How to Make a Viral Video: Lesson 2

The Purpose Behind Viral Videos

This is the second of a 10 Lesson series on How to Make a Viral Video.

You can find the entire course here

So why do you want to make a viral video? Some people want to make their cute cat or baby go viral. Some companies want to make their next product appear in every single cellphone screen in the world, and some professional, freelance storytellers, like myself, want to produce videos that perform very well online so we can keep getting better and bigger projects from some of the most influential media networks in the world.

It doesn't matter who you are or why you want to make a video go viral. The 4 principles behind making viral videos can be applied to any format and it is my job to teach them all to you.

And just because I can feel the impatience brewing, here are the 4 principles:

#1) Capture Reality

#2) Be Concise

#3) Be Unique

#4) Focus on Humanity

In the lessons ahead, we will tackle every principle and show how, combined and applied, they can drastically increase the chances of your videos going viral.

NOTE;

I am a freelance producer and journalist with over 7 years of experience producing digital content for some of the biggest networks in the world (National Geographic, Discovery Digital Networks, AJ+, ABC News, Univisión, The New York Post, among many others). The reason why I've been able to continuously produce new videos and successful content for all of these heavyweight networks is because I produce, every one of my videos, applying as best as I can, the 4 principles behind “sherability” and subsequent “virability.”

THE PRACTICAL USAGE OF VIRAL:

Over the course of my career as a journalist and video producer, I have learned how to transpose all the elements that made videos like “the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment” (from yesterday’s lesson) viral and apply them to my everyday work and the stories that I tell.

In lesson #9 we’ll review, as a case study, a video that I recently published with the New York Post. It got 1.8 million unique views in 3 days effectively making it viral.

So let’s get ready to tackle the 4 principles behind creating successful videos online.

Up next, we start with principle #1: Capture Reality

Until our next lesson.

NEW PODCAST FOR FREELANCE JOURNALISTS!

THE FREELANCE JOURNALIST 5 MINUTE TALKSHOW

This is a practical blow of fresh air when it comes to podcasts. My team and I have just started producing a podcast designed specifically for freelance journalists and video producers in mind with the belief that 5 minutes of short interviews with media experts and colleagues, and quick hands-on advice, can be much more effective and valuable than 45 minutes discussions.

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