How to make a viral video

1. Decide the category

a. funny



b. cringe


2.  Decide the demography, if you could. That would help to target specific audience with a compelling content.


3. Keep the same flavor throughout the video. The video is no display of versatile creative talent. It ought to have a strategic purpose, so keep it one dimensional. Some helpful examples-
          a. Sarcastic
          b. Self deprecating
          c. Obscene or Naughty


4. Also, give it a thought 'what would cause' the audience to share the content further.
a. Because, they want other people to laugh as well




b. Because, they merely want to get associated with the content (being aware, others may or may not relate, appreciate or understand). It could be anything related to a hobby, profession, lifestyle etc.








c. Because, they appreciate the creativity in the content





d. Because, they are using the content merely as a metaphor to describe what they are saying
i. Be like..
ii. When....


5. If one intend to exert influence for immediate action then he has to immensely work on your video itself (primary content) to carefully craft the content or idea. eg.

6. Watch out for the time you decide to publish your content. Sports leagues, festivals, award functions, big budget movie release etc might affect your outcome

7. Make sure, you are putting your best efforts to create the meta tags of your primary content video on YouTube.

8. There are many research observations available on the internet about what timing would be the best to post on various social media platforms. Timing seemingly vary with the platform, with the target audience (lifestyle wise as well as location wise) and even with the expected results (shares, views, CTR etc).. and also, yeah, with who's research you are reading..

9. Instead of rushing to create accounts on all social media platforms, its wiser to keep your target audience in mind and accordingly try to tap them on relevant platforms

10. Don't forget to leverage question-answer websites. Search questions where you can put your content as an answer or at least, give a little nudge putting up your link somewhere in the answer.

11. Understanding the difference between to market and to make viral is vital here. You want the public to make your content reach out to more public.. just like a ripple effect. And all the steps discussed here is nothing but the first ripple. One has to make sure that all this has to be done all at once. You don't wanna keep the people bombarding throughout a particular period of time. You ought to be omnipresent but at an instance.

12. Having primary content (video) is ready, as the pre-decided publishing date approach, try to leverage the trending keywords or most searched keywords. Try to overlap your content titles with these keywords. Also, most importantly, never 'invent' new words/phrases for your content that are not in the dictionary or in usual use.

13. If you simply want it to be known and shared, then you can rely on secondary content eg. memes & tweets. This secondary content allows to tap completely new demography. The original video may or may not appeal them but a meme can be created which aligns with their cultural denotations, mentality, knowledge etc.

a. I never watched daily soaps in which so never knew his name but it wasn't the case anymore when the memes started circulating over the internet.

b. I was never fond of hindi stand up comedy so never knew him but again, due to those 'sakht launda' memes I couldn't miss his name, profession AND his content.

14. Once your release your content, get yours and your creative teams's sleeves rolled up for Newsjacking. 

Primary content video




Primary content video






15. While creating your secondary content use already trending memes, viral content. eg.
          a. you vs the guy she tells you not to worry about
          b. 

          c. just another example about leveraging already viral content



16.You will need to make sure that your secondary content is ready even before you release your primary content. You can't afford the risk of crafting it in a do or die situation. In addition to that, make sure your timing of releasing secondary content is neither too early nor too late. Primary content should have passed the peak level of the public exposure. In the era of information overload, attention span has reduced drastically so you don't wanna release your memes so late that public is getting caught up with some other internet sensation, getting over with that of yours. Your memes might get the exposure but your primary content might loose the heat. So choose the trade-off.


17. You have an option to leverage your contacts. Request YouTubers to make reaction videos about your primary content, in return to the favor of any kind of exposure you can give to using your channel. Or even implicit sponsorship would do. Now, these reaction videos could be about the reactions of the youtubers themselves or the reactions of people on streets


18. You always have an option to share textual secondary content in image format on platforms like Instagram as a screen shot.


19. Try, if you could, tagging well known public figures. Try using trending hashtags in your posts either contextually or relevance wise. It will increase chances of the exposure to your content and if you are lucky enough, these public figures might respond to your tweet. Boom! Sky is the limit.


20. Last but not the least! As simple as it may sound ' keep your camera always ready! ' eg.