Everyone wants to go viral but we know that it’s a lot easier said than done. Getting your posts to reach hundreds of thousands of people organically is as much science and strategy as art.
So we did all the legwork and put together this comprehensive post where we cover specific tips that you can use to get massive reach on every major social media platform in 2024.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
1. How to go viral on Facebook
2. How to go viral on Instagram
3. How to go viral on Twitter
4. How to go viral on LinkedIn
5. How to go viral on YouTube
6. How to go viral on Snapchat
7. How to go viral on TikTok
8. BONUS: How to create viral-worth videos in minutes (even if you’ve never edited a video before)
Let’s get started!
1. How to go viral on Facebook
We aren’t alien to the fact that Facebook has slashed organic reach for brand pages to ensure that their user’s feed isn’t populated with brand content. But taking the paid ad route is not the only way to go viral on Facebook. Let’s understand some key tenets of how the FB algorithm works and how you can work with it to gain more organic reach.
A. Keep your audience on Facebook
Facebook wants you to help them keep audiences on their platform for as long as you can. The longer they are on the platform, the more relevant ads they can be served, which is principally how Facebook makes money.
When you add links, be it to your website, YouTube or your blog, you are, in essence, leading people out of Facebook - which in turn, gets your page penalized and your content won’t be shown to many of your users.
To ensure that your content or your page does not get penalized, upload videos directly to Facebook instead of sharing a YouTube link. For a blog post, you can share a pic and add the link to your blog or website in the comments.
For instance, Red Bull uploads their videos directly on their page and shares their links in the comments.
B. Create valuable content to build your authority as a publisher
Creating valuable content is always key to winning on Facebook. If Facebook feels that your content is providing value to its users, your content will be shown to more users. How Facebook judges whether your content has value is via the likes, comments and shares you receive on your post.
When you upload a post, Facebook doesn’t directly show it to all your followers. It will show it to a small group of your most engaged followers to see how well your content does in terms of likes, shares and comments. As your core audience engages with your post, it will keep expanding the reach of your post to wider audiences. When this happens frequently, Facebook automatically ranks you higher as a content publisher and your reach will compound over time.
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vox, a news/media company created videos explaining the virus, preventive measures and vaccinations. They even made a Coronavirus, explained playlist for ease of access. The educational content held great value as it shed light on a current situation.
Pro-tip: You can now create engaging explainer videos in minutes completely free, using an online editor like InVideo.
While news and being current might not always work for your brand, if you identify your niche, you can serve content that is relevant and valuable to them.
According to Amra Beganovich, founder of influencer marketing agency, Amra & Elma, creating valuable content is always key to winning on Facebook. If Facebook feels that your content is providing value to its users, your content will be shown to more users. How Facebook judges whether your content has value is via the likes, comments and shares you receive on your post."
C. Choose quality over quantity
A lot of pages make the mistake of posting multiple times a day, jeopardising the organic reach of their own posts. Remember that quality is more important than quantity. Posting multiple times a day will not guarantee that your followers will see or interact with your content.
In fact, it will not allow any of your posts the necessary time frame for it to get picked up by the algorithm and displayed to all of your potential audiences. You’d rather spend this time and effort in creating more quality posts that can draw engagement when your audience lands on it, leading to even more reach. Aim to keep an interval of at least 6-8 hours between your posts.
The timing of your post also matters. Let’s say your target audience are entrepreneurs. They usually have more time to view and browse social media during breakfast and during dinner after their work hours where they choose to relax. These two time frames are your windows to drop a post. Although, if your target audience are housewives, dinner might not be the best time to post. You’ll need to watch your timing based on your audience.
You can find out when your audience is most active by checking Facebook Insights. Head over to your Facebook page and click on “Insights” on the dashboard to the left of your page.
Once in Insights, you can click on the “Post” option to view when your fans are online. You can either view the weekly summary or hover your cursor over each day to get a day-wise summary as to when your fans are online.
D. Engage with your audience
Facebook actively tries to keep audiences on their platform via notifications. For instance, when someone you interact with shares an update or comments on your post, you immediately get notified of the same and the chances of you coming back to the platform are extremely high. By building authority for your profile and having meaningful conversations with your target audience, you can get higher reach.
When you interact with another user and they begin engaging with your comment or post, it shows the Facebook algorithm that they are interested in your content and make it visible on their feed more often.
So spend some time leaving genuine comments on your followers’ status updates just 10-15 minutes before you post. For instance, let’s say you’re in the health and fitness space, all you need to do is find users or influencers who are in that space and leave a genuine comment on the workout video they just posted that drives further conversation.
