Video advertising is quickly becoming a hot commodity, and companies are starting to see the benefit of moving their advertising to a digital medium. Not only have they began to place video across their website but they post it to their social media accounts. It’s easy to find examples of this from big name brands. Think of the days preceding this years super bowl, social media streams were filled with videos from brands such as Budweiser, Amazon and Mountain dew. But what is it that makes these videos so popular? You could argue that it was because a lot of money was put behind them, and they paid astronomical amounts to air it during the super bowl, but if these videos didn’t have appeal, they wouldn’t be shared the next day. So we took a look at what elements are required for an intriguing and shareable video that can be incorporated even with the smallest of budgets.
One of the best ways to get people to share a video is to evoke some kind of emotion. Making people feel something is the best way to grab attention and make people want to share your content. Take Extra chewing gum for example. At the end of 2015 their ad went viral, simply because they made everyone cry. That’s right an ad for a ridiculously mundane product made thousands of people shed tears, causing viewers to share the video, most likely to make other people cry so they didn’t feel stupid that they were crying over chewing gum.
A YouTube comment under this video says, ‘probably one of the only video ads I won’t skip’. Now that’s an achievement if ever I saw one.
Making a viewer laugh is not an easy feat but, if you can do that chances of your video being shared significantly increases. How about the series of ads from Old Spice. These ads can only be described as a random series of events that don’t really mean anything but with over 52 million views on YouTube, it gave new life to the 82 year old brand.
Using video that are considered ‘timely’ can also increase the chance of a video going viral. A timely theme can encompass many different aspects. It could be inspired by a recent popular news event, a public holiday or a popular event.
Our advice would usually be to stay away from the generally morbid topics, but it seemed to work for EDEKA, the German supermarket brand. Their 2015 Christmas ad had a man fake his own death so his children would come to Christmas diner. With over 47 million views morbid seemed to have worked for them.
Inspiring viewers is another great way to gain shares. Leaving people with a warm fuzzy feeling and motivating them to take action in their own life will make people want to share your video and in turn inspire friends and family. Here’s an ad from the Discovery channel, it’s an oldie but a goodie.
The likelihood of a video going viral where every second scene is a shot of a company’s logo, or of a person talking constantly about the company is slim.
A video ad that has any potential to go viral should portray a brand’s message but without being highly promotional. These type of videos are a great way for a company to show their brand’s personality and create solid brand recognition, rather than trying to push their product. If the video is good enough it will encourage sales anyway.
Another thing to remember when creating a video that you want people to share is that you need to have a marketing plan.
Just simply uploading a video to YouTube or a social networking site will not be enough to increase views and get people to share the video. You need to plan how people are going to see your video initially. It could be as simple as just asking people to share your video. Asking friends is a good starting point, but if you could get someone with a high level of influence on social media to share your video, that one share could result in thousands of views.
It is not an easy task to create a viral video, a lot of thought must go into it, and even with that there’s still no guarantee that your video will gain multiple views, but you can certainly help it along with some excellent content.
With over 85 million stock images and clips it’s easy to create your dream Video ad. Why not create yours today at Viddyad.com
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