To disseminate information about your product or service among the widest possible range of people or customers, you must create a viral advertisement video. Such videos do not need to be distributed vigorously, as the viewers themselves are ready to do this for the advertiser. Shooting viral videos is not an easy task, however, knowing certain ingredients you can make your advertisement videos effective and reach as many potential customers as possible.

What is a Viral Video?

Before you start searching for actors, locations and ideas for creating a viral video, you should carefully understand what the expression viral video means.
A viral video is a short video that social network users are willing to voluntarily post on their personal pages, blogs, and instant messengers to show it to their friends.

In most cases, the plot of such videos is humorous in nature, and they are shot according to a specific, carefully thought out and well-written script for the video. That is why the question “what is a viral video” can be answered – a comedy short film. Often in the plots of such commercials use well-shot moments or ridiculous situations brought to absurdity.

With the advent of smartphones equipped with pretty good cameras, the number of videos on the Internet has increased significantly. The availability of light-weighted video editing software allowed us to create viral videos using only the phone and immediately share them on social networks. Unfortunately, Marketers could not take advantage of this massive effect for advertisement purposes and began to develop strategies and materials for customers that real and potential consumers are willing to share.

The main task of creating a viral video is its virality and the involvement of the viewer.

A Qualitatively Crafted Viral Video Should:

To disseminate information about your product or service among the widest possible range of people or customers, you must create a viral advertisement video. Such videos do not need to be distributed vigorously, as the viewers themselves are ready to do this for the advertiser. Shooting viral videos is not an easy task, however, knowing certain ingredients you can make your advertisement videos effective and reach as many potential customers as possible.

1. Causes widespread discussion;
2. Collects thousands of comments;
3. Quickly distributed by users over the Internet;
4. Becomes the basis for numerous skits;
5. Gets mentions in the media;
6. Generates a massive amount of views in a very short time span;

To create such content is quite realistic if the necessary characteristics of virality are laid in it even at the stage of developing the idea.

The Idea of Creating a Viral Video:

The fate of the video after shooting depends on the idea. Hackneyed and boring stories even with the highest camera quality and processing will not be able to become popular. Idea, plot, and script are some of the basic yet most important ingredients in the recipe for making a viral video.

“How to create a viral video” is a very common question for professional marketers. Ordinary viewers are sure that such videos get crazy popularity by accident, however, in reality, advertisers carefully think through each picture and word to get the necessary effect and consumer reaction to new content.

Ideas often appear against the backdrop of specific network trends, and often, to implement and adapt them for advertising purposes is quite simple. For example, the typical audience will be happy to watch funny recordings of video recorders or surveillance cameras in which advertisements will be veiled. The likelihood of success of such videos is quite high, but they can not be called high-quality content and remain popular for a very short period of time.

A high-quality viral video should not only collect millions of views and reposts, but should also be nominated for various marketing awards and participation in contests, but shooting viral videos of this orientation will take much more time, especially at the stage of searching for a unique and successful idea.

To answer the question of how to make a viral video, you need to figure out what exactly needs to be taken into account in the plot and where to get inspiration:

Trends to Understand:
To get an idea about what the viewers like, you need to regularly watch the most popular YouTube and Vimeo videos, browse through social networks and monitor what kind of videos the viewer responds with reposts, likes, and comments. At the same time, do not blindly replicate what is already on the internet.

People:
When creating a viral video for advertising purposes, you should thoroughly understand what kind of content the advertiser’s target audience likes. When choosing an idea that will interest a particular circle of viewers, you need to consider their lifestyle, values, and interests.

Emotions:
Not only can humor cause a viral reaction (despite the fact that this genre is becoming more popular than others), but also drama. Any bright emotions like surprise, laughter, sympathy, and shock can make a user voluntarily share your video.

Animals:
It’s not a secret that videos with cats collect a lot of comments, likes, and reposts, often even among those users who don’t really like animals. The most important ingredient, in this case, is to find a story with an animal suitable for the advertised brand and create bright advertising on its basis.

Supernatural Abilities:
Creative ideas based on the incredible possibilities of humans can be generated endlessly. Based on the purpose of the advertised product, come up with an original application or tell that the use of such a product gives superpowers to the user. Adding a touch of humor to the distribution of the content in the story will not take long and make it more effective.

Stars:
Public figures are opinion leaders and netizens are always ready to listen to their recommendations. If you manage to persuade a celebrity to do some stupid thing for a fee or to reproduce a funny plot with a product – success is guaranteed.

Children:
In the case when the cats do not fit into the concept of the product, and the involvement of stars in the shooting is not available on a budget, it is worth choosing children as the main characters of the video. A child can advertise anything, for example, by performing some adult action with the advertised product. Flipkart – the Indian eCommerce giant used this concept a lot in the last few years through their kid ads voiced by adults and it worked great for them.

