The notion that video killed the radio star was well-accepted even way back in the 80s. Decades later, this form of visual media is more prominent than ever. YouTube made it possible for anyone and everyone to make videos on all kinds of different topics and become famous quickly.
It doesn’t matter what you want to make your video about. So long as you can make your video entertaining, know how to edit it, and read a few tips from this guide, you can attract thousands of views.
Even with all the momentum videos have gained, not many people are familiar with the science behind making videos go viral. The reason why you are making a video is so that as many people as possible see it, whether you are promoting your business or sharing personal stories.
With that in mind, we have put together the ultimate guide to help you make stunning videos that will attract enough eyeballs for all your hard work to pay off.
How to create a viral video—The content creation part
Credit: Szabo Viktor
There is no point beating around the bush—making a video go viral isn’t easy. There are quite a few technical aspects that go into it. You have to put yourself in the mind of a marketing specialist and learn all the secrets of internet algorithms and how to use them to your benefit. Before you get down to it, though, you have to have content that is worthy of going viral.
No number of clickbait titles or catchy thumbnails will attract as many views as an entertaining piece of content.
In broad terms, the process of video making has three parts:
Part 1: How to make viral videos—An original idea and a mind-blowing script
Even if some elitists would like to convince you otherwise, videos are an art form, and any piece of art starts with an idea. You have a great idea but don’t know how to turn it into an amazing video? Start by writing a script.
Regardless of your niche and your project goal, you should come up with an idea and write an astonishing script for it. If you want to hit the number of views you desire, you need to show your viewers something they have never seen before. At the very least, you want to tell your story in a way it has never been told before.
If nothing comes to mind, research your audience. Look up the trends on Google and find out what is currently popular in your niche. You can mix your idea with a hot topic that people who are likely to stumble upon your video are talking about.
Part 2: Making a video that will go viral
The next step is transforming your idea into a video that will go viral. Today, luckily, you don’t need to have the most expensive equipment and tools to create stunning videos from scratch. A video filmed from your smartphone can go viral if you know how to edit it properly. You basically only need an idea and an easy-to-use video editing software that will help you turn that idea into reality.
InVideo is one such cloud-based software that makes it possible for you to create any type of videos you want directly from your desktop. You don’t even need any prior experience in creating videos to make the content that will get your audience swept off their feet.
You can explore our extensive library of over 5000 free, professionally-designed templates, and use them as a basis for your viral video.
Part 3: Editing a video that will go viral
Once you have the footage filmed, the most significant piece of work you’ll put into your project is editing. During the editing process, you want to consider the following:
- Which footage will make it to the final product
- How you’re going to transition from one scene to another
- How long your scenes will last
- Whether you want to add any music to your video
- Whether any special effects will make your video what you want it to be
InVideo makes answering all these questions easy. In our editor software, you can edit all aspects of your video quickly and effortlessly.
Whether you want to jump right in or take a look at our comprehensive video editing tutorial first, adding the finishing touches to your project becomes fun and trouble-free with InVideo.
More on InVideo editing software
To give you an idea of how intuitive InVideo editing features are, here’s what you can accomplish with our software:
1. Adding voice-over - Our voice-over feature boasts authentic speech in various world languages that you can add to your video. You can upload a script or type in the text and select from various voice-over options, or you can record your own voice on the spot.
2. Turning text into video - You no longer need to trouble yourself with making scenes for your articles manually. You can paste the URL of the website where your article is posted, and the InVideo editing software will do the rest.
3. Previewing your scenes - Not sure if you have accomplished what you wanted with your editing endeavor? InVideo allows you to preview any individual scene or the entire project before you decide it’s ready for the web.
4. Using an advanced timeline - If you are more comfortable with the traditional-looking timeline in your video editing software, InVideo gives you just that. You can switch to our advanced timeline feature at any point during your editing process and have all your scenes and media appear as layers.
5. Editing with the assistance of an AI guide - If you’re not sure about your video editing skills, our Intelligent Video Assistant (IVA) is there to provide suggestions on the spot. Use the power of AI to polish your videos to perfection and generate more views by providing your audience with premium quality video content.
How to make your video go viral—The content marketing part
Credit: Carlos Muza
Since everyone can create and post content online, the internet makes for a highly competitive place.
All the hard work you have put into the creation of your content—in this case, your video—can go to waste if you don’t take a few steps to help your video get noticed.
When it comes to video marketing, three aspects play a key role. Before we go into each in more depth, here’s a quick overview of what they are:
|
Crucial Factors of Marketing a Video |
What They Mean |
|
Keywords |
Recognizing the most searched words related to your topic and using them in your video tags, title, and description plays a crucial role in your video going viral |
|
Entertainment |
If you want viewers to stick to the end of your video and share it with others, you need to make sure that your content is entertaining throughout the whole video |
|
Sharing |
When your video starts gaining views, people will start sharing it, and you are already on the path of having a viral piece of content. You can speed up this process by contacting bloggers and YouTubers in your niche and see if they want to give your video a shout out |
How to make videos go viral—Step-by-step guide
Sure, a great idea and a well-executed video are a must, but you also have to know all the technical aspects of creating a viral video. Understanding that adding the right tags and sharing your video is a part of video marketing and knowing how to use them to your benefit is not the same thing.
