Make your videos viral

You have a fab video, but is it viral?

A video is viral when it’s compelling enough for your target audience to watch over and over again, and even want to share with others. Arguably though, even a great video—so much like a new product—needs some push so it can be seen by as many of your target audience as possible.

So give your online video some help with these tips I culled from many available online:

MIND YOUR CONTENT

No amount of advertising, promotion, or PR can cover up for a bad product. The same is true for online videos. Everything starts with your content—is it relevant to your target audience? Does it move them? Make them laugh? Cry? Fascinate them? Inspire them? Provoke them to take action?

Or is it so boring your audience hits the close button 30 seconds into the video? Or is it culturally insensitive, gender-biased, or even disparaging that you create more enemies than advocates?

And so much like your favorite TV ads, single-minded communication helps, too. You can focus on a core message or idea and run away with it. And it doesn’t even have to be profound; sometimes, a simple message is most effective. Single-minded communication also helps to keep your videos short enough (within 30 seconds to 3 minutes) to keep your audience hooked.

You can also give a fresh approach to an old subject without sacrificing substance and storytelling. But who says a story must be chronological?

PROMOTE YOUR VIDEO

This is where the push for your video comes in. Tell the world about it, but only within ethical means.

Some tips online, for example, tell you to create multiple accounts on Youtube and pretend to be users delighted with your video; or create a forum and start a conversation with yourself to fool others into believing that your video is the talk of the town; or pay bloggers to rave about it. It’s just a video, so will you sell your soul for it? You get the drift.

Here are some ways you can promote your video and still sleep soundly at night:

• Use your social networking sites to invite your friends and network to watch your video. Don’t forget to tell them why they should watch it or what they will miss if they don’t.
• Use your email list to send invites, too. Ask your contacts to post comments and rate your video.
• Comment on videos, forums, blogs, or other online communities discussing the same or related topic as your video, and don’t forget to drop the link to your video.
• Make your video description not only clear and specific, but also interesting.
• Use the appropriate category in Youchoob or other video sites so people can easily find your video.
• Make the title catchy or controversial without being misleading.
• Tag your videos with relevant and unique keywords.
• Optimize your video thumbnail. Youtube provides three choices for the thumbnail, one of which is the exact middle of the video.
• Pay for the front page.

Do you have other tips to share?

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