First off, getting a video to go viral is part luck, part skill, and part “omg, I can’t believe that just happened.” With that in mind, there are plenty of ways to increase the chances of your next video earning more views and shares. Below I share a few of the steps I take to help make my clients videos as shareable as possible.
Have a Plan: The famous school poster tells us, “If you fail to plan, then you’re planning to fail.” You may be really good at ad-libbing on the fly when you’re joking with friends or even standing on a stage but thinking that that same skill will exist when the camera turns on is a common misconception. At the very least, make an outline with the key points that you want to make using a large font for very important items. All too often people think they’ll be “great on camera” and when we start to film, quite frankly, they suck. Plan or fail.
Captions: If you’ve read any of my articles prior to this you’ll notice that I always mention captions when I talk video. According to Digiday, 85% of Facebook videos are watching without sound so it’s worth the effort of adding captions. You can do it yourself or do what I do, use rev.com and pay $1.00 a minute to have captions easily added to all your videos. They will even add foreign language captions if applicable and with a turnaround time of about 12 hours, you can’t beat their service.
Custom Frames: Video in and of itself looks good but adding a custom frame can help it reach more people. A white thick border or a frame with your logo can help reinforce your brand and make you stick out. I use fiverr.com for this service - just search for Video Production help and you’ll see numerous pro’s who can help. I pay my expert about $15 a video - much less than what I’d pay if I were to do this locally.
Call To Action: With our first step in mind, I bring to you something that must be part of that video plan - a call to action, also known within geek circles as a CTA. Your video has a purpose don’t forget to ask people to like, share, click, or comment.
Length: According to Wistia, for a video of 4-5 minutes, fewer than 60% of your viewers will still be with you–against 75% for a 1-2 minute video. Keep it short, energized, and purposeful.
Advertise: We’ve now spent $3 on captions, $15 on custom frames, and have about $15 left in our $35 budget. It’s time to boost that video - I’d recommend either boosting it with a Facebook boost or a video ad, depending on your goals.
I once boosted a video on YouTube for just $20 and it helped me reach over 3,500 viewers and earned me 10 new channel subscribers. Hardly viral but I was very pleased with the views, comments, and new subscribers.
Tell Everyone: Once your video is ready it’s time to share it across all your social networks - don’t put in all the effort to create a great video just to keep it to yourself. Stop second guessing yourself and instead be proud that you created an MVP (minimum viable product) and let the world know!
Ready to shoot? Quiet on the set…take ACTION!