5 Tips for Creating a Marketing Video That Goes Viral

Videos can spread like wildfire on social media today.

From hilarious company commercials, to YouTube stars, to regular joes who capture a funny family moment; seemingly anyone has the capability of going viral in today’s video-obsessed culture.

It may seem like just about anyone can go viral, but in actuality, it’s hard to get noticed and make a big buzz in the sea of videos online. In fact, only 1.2% of videos on Facebook go viral.

Going viral isn’t easy, and sometimes it all boils down to luck. But, if you implement just a few tips into your marketing video creation, you can increase your chances of going viral and get millions of new eyes on your brand.

Your business can take the internet by storm; check out these five tips for creating a marketing video that goes viral.

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Do what’s already working

If you want to create your own viral marketing video, the first step is to study what’s already working. Instead of blindly creating a marketing video and hoping it goes viral, spend some time examining the marketing videos that have already made a splash on social media. Take a close look at viral videos over the past few years and think about what they did that made them successful.

For instance, this Dollar Shave Club marketing video has over 25 million views on YouTube. It’s a funny and quirky video that features founder Michael Dubin. Viewers like when they get to know the face behind the brand, which is probably part of the reason this video worked so well.

Take a look at your competition as well, and study what videos worked best for them on each social media channel. You can use a free tool like BuzzSumo to easily determine a brand’s most popular content. Of course you’re not going to copy their exact video, but knowing the formula for viral success is key.

Make sure your video resonates

Viewers only watch, like, and share your marketing video if it makes them feel something. Whether it’s joy, sadness, inspiration, or laughter, it doesn’t matter – any emotion will do.

In agreement with the Harvard Business Review, there are 2 main powerful reasons why a video goes viral: psychological response (how the video makes you feel), and social motivation (why you want to share it). Even making the viewer feel anger can work; it’s all about creating content that’s relatable to your audience, elicits a human reaction, and makes people want to share it and talk about it.

Remember this video? The viral ‘First Kiss’ video was actually made by a small business, Wren Studio. It has over 136 million views on YouTube and was picked up by major media and news outlets around the world because it resonated emotionally with viewers. Best of all, this video only cost them $1300 to produce.

So, make sure that your story reaches your viewers on an emotional level and your video is sure to be a hit online.

Keep it short and sweet

Because there’s so much content online today, and so many apps to use, consumers are constantly being pulled in ten different directions, which means you’ve got to capture the attention of viewers immediately. In fact, 30% of viewers stop watching a video after 30 seconds, 45% after one minute, and 60% after two minutes.

So, keep your marketing video short, sweet, and easy to understand if you want it to go viral. Try to get to the point of your video within the first 30 seconds, and grab the attention from viewers from the beginning. Because if you don’t, you run the risk of viewers clicking out of your video.

Be unique

Now, we mentioned earlier that you should study popular viral videos to understand how you can make viral videos too, but it’s important not to follow their stories and content too closely. Your company is unique, so your video needs to be unique too. If it looks just like all the other marketing videos in your industry, you’ll never stand out. So, try to do something out of the box to capture the attention of your audience.

Take Blendtec for instance, they did something totally unique with their “Will It Blend?” videos. Instead of being like all the other blender companies demonstrating how to make smoothies, they showed off the power of their blenders by blending objects like iPads. It was a hit because they were so different from the rest.

Determine what makes your company different and use that to come up with some awesomely unique video content ideas that will become the spark of conversations between consumers.

Put your video everywhere

After creating a high-quality, engaging video, don’t just post it to your Facebook profile and wait for the magic to happen. If you want to increase the chances of your marketing video going viral, you’ve got to put your video everywhere. You should be uploading your video to YouTube and Vimeo, posting it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, on your own website, in blog posts, and so on. The more places your video lives, the more opportunity for it to be seen by the masses.

Consider starting to create a buzz around your video before it even comes out too. You can send your email list a sneak peak of the video and let them know when it’s going to premiere. That way you can almost guarantee your marketing video will get a bunch of views from your most loyal fans as soon as it’s live. Don’t forget to optimize your videos for SEO as well, to make sure your content gets discovered by your target audience online.

Start planning your viral video today

Creating a viral video may have seemed like a pipe dream in the past, but now with these tips for creating a marketing video that goes viral, you’re one step closer to becoming internet famous. Remember, don’t focus on selling your product or promoting your business, instead focus on creating something that sparks emotion in your audience, and you’re sure to succeed.