How to Make Your Video Go Viral On YouTube: 10 Strategies To Use
YouTube is the second most popular website in the world, right after its parent company, Google. With more than 2.7 billion monthly users, YouTube is visited and loved by nearly a third of the entire world’s population. In fact, the average visitor clicks on nearly 12 pages per session and spends more than 20 minutes on the site at a time. It’s no wonder so many companies are trying to figure out how to make their videos go viral on YouTube!
Going viral on YouTube is a surefire way to get your brand in front of millions of people in a brief period of time. And, as we discussed when talking about how to make your video go viral on TikTok, going viral can save you time and money on your overall marketing budget!
Unfortunately, there’s some massive competition. About 3.7 million videos are uploaded to YouTube every day, totalling around 271,300 hours (about 31 years). That’s a lot of content!
With that in mind, learning how to make a video go viral on YouTube can feel like a long, difficult process (and there’s a little bit of luck involved as well). To help, we’ll outline some of the exact steps to follow for better YouTube success!
But before we dive into the strategy, let’s review some helpful background information.
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Table of Contents
Understanding YouTube Demographics in 2023
6 Company Videos That Went Viral On YouTube
Understanding Company Videos That Went Viral On YouTube
The 10 Most Viral YouTube Videos of All Time
Understanding the 10 Most Viral YouTube Videos of All Time
Understanding YouTube Demographics in 2023
With so much traffic and a steady stream of advertising, YouTube is now worth $29.71 billion. That’s largely thanks to its massive user base.
Some of Statista’s most important numbers for brands to know about YouTube:
Adults account for 82.1% of YouTube users
Users ages 25-34 are the largest demographic of YouTube users, accounting for 20.7% of overall users (11.9% male, 8.8% female)
Users ages 35-44 are the second largest demographic of YouTube users, accounting for 16.7% of overall users (9.1% male, 7.6% female)
The top five countries in terms of YouTube users are:
India - 467 million users
United States - 246 million
Brazil - 142 million
Indonesia - 139 million
Mexico - 81.8 million
With such a wide reach, many companies have turned to YouTube to reach more people—and they’ve even gone viral in the process.
6 Company Videos That Went Viral On YouTube
1. The Squatty Potty - The “This Unicorn Changed the Way I Poop” Video: With its bright colors, brilliant sense of humor, loveable mascot, and careful editing, this video launched the Squatty Potty—a stool for helping people use the bathroom—into mainstream conversation. Since launching seven years ago, the video below has garnered 41 million views on YouTube—and you can bet it received just as many across other social channels!
2. Blendtec - "Will It Blend?" Series: Blendtec is a major manufacturer of blenders, and they stand apart by going the extra mile to prove just how powerful and durable their blenders really are. While the “Will It Blend?” series has been popular across all social platforms, its most popular video shows the company slipping an iPad into the blender (a stunt that has collected 19 million views for the video below):
3. Metro Trains - “Dumb Ways to Die” Video: The “Dumb Ways to Die” video captivated an entire generation of children when it was first released, and it even spun off into a popular mobile game. This fun and silly video was a clever PSA campaign by Metro Trains to educate people on train safety, especially when it comes to proper behavior near the train tracks. The video was an overnight success, and it went a long way in educating the public about safety. In just over 10 years, the video has earned 289 million views and more than 200,000 comments.
4. Volvo - “The Epic Split” Video: Jean-Claude Van Damme was one of Hollywood’s biggest action heroes in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and he was well known for his martial arts prowess and impressive flexibility. To help Volvo showcase their new trucks’ stability, Van Damme pulled off one of his most impressive stunts to date: a controlled split between two moving Volvo tractor trailers. The public went nuts over the video, and it has gathered millions of views since it was first released.
5. Dollar Shave Club - “Our Blades Are F***ing Great” Video: The Dollar Shave Club has never been afraid of experimentation in its marketing. And with the “Our Blades Are F***ing Great” video, the brand pushes the envelope on language to demonstrate just how serious they are about the quality of their blades.
6. Old Spice - “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” Video: Old Spice has spent the last decade producing wildly entertaining and successful commercials for its body wash and related products for men. Some of these videos have become incredibly popular both on TV and on YouTube, and the “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” video has amassed 61 million views on the Old Spice channel alone.
