How to Make a Viral Video

By Talitha Turkin

Today, there is nothing better for business than a viral video. While some videos may grow traction over time, viral videos seem to explode in a matter of hours. After the first several thousand views, somehow, these videos end up on every consumer’s screen and amass millions of views in a few days. Some videos happen completely organically. Their content is posted randomly, and they often end up in the hands of the right influencer or figure with a large following. From there, each of those followers may go on to share the video several more times and trigger amazing results for its creator. That being said, some of these videos are a little more intentional and the product of successful advertising. Either way, a well-executed video can bolster a strong content marketing strategy for any business, so it’s important to understand how they happen.

Are Viral Videos Always a Form of Advertising?

The short answer is yes. Whether the host planned to “go viral” or not, they are sure to amass millions of followers from the right video. When these videos are posted to a business’s account, the impressions their video gains are sure to trigger sales and boost brand recognition. With thirty seconds of content, your small business could go from a local fav to a household name. In 2019, it was found that internet videos accounted for 80% of all online traffic. This number is outstanding. While viral videos may have seemed somewhat “random” or “rare” in the past, this figure shows that every video posted on the internet is four times as likely to be viewed than a text or image post. This also means that regardless of whether your videos are going viral, you should be posting video content on your social media platforms as a small business. Whether that means creating “how-to” guides or tutorials rather than funny, “viral” content — you should do it.

“Challenge” Videos

Some influencers, celebrities, and businesses have realized that “challenges” are a quick way to hack the video market. These events occur when someone posts a video and then “challenges” their audience to create their own version. The response videos are often competing for a prize offered by the challenge’s host, but these prizes pay for themselves more often than not. Every response video means free press for the initial host and triggers thousands of new views that promote brand familiarity. The more lookalike or response videos a consumer watches, the less important it is to watch the host’s video. Instead, they’ll grow familiar with whatever song, product, or concept the host used the challenge to advertise and may even create a response video of their own.

Sharable Videos

It’s important to understand that when a video goes viral, it means that it was not only watched but “shared” thousands (if not millions) of times. Creating content that can be shared is even more important than focusing on whether or not it will be “viewed.” If the right influencer shares a video with the caption “you have to watch,” it won’t matter what the video’s title is — people are going to watch. A research study found that 87% of online marketers use video content. This was also linked to the fact that video content generates 1200% more shares than text and image-based content. Every organic (unpaid for) share means that a user generates free press for your business. The more “word-of-mouth” advertising your videos trigger, the more likely you will convert impressions into sales and keep your brand at the forefront of your customer’s minds.

Content Platforms

If you’re still not convinced that video is part of the future of marketing, consider the fact that 45% of people watch at least an hour of video content each week on Facebook or Youtube. And, more than 500 million hours of videos are watched on Youtube every single day. Finally, 82% of Twitter users watch video content on Twitter every day. Each social media platform is quickly adapting so its users can create, watch, and share as much video content as possible. When businesses create video content, not only is it more likely to be viewed, generate more sales, and reach new customers, but it’s also hitting on a larger consumer base than image posts would. For example, on Facebook alone, 500 million people watch video content every day. When you upload a video to the platform, you are all the more likely to reach these consumers and situate yourself beside larger brands and nationwide chains.

How to Hack In

One thing to understand is that big businesses never “happen” to create the next big thing. By using different “analytics programs” (or apps and websites that allow them to monitor how many people are visiting their website or social media platforms), these companies can see what posts their consumers are reacting to the most. This helps them identify trends and create new content around them so that their “viral videos” can hit the market just as interest is picking up around a particular product or concept. Any business can create a similar system by using Google Ad Words. This program allows you to see how many users search for specific keywords and what other words they search for. For example, if you’re a Thai restaurant in San Antonio, you can see how many people are searching for “San Antonio Thai Food” or “San Antonio Pad Thai” and check out the other dishes they’re searching for as well.

Combining Campaigns

Once you have a sound system for generating content, it’s time to take out a campaign to get users onto your profile. The easiest way to do so is to launch a coupon campaign through grocery store advertising and include a link to your social media platforms at the bottom of your supermarket advertisement. When users see your coupon at their local store, they’ll associate your brand with your community and assign a “locality” to your company. This will help your brand grow as you continue to gear up through other means of content marketing and is part of how grocery store advertising can help grow any small business.

Tags: Online Advertising

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