How to make a video viral

Over at TechCruch, Dan Greenberg has posted a list of strategies behind creating a viral video. Great insight into the business of managing distributed content, encouraging views and getting conversations about it. But you have to read the comments to see the reactions to it and see how surprised many people are that this sort of things take place. It’s called marketing and PR and has been happenign for years, even before the web, when good placements and mentions were often the result of PR tactics and not just ‘a good product’. Here’s my take on the points.

• Not all viral videos are what they seem. Correct. Brands spend money on creating videos for web distribution, either as an ‘ad’ or a a ‘pretend UGC’. I’ve always advised against the latter as you can guarantee that you will be found out.
• Content is not king. You can make a gorgeous, content rich video and it may be seen by no-one. It can be a short, scrappy mobile phone film and it takes off. There is an element of luck in getting things to spread - it has to be right for the audience or for the times. Then there are all the techniques that can help it.
• Getting on the most viewed page. Few people search for specifics. They just browse the front pages and the charts. Once on there the video gets its own momentum. One tactic missing here that I’ve seen is leveraging internal email - if it is for a big company, send the link to all the company and get them all to watch the video, hopefully to get onto the chart pages.
• Title and Thumbnail Optimisation. Has to be a good image to catch the eye. Tabloid headlines are great. This is how magazines and newspapers work in the shops.
• Having a conversation with yourself. Disagree entirely with this - it’s astroturfing and soon to be illegal in the EU. Have someone in the conversation yes, but you should be clear who you are.
• Releasing all videos simultaneously. Unless it is tied into something else, like an ARG/puzzles or is going to be a long term series, then just put everything out at the same time. Most commercial stuff is not worth waiting for,
• Tagging. Connect the videos. Have common tags Make them easy to find. This is what you should do with any content, linking them together.
• Metrics. Views, comments, ratings are all good. Links through to a site are excellent. Remember to also track copies of the video and the views on those. One way to tell how well received a video is, is how many copies there are. Interestingly, there a bunch of people on YouTube who do nothing but copy popular videos and adding them to their profile!

Some other tactics I’ve seen.

• Have a long term strategy. Will It Blend has this. They are not one offs; building an audience over time means that each video has a core audience and their evangelism can spread it further.
• Respond to a popular video. This is what LonelyGirl15 did to kick-start their audience. But make sure it is relevant.
• Pay. You can buy front page videos, which really, really helps your views. Whether the views continue after the buy depends on whether it catches the imagination and is spread further.
• Cultivate your relationships. YouTube and other sites have guest editors that can place your video on the from page if they like it and like you

In summary, it is the very rare video indeed that is loaded up and takes off without other activities happenign around it.