Understanding Company Videos That Went Viral On YouTube
There are a few common denominators within these videos. They are:
Inventive. From content to technique, these videos are unique. The Old Spice commercial is impressive partially because of the way it was shot. Isaiah Mustafa maintains eye contact with the camera the entire time, while the background around him changes in one seamless shot. It’s incredibly unique! Similarly, the Squatty Potty commercial introduces us to a mystical character in a magical land.
Risky. The Dollar Shave Club video is successful in part because it insisted on using (and censoring) the F-word. The Volvo video is successful in part because of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s stunt. The Metro Train video really only becomes relevant to the PSA’s primary goal in the final second of the video. All of these are risks, and they could have gone incredibly wrong. Fortunately for these companies, the risk paid off!
Entertaining. Each video is entertaining in its own way. Even if the videos weren’t about an actual product, they would still have value for their entertainment value. These videos aren’t just about the value of a product or the message behind a PSA; they’re fun and exciting all on their own.
All of these are important when trying to make your video go viral on YouTube, but there’s another important element for creating popular YouTube videos, which we’ll explain next.
The 10 Most Viral YouTube Videos of All Time
As of September 2023, the most popular YouTube videos of all time are:
Baby Shark Dance - 13 billion views
Despacito - 8.2 billion views
Johny Johny Yes Papa - 6.7 billion views
Bath Song - 6.3 billion views
Shape of You - 6 billion views
See You Again - 6 billion views
Wheels on the Bus - 5.5 billion views
Phonics Song With TWO Words - 5.4 billion views
Uptown Funk - 5 billion views
Learning Colors – Colorful Eggs On A Farm - 4.9 billion views
Understanding the 10 Most Viral YouTube Videos of All Time
The most viral YouTube videos of all time feature at least one of two common denominators:
They include music. All of the top 10 videos include music in some way. Sometimes, like with “Despacito,” they’re music videos. Often, though, they use music as a platform for teaching or entertaining children.
They’re made for kids. Kids under 18 may account for less than 18% of YouTube’s monthly users, but many of the most popular YouTube videos are made for them.
None of this is to say you should create music videos for children and shoehorn your product into the overall message, but it is to say that you should understand an important truth: People love music!
How to Make Your Video On YouTube Go Viral: 10 Tips to Follow
To improve your chances of going viral on YouTube, follow this advice:
1. Be Engaging.
The best YouTube videos are the most engaging and entertaining—especially within the first few seconds.
Many experts will say you should try to get a great hook into your YouTube video within the first five seconds. Others say the research shows you have 15 seconds.
But the main idea is this:
Get your hooks into the viewer within the first seconds. This will make sure they stick around at least for the first couple of minutes. And if your video is only a couple of minutes long, that’s great!
Use additional hooks to keep people around. Slick transitions, branded overlays, and even phrases like “You’ll never guess what happened next!” or “You won’t believe this” in your narration can keep viewers involved even after your initial introduction.
Don’t let your video get boring or stale!
Example: Girls Don’t Poop
This video has one of the best and most unexpected intros of all time: A bathroom stall door opens to reveal a beautiful woman in a colorful dress.
And with the title of “Girls Don’t Poop,” the video plays directly into a classic childhood myth.
Combined, those two factors are more than enough to grab and hold the viewer’s attention!
2. Use Great Audio.
As we mentioned earlier, the top 10 most popular YouTube videos of all time incorporate music.
That doesn’t mean you need to create a song to promote your new widget or updated service offering just to go viral on YouTube.
But you should be mindful of how your video sounds.
Bad audio quality cheapens your video quality by association.
And a catchy song is just a nice bonus!
Example: Flip the Funk On Pet Odor
Captivating, colorful, and unpredictable, this video is hard to look away from—and its catchy soundtrack makes the overall package even more irresistible.
And the proof is in the numbers: This video notched 3 million views within two weeks of getting published!
3. Be Inventive.
We discussed this briefly when looking at those popular branded videos.
Some of the best corporate videos are simply creative. And people like creativity.
Finding a clever way to stage your shots, launching a new, relevant character, or writing witty scripts can be helpful in getting your video to stand out.
There’s some value in re-inventing the wheel here. You’ll face massive competition with every video you create, so it’s worth being inventive in your approach to creating new video content.
Example: The Princess Machine
This video follows the progression of a cute, colorful Rube Goldberg machine that’s simply impossible to look away from. Add in the factor of young girls involved in a cool STEAM activity, you’ve also got an ad that plays into social progress—for a toy that focuses on engineering.
