Guide
How to make a viral video: work on the 4 things you control
Updated
No one can make a video go viral on command, because the app decides after you post. You can improve the four things that raise your odds.
In short
- Nobody can make a video go viral on purpose, but four things about the video are yours to control.
- Your first line should say what the viewer gets, not what the video is about.
- Keep one idea in the video, and give people a reason to watch to the end.
- Make it useful enough that somebody sends it to one particular person.
- About 5 to 8% of ads become winners, in Motion's analysis of 550,000+ Meta ads.
- Of 550,000+ Meta ads Motion studied, this share became winners
- 5-8%
- How many ad creatives became winners in Motion's study
- 1 in 13-20
- Things you control before the post goes live
- 4
How a video goes viral
Every short-video app works the same way. Your post goes to a small group, and the app then widens it or stops.
- You control the video file, right up to the moment you post it.
- You do not control who sees it first, when, or what sits next to it in their feed.
- The app reads how long that first group watched, how many finished it and how many sent it on.
- It then shows the video to a bigger group, or it stops there.
What happens after you post
You control the file. Everything to the right of it is other people.
You post
The last step you own
Small group
Hundreds, not thousands
Signals read
Watched, finished, rewatched, sent on
Widen or stop
Decided without you
1. Say what the viewer gets in the first line
Most videos lose viewers in the first sentence, because the opening names the topic instead of the payoff.
- "Today I want to talk about pricing" names the topic, and viewers leave.
- "I raised my prices 40% and lost one client" names the payoff, and viewers stay.
- Read your first line to somebody who does not know your business. If they ask a question, it works.
- Say it in the first two seconds and put it on screen, because many people watch muted.
- Put your effort into the video itself, because that carries over to every post you make.
- Do not put it into guessing the app's rules, because they change without telling you.
A topic against a payoff
The left column names the topic. The right column says what the viewer gets out of watching.
Pricing
- What most first lines do
- Today I want to talk about pricing
- What a first line has to do
- I raised prices forty percent and lost one client
Cooking
- What most first lines do
- Here is a quick weeknight dinner
- What a first line has to do
- This costs less than a coffee and feeds four
Fitness
- What most first lines do
- Let me show you a back workout
- What a first line has to do
- My back stopped hurting when I dropped one exercise
Business
- What most first lines do
- Some thoughts on hiring
- What a first line has to do
- I hired the wrong person twice and it cost a year
| What most first lines do | What a first line has to do | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Today I want to talk about pricing | I raised prices forty percent and lost one client |
| Cooking | Here is a quick weeknight dinner | This costs less than a coffee and feeds four |
| Fitness | Let me show you a back workout | My back stopped hurting when I dropped one exercise |
| Business | Some thoughts on hiring | I hired the wrong person twice and it cost a year |
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
2. Keep the video to one idea
A video with three ideas in it leaves viewers with none they remember.
- Write the idea down as one sentence a viewer could repeat at dinner.
- If you cannot write that sentence, the video is not ready to film.
- Save the other two ideas, because they are two more videos.
3. Give people a reason to reach the end
Watching to the end is the strongest signal a short video can send.
- Say what you are going to show at the start, and then show it at the end.
- Make the video as long as the idea needs, not as long as the app allows.
- Land the last line and stop, instead of trailing off into thanking people for watching.
4. Give people a reason to send it to one person
Shares push a video to new people fastest. People share when sending it does something for them.
- The video makes a point they have been trying to make themselves.
- The video is useful to one particular person they know.
- The video is funny, and people send funny videos to friends without thinking about it.
- Being specific is what earns the share: "advice for small business owners" gets none, and "salon owners, check this one deposit setting" does.
Do guaranteed viral formulas work?
A course that promises a viral hit is selling you something. Two things give it away.
- If somebody could make any video go viral, they would use that on their own account instead of selling you the method.
- Formulas are built from the videos that worked, and leave out the thousand that did not.
- Motion's analysis of 550,000+ Meta ads puts winners at about 5 to 8% of creatives.
A published win rate, counted out
Motion studied 550,000+ Meta ads and found that about 5 to 8 percent became winners, which is between one ad in thirteen and one in twenty. These fifteen tiles sit in the middle of that range. Organic posts are not ads, but the shape is the same: most of them do not take off.
How to tell whether a video worked
Views are the last number to look at. What tells you more is how long people watched and how many sent it on.
- On TikTok, tap the three lines on your profile, then Creator tools, then Analytics, and open the post.
- On Instagram, open the Reel and tap View insights underneath it.
- Look at how many people watched to the end, because that says whether the idea held.
- Look at average watch time next to the length of the video, so you can see where people left.
- Count the sends and shares, because those are what put a video in front of people who do not follow you.
- There is no view count that makes a video viral. Judge a post against your own last five, not against a number somebody else hit.
How to make more videos
Because the result is partly luck, the best plan is more good videos at a low cost each.
- Record several openings for the same idea in one sitting.
- Hold the same standard on every video, which means a strong first line and one idea.
- Cutroom turns one clip of up to 3 minutes into a finished 9:16 video with b-roll and captions.
- Cutroom makes each video cheaper and faster to finish. It cannot make any of them go viral.
What one video costs in Cutroom
| What | Cost |
|---|---|
| Editing one clip of up to 3 minutes | 100 credits |
| Exporting the file | 20 credits per minute of video |
| Your first video | 600 credits free, no card, within 7 days, with a Cutroom mark |
| Lite, with no mark on the video | $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 10 one-minute videos |
What: Editing one clip of up to 3 minutes
- Cost
- 100 credits
What: Exporting the file
- Cost
- 20 credits per minute of video
What: Your first video
- Cost
- 600 credits free, no card, within 7 days, with a Cutroom mark
What: Lite, with no mark on the video
- Cost
- $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 10 one-minute videos
Questions people ask
- Can I pay to make a video go viral?
- You can pay to show it to more people. That is advertising, and it works. You cannot buy the free spread, because that depends on how real viewers behave.
- How many videos before one takes off?
- No one can tell you that for your account. The best public number comes from ads: Motion's analysis of 550,000+ Meta ads puts winners at about 5 to 8%, or roughly one in thirteen to one in twenty. Plan for volume.
- Do hashtags and posting times matter?
- Much less than the first three seconds. Get them right because it is easy, but a posting schedule will not save a video that loses viewers in the opening.
- Should I copy a format that is working right now?
- Copy the idea behind it, not the video. A shot-for-shot copy arrives late, with somebody else's point in it, and the people who saw the original notice.
- Is a longer video worse?
- Only if it is longer than the idea. Watching to the end is measured as a percentage, so a tight 90 seconds beats a padded 30.
Work on the four things you control and post more videos. Your first video is free.