When you leave a comment on someone’s post, they receive a notification and want to check who left this comment, which could compel them to view your page and subsequently your posts. Once your post becomes visible to them, they can interact with it, share it further or tag their friends if the content is compelling enough.
Exchanging comments with your followers also ensures that your post is visible for a longer period of time on your followers’ feed. People love sharing their opinions and debating what they feel is right. Give them an opportunity to express themselves by sharing prompts that would encourage their participation or actively seek out conversations.
Mari Smith, also known as the Queen of Facebook, shares the latest Facebook updates, among other content that her followers find useful and also responds to comments on her posts, sharing insights that benefit her followers.
E. Go live often
Facebook Live gets you 6x more views than simply uploading a video to your page. This is primarily because Facebook is trying to incentivize creators to go live on its platform and hence, sends a notification to your audience when you go live. To add to it, it’s an unfiltered way for your audience to interact/connect with you.
If a large reservoir of your content is videos and you’re afraid that they might not reach your audience, you can always use a streaming software to share your pre-recorded videos as live. This way, you get to share a video that is crisp and edited when you go live.
You don’t necessarily need to do this with all your videos. Choose videos which you think will be valuable to your audience and you can share them using streaming softwares like Restream or OneStream. Check this tutorial by OneStream on how you can go live on Facebook with pre-recorded videos.
Another important tip worth remembering is that if you’re planning to stream to your Facebook profile, Page and Groups at the same time, avoid doing that. As you want this video to be seen by different groups of people, stream them at different times, based on your audience, to increase your reach.
ProTip: You can repurpose your live videos into multiple pieces of bite-sized content using ready-to-use templates from InVideo.
F. Use CTAs
If you don’t have a strong CTA at the end of your post, people will not engage with it. You need to tell people what to do once they have consumed your content.
Let’s say you uploaded an educational video or shared a quick tip, if you don’t follow it up with asking your audience a question like “what do you guys think” or “share this if you found it helpful” or “comment which tip you found useful”, your followers will not do it.
Cooking Panda adds a simple “tag a friend” CTA on their posts that drive them a tons of engagement
G. Make the most of your profile
What does your cover photo and feature photo tell your audience? Does it share details about your business? Does it lead them anywhere?
June Low, our resident expert at helping businesses grow organically via Facebeook, suggests that you treat your cover photo or cover video like your landing page. Be clear about how you can help someone who is visiting your profile by keeping your message crisp and having a clear CTA that tells them what to do.
For instance, her cover photo talks about her Free 30-Day Video Ideas For FB LIVE e-book with a clear CTA.
Presenting your CTA as a clickable button prompts users to take action. You can further optimize this by placing a link to where you want to lead your audience to, in the description of the cover photo. June saw an increase of 30-40 link clicks every day by just from her cover picture by optimising it this way
Common mistakes to avoid
- Do not upload an update without a photo or a video. On a social media platform, photos/videos grab attention as opposed to just uploading text.
- Do not share other people’s posts on your wall as shared posts get the lowest reach and engagement. Plus, it redirects your audience to the post you shared.
- Do not let others tag you on their posts as it shows up on your profile. To ensure that these posts do not show up on your wall, you can go to Settings and select Profile and tagging.
Once on the page, you can adjust permissions under the Reviewing section.
The above settings are for your personal profile. For your page, you can simply go to page settings and adjust them under ‘Visitor Posts’
- Do not put your profile on Private. You are only allowed 5000 friends on your profile and if you want your content to reach more people, keep your posts viewable to Public.
- Avoid only selling all the time and instead, generate curiosity for what you are trying to sell. For instance, if you’re in the health and fitness space, ask your audience a question like “Want to know how to lose weight and keep it that way? Comment below” or “Want to build your abs in 30 days? Comment below.”
Once your followers comment, you now have permission to sell and can redirect them wherever you want to or share details about what you’re offering be it a gym membership, a workout plan, etc. This way, you generate more comments and increase your reach as well.
Levi’s doesn’t hard sell their jeans or add price tags to what they market. Instead, they talk about the quality, sustainability and the impact of their products.
2. How to go viral on Instagram
The key focus of Instagram’s algorithm is to keep audiences hooked to the platform so they can serve them ads - which is primarily how Instagram makes money.
The algorithm only looks at content that is valuable - which essentially translates to content which can help them keep audiences on their platform and it gauges this by the time spent on a post and the engagement it receives in terms of likes, comments, saves and shares. To get a deeper understanding of how the algorithm works, check out this post by Instagram head Adam Mosseri.
