How to make a viral video – My learning from Ashish Chopra session

Digital is all about learning and experimentation. If you have been reading my blog Ahead with digital, you must be aware of how much I have stressed about the learning and exploring in this field. Even though this post is about my learning from my recent session with Ashish Chopra, I thought to share these amazing pointers with my audience as these insights can really benefit you all. So, read this post on “How to make a viral video” & take a step towards creating engaging content.

Who is Ashish Chopra?

He is an award winning viral video marketer. His work(his content) speaks for itself as there are gazzilion views and engagement on his content. Now, rather than talking about him, I would like you to Google and check his profile on Linkedin. I will continue with sharing my learning with you 🙂

What to expect from this blog post “How to make a viral video”?

This post is not about the creation of a video but what makes a video enticing? Why people watch the video and engage with it. Why some videos perform well than others and what people actually care about

How is this post on “How to make a viral video or content” will be helpful?

Every day every moment we are consuming one or another thing on the internet. India being such a huge market gives us a huge opportunity to make our business a success. If we talk in numbers, we have 450 million internet users in India who consume 25 hrs of content on the Internet in a week and 4 hrs daily. With these numbers, I hope we can clearly see a huge potential and opportunity we have……. Therefore, content plays a huge role when it comes to promoting your brand and business digitally. Also, check one of my earlier post on social media post ideas for small business

8 main points to consider for ” How to make a video viral”!

Through this blog post, I will be sharing 8 main points to consider while creating a video or even content for a brand that can help your customers connect and engage better.

1. Thinking from an audience perspective

Often we create video/content thinking about our business or brand. However, the reality is no matter how well our brand USPs are showcased or brand positioning has been done, our audience will decide what is significant to them. Basis the significance, they will engage.

Below are major challenges we face when it comes creating viral content

• In times of advertising, we have chaotic newsfeed
• Overwhelming content density
• Too much competition
• Survival of the fiitest & remarkable content
• Attention span of people is too low

To combat these challenges, we need to have content which actually intrigues our audience. Move to the next pointer to know the details of what people actually cares

2. What topics people actually care about

When I am talking about viral content, I mean content with which audience can engage organically(no paid promotion). We all are likely to engage with the content which is

• Inspirational
• Useful – By uses I don’t mean generic ones but the ones which address the pain points of our audience. Our business should clearly address these pain points
• Celebrate the audience life – Who doesn’t like celebration and excitement and the audience is happy when brands include them in such celebrations
• Topical – Even though ephemeral, but a vital ingredient for any business success. I have shared few post ideas earlier read them here
• Changing the world

Check the interesting video which is around the same lines. This brand Cars24 created the video for educating the audience

3. Important ingrediant in any type of content

A very important question to ask while publishing or creating content is “Is it worth sharing with others”. On digital, there are a plethora of tracking parameters to bewilder from views, impressions, likes comments to share. One needs to focus not on all but shares, comments & likes. The success of your content is determined by how much it is shared with others. You are doing great marketing if your product is reaching others through shares or adopt a strategy from the above mentioned points and start experimenting 🙂

4. Crucial time for crisp element

As mentioned above, attention span of everyone has reduced drastically so there is no point of having the crucial element/catchy thought at the end of video or content. We need to have that element in the starting so that users can stick to your video instead of scrolling down the feed.

It is suggested to have main element in first 3-6 seconds of your video or upfront on the creative. Always remember your brand is for the people so keep that care element in your communication

5. Mobile is universe now

Gone are the days when you are creating videos just for your youtube channel. One is on youtube when he thinks he is free and has spare time to spend. For shareable and viral content, it is important to have videos for Instagram, Facebook & twitter.

So, videos are recommended in square size for mobile. Check the youtube links added at the end

6. Topical Vs Forever content

Topical content plays a huge role and is important for brand pages so brand shouldn’t miss important calendar days. However, forever content never gets outmoded and can give views round the year and beyond.

7. Connect the theme & the brand

It is important to have content that is the intersection of the above topics and your business. For example, for Mother’s day, one needs to associate the brand with the Mother theme. You can see this wonderful video by food brand 24Mantra

8. Some videos for you 🙂

Sharing some interesting videos which we saw as a part of session. Would be happy to see small businesses experimenting around similar lines

A simple video as an initiative – Donate Fiod for labours during COVID19

I love this concept how travel company is paying tribute to mothers

This videos is great example how brand promoted a government initiative

Credits: Ashish Chopra

Thank Mr. Ashish for sharing these insights with us. I am just trying to take your teachings forward with this post