3 Ways to Get People Sharing Your Marketing Video Like Crazy

If you want to connect with consumers and get them engaging with your brand, video is the key to their hearts. But a few hundred views isn’t worth any company’s time or money. Rather, you want millions upon millions of views and if done right, any brand should be able to pull it off. That’s according to Jim Rudden, CMO of Spredfast, a an enterprise social media marketing platform helping companies including Airbnb, Best Buy, Hyundai and Target manage audience experiences and monitor brand engagement on social. Here are the things he says you need to remember if you want your social videos to go viral.

1. Think about what your competitors are not doing.

With so many companies using social networks as a marketing channel, repetition is everywhere. Considering what your audience is seeing in its news feed every day, the question you should ask is, “What would be a different approach?” If you don’t surprise people, you won’t get the views and shares you’re after.

2. Understand the three things people like to share.

First, if your followers believe in something you stand for, create content around that topic. Second, share interesting information such as a unique point of view or surprising data from research. Third, post content that people will connect with emotionally. Not sure what that looks like? Check out Procter & Gamble’s “Thank you, Mom” series.

3. Understand the quirks of the channel you’re using.

You need to know, for example, that any video on Facebook will launch with the sound off. If your compelling message depends on sound, you’ll need to employ some kind of textual cue to get viewers to turn on the volume. On Snapchat, it’s the opposite and until a viewer turns off the sound at least the first couple of seconds of voice or music will be heard.

“You [can’t] produce video once and reuse it everywhere,” he says. “If you want success or virality on social in general and specifically across platforms, then you really have to be mindful of platform nuances.”