Here’s what you can do to work with the algorithm and get the most amount of organic reach.
A. Create content your audience values
The best way to keep your audience hooked on Instagram is to create content that keeps them there. It is a known fact that a post with more shares and more saves performs better than posts with low engagement.
To ensure that your post has that high level of engagement, make sure it is either entertaining, educational, inspirational or super relatable. The best content on Instagram usually combines these multiple pieces.
Munya Chawawa, for instance, shares relatable sketches, cashing in on the latest trends and topics to engage his audience. His posts are hilarious and entertaining.
The Good Quote on the other hand shares inspirational, motivating posts that have a very high engagement value because of the uplifting nature of their content.
Based on your brand or the niche you are targeting, creating content that is valued by your audience can help you get the saves and shares you need to go viral on Instagram.
B. Create more Reels & Jump on the latest trends
Instagram is currently giving a massive boost to Reels because it’s a fairly new feature and Instagram wants its users to see and create more Reels. Posting a Reel might not guarantee organic reach, however, a good reel is sure to expose your account to new users if it is engaging enough.
For instance, @dec_art.it, an artist, uploads Reels of his sketching/painting process and sees high engagement on his posts. The reel below went viral hitting 6m views, 344k likes and 1933 comments.
Hopping on the latest trends and contextualising them to suit your brand can naturally give your content the push it needs to feature on the explore page. If you haven’t tried this before, check out this video where we cover 5 trending Reels ideas that any brand or business can create.
A word of caution though- Instagram has said that their algorithm avoids recommending a reel if it doesn't follow their recommendation guidelines, are low-resolution, watermarked or focus on political issues.
If you’re keen on diving deeper into how you can leverage Instagram for your business, this step-by-step guide will tell you everything you need to know about using Reels, Guides, IGTV, Stories, Analytics and the best practices for growth and engagement on Instagram.
And if you want to create trending reels for your brand, here's a template by InVideo that can help you get started!
C. Dollar Eighty Strategy
Coined by world leading marketer Gary Vaynerchuk, the dollar eighty strategy is where you leave your opinions or 2 cents, on the top 9 trending posts for 10 different hashtags relevant to you each day.
This strategy helps you engage users in your niche as well as pander to the Instagram algorithm in the form of comments. To do this, look up a hashtag relevant to you. For instance, if you’re an artist, look up #art or a more niched hashtag like #acrylicpainting and hit search.
Once you have the results, go to ‘Top Posts’, like and comment on the first nine posts there.
Be sure to leave a genuine comment on each of these 9 posts. Doing this twice a day will guarantee that your engagement numbers remain high. It shows the algorithm that you are engaging with people in your niche and since most of these posts are fairly new, the users are bound to respond or check your profile or even follow you.
D. Niching down your content
When users visit your page, what do they see? Do you have a consistent theme? What is your page about? All of this needs to reflect in your bio and the content you share. Having a niche as opposed to posting randomly, let’s people identify what your page is about and follow you if it clicks with what they are looking for.
For instance, 9Round’s Instagram bio tells you exactly who they are, how they can help you and what type of content you can expect i.e. kickboxing workouts.
Niching down your content makes it easier for the algorithm to know who it can serve your content to + also allows you turn your profile visitors into followers which gives you an opportunity to repeatedly reach them with your content and eventually turn them into buyers.
E. Engage with your audience
Instagram factors in who you have interacted with and how much you have interacted with them to deduce what content to show you and vice-a-versa. Based on your interactions, your posts become more visible to each other because Instagram deems that you find each other’s content valuable.
Apart from actively seeking out conversations, you can also use “comment if you like/want more”, “tag a friend” prompts to drive engagement. Don’t just stop there, respond to your comments and DMs as well.
@Chipotle does a fantastic job at this - apart from being clear about what they want their audience to do, they also actively respond to comments on their posts to keep the conversation going.
F. Identify and use hashtags
There’s no real reason to not use hashtags on your posts. Hashtags can help your posts get discovered and improve your engagement. By niching down, creating great content, getting high engagement and using the right hashtags, your post can even feature on the explore page.
To identify which hashtags work best for you, check what other influential accounts in your niche are using. If you’re an artist, look up pages that are doing fairly well in your niche and copy their hashtags.
For instance, Autumn Skye uses fixed hashtags for her new paintings that really do well for her posts and could potentially do really well for your page as well if you have an art page.
