How To Make A Viral Video on YouTube, Instagram Reels

Is there really a formula for how to make viral videos or content? Jonah Berger, Professor at Wharton Business School (Among World’s Top 3 B-Schools) believes there is.

We’ve all walked into that content meeting to discuss why our ingenious, perfectly designed video hadn’t hit the mark. Was it the message that did not resonate? Was it the content of the video? Or was it simply luck?

While everyone intrinsically understands that there's no answer to this question, that does not stem the inevitable frustrations. Being successful with organic/ inorganic content can spell the difference between the rise and fall of your business. So one often wonders, why does some content work and some doesn’t? How to make reels viral? How to make YouTube videos viral?

This is question being addressed in Jonah Berger’s book - ‘Contagious: How to Build Word of Mouth in the Digital Age’. It condenses the principles taught in his hugely popular Wharton Course - Viral Marketing. He believes that there are 6 commonalities among viral content that naturally encourage sharing. By incorporating these elements in social content/ ads/ articles, we can exponentially increase the probability of crafting genuine virality-induced content.

Impressed with his ideas and eager to try them, we devised a framework to incorporate his principles into a simple executable framework. We’re calling it the ‘STEPPS’ Framework, after the 6 principles detailed by Jonah. This framework can be used by founders, seasoned marketers and beginners alike.

Next time you step into a discussion about why your social content isn't working or what can you do about it, be armed with the STEPPS Framework to better craft your content. It’s a shortcut to utilise all the learnings of Wharton Business School into one simple structure.

In the meanwhile, here are the STEPPS that have been detailed in Contagious that can help you make viral videos.

STEPPS for How to Make A Viral Video

S - Social Currency

People like to share what makes them look good. What elevates their status.

Example - Speakeasies create an atmosphere of mystique and exclusivity, which naturally encourages their patrons to talk about them reverently in their inner circles.

Action - Encourage sharing by associating a sense of triumph, achievement or exclusivity with your product.

T - Triggers

The thought of your product or brand should be triggered in the mind of your customer at the point of use or purchase.

Example - Coca Cola is one of the best examples for creating effective triggers. It’s tagline ‘Thanda matlab Coca Cola’ is embedded in the minds of the Indian consumer. Anytime someone mentions ‘ Kuch thanda chahiye’, your first thought is probably Coca Cola.

Action - Create a unique trigger for your product or associate your product with already existing triggers to prompt purchase at the right time.

E - Emotion

People share when they are physiologically or physically excited, rather than in calm or low-energy states. They are more prone to action.

Example - News channels and sites often use this tactic. They share content likely to generate anger or awe to increase their TRPs.

Action - Evoke Highly arousing emotions like Awe, Anger, Disgust, Surprise into your content. Use feelings to reach the hearts of your consumers, not information.

P - Public

Monkey See, Monkey Do. People tend to imitate what they see others in their peer group doing.

Example - Dove championed the body positivity movement by making real people and their bodied public through its massively successful ‘Real Beauty’ campaign

Action - Find a way to make the private usage of your product public. Make sure that your users are spreading the word intrinsically.

P - Practical Value

When you share something that is useful to the other person, it strengthens the bond between you two. Sharing is caring.

Example - Videos around tips and tricks, checklists, hacks etc. get shared often for their practical value.

Action - Pack a ton of value that compels the person to share with someone who will benefit from this information.

S - Stories

Stories are the wraps that tie facts together. People are social - they remember stories not information.

Example - The ‘Celebrations’ Ads by Cadburys are the perfect examples for stories that tug at heart strings and naturally integrate the gift of chocolate within itself.

Action - Integrate your brand into a story that is easier to remember and may create a natural trigger

How to Use STEPPS Framework

Here's how to use our STEPPS framework to create viral content

1. Collect the data and list out your latest social posts/ ads.

2. Put the details of these videos and their performance stats onto the framework.

3. Analyse what differences contributed to the success or failure of your content.

4. Pick up one of the content pieces you thought should have done well but didn't .

5. Revamp the post or create a similar piece by incorporating the missing elements.

6. Repost and analyse if it does better than the original post. This will help you assess whether you are going in the right direction.

7. Be patient. This strategy may not work at first go. Repeat for a few content pieces.

Remember that this framework is a guidepost. Not all content or videos that follow this framework will become successful. The idea is to increase the probability of success of a video by incorporating tried and tested elements into your viral video.