Here’s our step-by-step guide on how you can utilize these and other digital marketing strategies to have your video at the top of YouTube and Google’s search result list:
Step 1: Title your video strategically
If you want to upload a video that will go viral, your first assignment is doing keyword research. Look up the keywords that are related to the topic of your video, and find out which ones get the most clicks per month. You’ll need to include one of them in your video’s title.
This is an important part of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) because you will use the keywords you have dug up and incorporate them into your content whenever possible.
Perhaps the most significant element of your video that should be optimized is its title. If you want the platforms on which you post your video to recognize it and recommend it to people, it has to rank well. At the same time, it needs to appeal to your viewers, so that they actually click it once the algorithm suggests it. That’s why you should combine the most typed-in words that fit your topic and your creativity to come up with a title your target audience will want to click on.
Step 2: Research and add the right tags
Delving deeper into SEO, you want the tags you attach to your video to fit the words and phrases people look up the most often. Whether you’re looking to upload your video on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or any other platform, tailor your tags so that your project gets noticed.
You want to put as many tags with high search volume on your video as possible, but remember that all the tags need to be closely related to your topic. You don’t want to add tags to your YouTube video that will confuse the YouTube algorithm.
Step 3: Use a video description to your advantage
If the platform you’re planning to upload your video on has the description feature, you should make the most of it. It is a perfect opportunity to expand on your SEO and make use of all the keywords you have found but didn’t use in your video title. If you’re making a YouTube video, for your description to be perfect, it should have:
- The link to your personal or business website
- As many phrases and keywords that are high-ranking
- The call for viewers to subscribe to your channel
- Any other links that lead to your videos related to the topic
Step 4: Pay attention to your video’s format
For your video to go viral, people must feel a strong urge to share it with others after they finish watching it. This means that whether your initial upload page is your website or your social media account, your video will appear across many platforms if it becomes viral.
Each major social media platform has a unique video format that you want to fit your video to. Here are the ones for Facebook and Instagram:
|
Social Media Platform |
The Video Format |
|
|
Horizontal and square formats are a preferred option for Facebook videos |
|
Vertical and looping videos are the most common formats seen on Instagram |
Luckily, with InVideo, it’s easy to create videos in any format your chosen platform requires. You can make your videos the perfect fit for a Facebook ad, an Instagram story, or a YouTube landscape in under five minutes.
Step 5: Determine the length of your video according to your topic
One of the trickiest aspects of digital marketing is figuring out how to get the attention of internet users when their minds are constantly distracted. The human attention span seems to be constantly shortening. For that reason, people usually believe that short videos— about 30–45 seconds long—are optimal for the content to go viral. Keep in mind that this number is not set in stone. In fact, research shows that most viral videos are longer than one minute.
Source: Statista
Your video duration will depend on the type of video you’re making and its purpose. For example, if you are posting a joke, a video longer than one minute is not a good idea. If your topic is a movie review, then it is perfectly fine to make a video that lasts 10–17 minutes. Here’s the best video size for YouTube.
Step 6: Think when you’ll share your video on different platforms
Any person or business owner with a large internet following knows when to upload new content to their websites or social media platforms. This rule applies to your videos too. You need to figure out when the optimal time to share your video on different platforms is if you want it to attract as many viewers as possible. Here’s the best time to post YouTube videos, for instance.
You can upload your video whenever you want, but if you intend to share it on social media, you should do so when people get the most chance to see it. You should check out when the best time to post any type of content on each specific social media is and act accordingly.
Step 7: Create the right thumbnail
An eye-catching thumbnail is perhaps the second most important element of your video—right after a captivating title. To grab the viewers’ attention, your thumbnail should:
- Display a quality image
- Not include text that is blurry or difficult to read
- Represent the content and purpose of the video
- Appeal to the visual senses of users
Step 8: Show your video to everyone
When creating any piece of content that is meant to represent value and appeal to wide audiences, you should take care to get proper and thorough feedback on it.
A good idea is to have your video reviewed by people who aren’t your target demographic—after all, you want your video to go viral. When it comes to feedback—the more, the merrier. Of course, you should not cater to everyone’s tastes and preferences, but figure out what it is about your video that people liked and what it is that put them off the most often. You should then heed their advice to learn how to improve.
Step 9: Accept the random nature of viral content
Even with all the hard work you put into making your video, it may not become viral. You must not beat yourself up about it. Viral content often becomes viral randomly. A video with a poor resolution can attract billions of views because people find it funny, not because it is quality content.
If you want to make your video go viral, accept that the entertainment factor plays a vital role. If you don’t succeed in your aim with your current project, the next one maybe it—you never know.
And if you're looking to create gold standard videos without any prior editing experience, sign up for InVideo today!