You can follow multiple influential accounts in your niche and make a list or groups of hashtags that work for you. Checking out what others in your niche are using also helps you add to your repertoire of hashtags.
Instagram only allows you to use 30 hashtags per post, so don’t shy away from maxing out your hashtags.
3. How to go viral on Twitter
With over 350+ million active monthly users and 500+ million tweets a day, it’s easy for your content to get lost in the crowd. So how do you stand out and how do you go viral on Twitter?
Before we get into strategies on how to grow on Twitter, it is important to understand how audiences use Twitter. The Twitter timeline can be set to display tweets in two modes, namely:
- Home Tweets
- Latest Tweets
These modes can be changed by clicking on the star icon at the top right of your timeline feed
Once you click on the star, select the mode you prefer.
Home Tweets
Home Tweets appear in an order that a user is most likely to care about. The algorithm is based on the popularity and relevance of tweets. Because of the volume of tweets that go out in a single day, this algorithm keeps users from getting overwhelmed and only viewing content they truly care about.
Latest Tweets
This section reorders your timeline in a reverse chronological order where most recent tweets show up on top. Tweets appear as they are posted in real-time. While you will have access to more tweets, the algorithm won’t show you every tweet.
The ranking signals for the timeline include:
- How recent it is
- Use of rich media (photos, gifs, videos)
- Engagement (likes, comments, retweets)
- Prominence of the author
- Relationship to the author
- User behavior
Like any other social media platform, you’re likely to see tweets from accounts you engage with often.
Twitter Topics & Lists
Twitter Topics & Twitter Lists can be accessed by clicking your profile pic on the top left corner in your mobile phone or appear on the left sidebar next to your timeline.
Twitter Topics allow users to receive content based on specific topics of their choosing. If you select topics such as art, painting and Alex Grey, you will be shown content that includes ads, tweets, promoted tweets and events related to these topics.
Lists on the other hand, help you create timelines that focus on content you want. You can create lists and add people to them. For instance, you can create a list of top authors you want to follow and add your favorite authors to that list to view their tweets only.
Following topics and creating lists can help you curate the type of content you see and engage with potential followers to fuel your growth.
Now that you know how audiences use Twitter, let’s dive into some strategies that will help you go viral on Twitter.
A. Be consistent
Consistency is key for any social media network but on Twitter, it matters a lot more. Tweets have a very limited shelf life due to the sheer volume of tweets from its large user base. Consistent tweeting hits a lot of the algorithm checkmarks as recency is a big factor for the twitter algorithm.
The fresher the content, the more the chances that your audience will see and engage with it. You need to tweet at least 5-6 times a day. @PlayStation shares an average of 9-10 tweets daily about their latest games and console updates with 2 hour gaps between each tweet, without seeing any drop in engagement.
B. Time your tweets
The best time to post on Twitter matters the most. You could post what you think is the best tweet ever and not get a reaction from your audience if they’re not online. Another factor that applies here is if your audience is using Latest or Home Tweets.
Identify when your followers are most likely active and schedule your tweets accordingly. You can schedule tweets using a platform like TweetDeck.
C. Use rich media
Be it GIFS, photos or videos, the Twitter algorithm loves rich media. It increases the likelihood of your tweet appearing on a user’s timeline and a user actually engaging with your content as opposed to just putting out text.
@ASUS_ROG, a PC brand solely focused on creating unique gaming experiences, uses compelling videos and images to display their line of products designed specifically for their audience. Their content is rich in visuals and appeals to the gaming community.
Pro-tip: With InVideo, you get access to hundreds of twitter templates and 8M+ royalty free assets.
D. Engage with your audience
Engagement is one of the biggest ranking factors for your tweets. Twitter is all about connecting and having conversations. Create content that drives engagement, promotes a discussion or gets a reaction.
@Windows is currently winning the game when it comes to engaging their followers. They often use polls, popular hashtags, trends and memes to get a reaction from their audience. Below, they created a poll in order to start a debate.
But @Windows doesn’t just leave it at a tweet. They even engage with the people who comment on their tweets to drive more conversation.
This conversational approach really works for Windows. But keep in mind that it is important to tweet content that is relevant to your brand. Don’t put out content to force a reaction as you might not appeal to the niche you are trying to build.
If your followers aren’t engaging with your content, then go out and actively seek conversations. Tweet to experts in your industry and try to spark a conversation which may lead to a follow back or get more eyeballs on your profile.
E. Use hashtags
Using hashtags can help you capitalize on trends and get you the visibility you need to go viral on Twitter. It’s important to use hashtags that are relevant to your business. At the same time, you can also capitalize on trending hashtags.
