Creating Viral YouTube Videos: 10 Tips for Small Channels
Going viral on YouTube is the dream for many small content creators. While luck and timing play a big role, there are things you can do to increase the chances of one of your videos catching fire. Here are 10 tips for small YouTube channels trying to create a viral video:
1. Make Videos About Trending Topics
Latch onto trends and topics that are currently popular or being widely discussed. Timeliness can help a video spread quickly while people are searching for that subject.
2. Use Attention-Grabbing Thumbnails
A video's thumbnail needs to make viewers curious or excited enough to click on it. Use bold colours, interesting visuals, and text to highlight something surprising or outrageous.
3. Have a Strong, Clickable Title
Like the thumbnail, the title has to entice viewers to watch the video. Ask questions, set up intrigue, use descriptive adjectives - do what you can to attract clicks.
4. Keep Videos Concise
It's best to keep viral video contenders under 5 minutes, under 3 minutes if possible. You need to get to the interesting stuff fast before viewers click away.
5. Add an Element of Surprise
Give the audience something shocking, unexpected, or novel. This could be through plot twists, unseen camera angles, crazy experiments - do something outside the norm.
6. Use Emotional Triggers
Tap into emotions that drive sharing: humor, inspiration, outrage, and heart-warming moments. If you elicit strong reactions, people will want to share the video.
7. Seed Your Video
Don't just rely on YouTube's algorithm to promote your video. Share it yourself across social networks and encourage friends/family to share as well to start momentum.
8. Make the First 10 Seconds Count
Grab attention right away with something visually impressive, funny, tense or emotional to prevent people from clicking away.
9. Include a Strong Call to Action
Explicitly tell your audience to like, comment, subscribe and share the video if they want to see more content. The more engagement, the more YouTube promotes it.
10. Keep Trying New Things
Viral hits often come down to luck in the end. Keep experimenting with different video styles, topics, angles and formats until you strike gold. Persistence and variation increase your odds over time.
With these tips, small YouTube channels can better understand the viral video landscape and what elements encourage sharing. Craft videos tailored for virality, promote them hard out of the gates, and eventually one just may take off in a big way!