Free Report Viralvideo

7/31/2019 Free Report Viralvideo

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How to Make a ViralVideo:

11 Tips to Create aYouTube Sensation

Produced by

By Mike Rosen

Illustrated by Jon Jennings


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How to Make a Viral Video:11 Tips to Create a YouTube Sensation


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Every videographer dreams that their work will go viral, that they will

shoot something that so speaks to people that it spreads like wildre 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, entertain-

ers, 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 ctional universe to make a popular

viral video, though.

Here are some things to keep in mind that can increase your

chances of going viral.



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Tip 1

Tip 2


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 nd this vid-

eo 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 under-

stand. 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 ve minutes.

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, ying 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 view-

ers attention, so you will need to have something really eye-catching and

memorable!


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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 innova-

tive 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 listen-

ers couldnt get enough of the ridiculous lyrics, silly party sequences, andover-autotuned vocals. Unfortunately, this doesnt help you purposely

making a bad music video that still manages to entertain people is quite

difcult. 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.


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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 commu-

nity. 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 ubs 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 Fer-rell 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.


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Tip 5

Tip 6

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

gained sudden popularity by posting low-key videos, often showing mun-

dane daily scenes, while a deadpan narrator recited unnerving urban leg-

ends. 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

ashes an unexpected, grotesque image. In general, a scary video is an un-likely 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.

Connect your Video to Something thats Already Gone Viral. Have

you ever noticed how, after youve seen one video go viral, youll see doz-

ens 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 rst broke? When youre putting together a

viral video, think about the contents of other recent viral videos and howyou can take advantage of their popularity. Remember that memes get old

very quickly, though, and its a rare viral video that can continue to en-

thrall 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.


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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-brain-

er. 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 be-

lieve that you or anyone else might actually be injured. In some juris-

dictions, 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.


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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 lming their horried response, but they dont have to. Reac-tion videos can be sweet or cute as opposed to mean-spirited. For example,

in one reaction video, the video creator showed his ve year old daughter

the lm Star Wars and then asked her to respond to it. He then lmed

her rambling but very matter-of-fact synopsis (The shiny guy always wor-

ries, she explained in reference to C-3POs visible anxiety.) Another popu-

lar 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!


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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 exam-

ple, 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 theseelements, 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 nd 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 condent that a viral video

based on an enduring lm 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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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 ishiding 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 t 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 ubbing a de-

bate 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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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 doyou if you dont get any credit for creating it? A lot of people pass along vid-

eos 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 topeoples 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 trafc. 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 nd 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 ac-cident. Companies that spend thousands of dollars to create a viral video will

also spend thousands of dollars secretly promoting it, using multiple You-

Tube accounts, forum sock puppets and other clandestine methods. An inde-

pendent videographer wont have nearly the same resources at his or her dis-

posal. 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 tospam them, though! No one appreciates getting bombarded with time-wasting

messages. Remember, plenty of the most viewed videos came by their popular-

ity just by having great content that people wanted to share. It may take some

time to nd the secret formula, so dont be discouraged if you dont succeed at

rst! The rewards will make your effort worthwhile.

THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER


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