How to Go Viral On YouTube

Many content creators today dream of going viral on YouTube, as it helps them become famous on YouTube with massive exposure and access to several opportunities. By going viral, your video gains a massive amount of views within a short period and spreads rapidly across the platform. This often happens due to increased content engagement, algorithmic boosts, and more shares from viewers.

A viral video can benefit you in many ways, including getting more YouTube subscribers to your YouTube channel, earning more ad revenue, and attracting brand deals and collaboration opportunities. This article will give you a breakdown of what defines a viral video and practical tips to go viral on YouTube.

How Many Views Are Considered Viral on YouTube

While there isn’t a specific number of views to define virality, as it depends on several factors, a video is considered viral on YouTube when it has gained millions of views within a short period. Generally, if a video reaches over 100,000 views within days, it’s considered semi-viral, while hitting millions quickly means it has truly gone viral.

With views being the most important factor in determining the success of a video, one smart way to increase your view count is to buy them. You can purchase real YouTube views from GetAFollower for an instant boost in your view count.

This will trigger the YouTube algorithm to recommend your video to more users, boosting your organic reach and increasing your watch time and engagement rate. Examples of some viral YouTube videos and their view count growth over time include “Baby Shark Dance” by Pinkfong with over 10 billion views and “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee with over 8 billion views.

How to Make Your YouTube Video Go Viral

Here are some proven tips to make a video go viral on YouTube:

1. Create Captivating Content

The key to going viral on YouTube is to make videos people want to watch and share. Popular genres to create captivating content around include comedy, emotional videos, challenges, and educational content.

You can also create more shareable content like memes, relatable moments, or inspiring stories. Staying on top of trends increases the likelihood of creating viral content, so you may want to check out viral topics on YouTube in your niche and create content around that.

More importantly, regardless of the kind of content you create, focus on getting more engagement. Let your video have a strong appeal to potential viewers, making it more likely to be shared and increasing your success rate.

2. Hook Viewers in the First 10 Seconds

The attention span of the average internet user today has declined, so you want to ensure that you grab their attention within the first 10 seconds of your video. This attention-grabbing moment will often determine whether or not a user will continue watching your content.

Start with a bold question or strong statement that introduces your topic to keep viewers engaged. You can also use a teaser to build curiosity, which could be a catchy excerpt or clip from a lengthy video. Finally, avoid lengthy intros and focus on short introductions, so you can jump into value right away.

3. Craft Catchy Titles and Thumbnails

Making videos go viral on YouTube starts from the point of production, including using an irresistible title and an eye-catching thumbnail. By doing this, you grab your audience’s attention and convince them to click on the video and watch it. It also improves your ranking on search engines, helping you reach a wider audience.

When crafting your title, ensure it creates curiosity, offers a clear benefit, or sparks excitement. Let there be something to look forward to! Also, avoid clickbaits and let viewers get what they expect. Thumbnails, on the other hand, should be visually appealing. You can use bold text, bright colors, and expressive facial reactions to convince people to click.

4. Stay on Top of Trends

Creating relevant content around trending YouTube topics increases your chances of going viral. Many users today look forward to consuming fun and relatable content, and by using trending topics to your advantage, you can make your YouTube video viral.

To achieve this, keep an eye on viral challenges, news events, and social media discussions. You can use tools like Google Trends and X to spot trending topics and find the right main keywords.

You can also check for trending hashtags and insert them in your video description for a higher rank on search results, as YouTube’s Algorithm promotes videos created around trends, helping it reach a wider audience.

5. Optimize Video Quality

Getting your video to go viral on YouTube will require more intentionality, including focusing on your video quality, and this is beyond just creating entertaining videos. With high-quality engaging videos on YouTube, you leave your audience coming back for more, as viewers prefer well-edited and professional-looking content.

