How to Create Viral Videos

No matter how clever your content might be, it may not make a splash online. That’s because a video can only make so much noise online before you’re drowned out by a flood of similar content.

Brand marketing editor and content strategist Jonathan Hemingway recently shared his ideas on creating and delivering relevant and interesting, shareable videos at a recent speaking engagement. Here are three great pointers from the event:

1. Control the info flood. In our days of cellular phones, Instagram, and endless attention span, it’s all too easy to pick and choose what information or story is important and relevant. We’re used to living in a world where it’s OK to skip the middle man and find out what’s important via social media. Here’s the important thing: to create videos that aren’t informational, informative, or useful, you need to be the middle man and deliver information or a narrative to your audience. That’s what will hold your videos together; someone or something is compelling. You should feel the need to direct and guide your audience through your videos, too.

2. Find an intersection of selling and sharing. Every video you create should focus on the key drivers of your business or brand, not the way it sells, so that you can give it a really feelgood vibe that will get people sharing it. One of the easiest ways to do this is to combine it with personal storytelling, whether it’s a story of a family member or business colleague. By focusing on the shared success of the business and brand, you’re creating a human connection that can make people willing to share your content.

3. Be your own pitch man. In order to create shareable content, you need to find a way to capture people’s attention. Take a page out of the Snapchat playbook and hold your audience captive by giving them the urge to “like” something. That thrill of drawing attention from your audience and connecting with them directly can carry over to sharing your message. Also, use camera angles you wouldn’t normally use, and video that moves as much as possible. In many ways, it’s almost as important to your video to look compelling as it is to shoot professionally. That means angles of a cellphone camera, as well as moving subjects or panning shots. It’s easier than ever to shoot with your phone; keep the camera pointed at your target audience.

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