8 tips to make your YouTube video go viral

Have you seen Will It Blend? It's a crazy series of videos by Blendtec, a small blender manufacturer. The series has been seen by millions of people. My favorite is Will It Blend? – iPhone. If you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor and take a minute to watch. This YouTube video has been seen 1.6 million times.

Recently I appeared on MSNBC Your Business with JJ Ramberg to discuss how to make your YouTube video go viral. Viral marketing is the phenomenon of other people passing along your ideas to friends via email or blogs or other online means…for free! You can watch my appearance here. My 14-year-old daughter said that they should have taken away the swivel chair! (You’ll see what she means if you watch).

Here are some tips to make video go viral. Creating a video is easy and it is free to post onto YouTube. All you need is a simple $300 digital video camera and a YouTube account.

Most importantly: Your video needs to be funny or amazing or remarkable or have some fascinating information or be controversial. Basically the video needs a reason for people to pass it on. If you can find pass along value connected to your organization and its products, great. I'm not a fan of stupid contests or celebrity endorsements unrelated to a company and its products.

Tip # 1 – Homemade is just fine
You don’t need to hire a professional. A homemade quality video can work great. But plan ahead and shoot several takes to get it right.

Tip #2 –Your video should be no longer then 2 minutes (preferably less)
Think very short. Although YouTube will accept a video that is less than 10 minutes, smaller than 100MB try to make the video between 30 seconds and 2 minutes.

Tip #3 -- Make your description clear and specific.
To best promote your video, you'll want its text description on YouTube to be accurate and interesting. Use descriptive keywords and language that people will find when they search for videos like yours. And use the correct categorizations on YouTube so people will find it.

Tip # 4 -- Don't attempt "stealth" fake customer insertions to YouTube.
Some companies try to sneak corporate-sponsored video onto YouTube in a way that makes it seem like it is consumer-generated. The YouTube community is remarkably skilled at ratting out inauthentic video, so this approach is fraught with danger.

Tip #5 – Try a series of similar videos to build interest
Sometimes a series of videos works great. The Blendtec Will it Blend? videos are a perfect example. The even sell t-shirts now!

Tip #6 – Tell everyone about your video!
When upload your first few videos, you are likely to hear a deafening silence. You'll be waiting for comments, but none will come. You'll check your video statistics and be disappointed by the tiny number of viewers. Don’t get discouraged. It takes time to build an audience. Make sure people know it is there and can find it. Create links to your video from your home page, product pages, or online media room. Mention your video in your e-mail or offline newsletters, and create links to your video as part of your e-mail signature and those of other people in your organization.

Tip # 7 – make sure bloggers know about the video
Sending a link to the video to bloggers or commenting on other people's blogs (and including a link to your video) is a good way to build an audience. If you comment on blogs in the same space as yours, you might be surprised at how quickly you will get viewers to your video.

Tip #8 – Experiment a lot to find something that hits
While I think it is difficult to purposely create viral marketing buzz, it is certainly possible. Create a number of campaigns and see what hits, then nurture the winners along. Think like a venture capitalist or movie studio and try a number of things in order to get that elusive hit.

Good luck. And if you do create a cool video, let me know.

Comments

[freevideoworkshop]

"Creating a video is easy and it is free to post onto YouTube."

Yes, creating a video is easy. You just go shoot whatever you've planned. But if you're doing a two-minute video, then you would have to shoot raw footage longer than than that. The challenge is editing the video to two minutes, adding sound, subtitles and so on. How do you go about it? Which video editor do you choose? If you're lost, you can head to www.freevideoworkshop.com, where you'll find artictles on starting video editing, the latest freeware digital video utilities and even a full free basic video editing course. Happy exploring.

[Dave]

I think the best videos may appear to be amateur-made but on closer examination were professionally edited.

I'm working with one client here in Phoenix to produce a series of YouTube-destined videos, some informative, some humorous, some user-contributed. It's going to be a lot of fun

[George]

Awesome blog. I especially liked tip #4.

Honesty in who you are and what you are doing is critical. The online crowd is very discriminating. If you exaggerate or make false claims, you will be hunted down and executed in a public forum.