4. Leverage Cards and End Screens.
If you don’t recognize these YouTube elements by name, you definitely recognize them in practice. Cards and end screens are simply ways to encourage people to watch more of your content.
Cards are CTAs that pop up in the middle of your video. End screens are CTAs that pop up at the end of your video.
YouTube offers some pretty sophisticated flexibility around these as well, so read up and use them strategically!
Example: Alter
Alter, the popular short-form horror channel, uses end screens on each video to promote related films. This helps viewers find even more great content they’re likely to love (and eventually share with their friends).
More recently, though, Alter also started using end screens to sell company merchandise—helping them earn more money while plugging great content!
5. Use YouTube Shorts.
YouTube Shorts are brief, vertical-oriented videos designed to help YouTube compete against TikTok and Instagram.
By default, YouTube Shorts tend to perform better (i.e., gain more impressions) than longer-form videos.
Experiment with YouTube Shorts to see how much traction you can gain.
Pro Tip: You can use YouTube Shorts to promote longer-form content, like video podcasts or documentaries.
Example: Changha
Changha’s silly video about the challenges of getting water on your phone screen is charming and relatable enough, but putting that video into the Short format has helped him amass nearly 5 million views from this video alone!
6. Pay Attention to SEO and Your Copy.
YouTube is the world’s second biggest search engine, which means your video name and description are major factors in how your video gets discovered.
Getting a solid grasp of basic SEO principles is a good step in increasing your reach and discoverability on YouTube.
But here are some basic tips:
Use a descriptive, keyword-rich title. While there’s plenty to learn and read about keywords from a technical perspective, think about them this way: What are people searching for that you would want your video to show up for? Use those terms in your title and description copy!
Use a handful of hashtags. Hashtags can help short and link your content with other content across YouTube. It’s an important tool, so don’t overlook it!
Write a detailed description. Your description is a good place to plug your brand and seamlessly weave in additional keywords to help you pull in more traffic.
Example: What Is Artificial Intelligence?
Hubspot is a global leader in content marketing and SEO best practices, so leave it to them to write a great headline and video description!
Another clever tactic: They’ve embedded numerous related links into their description to push viewers into other products and thought leadership they’ve published, helping them turn viewers into customers!
7. Create Content Consistently.
Sometimes, it’s not all about the value of one video. It’s the value of many videos together. Blendtec’s “Will It Blend?” series is a clever collection of videos that is best presented as a collection, not as a single video.
Example: The Hydraulic Press Channel
That’s the same reason the Hydraulic Press Channel is so popular: It’s a simple, easy-to-consume format that encourages viewers to binge-watch multiple videos at a time.
As a rule, getting viewers excited to watch other videos is a good move, and it’s helped the channel amass almost 8 million subscribers.
8. Share Your Content.
Most content needs a little push before it gets traction. Share your YouTube videos:
On your Facebook account
On your Instagram account
On your TikTok account
In your email blast
Anywhere else you have an audience
Yes, you might end up going viral on one of those platforms instead of your YouTube channel, but at least you’ll still be going viral!
9. Have A Great Thumbnail.
In many cases, your thumbnail will be the first impression for many people who stumble across your content.
Make sure your thumbnail looks eye-catching even when it’s small enough to show up in the YouTube app on someone’s phone!
Example: Danny MacAskill’s Imaginate
Thumbnail:
The thumbnail for this classic Red Bull video is so captivating because it shows a man on a bike in front of a massive toy-like loop, as if he was riding on an oversized Hot Wheels track.
In fact, the entire video is Danny riding on oversized kid toys, but the thumbnail draws the eye in. Take note: The black background calls extra attention to the loop and the biker, which makes the entire graphic feel a tiny bit like Alice In Wonderland.
10. Tap Into Trends and Controversy.
You don’t have to create vanilla content. Playing into the latest trends can make you immensely popular.
Right now, pranks and challenges are all the rage. That doesn’t mean you need to shout in people’s ears on the sidewalk or dump yourself into a bucket of ice, but it does mean you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously!
Example: The Vegan Sausage Roll
Greggs’ video for their new sausage roll is unexpectedly clever: It parodies the Apple commercials to show off the “features” of the new Greggs product.
With its clever editing and extreme close-ups, this video plays into the trend of showcasing hi-tech products while promoting a new item!
Find Help Making Your YouTube Video Go Viral
If you’re not sure where to get started in going viral on YouTube, contact us! We can help you ensure you’re putting the best foot forward.
For additional ideas, check out our full range of video production services.
