How to create a viral video

A virus and a virus that spreads unpredictably. )) As a television director who has created many screen works of various formats in the VGTRK system over 30 years and as a media trainer teaching people how to create video content, I can say with full confidence that it is impossible to predict the result, the reaction of the audience and, moreover, to guarantee the creation of a viral video. This, of course, is my opinion, but I have repeatedly seen how those who claimed to be able to do this did not get stable results.

But not everything is so sad. )) If you try to take into account the potentially successful components of a viral video, then the chances of creating something that people want to share are much greater.

Here is my selection of such viral distributors.

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But in order for the above catalysts to work, it is necessary, in my opinion, to fulfill two conditions. It is necessary to achieve the involvement of viewers in what is happening on the screen, and for this, indeed, there are special techniques. And you need a ready-made video to help at the beginning of its viral path.

A bit more about both.

Distribution can be helped by accurately identifying the target audience of this advertisement, beating exactly at the target, showing it where these people are. The second way is to use wide seeding, using all possible media platforms to create the effect of hype and broadcasting even from the iron. Then people will ask each other: have you seen? No? I’ll send it now.

And to create engagement, you can use, for example, a very powerful technique called suspense.

The technique of creating suspense is directly related to how much the director knows how to stretch or compress time, changing the perception of the viewer.

Imagine what you see on the screen as people sit at a table and calmly talk about something. And then an explosion occurs! It turns out that a bomb was hidden under the table. What will you experience? Most likely a short-term shock.

Now imagine another movie. You know that there is a bomb under the table, it was shown to you before you saw people talking at the table who were not aware of the danger. And you know about her. You see on the screen the pretty face of a smiling girl, and then a close-up of the bomb. Then, with fondness, a man holding a girl’s hand and again a bomb, which shows the arrow approaching the start mark. And again you see rejoicing for young parents at the table, and then again a bomb on which the arrow is even closer to the start mark ... Are you worried? This is suspense.

Suspence is one of the most powerful tricks to capture the attention of the viewer. But he works only when the viewer has already got used to what is happening on the screen and empathize with the hero. And so that he empathizes, the viewer must imagine himself in the place of the hero and feel all potential dangers.

You can experiment with other techniques that will help increase the chances of creating an exciting commercial that people will want to share. For example, add interactivity or gamification to the video depending on the target audience.

And what kind of video would you share with your friends?

Or maybe there is an experience in creating a viral video - what do you think on this topic?