Anatomy of a Viral Video
Every time a new huge viral video comes around, people inevitably ask “I wonder why that went viral”. While this question is very difficult to answer, I thought I would give my theory on qualities of a viral video.
The first thing about a viral video is that it must be one of a kind. When someone sees a viral video, they have never seen anything like it. There is something that makes it totally unique. This leads to what actually makes the video go viral: The first reaction someone has after watching the viral video is to share it. Sure, you can advertise the heck out of a video by paying tens of thousands of dollars on your favorite ad network, but that won’t make a video go viral. If you make a video that makes people say “Bill/Susy/Bob has to see this!”, you may have a viral video.
The final part of the factor in the equation is chance. That’s right, even if you have a totally unique video that makes people want to share it, it could simply just not go viral. What made Gangnam Style get a billion views while other funny viral songs only get 10 Million? Well, there is really no way to tell; it just does. As a matter of fact, most people who make a video never expect that one to go viral.