YouTube was launched 10 years ago and it has been a great decade for the video sharing website. We’ve seen a lot of viral videos on YouTube and, frankly, some of them were amazing.
The Daily Conversation channel on YouTube has made a video compiling some of the greatest viral videos into a 16 minute retrospective. It’s quite the nostalgia trip. But before viewing said video, why not take a look at our guide on how to make a YouTube viral video.
Film a practical joke or a prank
No matter what language you speak, where you’re from or how you’ve been raised, you will get a chuckle out of a video of a person in a scary costume popping on his friend and scaring him. Practical jokes and pranks are enjoyed by almost everyone in the world. Besides this, they’re also pretty easy to capture on “tape”. You can usually get the job done by using the camera on your phone.
Examples
“Drive Thru Invisible Driver Prank” and “Extremely Scary Ghost Elevator Prank in Brazil”
Tip
Stay safe when shooting this prank and always use common sense. Don’t shoot something that will end up getting someone in jail or hurt.
Record a monologue
Monologues are very simple to shoot. All that you need is the camera on your laptop or computer and a great idea. Most of the monologue viral videos on YouTube are funny (even though sometimes this is completely accidental). Stay away from political debates and serious talks for extra chances of going viral.
Examples
“Leave Britney Alone”
Tip
The difficulty with monologues is that people don’t have much to look at other than you and what’s immediately behind you. You will have to be creative in order of attracting the interest of your viewers. Try to make use of an emotional performance and humor to stand out from the rest of monologues on YouTube.
Record a lip-sync video
You don’t have to sound like Michael Jackson to be a musical prodigy on YouTube. You can become famous just by recording a lip-sync video over a popular song. If your performance is over the top it will be even better and this is a great way of being noticed online.
Examples
“Numa Numa Song” and a whole bunch of Let It Go lip-sync videos
Tip
You don’t really have to lip-sync the entire song. You can just use 30 seconds from the song and make it funny as recording the whole 3 minutes or more can be boring.
Record a family moment
You can target the hearts of the people in the audience when making a viral video. Heartwarming or cute videos can be extremely popular, and one way to capture cuteness is to shoot a video of your loving family. Try recording something particularly adorable and you will reach stardom on YouTube.
Examples
“David After Dentist” and “Charlie Bit My Finger”
Tip
If you have children you are probably sitting on a goldmine of comedy. Kids aren’t afraid to act stupid and cute so make sure that you always point a camera at them.
Participate in a meme video
If you can’t think of anything worth putting into your viral video try to participate in a meme video. There are always one or two popular meme videos at any given time. Add your style to the formula while the trend is still growing.
Examples
“Keyboard Cat” mash-ups, numerous “Harlem Shake” videos, spoofs of Downfall
Tip
If you want popularity by using a meme you’d better upload your own video very quickly. These videos usually are popular for just a little while. The “Harlem Shake” videos were very popular throughout February 2013 but by the end of March there wasn’t much interest in them anymore.
Show off your talent
Can you play your guitar like Hendrix did? Can you roll your tongue? Everyone is good at some particular thing so practice what your skill is and show it to the world. Musical talents are great for making viral videos but that’s not the limit. Videos of martial arts skills, sports moves and many more can definitely achieve success too.
Examples
“Chocolate Rain” and “The Evolution of Dance”
Tip
Try to make a video of things that other people can’t do. For instance, being able to make a dunk is pretty cool but this can be seen by anyone watching basketball. Being able to make a dunk over the head of a friend is a lot more impressive and rare.
So now that you’ve seen how to get famous on YouTube let’s take a look at the 10 years retrospective of viral videos on YouTube.
We hope you enjoyed our little guide, we wish you the best of luck and we really hope to see you reach stardom on YouTube. Have fun and take care.
Image source: youtube.com
