How to Make Viral Videos That Get Views

If you want to make a video go viral, you need to trigger a strong emotional response and give people something genuinely valuable to share. It's not about luck; it's about understanding why people hit that share button in the first place. Your video has to make them laugh, feel inspired, or teach them something so useful they can't help but pass it on.

Understanding What Really Makes a Video Go Viral

Trying to "go viral" without a strategy is a bit like sailing without a map. It's not some random lightning strike. Virality is what happens when you tap directly into human psychology, giving viewers something they can use—whether that's a powerful feeling or a genuinely helpful piece of information.

Think about the last video you shared with a friend. What was it? Did it make you laugh so hard you cried? Did it show you a life hack you knew someone else needed to see? Maybe it just made you feel like you were in on an inside joke. That feeling is the real secret sauce.

This simple flowchart breaks down the core psychological triggers behind truly shareable content.

As you can see, it all starts with a powerful emotion and clear value. Get those two things right, and you've got the ingredients for genuine shareability.

The Power of Emotional Connection

Emotion is the fuel that powers the viral engine. Content that sparks a high-arousal emotion—think awe, surprise, gut-busting humour, or even a bit of righteous anger—is far more likely to get passed around. People share things that make them feel something, and feel it intensely.

Remember the classic "Double Rainbow" video? It wasn't the camera work that made it a global phenomenon. It was the raw, unfiltered, and utterly infectious awe of Paul Vasquez. Viewers felt his joy, and that emotional connection made them want to share the feeling with everyone they knew.

A video's shareability is directly tied to its ability to evoke a strong emotional reaction. If your content doesn't make the viewer feel something, they have no reason to pass it on.

Providing Social Currency or Practical Value

Emotion isn't the whole story, though. Most viral videos also offer some kind of tangible value, which usually falls into one of two buckets:

Social Currency: Sharing a clever, hilarious, or incredibly cool video makes the person sharing it look good. It's a way for them to signal they're in-the-know and have great taste.
Practical Value: This is the straightforward stuff. Content that offers genuinely useful information—a quick recipe, a DIY fix, a game-changing productivity tip—gets shared because it actively helps people.

Mark Rober is an absolute master of this. His videos, like the famous "Glitter Bomb vs. Porch Pirates" series, are a perfect storm. They combine a strong emotional hook (a hilarious dose of justice) with fascinating engineering. People share his stuff because it's not just entertaining; it's astonishingly clever, giving them a huge dose of social currency to pass along.

Mastering the Unskippable Three-Second Hook

In the world of social media, your first three seconds aren't just important—they're everything. It’s a brutal, fast-paced battlefield for attention. If you can't hook someone in that tiny window, they're gone. They’ll scroll on without a second thought, and your shot at going viral vanishes right along with them.

This is why mastering the art of the hook is probably the most critical skill you can develop as a creator.

A great hook isn't just clickbait; it’s a powerful, instant promise you make to the viewer. It screams, "Here's exactly why you need to stop scrolling and watch this." That first moment sets the entire tone and is, without a doubt, the single biggest factor in keeping people watching.

The MrBeast Formula Deconstructed

Few have nailed the instant hook quite like MrBeast. His video intros are masterpieces of efficiency, deliberately engineered to strip away any possible reason a viewer might have to leave. You’ll never see him waste time on a slow, meandering introduction or a lengthy branding sequence.

Instead, his secret sauce usually comes down to two key ingredients:

The immediate payoff promise: He gets straight to the point, stating the video's core idea within seconds. Think "I just bought a private island" or "Today, we're going to see if 100 people can stay inside this circle." You know precisely what you're in for, and it sounds epic.
High-octane energy from frame one: The editing is lightning-fast, the music is pumping, and the visuals are dynamic from the absolute start. This builds a sense of momentum that’s genuinely hard to look away from.

By front-loading the most exciting part, he creates an irresistible curiosity gap. You simply have to stick around to see how it all plays out.

Proven Hook Formulas You Can Use Today

The good news is you don't need a multi-million-pound budget to craft a magnetic hook. The principles are universal and work in any niche. Your goal is simply to disrupt someone's mindless scrolling with something that sparks intrigue or feels unexpected.

The purpose of a hook is to make a viewer subconsciously ask a question that they can only answer by continuing to watch.

Here are three battle-tested formulas for crafting an unskippable opening:

Start 'In Medias Res' (Right in the Middle of the Action) Drop your audience straight into the most chaotic, exciting, or bizarre moment of your story. Don't waste time with the setup—just show the action. A cooking video could kick off with a dramatic pan fire. A travel vlog might open with the creator mid-air, jumping off a cliff. This technique instantly raises the stakes and makes viewers desperate for context.
Pose a Polarising Question or Make a Bold Statement Kick things off with a question that challenges a common belief or a statement that forces people to pick a side. For instance, "Is avocado toast a complete waste of money?" or "You've been using your iPhone wrong this whole time." This approach taps directly into people's own opinions and experiences, making them feel personally invested from the very first second.
Create a Visual Curiosity Gap Show something visually weird, deeply satisfying, or just plain confusing without any immediate explanation. This could be a close-up of a strange texture, a complex machine whirring away, or an oddly satisfying process unfolding. The human brain is hardwired to solve visual puzzles, and this method gets viewers hooked while you slowly reveal the narrative.

