How to make a Viral Video
Lessons learnt from Mild Internet populairty
So my latest video Run Rabbit, after 10 days just hit half a million views. The total watch time a year and 39 days. A modest amount in the grand scheme of the Internet, but Viral nonetheless.
If a video is going to go viral is mostly chance, there are just so many factors involved. However, you can give yourself a fighting chance by following a few tips which I’ve learnt.
Have good, unique content.
I know what you’re thinking. No shit Eliot, of course you have to have good content. Well I’m mentioning this because its the single most important thing about your video. Without good content, you aren’t going to get anywhere.
You can improve the perceived quality of your content by simply having unique content. Content is judged in comparision to similar content. People enjoy novelty, you’ll have a better chance something new and different.
The content in my video, Cardistry, isn’t something I’ve invented. There is a small community of us, shuffling away. However, the average internet user has never seen it before. It’s unique to the viewer.
If you were trying to make a video about say, basketball viral, you would have a harder time. Everybody knows what basketball is, it’s much harder to impress somebody with it.
Get right into it.
As you may know, people on the internet have attention spans of goldfish. So don’t mess around with long intros, get right into the action as soon as possible.
Music choice matters.
Chances are, your video will have music. Unless you have a good reason why it shouldn’t have music, it should have music. When choosing a song, think about the atmosphere the piece creates, how it makes the viewer feel. You want the feeling your content creates to match the feeling the music creates.
Using independent musicians is a really great move. It’s a win win for both of you, they get exposure and you get a great song. There are heaps of great musicians on bandcamp and soundcloud, who would be happy for you to use their music, just ask. Another benefit of using independent music is that you don’t have to worry about getting flagged on youtube.
And remember, treat your musicians well. Put them in the credits, put links in the description, make sure anybody who likes the music can find it.
Give it a push!
There is this idea that if you make great content, people will come. It’s partially true. But sometimes all your video needs is a little push.
These are the stats for my first mildly successful video, Sha Booms. Notice how not much happened for the first 4 months. Then on a whim, I posted it to Reddit. Suddenly, it was off, hitting the front page of r/videos and reaching 80k in a matter of weeks then punching through to 140k about a month later.
How many views did I get from Reddit alone? Only about 8,260 in the end. But once something is pushed into the swirling pool of internet sharing, it gets put on so many other sites the views skyrocket. All you have to do is get it into the pool.
So, I’m sure by now you can’t wait to bust out that camera and watch the views roll in. But before you do, ask yourself…
Is a viral video what you’re looking for?
You might think a viral video is what you need. You need views, traffic, exposure. It’s perfect, this is just what you need. Is it?
Not all views are created equal. Somebody who watches your video, subscribes and becomes a loyal fan. That’s a valuable view. That’s the kind of traffic you want, and it’s not the kind of traffic you get from viral videos.
My channel has 750k views. How many subscribers? Only 2,194. I have lots of viewers, but I don’t have an audience. In relation to how many views I have, I don’t have many comments. I don’t have many fans.
The reason is because the video is being watched on blog spam mostly, in embedded players.
See that giant green blob? Thats traffic from embedded players. It makes up 90% of my views. These viewers are much less likely to watch another one of my videos, subscribe, comment, or even read the description. It’s traffic, but it’s not the kind of traffic which builds your audience. It builds the audience of whatever site it was posted on.
If you’re trying to build an audience, I would try to not focus on making viral videos, but making quality, regular videos. Don’t try to gain views, but try to gain fans.
xoxo — Eliot.
