Search Engine Journal produced a great report on some research conducted on how videos go viral. Although nothing is guaranteed, read the content below and try out these tips.
“85% of internet users in the United States view videos online according to a study conducted by Forrester Research. The study also discovered that relatively little of that viewing or sharing is of promotional content. 75% of the video content shared online is of User-Generated Content (UGC). Most of the remaining content is related to traditional media, i.e. music videos and film trailers. 
Less than 40% of internet users share commercial content from television. Even fewer share videos made specifically for marketing on the internet – these are shared less often than any other video type, which works directly against marketers who are trying to create viral videos from scratch. 42% of marketers online are already making videos – but only 15% report any actual success.”
SEJ also provides some tips to help make things go viral (which can be added to the original 12 tips from the post below).
-Use humor to its fullest extent. Almost 50% of viral videos feature humor and 70% of internet users who share content with others say they do so because the videos they share are amusing.
-Don’t make your video long. Internet audiences have notoriously short attention spans. It’s best to clock your video in under two minutes in duration – the average video in Forrester Research’s study was 1:42 minutes in length. Over a third of the videos were less than a minute.
-You don’t need celebrities. Celebrities cost you more but don’t necessarily pay off. Only about a third of really successful viral videos featured a celebrity.
-Sexy content isn’t necessarily best. Only 16% of successful viral videos in the study featured sexy content.
-Don’t try to mimic UGC. You might think that if you imitate the style of UGC videos are made in you’ll fare better but you’d be wrong. Users can recognize the difference. Don’t pretend to have a low budget when you really have a high one. 85% of successful viral videos by brands featured full production values.
-TV ads can go viral online. Even if your ad has already been played on television, it can still go viral on the internet. TV ads account for over half of viral marketing videos online.
Jessica Lee also provides some good tips on making your videos go viral. In her blog post titled “How to Give your Video a Case of the Virals,” Jessica provides some good tips and tricks all companies can utilize.
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Use the Resources You’ve Got
Don’t have a camera or a budget? It’s OK, you can still make videos with pictures and sound through Windows Movie Maker, or check out this service from xtranormal.com that allows you to create text-to-movie animation videos.
Cater to Impatient People
Adult ADD seems rampant these days; consider how long your video is going to be and understand when attention spans begin to wane. Theories exist that videos should be somewhere between 15 seconds and two minutes long.
Be Trendy
Viral videos have multilayer trends. One facet is the type of video (how it’s shot or created) and the other is the subject matter. So, you must be keen on pop culture to strike when it’s hot. Sharethrough recently reported the hot trends in viral video marketing included stop motion animation. To further your research, check out sites like What the Trend or use Google Insights for Search to see who is searching for what and where. Also, stay on top of current news and think about making video responses to what’s happening in the world.
Make a Series
Reports by Visible Measures on the viral video, “Evolution of Dance,” show that sequels can often raise the viewership of the original video. The Dentyne Pure video that recently went viral (you can find it in this top 10 viral video ads list) asks fans to send ideas on what the fate of the characters should be in the next video. Tactics like this keep people engaged and directly involved in the brand.
Ride the Wave of Someone Else’s Success
Go ahead, be a poser. Your video can go viral simply for copying someone else’s brilliant idea or adding a fresh take on it. Check out the 1 million plus views on Mike Relm’s Old Spice Remix and 2 million plus views on Brigham Young University’s New Spice parody:
Personalize Your Brand
Use humor to shed new light on your brand or a prominent figure within your company. But first, understand who your audience is and who you’re targeting. Sure, everyone loves a good laugh, but humor varies across populations. So, know what types of comedy your audience will respond to.
Take a Risk
What the wildest idea you have for a video? Don’t rule it out. It might take some negotiation for executive-level buy in, but bring stats and case studies of those that have taken a chance and found success. You might be pleasantly surprised with the outcome. And if not, you’re making progress through testing.
Choose Your Hosts
Find out where you’re going to place your videos. Of course, YouTube is a great choice but you might also want to look into sites like BuzzFeed and Metacafe. And of course, you’ll want to host the video on your own site, if possible.
Optimize the Title
With Universal Search being the norm these days in Google SERPs, take full advantage by using strategic keywords in your titles when uploading your video to sites like YouTube. Try the Google Adwords keyword selection tool, or we even have one here at Bruce Clay, Inc. that’s part of our SEOToolSet® called the Search Engine Optimization/KSP Tool. A post by Smart Blog on Social Media covering the SXSW Interactive’s “How to Create a Viral Video” track suggests if you’re making a parody, include the same keywords in the title that the original video has.
Spread the Word
Start sharing the video in your communities. Begin with friends and people in your industry. Use social networks and bloggers to get the word out. Promote it on your website and through newsletters, and any other promotional materials you might have. The key is to capitalize on every resource you have in the beginning and be relentless.
Build a Community
Ronald Jenkees has a loyal following because he knows the value of his community. And you can feel the loyalty of his fan base by reading their comments, which is just reinforced by his genuine appreciation for them. I’m super obsessed with Stay Crunchy right now, by the way. How can you not love this guy?
To build community, respond to your fans’ comments, get them involved in ideas for more videos and so on. Don’t have any comments on your video yet? Dan Greenberg, CEO of Sharethrough, once suggested starting a controversial comment exchange between yourself and your colleagues to get things going.
And here’s some additional tips on garnering views and building community from a lad with a mask and an English accent, Scary Skelator. Tips one, two and four are most relevant to the community aspect.
Measure and Track Success
ROI from videos is a very real possibility; in fact, Old Spice sales are up 107% in the past month. And people like Ronald Jenkees are able to sell their music from viral videos they create – he was even asked to make the theme song for the podcast of Bill Simmons of ESPN. Maybe your success will be measured by driving traffic and conversions on your site. Whatever the goal, consider using tools to track your accomplishments. One service you might consider is from TubeMogul.
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