Make Your Video Go Viral With A Few Steps
A viral video is is a huge step up in your marketing strategy. It always works and brings you new visitors. Let’s see how you can create it in no time!
1. Identify Your Target Audience
If you want to create a viral video for marketing purposes, first identify your ideal customer. Your video’s target audience will dictate the type of video you create and promote, such as a music video or funny animal video. For example, if you are marketing a product to teenagers, it makes more sense to create a funny video that is age-appropriate and somehow related to a current cultural phenomenon.
To determine your ideal audience, evaluate the characteristics of your current clients and categorize them into customer segments. Then, reach out to customers who are particularly well-suited to your business and find out what they like about your business, products, and services. Finally, create a persona based on their background, demographics, preferences, pain points, and other characteristics.
2. Choose Your Preferred Sharing Platform
A video can gain viral success through a variety of online communities, but some platforms are more appropriate for certain videos and businesses than others. This is because each platform has unique characteristics that make it better suited to certain video lengths, formats, and content. For example, longer videos are typically better suited to YouTube, while Instagram is best for businesses that want to boost existing brand engagement with shorter content.
3. Choose the Type of Viral Video
There are four main types of viral videos for small business, including music videos, content intended for kids, funny animal videos, and mishaps. After you identify your ideal audience, consider which type of video is most consistent with your brand and, therefore, likely to gain the highest viewership and lead to viral success.
4. Write the Script
No matter what other steps you take to make a video go viral, the content itself is the most important element. To make your video more appealing to a large audience—and to increase the likelihood of its success—tell a story but keep your message simple and clear. Successful videos have a focused message that plays to emotions like excitement, amusement, or anger.
The actual content is the most important element of a viral video, so it’s important to create a script that will appeal to viewers.
5. Film and Edit the Video
After you finalize a script, assemble the cast of your video and film enough content to create a 30-second to two-minute video. The ideal length of the video varies depending on your audience and preferred sharing platform. For example, YouTube users are likely more willing to watch longer videos, while Instagram and Facebook videos should be shorter.
When compiling the final version of your video, also include logos, contact information, and any other information that will help build brand awareness for your company. For example, decide where to direct video traffic from the social media or streaming platform where you’re sharing your video. Depending on your business and your existing marketing strategy, direct viewers to your social media profile, relevant blog posts, your business website, or a custom landing page.
6. Create a Viral Title and Description
The video itself is what will make your content go viral, but an optimized title and description are necessary to catch the attention of your target audience. In addition to including keywords that tell the search engine what your content is about, make the video’s title catchy enough that people will want to view it and share it with their friends. Then, optimize the description with relevant keywords, apply tags, and create an eye-catching thumbnail to pique curiosity.
7. Decide When to Release Your Video
The success of social media content depends largely on the day and time that it’s posted online. In general, people tend to watch YouTube videos when they’re bored at work or trying to kill time. For that reason, you should post your video on a Monday or Tuesday so it has an entire work week of exposure to get traction with viewers. Avoid posting on days when there is a lot of breaking news and weeks with holidays that might distract your potential viewers.
In addition to choosing the best day to share your video, post it at the optimal time of day based on your target audience and sharing platform. For example, it’s currently recommended that you post videos to YouTube between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday and Friday. Experts report that it’s best to post on Instagram weekdays between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Eastern Time.
8. Share & Promote Your Video
When your video is ready, share it on the relevant platforms and promote it to gain as much initial traction as possible. Promotion of a viral video requires sharing on social media, but you should specifically target social media influencers and other brands that are particularly well-suited to your video and are most likely to share it with their networks. Then, use SEO backlinking to drive more traffic and make it easy for the media to get in touch with you.
Wrapping it up
Once your video goes viral, you’ll be ready to capture leads, increase brand awareness, manage press inquiries, and make as much money as possible from your 15 minutes of fame. Make sure to respond to as many of the tweets, emails, and other valid press and client inquiries as possible. Streamline this process by drafting some response templates to send out quickly while interest in the video is high. Then, prioritize responses based on how likely each contact is to increase your video’s success and help you achieve your business goals.