To identify trending Twitter hashtags from your browser, click Explore on the left sidebar and select Trending.
If your key audience is in a different part of the world, you can simply click on the Settings icon at the top right.
And then choose which part of the world you’d like to view trending topics from.
You can also opt to see content in your current location.
For mobile, click on the Search icon at the bottom and select Trending.
F. Use CTAs
If you’re sharing valuable information, it’s always a best practice to follow it up with a CTA. You can ask your followers to either like, retweet or comment - all of which favor the algorithm.
@NVIDIAGeForce uses this strategy cleverly by incentivizing a retweet.
You don’t necessarily need to take the contest route. You can simply ask your followers to like, retweet or comment if they found your content valuable. If you ask for an opinion, your followers won’t shy away from sharing theirs.
But don’t overdo it or else it might lose its charm. You don’t want to spam your followers with a “Give an RT” on every tweet you publish. Save it for your best ones!
4. How to go viral on LinkedIn
LinkedIn has over 740 million members with over 55 million registered companies. You can see why it holds so much untapped potential for your content to go viral on this platform. Like with any other social media network, it’s important to first understand how LinkedIn's algorithm works in order for your content to go viral.
A. Build an All-Star Profile
Having an All-Star Profile on LinkedIn increases the amount of people your content is shown to. An All-Star profile gets a significant amount of reach when compared to a beginner or an intermediate profile.
To build an All-Star profile, you need to:
- Have a professional profile picture and a catchy headline that describes your business or expertise.
- Summarize your work experience, the certifications and degrees you hold as well. You can even showcase the projects you have worked on.
- Add your skills and endorsements. To qualify for an All-Star profile, you need to have at least 5 skills listed. LinkedIn allows up to 50. The more skills you have, the more likely you are to show up in LinkedIn searches for a particular skill. Being endorsed by reputed profiles also helps.
- Add Accomplishments and Interests.
- Fill in recommendations from the people you’ve worked with or been employed by. Similarly, give recommendations too. It helps you build trust with your audience as an industry expert and thought leader.
John Crossman’s account gives us a fair idea of what an All-Star Profile looks like. He crosses all the check marks such as having a professional profile picture, a summary of his work experience, listing his interests and accomplishments and if you visit his profile, you will also see all the recommendations he has given and received.
If you haven’t completed this checklist yet, go ahead and do it right now. Build meaningful connections with experts in your industry. You need to have at least 50 connections to attain the coveted All-Star status.
B. Improve your Social Selling Index (SSI)
The LinkedIn algorithm decides how, when and why your content or profile is shown to other users. It does this based on your Social Selling Index or SSI. LinkedIn describes its Social Selling Index as a “first-of-its-kind measure of a company’s or individual’s adaptation of the four pillars of selling on LinkedIn, based on a scale of 0 to 100.” The four pillars are as follows:
1) How established is your professional brand
LinkedIn looks into whether you have a complete and professional profile that includes a cover photo. It also checks how many LinkedIn Publisher posts you have created, how many page views your posts are creating and how many followers you have gained.
2) Find the right people
Identify better prospects by using LinkedIn’s lead builder system and reach out to relevant people with insights.
3) Engage with Insights
LinkedIn wants you to discover and share conversation-worthy updates to create and grow relationships. This essentially translates to the number of shares, likes and comments your posts are receiving.
4) Built relationships
Strengthen your network by finding and establishing trust with decision makers. This pillar measures how successful you are at expanding your network to reach direct prospects and those who can introduce you to new prospects.
You can check your SSI score here.
The higher your SSI score, the higher your reach. Having an SSI score of 60 can positively impact your LinkedIn account and anything below can significantly lower your reach. To improve your SSI, manage your activity by sharing quality content that your connections find valuable.
Taking an example from Chantel Soumis’s profile, she shares content on leadership, motivation, entrepreneurship, disability and personal branding which her connections find valuable.
C. DWELL Time
DWELL Time is the amount of time your followers or connections spend looking at your content. If someone browses through your content without spending time on it, it shows the LinkedIn algorithm that your content is not valuable.
This is important because unlike Twitter, LinkedIn posts have a longer shelf life on our feeds that can go up to 5 days. You don’t necessarily need to create content every day to go viral on LinkedIn. Instead, you need to create quality content with rich media that can keep your audience hooked.
Aramco, a state owned oil-company from Saudi Arabia only shares content using rich media like photos and videos to share content on industry news, their operations and sustainability model.
