Viral Video How To

Viral videos are among the most widely shared pieces of content online. They tend to get shared because they inspire, amuse or amaze – and that means they don’t have to fit into a niche. It doesn’t matter if your partner, mother or daughter is a marketer or not – all of you will get a laugh out of something funny, or be amazed or inspired by something that is generally not within your common sphere of interest.

To get a video to go viral takes a lot of work because without a specific target market to tailor content to, the danger is that you try to please too many people and lose focus.

But that’s not to say you can’t take advantage of a few common sense tactics.

People tend to go out at weekends – pubs, parties, Walmart, wherever.

If you’re part of a couple, you know how it goes. There’s no such thing as a rest day, no matter how often your other half promises it. That means it’s Monday to Friday during work hours or on your iPad while you cook that are the times you are most likely to watch videos your friends have shared with you. Kick it off on Monday and go for a midweek high point. Friday is for cocktails if you succeed.

Go for YouTube. Aim at its jugular.

It’s phenomenally big and even people wearing grass skirts and living in mud huts know of its existence. Don’t worry, if it’s meant to be, someone else will transfer it to Vimeo, etc.

Who will gain most from your video?

What influential bloggers have the biggest following in a niche that would appreciate your video? If there’s a genuine reason they will appreciate it – don’t be shy. Get on email and start getting in touch with them asap.

Your video is never about quality production, it’s about your story.

Tell it well and make your viewers feel an emotion.

Make sure you optimize your video with proper title, description and tags.

You’ll be pushing for others to share it, but the more they do, the more your meta data will become important in Google’s eyes and it will start to understand who to show it to organically.