6 Tips on How to Create Viral Short Videos for Social Media

In today’s overcrowded social media world, learning how to create viral short videos is a great idea.

Viral marketing videos spread fast online and get millions of likes, shares, comments, and views.

And that’s not all.

Short-form video is dubbed the most engaging type of in-feed social content by 66% of marketers.

No wonder, 33% of marketers plan to invest more in short-form video content than any other type of social media strategy in 2023.

Granted, short-form video is captivating, engaging, and boosts conversions.

However, learning how to create viral short videos that resonate well with your target audience is never an easy task.

Fret not, we’ll show you how to go about it and win big on social media.

But before that, here are a few things you need to understand.

What Makes a Video Go Viral on Social Media?

Creating viral videos on social media is the dream of every marketer—a powerful way to generate marketing leads.

Generally, videos go viral on social media when they connect with their audience, make them laugh, inform, teach, and persuade them.

Here are a few key elements of viral videos:

They tell a story They aren’t promotional They connect with the emotions of your audience  They are relevant They make people laugh

How to Create Viral Short Videos for Social Media Step by Step

Follow these simple techniques to create short-form videos that generate more views in a shorter period.

1. Understand Your Target Viewers

Knowing your audience, including what they want (or don’t want) is vital when planning to create viral short videos for your social media marketing strategy.

In fact, understanding what resonates with them and motivates them to share your video can help to increase the number of views on your videos.

Start by creating a comprehensive avatar that represents your target audience. It’ll help you identify who your target viewers are, which social media platforms they use, what they do for fun, etc.

Here are some tips to help you:

Create well-rounded social media personas Examine your social media analytics Use Google Analytics Engage with your audience to understand what video content they’d want to see  See the types of viral videos your competitors are creating  Analyze data from your customer service tool understand customer preferences and interests

Gathering all this information will help you understand what grabs your viewers’ attention and what video content they are searching for on social media.

Once you have this information, you’ll find it much easier to find viral content ideas.

2. Determine Your Video Marketing Goals

Learning how to create viral short videos for social media isn’t enough for a successful social media video marketing strategy. You also need to determine why you want your videos to go viral.

Even if your videos go viral, if you aren’t achieving anything with them, you’re wasting resources.Here are 5 goals you can accomplish with social media video marketing according to Sprout Social.

Of course, you could have different goals you want to achieve with your viral short videos including:

Boosting brand awareness Increasing revenue and sales Sharing knowledge and educating your viewers Introducing the latest products Boosting customer service and loyalty  Increase your online following

Each goal will require you to create specific kinds of short videos for your audience.

Most importantly, your goals should align with your overall business goals.

3. Draft a Creative Video Content Brief

Prepare a thorough video content brief and storyboard. 

It’ll help you pin down the message you want to pass to your audience, the tone and length of your video, as well as the distribution channel. This will help you stay aligned with your goals. 

Here are important elements to include in your video content brief:

Video title: The topic of your video. For instance, you could share event planning tips to market your event planning and management brand. Description: What you want to cover in the video. Vital items to include: Include anything specific you need to add to the video. Related content: List any related content you intend to include or use as reference for your videos. Competitors: The types of video content your competitors are creating that you want to outshine. Social media platforms: What channels do you plan to post your videos on—and what version is best for each channel? Video format: What video format do you intend to use? Keywords: To improve your video rankings on social media, you need to identify what keywords to target. Hashtags to include: They help to make your video discoverable by your audience. Call to action: What action do you want your audience to take after watching your videos?

4. Create a Compelling Concept

To create viral videos for social media, draft a top-notch, compelling video script to grab your viewers’ attention and ultimately achieve your goals.

You also need to brainstorm compelling content ideas to include in your script.

This will give your video a logical flow.

Remember that your video needs to cover your message in the shortest time possible.

Here are key pointers for creating viral short videos:

Start with a hook: Grab your audience’s attention with a catchy opening. Here, you can use an interesting fact, joke, or memorable statement. Use effective video editing tools: Outstanding video edits are what will grab your audience’s attention. Use powerful video editing tools. Here is a post on video editing software by Attrock. Video additions: Include images, emojis, or other components that help to attract viewers. Keep the video short and to the point: According to a recent Vidyard Video in Business Benchmark Report, 62% of viewers say they will watch the whole business’ video if it’s less than 60 seconds long.

5. Tell a Story

Stories drive people to take action.

Besides, telling a story in your video is beneficial in many ways including:

It humanizes your brand It makes your audience remember you It helps to build a community that resonates with your brand Stories sell better

Tell a compelling story in the shortest time possible by finding a universal context for your concept. This is a great starting point to grab attention.

The good news is that you can come up with your stories and use AI text-to-video generators to transform them into a series of captivating short video clips.

6. Pay Attention to Popular Trends

To create viral short videos for social media marketing, you need to understand what’s trending on the platforms you intend to use.

Remember that in some platforms like TikTok, new trends come up constantly.

To make your video go viral, you need to jump on a trend the moment it comes up. This will make your audience see you as a trendsetter.

Search for trending songs, hashtags, sounds and other elements that appear at the top of your Reels feed, TikTok trends, Twitter trending topics, etc.

Be sure to put your own spin on a trend in your content to remain unique.

Pro tip: Ensure your brand’s social media page has a professional profile picture that showcases your expertise and brand identity. You can use a profile picture maker to create stunning profile photos effortlessly.

Due to the benefits of going viral on social media, every marketer wants to create viral short videos. However, this is not an easy task to accomplish.

While there is no guarantee that your videos will go viral on social media, following these tips and guidelines can increase your chances.