Apart from sharing rich media, you can also create polls, job listings, celebrate an occasion or even share long format content as a document in a PDF format to keep your connections hooked on to your content.
Pro-Tip: Create super-engaging, professional Linkedin videos for your brand using InVideo’s 5000+ ready-to-use templates and 8M+ stock footage library
D. Comments and Tags
As per the LinkedIn algorithm, comments are more important than reactions and reactions are more important than shares. The LinkedIn algorithm has little value for shared posts because its duplicated content and won’t spread it further.
Thanks to the extended shelf life of posts on LinkedIn, you can add more mileage to your posts using comments. If your post is getting good engagement, don’t post again till the engagement levels have dropped. Instead, keep commenting on your original post to get additional engagement.
As a standard practice, reply to comments within the first 24 hours. Your replies to comments show up under your “Activity” tab. Take a cue from how Diana Nguyen, responds to comments on her posts.
Tagging someone in your post increases your post’s reach. It is not only visible to the person you have tagged but that person’s followers will see it too. Tag people who will find your content interesting but avoid overdoing it as you might get blocked if your post comes across as spam.
E. Hashtags
Hashtags on LinkedIn help you find content and help your content get discovered easily. In 2019, it was advised to use only 3 hashtags but with the current algorithm update, you can use anywhere between 3-9 hashtags to get good engagement.
For the best results while using hashtags, pick the ones relevant to you and use the ones that have over 100,000 followers. To know the strength of a hashtag, type your hashtag in the search bar at the top and click on it. You will be directed to a page which will tell you how many followers the hashtag has.
Hashtags are a great way to reach people outside of your connections, so pick and choose your hashtags wisely.
F. Engage With Your Connections
If your focus is solely on just increasing your number of connections, without actually engaging with them then you’re doing it wrong. Always choose building relationships rather than building your network via quantity.
Find connections that can help you reach your goal like entrepreneurs, thought leaders or industry experts in your niche and engage with them by commenting on their posts or endorsing their skills. This can not only help your profile get noticed, but it can also help you build strong relationships and explore business opportunities.
5. How to go viral on YouTube
YouTube gets over 1 billion total video watch hours a day. People watch everything from how-to’s, acoustic covers of their favorite songs or snippets from their favorite sitcom, on YouTube.
So how can you go viral on YouTube and appeal to it’s 2.3+ billion user base? Just like any other social media network, the answer lies in understanding the algorithm and working with it to get more views on YouTube.
How Does The YouTube Algorithm Work?
There are 3 ways that videos get discovered on YouTube - through search, the homepage and recommended videos which appear on the right tab next to the video you’re watching. While search results are purely up to the users’ preference or needs, like say searching an instructional or educational vid, how does the YouTube algorithm determine what to show on the homepage and recommended videos?
The ranking signals that YouTube uses to recommend content is a mix of:
- The user’s watch history and preferences
- How successful the video is in terms of appeal and engagement
- The overall audience or market based on interest and competition
When you visit the YouTube website or app for the first time, you’re offered an array of videos in no particular order. This is because the algorithm hasn’t figured out what you as the viewer prefers.
Once the algorithm understands your preferences, it shows you content relevant to your interests based on your search history - be it cat videos, documentaries, pro-wrestling or music videos. If you watch content from a channel often, you will be served more content from that channel in order to keep you hooked on to the platform.
Building upon the same principles, if you are creating content the easiest way for you to get the algorithm to work for you is to make it super easy for the algorithm to understand which audience will your content be the best fit for and then create content that actually adds immense value to that audience. There are four core tenets to doing so:
1) Click Through Rate (CTR)
CTR is the ratio of how many people saw the thumbnail vs how many actually clicked on it. So for example if the CTR is 5% then that means for every 100 people that were shown the thumbnail of your video, 5 people clicked on it. A higher CTR means YouTube will recommend your video more as people are finding it interesting and you are helping YT keep people on the platform for longer. To increase your CTR, create an engaging, relevant title, a description that reinforce your title and a catchy thumbnail that explains the video’s value.
For instance, when we upload videos through our channel, we ensure that the Title, description and thumbnail tell you exactly what the video is about.
Also do not shy away from writing long descriptions. Be as descriptive about your video as possible.
2) Watch Time
Watch Time is the total amount of minutes viewers have spent watching your video. Having a high watch time increases your video’s ranking. It helps your videos show up in the Search and Recommended Videos section. In general, a higher watch time let’s the YouTube Algorithm know that your content is valuable and for your audience.
