According to The Wall Street Journal, to create a successful viral video for the Internet needs three things:
- Great Content: It needs to be something that people are going to watch. Fifteen million people "tuned in" to watch 200+ people freeze in place at Grand Central Station in New York. It doesn’t have to be something so large scale, a video about a little boy’s conversations after the dentist received over 10 million views, so whether it’s funny, sad, out of the ordinary or even just plain dumb, people will watch it.
- A Fan Base: Scott Goodman, a South Florida based shooter / editor and owner of Owen Creative, stated that, "I find that if I can get images in front of people, sometimes a few seconds of attention is all it takes." If they like what they see, they’ll pass it along. Improv Everywhere, the ringleaders of The Grand Central Station stunt, has released over 80 videos with similar stunts, which never could have been done without a strong fan base. Know who you want your fans to be and build your content around that.
- Search Engine Optimization: You have to put a lot of thought into how you name and tag your videos. Pick a title that really fits your video and is something people could search for. If your video isn’t easy to discover, it might never make the viral leap.
To get started on your own viral video, the niche site ProductionHUB! says you should Start uploading videos to your profile on ProductionHUB.com.
