Viral videos are the best way to get your brand in front of people. They can make a huge impact in just a few hours —they have the potential to reach hundreds of thousands, even millions of people in a matter of days or weeks.
But how do you know if your video is going to be a hit? How many views does it need? And what’s the best way to get those views?
We’ve got all of your answers right here! Read on to find out how many views are required for a viral video, as well as how you can boost your own videos’ reach.
What Does “Going Viral” Mean?
When we say that a video is going viral, we’re referring to its ability to be shared on social media and viewed by lots of people.
Viral videos are those that prompt millions of reactions and views from users — people share them over and over again with friends and family on social platforms, and they attract lots of clicks and engagement. This makes it more likely that other users see the video too, which increases its reach even further.
What makes a video go viral?
Now here’s where things get tricky: there are a lot of factors that go into determining a video’s “virality” potential. However, there isn’t a step-by-step formula to follow.
Some viral videos are funny, like the classic “Charlie bit my finger” – which quickly got 886 million views after being uploaded. Others, like the 30-minute documentary “KONY 2012” (with over 103 million views to date), are educational.
There are also viral videos that are purely emotional, like “Dove Real Beauty Sketches”. This ad amassed 69.6 million views by sharing an empowering message to women.
The most important thing to remember is that all these videos are, in their own ways, interesting and engaging. This means that if you want to make a video go viral, it’s best to create something that’s inspirational, funny, fresh, or unique.
Can Any Type Of Video Go Viral?
In theory, all types of video content are capable of going viral. But the truth is that not just any video can become the next big thing.
To go viral, a video has to be catchy and compelling enough to make people want to share it with their friends, family, and/or followers.
How Do Viral Videos Spread?
The most common way viral videos spread is through social media. Users repost the video or share them on their Facebook pages, Instagram accounts, Twitter feeds, and other social media platforms. They share it with their friends and followers, who then see it and share it as well. This creates a domino effect of viral sharing which can spread the video far and wide.
How Many Views is Viral?
There’s a lot of debate about how many views on a video are considered viral. It’s a very subjective measure, and there’s no clear-cut answer. The most popular number seems to be 5 million, but some videos become viral with just 1 million views.
What’s important here is to understand that viral status doesn’t entirely depend on how many views a video gets, but also on how long it takes it to get those views.
In other words, if you make a video that gets 5 million views in 4 years, it’s not necessarily viral because it didn’t get those views fast enough. But if you make a video that gets 5 million views in 3 days, then we can call it viral.
How many likes does it take to go viral?
Engagement is another key element to achieving viral status. The more people are engaged with your video, the more likely they are to share it with others.
However, the number of likes a viral video needs varies depending on the social media platform. For example, on Instagram and Facebook, you can go viral with just 100,000 likes. On TikTok, the requirement gets higher: between 250,000 and 1 million likes and views.
How To Make a Viral Video
The short answer is there’s no one-size-fits-all formula to create a viral video. The best thing about them is that they’re extremely adaptable —they can be used for so many different purposes and audiences.
That said, there are some things you can do to increase the likelihood of your video going viral:
- Make sure your video is engaging and entertaining.
- Include an emotional hook (a compelling reason for people to share it) at the beginning of your video that will get viewers interested enough to watch more than just the first 30 seconds.
- Keep it simple. The more complicated your video is, the higher the barrier for users to share it and get it out into the world.
- If possible, don’t make your video too long! You want people to watch it in its entirety rather than skip through parts of it. If you have to, try to keep it unique and engaging.
- Be original. There’s nothing wrong with copying your favorite YouTube stars or other great digital content creators, but you need to come up with something fresh and exciting if you want people to massively share your video.
- Make it easy for people to share your content on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by using hashtags that relate back to the story or theme of your video (e.g., #advice #success)
Final Thoughts
It’s a proven fact: viral videos are one of the most effective ways to get your message out there and reach a lot of people at once.
However, there are a lot of factors that go into determining how many views a video needs to be successful. There are also different ways to measure success —and those methods aren’t always crystal clear-cut either.
That being said, it’s safe to say that a viral video is one that has an interesting concept, is engaging, and is relevant. So if you want to create one, make sure to keep these elements in mind.