[Moksh Juneja]

Loved your tips to create a viral!! But this would also work for podcasts as well as, if we want to popularise, our very own blogs... like I just did!! Hope it works!!

http://mokshjuneja.blogspot.com

[Dianna Huff]

David,

Congrats on the MSNBC appearance.

[Bob Zagami]

Just finished your book David and really enjoyed it.

BTW, I agree with your daughter on the swivel chair!

[Angel Armendariz]

Thanks for the tips David. The viral ability of YouTube is phenomenal. It's definitely crucial to keep your tips in mind...I look forward to using your tips...we'll see what happens. Like the old business saying goes, "Keep failing forward."

[Joe Pulizzi]

Thanks David...it's odd that more custom publishers aren't getting into helping companies produce these. It would seem fitting that content creators, which do such a great job in print form for companies, wouldn't see an opportunity to produce online video shorts.

[Videopreneur AdrianLee]

Thanks for the 8 insightful viral video tips.

[tld]

I broke the time limit tip but the video I made is still worth checking out if you like birds.

[Cam]

Hey man! Love the article! Checkout this practise video i made, turned out real well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWOMjJ_-hQA

[diveristy production network]

I liked the 8 tips and also the interview segment with MSNBC Your Business with JJ Ramberg.

I wonder if those people at Will It Blend?, are kicking themselves for not being on REVVER instead and gaining revenue, each time the video was watched or shared.

[John Morris]

Hey David,

Great article. What do you think about targeting your viral offer to your market? You see a lot of companies going for games and humor in viral marketing... but, that doesn't seem to fit their market.

What are your thoughts?

Also, posted a youtube video on viral marketing. Not necessarily viral, but I believe it gives good content on HOW TO create a viral hook. It's at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9RXbL9kvH8

I'd be interested in your thoughts on this!

Thanks!!

John Morris
CEO, Viral Marketing Laboratory
http://www.ViralMarketingLaboratory.com

[Kami]

Hi there!

Just read your blog and found it to be very helpful. I put my video up a couple months ago and have close to 400 viewers so far. Is that good? I mean obviously it's not a million but is that considered a good start. You can view it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WiL6jqYcbk&NR=1
I'd love to hear your comments!

Kami :)

[Kami]

Oops, forgot my web address..he he

[Kami]

oops, forgot my website :)

[Brad Newman]

Thanks for the great tips! I think I figured it out...

:)

http://www.aromahand.tv

[Tre]

Hi, I just discovered your site! I'm an NYC publicist at a boutique firm and I'm about to make you mandatory reading for our staff! What an awesome resource...we're launching a digital short (hence the exploration encouraged in Tip #7!) soon so your list was auspicious! Keep up the great work.

[Brainard Carey]

This is a halloween scare my son made by remixing a film and home video.
Viral or not, it is here for your holloween pleasure, enjoy!

[Nicole Zylstra]

Good advice and encouraging. The internet can seem like such a daunting space. Meanwhile...

Cowtown Stories are a comic look at life in a boomtown for two starving artists.

[Frank Rumbauskas]

It's true that you can use an inexpensive consumer camera but when I shelved the Circuit City camcorder and invested in a $5,000 professional video camera my results shot way up. I went from a lukewarm response to videos sent out to my list, to my first video with the $5,000 camera which generated over $6,000 in sales and paid for itself instantly.

[Mark]

Thanks for the great article. My collaborator friend and I are just experimenting with creating some viral videos...We've had over 500 hits in a few days and it's looking like this may get some steam. I'm a fan of your work now, thanks for the encouraging post!
BTW...we shot and edited it with the camera and free i-movie software in my new macbook! It's shot in front of a large high def TV which produced an awesome "greenscreen" effect.

Husband Whisperer - This woman has realized that Cesar Millan's "Dog Whispering" techniques work fine on men, too... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ0Yyku3AfY

[Ted Demopoulos, Blogging for Business]

One more tip -- think "stupid!"
Just joking David -- great list and info.

[The Dart-Throw Trader]

This is what happens when you lock a trader in the basement too long...

http://www.dartthrowtrader.com