If you feel stuck, you can find dozens of data-backed concepts and fresh angles by exploring our AI video idea generator.

Strong Hooks in Action

Let's see how these formulas transform a weak opening into a powerful one.

Video Concept	Weak Hook (The 'Before')	Strong Hook (The 'After')
DIY Coffee Table	"Hey guys, welcome back to my channel! Today we're going to build a new coffee table."	(Visual of smashing an old, ugly table with a sledgehammer) "This table had to go. Here’s how I built its replacement for under £50."
Travel Vlog	"Our flight to Italy was really long, but we finally made it to Rome. Let's go explore."	(Close-up shot of a strange-looking Italian dish) "I have no idea what this is, but I'm going to eat it."
Productivity App Review	"In this video, I'm reviewing a new app called 'TaskMaster' that helps with organisation."	"I clawed back an extra 10 hours of free time last week, and it’s all down to this one app."

See the difference? The strong hooks create instant intrigue and promise a clear, valuable payoff. They give people a compelling reason to stick around, turning a potential skip into a dedicated viewer and setting the stage for your video to take off.

Build a Story That Won’t Let Them Go

A killer hook gets you their attention, but it’s a compelling story that earns you their time—and, most importantly, their share. Once you've stopped the scroll, your next mission is to deliver on that initial promise. You need a narrative that grips them right through the middle and all the way to the end.

This is exactly where so many creators drop the ball. It’s also where a truly viral video leaves the rest in the dust.

A person storyboarding video ideas on a large white board, illustrating the process of crafting a narrative.

Having a fantastic beginning isn't enough. The middle of your video has to keep that energy alive, building tension or delivering value in a way that feels genuinely satisfying. A messy, unstructured story is the fastest way to lose the audience you worked so hard to hook in the first three seconds.

The Problem-Agitation-Solution Framework

For any content that solves a problem or teaches something new, one of the most powerful storytelling blueprints you can use is the Problem-Agitation-Solution (PAS) framework. It’s a classic copywriting formula that works brilliantly for video because it taps directly into your viewer’s frustrations before offering them a sweet sense of relief.

Here’s a breakdown of how it plays out:

Problem: You kick things off by identifying a pain point your audience knows all too well. Imagine a cleaning influencer showing a shower head completely caked in stubborn limescale. We’ve all been there.
Agitation: Now, you rub salt in the wound. You don’t just show the problem; you amplify the frustration. The influencer might show themselves scrubbing uselessly with a standard cleaner, wasting time and effort. You make the viewer feel the annoyance.
Solution: Finally, you swoop in with the hero—the perfect, simple solution. They reveal a surprising cleaning hack that melts the limescale away with zero effort. The payoff is immediate and incredibly satisfying.

This structure works because it creates a mini-drama. It pulls the viewer on an emotional journey from frustration to relief, which makes the solution feel incredibly valuable and highly shareable.

Case Study: The Narrative Pacing of Yes Theory

If you want a masterclass in building narrative momentum, look no further than the guys at Yes Theory. Their videos, often based on challenges like "Asking a Stranger to Go to a New Country," are brilliantly structured to constantly raise the stakes and deepen the emotional investment.

They don’t just show you the final outcome. Instead, they document the entire journey: the awkwardness of the initial ask, the rejections, that first glimmer of hope, and the eventual triumph. This rollercoaster of small wins and setbacks keeps you glued to the screen, desperate to see what happens next. Their pacing is masterful, using fast cuts to build energy during the action and slower, more thoughtful moments to forge a real emotional connection.

The best stories make the journey just as compelling as the destination. Don’t be afraid to show the struggle, the process, and the small failures along the way. It’s what makes the final success feel earned and truly impactful.

Engineering Perfect Loops for Short-Form Video

On platforms like TikTok and Reels, a completely different narrative structure is king: the perfect loop. These are videos cleverly crafted to transition seamlessly from the very end right back to the beginning, tricking viewers into watching them multiple times before they even realise what's happening.

This little trick is a powerful way to juice your watch time, a metric that algorithms absolutely love. A video that gets someone to watch it three times has achieved a massive 300% audience retention rate. That’s a huge signal to the platform that your content is top-tier.

Creating a solid loop takes a bit of planning:

Seamless Audio: Use a sound or piece of music that doesn’t have an obvious start or finish.
Visual Trickery: End your video on a visual that is nearly identical to the opening frame.
Narrative Reset: Have your last line of dialogue lead directly back into the first one.

When you're feeling stuck for a compelling story, sometimes the best thing to do is explore different angles. You can find fresh inspiration and structure your next potential hit by exploring a wide variety of video concepts with us. We break down ideas that have genuine viral potential.