Invest in a stable camera setup and good lighting to get a professional result and make your video production worthwhile. You can also get familiar with quality editing tools to take your editing to the next level. Also, consider improving production with good sound quality to make a difference and boost your brand credibility

6. Consistency and Posting Frequency

As important as creating content is, you need to be consistent and make frequent uploads to go viral on YouTube. By doing this, you will be building an audience that looks forward to seeing your videos, getting you more views and engagement in the long run.

Successful YouTubers post frequently, and while you may want to follow in their footsteps, you should prioritize maintaining quality. This is beyond creating regular content, you need to ensure that every video they come across on your channel has great video and audio quality.

Even if a single video doesn’t get lots of views, being consistent will improve your channel discoverability and get you more views.

7. Connect With Your Viewers

Community engagement plays a huge role in making a viral video, as you need an active audience to constantly view and engage with your videos. Interacting with viewers can boost exposure, getting you more shares and subscriptions in the long run.

Start by responding to comments to build a loyal audience and encourage discussions. Actively asking for likes/shares and promoting audience participation can amplify reach, and you can do this with calls to action.

For example, asking viewers to subscribe or share their thoughts after each video. The more video engagement you get, the more YouTube recognizes your content as valuable, leading to more recommendations and chances of virality.

8. Promote Your Video Outside YouTube

If you want to create viral content, don’t rely solely on YouTube—spread your content across platforms for extra exposure. This will help you attract diverse audiences, some of whom may not have found your channel otherwise.

Take advantage of your online presence on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, X, and Reddit to increase visibility. You can also engage with members of like minds on Facebook groups and forums, or even email newsletters to drive traffic to your YouTube content. Create short clips from your videos to be shared on these platforms, so that users can see what to expect and be encouraged to check it out.

9. Use YouTube Shorts for Virality

It’s easier to gain traction on short clips, as they are easier and faster to watch. They also quickly capture attention and bring more views on YouTube shorts, compared to longer videos. This benefits you, because YouTube prioritizes Shorts, making them an effective way to increase discoverability.

Creating short engaging clips shouldn’t be stressful; you can simply repurpose videos from long-form content published on your page and just make shorter content from them. As these clips gain more views and reach a wider audience, they can lead viewers to your main content, helping you go viral on YouTube.

10. Partner with Popular YouTubers

There are several YouTube creators in your niche that you can partner with to gain wider exposure. Partner with YouTubers to tap into their subscriber base and expose your content to a new audience, which can boost your credibility and make your channel more popular.

Building collaborations or making guest appearances with popular YouTubers or YouTube influencers in your niche makes it easier to connect with a similar target audience. Intentionally cross-promote content with each other and expand audience reach. If properly planned, this can benefit both creators and increase the chances of a video going viral.

11. Make Viewers Watch More Videos

To go viral on YouTube, you must learn to keep users engaged with your videos. By making them watch more videos, you increase your overall watch time, which is a major factor in going viral.

There are several ways to go about this. You can start by creating a video series to encourage binge-watching, helping to boost watch time and signal YouTube’s algorithm to recommend your content. You can also use playlists, end screens, and cards to guide users toward related videos and encourage them to continue watching your content.

12. Utilize YouTube Analytics

Creating quality content that resonates with your audience will require you to understand their interests and behaviors. The YouTube analytics tool makes this easier, providing key insights into audience behavior, watch time, and engagement rates.

Make it a habit to go through these metrics, to know how well your audience enjoys your content and if you need to refine your strategy. This will show you the highest and least performing videos, so you can adjust and create more engaging content to gain more views and go viral.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How Long Does it Take to Go Viral on YouTube?

Going viral on YouTube can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days or weeks, depending on engagement, shares, and algorithm promotion.

2. When is a Video Considered Viral?

A video is considered viral when it has gained hundreds of thousands or millions of views within a short time, with significant viewership often within the first 48 hours.

3. What was the First Viral Video on YouTube?

The first widely recognized viral video was “Me at the Zoo” uploaded on April 23, 2005, by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim.