WHAT MAKES A GOOD VIRAL?

I did some research into what makes a good viral and from looking at lots of sources complied my own top seven elements that make a good viral. I will need to make sure i apply this to my own work.

Be Short and Sweet
Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, which means you must tighten up video content. A survey published in The New York Times found more than 19 percent of people had left a video after only 10 seconds. By a minute in, the video had lost a staggering 44 percent of viewers. You are likely to lose almost half of your audience by the end of minute one, put your most interesting, fascinating, funny, or surprising information first and foremost in your video. Creating viral video content is one place where you never want to save the best for last.

Be Upbeat 
Jonah Berger, author of the book Contagious: Why Things Catch On, found the most highly sharable content tended to evoke strong emotions in the reader or viewer. And of those emotions, the most sharable content tended to be that which had a positive or upbeat note. Using empirical research, Berger and UPenn Professor Katherine Milkman found happy emotions tended to outperform sad emotions in the realm of sharability. To be sharable, content needs to create an emotional chord in viewers. These same viewers are more likely to share upbeat content, so if you want your videos to go viral, it’s important to strive for a positive spin.

Be Timely 
If you want your videos to make the jump to virality, you need to be up to date with current events. By hooking into an existing Internet meme or popular topic, you increase the odds your content will be viewed and shared by those already interested in the topic. This can be anything from a current event in the world, to a pop culture topic dominating the news. For example, look at content attached to brands and the parodies of popular entertainment like Game of Thrones and Frozen exist on video channels. If you speak the same language as your target audience and present interest in the same topics, they’ll be more likely to share your content.

Be Involved
One of the keys to virality is engagement. Engaging with an audience can lead to loyalty and interest. After all, everyone likes to be heard. This is the approach taken by companies like Old Spice in several of advertising campaigns. At one point, the Old Spice man, played by actor Isaiah Mustafa, answered fan questions on social media in short YouTube videos. Adding an engagement portion to your videos, like answering viewer questions, can give your content a boost and make it more sharable.

Be Informative
The audience is always searching for new information and better ways to perform everyday tasks. If your video content is interesting and informative, it is also highly sharable. Everyone wants to learn something they didn’t already know, and videos can be a great tool for curating top-notch information. I need curate the best and most informative content to surprise and inform your viewers.

Does it need sound?
A huge amount of viral content is watched with the sound off on mobile devices near 50% so is it possible to make it work with or without sound? Tou could alienate huge audiences if it does not work without as well as with sound

Be Inspiring 
By now, the incredible story of Upworthy’s success is old news. The site managed more than six million unique page views per month in its first year, thanks in part to its famous (and infamous) headlines. Another reason is because the site looks to find inspiring stories to share with their large readership. To get the viral edge I need to look for stories to inspire and galvinate the audience, whether it’s a story of overcoming struggle, standing up in the face of adversity, or just finding success. Audiences love a good inspirational story, and the more inspirational it is, the more your audience will want to share it with others.