Video game creators are your best mentors when it comes to triggering emotional responses. Open eyes that show the white part of the eyeball above the pupil trigger the strongest emotional response. If you have ever watched a soldier home coming video or a fail compilation, watch them again keeping this little trick in mind! It also works the other way around when the video triggers wide open eyelids.

For instance, Volkswagens “Eyes on the Road” ad (see video above) didn’t show a single face in the video that was played in the cinema but had a shock reaction at the end which caused viewers to open their eye lids widely which in return instinctively alerted them of danger which in return triggers: a memorable, emotional response.

The hippocampus (the ancient part of the brain) is a frequent reason why videos go viral. Take puppy and baby videos for instance. One of the most popular topics around the web are cuteness overload videos which trigger our protective instinct. Even if you are not into babies and puppies, seeing the overly large eyes and oversized head (typical features of any babies or young animals) will trigger an emotional response.

Originality

Copying someone else’s concept usually works only as a parody. Given that the viewers of the original video are very familiar with it, your parody will be viewed more critically — difficult to make a success but the risk might pay off because you can take advantage of something that is already popular.

Making a video from scratch is often the best way to go. What video creators tend to forget when uploading the next viral video candidate is to make it searchable. In contrast to popular belief, a video doesn’t go viral because it is shared instantly. It goes viral because someone saw it at home, goes to someone else’s home to have dinner, talks about the video and of course wants to show it to everyone else because it’s not as funny to just explain the storyline.

For instance, the “guilty dog” video (see video above) would have never gone viral if people had typed in “guilty dog” into YouTube and found everything except the video they were looking for. Note that the term “guilty dog” was actually not in the title when the video was first published.It is now the second video that shows up for the term “guilty dog” and the first video for the term “guilty dog video” on YouTube and has gotten more than 30 million views.

About Being Spontaneous

Videos that have gone viral are never one hundred percent spontaneous. Yes, you might have caught your competitor’s receptionist on tape while falling asleep on the phone but may be the lighting was poor or your keyword density is too high in the YouTube description or the sound was terrible — a million things go wrong this spontaneous videos. Some of the most popular videos on YouTube are staged and the ones that are spontaneous and go viral often times have an already popular channel and a solid base of followers that are happy to share the video.

There is nothing wrong with vamping up a spontaneous but genius video with the right effects, music, keywords and so on. At the same time, the easiest way to go for businesses is to trigger a spontaneous reaction on purpose — or simply stage it. Even though Volkswagen’s “Eyes on the Road” ad looks spontaneous, some advertisers have criticized that it was staged because cell phones are the first thing people switch off in cinemas.

Let People Know Your Video Exists

For some reason, it is generally assumed that viral videos are published and then sit on a platform like YouTube without ever being touched again. This is what I call the First Time Blogger Phenomenon: you write a blog post, publish it, and expect people to somehow find it. Except they never do leaving the hopeful first time blogger without any readers unless the post is actively shared or published on an already known blog.

The same applies to videos. The good old marketing concept even applies in the world of Gangnam Style: Location, location, location. Where you expose people to your video will most likely make the biggest difference between viral and non-viral. Gangnam style didn’t take off on YouTube at first, it was actually shared on social media profiles and pages which in return drove traffic to YouTube.

Conclusion

While there are short videos of real situations that have gone viral, the ten digit shares are mostly unique to either compilations of those short videos or strategically triggered reactions that cause a specific emotional response on purpose.

Creativity, originality and excitement is what makes a video viral and knowing what is subconsciously considered as such is the base for any viral video marketer.

What To Do Now

💪 Go and make a viral video, duh!!! Also, post your favorite viral videos here if you have any.

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