To improve your watch time, create content that your viewers find valuable. Using YouTube Analytics, you can check which videos have a higher watch time and create content based on their related topics and interests. You can also create sequels to your popular videos, make organized playlists that lead viewers to watch your other videos or start a series like Epic Rap Battles of History.
To get a deeper understanding into how you can improve your Watch Time, check out these tips we put together on our channel
3) Audience Engagement
Likes, dislikes, comments and shares play an important role in helping your videos rank higher.
- Likes and dislikes show whether the viewers enjoyed your video and it also indicates what sort of content your viewers resonate with.
- Comments reveal the emotional impact on viewers, whether good or bad, depending on the sentiments behind the comments.
- Shares show how often your video was shared across other social media platforms. Shares is an important metric as it let’s YouTube know that your video was engaging enough to be shared across platforms as well as helps the platform since you are potentially helping it get people from outside of YouTube onto YouTube.
- Subscribers gained and lost is the clearest indication of whether your video was good enough to attract new subscribers or it was unappealing enough to lose subscribers.
You can see why these engagement metrics are important for growth on YouTube. Apart from creating valuable content that appeals to your audience, you can respond to them in comments, have clear end slates which ask your viewers to like, subscribe and share your content.
4) Understand the Search Algorithm better
After Google, YouTube is the search engine that people rely on the most. So you need to know a little SEO for your videos to rank well. Even when people search for specific videos, YouTube has a ranking system that shows specific, well performing videos first.
To help you better understand the Search Algorithm and get more views, we’ve put together this list of 5 super actionable tips that can help you work with the YouTube algorithm.
6. How to go viral on Snapchat
Snapchat enjoys over 200 million millennial and Gen Z users on a daily basis. While Snapchat may seem like a platform created solely for one-to-one communication, your brand could have major opportunities on Snapchat Discover Page and Snap Spotlight.
Snapchat Discover
Snapchat Discover is basically the news feed for it’s users. Here’s where you can view the stories shared by your friends as well as see curated content from influencers and brands. The content can range from TV shows, products to News - infinite potential.
The only way to feature on Snapchat Discover though is to become a Publisher Partner. Although, Snapchat isn’t clear about how they select Publisher Partners but you can fill this form on their business website to apply.
Vice, a documentary style TV series, were one of the earliest publishing partners on Snapchat and have been uploading their episodes directly on to the Discover Page.
Snap Spotlight
Spotlight is Snapchat’s response to TikTok and Reels. This feature presents brands and creators with the opportunity to get discovered on their platform by providing valuable, short form content (upto 60 secs) that appeals to its users. You not only get views but if your content goes viral, you can make money too.
The Spotlight algorithm ranks your content based on:
- Watch time: How long did users stay on your video
- Likes: How many likes did your video get
- Shares: How many times was your video shared by users
- Bounce rate: How many users just skipped your video
Based on the above factors, the algorithm decides what type of content you’re likely to watch more and serves it up to you.
To create a Spotlight, record the video you want to create. Ensure that the video is at least 5 seconds long. You can even use the editing features and filters available within Snapchat to make your content more appealing. Once done, hit ‘Send To’ at the bottom right.
On the next page, select ‘Spotlight’ above the ‘My Story’ option. Add a relevant hashtag by clicking #AddTopic. You can currently add up to 100 hashtags on a Spotlight submission but don’t go overboard. Select a few relevant hashtags so Snapchat can categorize your video and show it to interested users.
It is important to know that when you submit a video to be featured in Spotlight, it is moderated by Snapchat’s team to ensure that the content is appropriate, entertaining, and meets community guidelines, terms and conditions.
Once submitted, you can check the status of your submission by going to your profile page and under ‘Spotlight & Snap Map’, select ‘Options’ and click on ‘View All Snaps’.
On the next page, select the video you want to check the status for. The status of your submission will be displayed at the top right.
Submitted means your video was submitted but isn’t live yet and Live means your snap has been shared on the Spotlight tab.
Use Snap Map
The location feature on Snapchat let’s your stories be discovered locally by people in the area. Similarly, you can also view stories of people from other parts of the world.
This feature lets your content be discovered by other users who want to check places out. For instance, if you’re in New York or want to check what people are posting in New York, you can simply open Snap Map, zoom in on New York and click on the red blinking lights to see stories that other users have posted using Snap Map.
Sharing your best content using Snap Map can help you gain followers and views to promote yourself.
To add snaps to a map, record your snap, click on send and select Snap Map.