Popular Memes:
Tracking trends on internet, marketers always know what exactly is at the peak of popularity and successfully use it for their own purposes. Memes with a hulk, waiting or Darth Vader, alas, cannot fit into the advertising campaign of many products, although if you try hard you can combine them with anything. Alternatively, you can combine the logo with popular meme. The viral effect, in this case, is ensured by the fact that the brand is on the same wavelength as its customers.

It is worth saying that stupid ideas and stupid situations become the most successful, and it is they that you should pay attention to when conducting a brainstorming and finding a suitable viral plot.

What is the main secret of creation?

More than 300 hours of videos get uploaded on Youtube only every single minute but unfortunately, only a handful gets viral. with each passing day, it’s getting harder to stand out among the crowd.

Attention of public figures:Even a good video shot in accordance with all the rules and taking into account the interest of Internet users can be lost among a huge number of such videos. However, if any public figure shares this video in his stories, he will collect millions of reposts and views in a matter of hours. You can persuade a celebrity to pay attention to your advertisement either for money or simply giving her the opportunity to watch it. To do this, you need to make a list of bloggers and media people whose followers are the target audience of the advertised product and send them the captured and finished viral video. Popular bloggers often make reviews of interesting videos and you can get into them for free. This technique is known as influencer marketing and widely popular in this era of digital marketing.

Hijacking the popularity:Many viral videos gather around themselves whole communities of like-minded people and lead to the appearance of an infinite number of parodies of them. One of the most successful video projects with a similar effect can be called the Gangnam Style clip, which did not parody, including only lazy ones for its own purposes. If you combine the advertised product with any created video clip, which is already at the peak of popularity in an original and high-quality way, by making a parody of it, you can achieve success and the desired virality quickly and with a small budget.

Surprise:
Millions of videos that users add every day often remain unknown and, even with high-quality performance, do not become popular. With a viral video, an unexpected ending may be the secret of popularity. You can create such an effect by simply describing the plot to a certain circle of people and asking them to come up with a sequel. After all the ideas have been collected, it is worth either implementing the best, or using your own, and preferably one that goes against the expectations of the audience.

Modesty:
You should not try to put pressure on the audience with outright stupidity, improbability of the situation or expensive special effects. As a rule, the most popular videos are modest, but at the same time creative and original, and it is the simplicity that causes the greatest response.

Examples of Successful Viral Advertisement Videos:

Viral video, examples of which everyone will remember, allows not only to expand the target audience but also to spread information about a product or service quickly and naturally. In order to fully understand the concept of viral video, examples of the most striking works should be considered in more detail:

Deodorant Old Spice:

It is probably difficult to name a person who has not seen at least one video with an African American in the title role. The secret to the popularity of this ad is quite simple – using an exaggerated humorous storyline. However, manufacturers went even further and began to shoot small videos – answers to user comments, which ultimately allowed to significantly increase deodorant sales. In addition, popular trends and effects were applied and, in aggregate, the company received an excellent viral response.

GoPro:

In this case, the viral video was not created by the company, but directly by its user. The American firefighter pulled a small kitten out of the fire, and the video of the miraculous salvation was shot on the brand’s action camera mounted on his helmet. In the first few days after the publication on YouTube, the video has collected 1.5 million views, and currently, it has been seen by more than 38 million users around the world.

Go Pro uses its customers’ materials for advertising purposes quite often, but even more often they advertise the camera on their own, without even thinking about it. By the way, the reception with cats in this viral video is also implemented, as, in fact, the game on the emotions of the end-user.

Coca-Cola:

No wonder cola is one of the most popular drinks around the world. A Christmas clip with Santa Claus and a garland decorated with garlands is associated with the approach of the holiday for many. Almost every video of the company becomes popular. One of the brightest examples is the latest video about Coca-Cola’s life. Despite the fact that the video is quite long, it is simply impossible to avoid watching it till the end: it contains all the vivid emotions and hardships of life that young parents face and an unexpected but very touchy ending.

Even those who live a healthy lifestyle and do not drink carbonated drinks with sugar are happy to share this cute video.

Sowing a Viral Video:

Do not think that a qualitatively viral video created in accordance with all the rules and taking into account the interests of network users and the target audience can become popular by itself.
Sowing a viral video is a mandatory event, which is important to plan correctly so that the video is not lost among millions of similar works.

Sowing campaign planning includes:

1. Choosing the target audience for the initial demonstration of the video.
2.  Analysis and selection of sites for placement (thematic blogs, social networks, YouTube);
3. Quick actions (promotion begins immediately after publication and actively works on sowing during the first few days).
4. Advertising in the media (if the budget allows, then in local channels, blogs of famous personalities and other popular resources place a link to a video with headlines such as “the video which broke the Internet”, although the headline is pretty old but still working).

Without a sowing campaign, you should not expect virality and popularity, because according to statistics, a person will need thousands of years to watch all the videos from YouTube, and if you add other popular sites, it will become clear that there is no chance of gaining sudden fame, especially for a small brand.

One of the main advantages of viral marketing in general and viral videos, in particular, is their free distribution to potential customers. The results are considered excellent when there are a dozen or more free per viewing or repost paid by the advertiser.