What makes a video go viral

A lot of B2B brands attempt to create viral videos but they end up creating content that promotes their product’s features or their company.

This is because they lack the understanding of what makes a video go viral on YouTube.

So, is there a way companies can communicate the value of their brand and reach a lot of people online with viral video?

Viral videos bring a ton of attention to your brands but creating shareworthy content is no easy job.

This article will help you in understanding what components constitute quality video content, understand your target audience, and help you create excellent video content for your brand.

First things first!

Going viral is an increment. The apex cannot be achieved in just one go, but continuous efforts of creating high-quality videos targeting a broader audience can make this an achievable feat.

Start with determining what is that you want to accomplish with this video.

The most important factors that affect the reach and virality of videos are

1. Content of the video
2. Social media sharing and
3. Psychological response of the audience

Let us now see in detail how you can perfect these factors to create viral content.

Content of the video:

The essential elements of a viral content should be educational, inspirational, entertaining, humorous, and as well as help the audience to take action.

The viewer will not be inclined to share your video if it is only about promoting your brand.

But, if you could spin a story more relatable to the viewer, they would not only share it but also mention it to their peers in conversations.

Let me give you an awesome example with Dollar Shave Club’s viral video.

The video begins with the company’s CEO introducing himself and the company. He now starts narrating the pointers that make their brand more affordable to the shaving men and he continues by comparing(actually mocking) other brand’s taglines for their razor blades.

Here is the video: 

Shaving is a daily activity for most of the men in the US and hence this video has a general appeal towards the viewer and mainly it is fun to watch, even on this day.

The prime factor for creating such good content starts with understanding your audience. 

You might have come across this term in many blog posts, white papers, and eBooks. But do they mean what they write? 

And is there a full proof way for you to actually create content that will be loved by your audience? 

Now, here is the solution!

Log in to Social Animal. 

To find what kind of videos top the social media, pick your target keyword(say ‘B2B‘) and enter it in the article section after youtube.com.

Target query – Youtube.com B2b

Now, you’ll see the list of top-performing videos.

The content listed above is shared by your audience across major social media platforms.

Here is what it signifies:

1. The articles contain the essential elements of viral content.
2. The social media shares prove that this type of article is widely accepted by your audience.
3. They are share-worthy content.

You can now start working on your viral content by analyzing the top articles for your target keywords.

Market your brand’s image and don’t make it just another promotion.

Social Media Sharing:

All marketers scratch their brains on how to make a video viral on social media.

With the video section now being prominent on Facebook, we are not sure how many views are considered viral on Facebook.

The nature of social media content varies based on different industries. 

If you analyze the viral videos of a particular industry(like entertainment), you will realize that they all follow a pattern.

These videos are short, focused on evoking emotion, and they contain elements that make people want to share them with their dear ones.

Competitor research for social media posts can come in handy and will be helpful for you to create similar video content.

Beginning with a marketing strategy on what you aim to achieve with this particular content, constructs the run of the campaign you are going to create. 

There is also a mandatory need for a promotional strategy based on the nature of your audience. 

Think about it! 

How good would it be if you already knew the profiles who can share your content across social media platforms?

You can get a list of your target audience (possibly customers) by using the view shares feature of Social Animal.

After logging in, enter your target keyword in the article section.

Once the results are displayed, choose the type of content that best appeals to your audience and click on the view sharers button.

Now you will get a list of profiles who have shared this content on Twitter. 

You can now export the list and get in touch with them.

Psychological response to the content:

Most of the viral content we see online are music videos, baby videos, or something funny and hilarious that people just continue sharing.

These are nowhere near to what you need when it comes to creating videos for a B2B brand.

To cater to a positive response for any video you create, the content should trigger a positive response from the viewer.

Before you hit publish, here are two questions you need to answer first.

1. How does my video make the audience feel? 
2. Why will the viewer want to share it?

If you are able to list out positive answers for this question, you’re already there at publishing content that might possibly go viral.

If not, revisit your strategy and fill the missing pieces with the following techniques mentioned earlier in this blog post.

• Start your content creation process with audience research.
• Find and analyze the best of your competitor’s content.
• Understand what type of elements contribute to the success of a video.
• Have a hook that makes the audience watch till the end of the video.
• Craft the content copy in such a way that the video is informative, educational, and also inspiring.
• Make sure the audience’s response to your video evokes social motivation.