Once you do, you will receive the following message
7. How to go viral on TikTok
In just a couple of years, TikTok has gotten over 2 billion downloads and enjoys popularity among 1 billion monthly active users. But did you know that 50% of the top brands like Google, Facebook, YouTube and IKEA have no presence on the network yet, which means a more level playing field for everyone!
Understanding the TikTok Algorithm
To get on this playing field, you need to understand how the TikTok algorithm works and how leveraging it can help you feature on the coveted For You Page (FYP). For instance, apart from solely focusing on the likes, shares and followers you’ve been getting on TikTok, it is important to look at your average watch time.
The length of your video and the average watch time on that video determines how much the TikTok algorithm will push your video. For instance, if your viewers stay on your video for 3 seconds, the algorithm pushes your video to a few users. If they stay for 5 seconds, it gets pushed to more users. The higher your average watch time, the better chance you have of going viral on TikTok.
Let’s look at a few ways for how you can work with the algorithm and get your TikToks to go viral.
Leverage Trends
While creating original content is great, there’s a chance that your original idea might not hit that high watch time percentage if the content you’re creating isn’t what people are searching for. Instead, hopping on the latest trends can help you reach a wider audience. It only only saves you time but also saves you the effort you would have put in thinking of and executing an original idea.
Jumping on trends quickly can help you reach a wider audience. For this, you need to be able to identify current trends on TikTok and leverage them as quickly as they begin. You can do this by following the top trending creators in your niche or screening through the discover page for trending sounds, hashtags and challenges. To give you a headstart on trends, we’ve put together this guide that’ll show you how you can identify current viral trends on TIkTok.
Not just that but we’ve also put together this ready-reckoner of the top viral TikTok trends in 2024
8. BONUS: How to create viral-worth videos in minutes
Now that you know how to go viral on social media, you know the importance of creating valuable rich media content like videos. But, creating and editing video content can be a time consuming and expensive process. To save yourself the time and expenses, you can create or edit super engaging videos with a really simple online video editor like InVideo even if you’ve never edited a video before. Just follow the simple steps below or head over to this detailed InVideo tutorial.
Step 1: Sign-up for an InVideo account if you haven’t already. Click on “Blank Canvas”, select the right aspect ratio based on the social media platform you are creating videos for and then click “Make a Video” to get started.
Step 2: You’ll be taken to the InVideo editor. Click on “Upload Media” or drag and drop your files to the centre of the editor.
Step 3: Once uploaded, drag your video to the center in the workspace to begin making the changes you want to. A pop up will ask you if you want to trim your video. Make any necessary changes you want to. Now, your visuals are all set!
Step 4: Videos have more potential to go viral when there’s music added to them. Pick from InVideo’s in-built collection of music across moods, genres, sfx and more from the music icon located on the left of the screen. Alternatively, if you’d like to add your own music or a trending sound to this project, click on the Upload music option on the right of the search bar to upload files from your system.
Step 5: Drag and adjust the timeline to sync the music or sound to your text and visual elements.
Step 6: If you wish to add text to your video, click on the text tab from the row of options on the left hand side. Select a from a collection of fonts and typographies.
Step 7: Once you’re done, click on the Download & Share button, select your video’s quality and hit “Export”.
Step 8: That’s it! Download the video and you can publish it on the social media platform of your choice!
Wrapping Up
Now you know how the algorithms work for each platform and how you can leverage them to go viral. But remember that for your content to go viral, your content needs to be amazing! These tips will not work if your content is of little value and does not engage your audience.
Also, focus on consistency. You can use this guide on how to plan and create a Social Media Calendar to ensure you streamline things and have an effective consistent schedule.
For more quick tips and hacks on editing and creating videos, subscribe to InVideo’s YouTube Channel. Finally, if you’re looking to create thumb-stopping videos in minutes (even if you’re not a PRO)- sign-up for a free account on InVideo.io today.
FAQs
How do I make a post go viral?
To make a post go viral, you need to first understand how the algorithm for each type of social media network works and how you can leverage the algorithm. There are many factors such as likes, comments, shares, views, completion rate, time spent, etc. that determine the value of your content and if the algorithm of the social media network pushes your content to users on its platform.
How many followers do you need to go viral?
Your content can go viral even if you have as little as a few hundred or thousand followers as long as your content is liked, shared and provides value to your audience.
How many likes is considered viral?
On Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, getting over 100,000+ likes and views is considered viral. This number is much lower on a platform like Facebook where if your content is viewed by 1000 people and half of them like it, the virality percentage is much higher.
