Millennials want to go viral

Millennials want their content to go viral. Millennials keep their phones with them at all times. Sometimes having your phone with you to capture acts of kindness, police brutality, criminal evidence, etc etc is great. Other times having your phone can be a complete distraction... like when you use Snapchat the entire night instead of actually enjoying your time out. After watching Kevin Allocca discuss why videos go viral on TED Talks I came up with my own criteria. Kevin explained that a viral video must have three things: tastemakers, communities of participation and unexpectedness. I think that's totally untrue. People often go viral that arent considered tastemakers.Tastemakers are usually respected or knowledgeable in some field. The first person that came to mind when I thought of viral was the young lady who appeared on Dr.Phil and coined the catch phrase "Cash Me Outside, How Bout Dat".

Since being scene on the Dr.Phil Danielle Brigolli has launched a T-Shirt line and has also been featured on rapper's Kodak Black's music video. Danielle managed to go viral by being disrespectful and speaking in a urban tone. Danielle wears gold hoop earrings and has red hair. Danielle went "viral" from portraying a hood persona and having an apperance that does not "match up" to her behavior. I believe in order to go viral you must do something 1. totally unorthodox, 2.be very talented, 3. be very attractive or 4. do something others want to do but are too afraid to do.

Now it seems to be very easy to go viral. In order for a video to considered viral by some it must have at least 5 million views. I disagree. I believe a viral video in your community could consist of maybe 500 shares depending on the population but if majority of the community has seen it, it is considered viral. I have a highschool classmate who has capitalized off of making provocative dancing videos. She goes by the name of Ghetto Barbie. Ghetto Barbie fits into category 3. her appearance is attractive or appealing to her huge audience. Ghetto Barbie has also been scene on the biggest urban entertainment site WSHH. 

I also gathered some more reasons why things go viral on Forbes.com . Forbes suggest that these 6 things make a video go viral...

Keep it Short

The Twitter generation only uses 140 characters to communicate. Our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, which means it’s time to tighten up your 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.

Since you’ll 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 strike 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, it might be time to brush up on your 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, just look at how many 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

Your 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.

At my company Pluto.TV, we curate the best videos for viewers, whether they’re looking for world news or cat videos. You need to take a similar approach to your videos, and curate the best and most informative content to surprise and inform your viewers.

Be Inspiring

By now, the incredible story of Upworthy’s success is old news. The site skyrocketed to 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 you want, look for stories to inspire your readership, 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.

Creating viral videos isn’t easy -- if it was, every business would have a few viral hits. These six pieces of advice can help you improve your content’s sharability and quality, improving your odds at viral success.