbing a debate question might well be followed by a clip of keyboard cat playing his
song. A short video that lends itself well to recontextualization is a prime
candidate for going viral.

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How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation

THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER

1. Its easy to lose control of a viral video once its out on the Internet.

Your video may become phenomenally popular, but what good does that do
you if you dont get any credit for creating it? A lot of people pass along videos without bothering to include any credit to the source, so dont make the
mistake of thinking that just because you place the video on your own webpage
or YouTube channel that everyone will know its yours. Think of your favorite
viral videos and try to remember if you ever noticed the creators names. Its a
good idea to place your name and website in the video as a bug or lower third,
so that anyone viewing it will know who to thank.

2. Its impossible to predict with 100% accuracy what will

appeal to
peoples fancies, but you can help your video along by posting it in the
right channels. Putting your video on your own private webpage wont help

you if youre not getting any traffic. You want to make it as easy as possible
for people to share your content. Try posting your video on YouTube, Vimeo,
Google Video, Facebook, Digg, Tumblr, Reddit or anywhere else that people are
likely to find and share it. If you post it on your own blog, be sure to enable
social sharing!

3. Some of the most popular viral videos didnt become that way by accident. Companies that spend thousands of dollars to create a viral video will

also spend thousands of dollars secretly promoting it, using multiple YouTube accounts, forum sock puppets and other clandestine methods. An independent videographer wont have nearly the same resources at his or her disposal. Use what you have. Send to your friends, relatives and colleagues whom
you think would appreciate it and ask them to pass it along. Be careful not to
spam them, though! No one appreciates getting bombarded with time-wasting
messages. Remember, plenty of the most viewed videos came by their popularity just by having great content that people wanted to share. It may take some
time to find the secret formula, so dont be discouraged if you dont succeed at
first! The rewards will make your effort worthwhile.

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How to Make a Viral Video:

11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation

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