With billions of viewers on YouTube each day, the opportunity for exposure is tremendous. But don’t be fooled. Just because your video is on Youtube and YOU think it’s great doesn’t mean it’ll capture the kind of attention you are hoping for.
So what does it take to achieve the coveted status of viral video? Is this a phenomenon of chance, or can it be intentionally engineered?
Once the direction of the content is chosen it’s important to follow it up by creating a strategic plan. This mindset places the creation of a video in the context of an overall marketing plan rather than viewing the video as the plan itself.
The last thing anyone should do is ‘Post and Pray’. This is typically how inexperienced (and even some experienced) marketing departments approach video marketing.
How To Achieve Viral Video Success
For a viral video post, use this results based equation of ‘People + Platform x Snowball Effect’ = Results.
This demonstrates the understanding that going viral is not a one-man show; it takes the right people, the right platform and an on going plan to achieve viral results.
That’s right. Viral CAN be created, but it takes some serious planning.
Part #1 – THE PEOPLE
Reach out to relevant online influencers about a month in advance.
This is one of the best lessons one can learn about strategic partnerships. Just because someone has a large audience, doesn’t automatically make them an ideal partner.
Part #2 – THE PLATFORM
When it comes to YouTube marketing there needs to be more of a strategy then simply saying “Let’s create a YouTube video.”
There are 10 categories within YouTube and the top videos from each of these categories will be featured on the home page and browse page of YouTube.
This means it pays to be among your categories ‘most viewed.’
Choose low competitive category to rank higher. For example choose to upload a video under the ‘pets and animals’ category in order to capitalize on the fact that only 150k views would be needed to make the leader board as opposed to the 1-million views needed to make the comedy or entertainment leader board.
This is a great example of leveraging a platform. Had they posted in another category the video might have not gone viral.
Part #3 – SNOWBALL EFFECT
Newton’s first law of motion states, “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion”
Just because a video begins to gain momentum doesn’t mean it will stay in motion. In fact, the exact opposite is true – videos quickly lose momentum.
This is where the ‘Snowball effect’ comes in.
Coordinate with influencers and have a number of popular sites to feature the video on their homepage.
#1: Create Attention
Nothing happens until attention is captured
Deliver a message with entertainment.
#2: Don’t ‘Post & Pray’:
Making a video is not a strategy.
A video is just one part of an overall strategy and objective.
Identify influencers who will LOVE your message, not just people with a large audience.
Choose your category wisely
Create a post launch plan
