TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts: How to Create a Viral Video

Overview

Short-formulary videos on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts took an important place in  social media. Millions of people scroll through them daily, making it a memorable opportunity for creators to go viral. But how do you make a video that stands out and gets millions of views and make the video viral?

The pivotal to viral success is creating content that captures attention quickly, keeps viewers engaged, and encourages interaction. Whether it’s through catchy music, changing editing, or a fun cartoon effect, you need to make your video memorable. Viral videos often rely on trends, emotions, and relatability to connect with audiences.

In this book, we’ll cover the pivotal elements of viral videos, maxims to lift engagement, and some artifices to make your content pop.

1. Know Your Audience

Before creating content, analyze your audience. Analyzing your audience helps you create videos they actually want to see. 

Ask yourself:

• What topics are trending in your niche? Find analytics for that. Analyze competitors
• What type of content works most with your primary customers?
• Which formats (intrepid, educational, inspirational, infographic, animals) work best?

Check trends, hashtags and sounds to get a sense of what’s working.

2. Use Effects and Filters like Video cartoonizer or Anime Style

Distinctive visuals help videos stand out. Try employing:

• Special effects like slow-motion or zooms.
• Color filters that fit your aesthetic.
• Video cartoonizer to turn your video into an animated clip!

Creative effects like cartoons, anime or sketches make your content more eye-catching and memorable.

3. Hook Viewers in the First 3 Seconds

People scroll fast. If you don’t grab their attention in the first few seconds, they’ll move on. Here’s how to hook them:

• Start with a bold question or statement.
• Use fast cuts and changing visuals.
• Show something unusual or surprising right away.

Your aim is to make viewers curious enough to watch until the end.

4. Use Trending Sounds and Music

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram focus on videos that use popular sounds. To find trending audio:

• Browse the Trending section of TikTok’s sound library.
• Check Instagram Reels’ “Use Audio” have.
• Look at what other viral videos are employing.

Adding a trending sound can lift your video’s chances of appearing on more people’s feeds.

5. Keep It Short and Snappy

Attention spans are short, so keep your videos appropriate and to the point. Here’s how:

• Cut out unnecessary parts.
• Use quick edits and transitions.
• Keep most videos between 7-15 seconds for the best results.

Shorter videos tend to get rewatched, which signals to the algorithm that people like them.

6. Add Captions and Text

Many people watch videos without sound. Adding captions helps keep their attention. You can:

• Use auto-caption tools in TikTok and Instagram.
• Add bold text for pivotal points.
• Highlight important words to make them stand out.

Captions make videos more accessible and appropriate.

7. Engage with Your Audience

The more interaction your video gets, the better it performs. Encourage engagement by:

• Asking viewers to comment their thoughts.
• Creating polls or questions in captions.
• Replying to comments to keep conversations going.

Responding to comments and appropriate with followers helps build a loyal audience.

8. Post at the Right Time

Timing matters when posting videos. To get the best reach:

• Post when your audience is most active (check analytics for discoveries).
• Avoid times when people are likely offline (very early mornings or late nights).
• Experiment with different posting times to find what works best.

Generally, evenings and weekends tend to have higher engagement rates.

9. Join forces and team up with Other Creators

Collabs expose your content to a bigger audience. You can:

• Duet or Stitch another creator’s video.
• Team up with influencers in your niche.
• Join viral trends and obstacles with others.

Combined endeavor boosts visibility and increases your chances of going viral.

10. Test as Many Hypotheses as You Can

Not every video will go viral, and that’s okay. Do experiments on regular base and test different styles:

• Try new trends and formats.
• Analyze what’s working and improve.
• Analize analytics and video statistics

Consistency and adaptation are pivotal to long-term success.

Truth

Creating a viral short-formulary video takes creativity, strategy, and a bit of luck. By grabbing attention quickly, employing trending sounds, keeping videos short, testing cartoon style and other filters and appropriate with your audience, you increase your chances of success.

Want to make your content even more distinctive? Try Image Upscaler to improve your videos and take them to the next level!