Kseniya I. Content Marketing Expert

What is a viral ad and how to make a viral video

Viral advertising is advertising content that is distributed due to the interest of the audience. Users put likes, repost videos and pictures, discuss them, argue with each other and share emotions.

Due to this tool, brands increase the reach of promotional campaigns and improve their reputation. In this article, we will talk about how to create a viral video ad.

Why are viral ads good?

Viral advertising is relatively inexpensive. You only need to spend money on the production of the video and the initial placement of content. Promotion costs may arise when influencers are connected to quickly start a campaign.

If the ad goes viral, the brand gets:

- a high degree of trust and loyalty of users, after all, content is recommended to them by acquaintances, friends and people from the communities in which they are members;

- stable positive association as it is fixed in the memory of users that the video is associated with the brand;

- no imposing effect: the person himself decides to get acquainted with the content and distribute it further;

- large content coverage, the influx of new audiences and potential consumers;

- sometimes the campaign becomes indefinite as a good video can "roam" the web for years.

What are viral videos

Let's see how viral advertising could be classified.

Scandals, intrigues, investigations. This type of advertising is often used to promote new films. The creators take advantage of the fact that gossip and conflicts spread well among users. In addition, they are actively picked up by the media, making the noise even louder.

Insider information. Advertising with secret information about any product, service or phenomenon. Its popularity is explained by the fact that everyone wants to feel special and be among the first to learn information that is not available to everyone.

This year, for example, designer Parvez Khan posted a video from the iPhone 14 Pro, where he showed the design of the smartphone, based on renders that hit the Web earlier.

Celebrity advertising. The popularity of the stars helps the active distribution of the video among users. However, the participation of famous people in advertising is not a determining factor, the message, idea, plot and what a person does in the frame are important.

Humor, cuteness and cats. This includes everything that causes strong emotions in users and the desire to share them with many people.

Social or political overtones. Here it is important to get into the pain of the target audience and correctly highlight the topic that worries them. Content on current events and issues is quickly distributed among users. Such videos are understandable to everyone, they want to be discussed and they want to be shared.

Principles of creating a viral video

Popular commercials on the Web usually meet three basic conditions:

1. You can come up with a cool viral headline for them. A large role in the distribution of video is played by the media, which picks up the news and tells people about it. It should be easy for a journalist to pack the meaning of your advertising campaign, then more people will pay attention to it. A project that cannot be named interestingly and intriguingly loses its viral potential.

2. You can and want to argue about them. When developing an idea, try to talk about it with a variety of people. If the disputes are long, and the arguments sound very different and unexpected, after the release of the video, the target audience will also start the discussion.

3. They want to share. It is important that the emotion is so strong that the person wants to tell someone else about it. It is difficult to predict such an effect, but a thorough analysis of the target audience and its main pains will help you understand in which direction you need to move. It's best to do a little questionnaire and find out from people what worries them the most today and why.

These principles underlie all viral ideas. Then it's up to the creative and the more non-standard you approach the problem, the more accurate the insight, the higher the likelihood that the video will go viral.

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