It seems that everyone’s goal these days is get their video to go viral. But how many clicks and watches does it take for a video to be considered viral? A few years ago, anything with a million hits would have been considered viral, and a great success.  But today, you need at least 5 million hits in a 3-7 day period to be considered a viral video. 

How does a video go viral, anyway? While there obviously isn’t a magic formula for making videos go viral, (if there was, they’d all be viral, right?), there are some concepts that can up your chances to get your video in front of millions of eyeballs.

1. Be Interesting

That might sound obvious, but it really is the place to start.  An interesting concept, interesting information, and, of course, interesting people are paramount to your video getting shared around the internet.  

Just like no one wants to watch a boring movie, no one wants to share a boring video. Creating exciting or dramatic content or making a truly hilarious clip can greatly increase your chances of going viral. 

2. Start Strong

It’s important that you grab your audience’s attention from the first frame.  The internet is a big place, with a lot of distractions, and if you want people to watch your video and share it with others, you have to pique their interest right away.  

Engaging your viewers right from the start is the first step in getting your video to go viral…  Now your job is to keep your audience all the way through to the end.

3. Keep it Short

The longer the video, the less likely it’s going to go viral… Because there’s a much greater chance that people will lose interest and not watch through to the end.  And if they’re not watching, they’re not sharing.  

Recent trends have shown that 30 – 45 seconds is optimal if you’re looking to encourage sharing activity, with 30 seconds being ideal if you’re looking for more clicks.  but videos at a minute or longer can be effective depending on your goals, like creating brand awareness.

Still, studies have shown that 60% of viral videos are under 3 minutes, and almost no video that has gone viral was over 5 minutes.

4. Create a Viral Title

Now that you’ve created a short, entertaining video, the next step is to come up with the perfect title.  And the fact is, certain titles are more likely to go viral than others. 

Lists and How-to titles are often effective in creating a viral title, like the title of this post.  But you should also think about keeping the title to your video shorter, with searchable keywords that are easily found on places like Google and Bing.  Also, make sure to be descriptive. Using interesting adjectives like “epic” or “hilarious” to describe your video and hopefully draw in your audience. 

Lastly, keep it simple.  Don’t try to describe everything in one title, and don’t oversell what you’ve got.  A handful the right words should get you on the path to going viral.

5. Post it Everywhere

Don’t just stick to one platform — put your video in as many places as you can.  Once upon a time you could just post your video to YouTube and then link to it from other social media platforms.  Not anymore. Today, social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook are emphasizing “native” media, or media that’s uploaded directly to their platform, which then gets promoted more often.  

6. Share It!

This may seem obvious, but if you want to get your video to go viral, share it with everyone, wherever you can.  Friends, co-workers, relatives, send that video on it’s way around the internet and see if it can’t get a little momentum.

7. No, Seriously, Everywhere!

Don’t hesitate to send that video to anyone you can think of.  Post it on your friend’s Facebook page. Instagram it to all of your groups.  And tweet it out to any celebrity that you can think of.  Who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky and they’ll retweet it out to their millions of followers! 

Are you hoping to create a short video with the hopes that it will go viral? Let us help!

We have some great ideas that might just put your video on the map!