Key Elements to Creating a Viral Video Content
No one starts video marketing with the desire to create videos that get average views. Being marketers, we are starting to feel threatened due to the gradually increasing amount of stigma when it comes to the creation of video advertisements.
People won’t see commercials unless it’s a big event like a Christmas commercial or the Super Bowl. This is probably the only time people are excited and actually decide to sit down and watch the advertisement.
Why are some marketing videos getting a lot of views, while others are not? What really makes a video go viral? Let’s go ahead and see what they have in common.
- Videos are not too promotional.
Viral videos do not discuss features, benefits, or prices. They tell a story. When creating a viral video, you need to focus on increasing brand awareness rather than trying to sell it right away.
- Videos should always tell a story.
If you will take a deeper look, you will notice that the most popular videos are like short films, rather than pure commercials. Based on this Buffer blog, if a story has been told, “our sensory cortex lights up.”
Storytelling is one of the best ways to excite people with your brand. Storytelling helps people come back in connection with your message and in search of more.
- Videos are linked to emotions.
This continues from the last point where your “story” needs to evoke some kind of emotion in the viewer.
Emotions, whether happy, sad, inspiring or motivating, are the key to getting people to sit down and watch your “story” to the end. This is because people like to invest emotionally in the story. If they can relate to the story, it will leave a lasting impression on their memory.
Hence, always think about what emotions you want your brand to depict, and how you want your audience to feel upon thinking of your brand. Use this emotional factor so that your audience will be more willing to click the share button.
- Videos tend to do unexpected things.
Some videos use shock tactics and others try a carefree approach, but it’s great enough to do something out of the norm. Brands often feel reluctant to color outside the lines, but the key to creating a viral video is to go out of the box and rock the boat a bit.
Inevitably, a viral video is a hot topic and doesn’t always get positive reviews, but that’s okay. The main point of a viral video is to get people to talk. The more people talk about you, the more prominent your brand will be.
- Videos have a killer marketing strategy.
Here’s the delicate part, if you wish your video to stand out, you will be needing to work extensively with your marketing and promotion strategies.
First, make sure it’s fully optimized to work with SEO. Upload your video to your landing/blog page and use the video keywords throughout your URL, meta description, and post.
Once you’ve created your landing page, you can share it on your social page to get your audiences’ attention. You may use hashtags, post at your convenience, pay for pre-roll ads on YouTube and excite them about publishing your video.
Moreover, we encourage you to seek the help of influencers who can reach more viewers with your videos. Contact media/publishing sites, social media influencers/bloggers, and post on forums to get a lot of viewers.
So what’s the guarantee that your video will go viral?
Simply none.
Say that there is really a formula for creating a viral video, most likely, it will be done by all. Unluckily, viral videos are exceptions, rather than the rule. But that doesn’t mean that you should discontinue video marketing.
Being marketers, we should not spend all our efforts on aiming to make the contents viral. Yes, it may look really great having several engagements from people. However, does it really capture your audience? Simply because that’s the most important thing.
You may not have millions of audience, but when it comes to e-commerce business, they are the only people you need to attend. This does not mean that you cannot create a video that covers all of the above, nor does it mean that you cannot create a video that focuses on increasing brand awareness, but it’s really relevant to win over the people that have the potential to buy your product or service.