You often hear that making a viral video is pure luck, but that’s just not true. Most of the videos that do go viral online were created with that goal in mind. The creators have to work quickly to push the video and get as many views as possible. By following the proper steps and using the right tools, you can get your video to go viral too.
The content of your video obviously plays a major role in getting it to go viral. It has to be entertaining and something out of the ordinary- either laugh-out-loud funny, or something that will make viewers say “wow!” The video quality doesn’t necessarily have to be great as long as the content makes people want to share it with their friends. Ideally, you want your video listed on YouTube’s “Most Viewed” page, as that will make your views grow quickly.
Your video should only be less than a minute long. Longer than that is okay, but shorter will get you more views. It should also have a great title, something that will grab the interest of someone searching for an entertaining clip to watch from the start. Sometimes, it’s advisable to give misleading titles to attract viewers. Make sure you include tags with your videos that will make them easily searchable. It is imperative that you make the video embeddable so that people can repost it and get you more exposure.
Once you have uploaded your video, you have a window of opportunity to get is seen. Start by emailing it to all your friends and ask them to forward it along to their friends. Next, share the video on your social networking sites. Post it to your friends profiles so that it can be seen and watched by all their friends. Also, post the video in forums and blogs if you can; the more exposure it has, the better.
Start some controversy around your video by posting comments from multiple accounts, or get friends to help. A little debate can really get a video noticed, and although very few viewers will leave a comment, most will read them and may make them more willing to send the video along or talk about it to friends.
When you post your video, YouTube gives you the choice of three thumbnail screen shots of your video to post along with it. Of the three, one is always from the middle of the video, so take care to have something notable in the middle that will give you a great thumbnail to post. Once your video is on the web and you have people passing it along to friends, you are on your way to a viral video.
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