By focusing on a strong, deliberate narrative, you can turn a fleeting moment of attention into sustained engagement that drives the views and shares you’re looking for.

Optimizing Your Content for Algorithmic Success

Look, creating a brilliant video is only half the battle. If the platform’s algorithm doesn’t know who to show your content to, your masterpiece might as well be invisible. This is where getting tactical with platform-specific optimisation becomes your secret weapon in the mission to go viral.

So many creators make the mistake of treating all platforms the same. A strategy that absolutely crushes it on YouTube can fall completely flat on TikTok, and vice versa. Each algorithm speaks its own language and has its own priorities. To win, you have to learn to speak that language fluently.

A person optimizing a video's settings on a laptop, with social media icons in the background.

This means tailoring every single element—from your title and thumbnail to the audio and on-screen text—to meet the unique expectations of that platform’s audience and its algorithmic gatekeepers. Mastering these nuances is what gives your content the best possible chance of being amplified to a massive audience.

The YouTube Playbook: Title and Thumbnail Mastery

On YouTube, think of your title and thumbnail as the packaging for your video. They're a one-two punch designed to earn the click amidst a sea of other options. If you drop the ball here, your video’s potential is capped before anyone even watches a single second.

A great YouTube title sparks curiosity while clearly stating the video's value. It often combines a relatable scenario with a really intriguing outcome. For example, instead of a boring "My Kitchen Renovation," a much stronger title would be "I Renovated My Entire Kitchen For Under £500." The second title has a clear hook and a quantifiable result that makes people want to know how.

The thumbnail then needs to visually deliver on that promise with emotion and clarity.

High Contrast and Bold Colours: Your thumbnail has to pop on a small mobile screen. Use bright, contrasting colours to stand out from the crowd.
Expressive Faces: We’re naturally drawn to human faces, especially those showing strong emotions like shock, joy, or disbelief. They are incredibly effective at catching the eye.
Minimal Text: If you use text, keep it to three or four impactful words that hammer home the title's core idea. Less is definitely more.

Think of your title as the logical promise and your thumbnail as the emotional hook. When they align perfectly, the click becomes almost irresistible. A viewer should understand the entire concept of your video just by glancing at them together.

Dominating the Short-Form Feeds on TikTok and Reels

The game changes completely on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. Here, discovery is driven less by what people search for and more by an algorithm that rewards rapid-fire engagement signals. Your optimisation strategy has to adapt.

The power of short-form video in the UK is undeniable; it’s expected to account for 58% of all social media engagement in 2025. TikTok is leading this charge, with its UK user base soaring to nearly 24.8 million people who spend, on average, over 49 hours a month on the app. The message is crystal clear: short, punchy, optimised content is king. You can learn more about these social media marketing statistics and how they impact creators.

To capitalise on this, you need to focus on these key elements:

Trending Audio: Using a sound that's blowing up is one of the most powerful ways to get your video pushed onto more "For You" pages. The algorithm already knows there's a hungry audience for that sound.
Bold On-Screen Text: Since many users scroll with the sound off, use large, easy-to-read text hooks in the first few seconds to explain the video's premise instantly.
Relevant Hashtags: Use a smart mix of broad, high-volume hashtags (like #DIY) and more niche, community-specific ones (like #ikeahacksuk) to help the algorithm perfectly categorise your content.

For instance, a creator making a 20-second video about a clever kitchen gadget wouldn’t even think about a traditional thumbnail. Instead, they would use a trending song, open with bold on-screen text like "The Amazon find that changed my kitchen," and use hashtags like #kitchenhacks, #amazonfinds, and #homeorganisation. This approach feeds the algorithm exactly what it needs to find the right audience, fast.

Platform Optimization at a Glance

To make this even clearer, here's a quick rundown of how to approach the major short-form platforms. While there's overlap, the subtle differences are where you can gain an edge.

Platform	Ideal Length	Key Optimization Factors	Content Style
TikTok	15-60 seconds	Trending audio, on-screen text hooks, community-specific hashtags.	Raw, authentic, trend-focused, often user-generated feel.
Instagram Reels	15-45 seconds	High-quality visuals, trending audio (from IG library), creative transitions.	Aesthetically pleasing, polished, often lifestyle or tutorial-based.
YouTube Shorts	30-60 seconds	High retention, fast pacing, clear value proposition, looped content.	Often repurposed long-form content, educational, or highly entertaining clips.

This table is a starting point. The best creators are constantly testing what works for their specific audience on each platform, as the algorithms and trends are always shifting. Stay curious and be ready to adapt.

Building Authenticity and Social Proof

In a world flooded with hyper-polished, professional videos, genuine authenticity has become a superpower. Your audience is smarter than ever—they can spot content that feels staged, corporate, or just plain fake from a mile away.

The videos that truly take off, the ones that build die-hard followings, are the ones that feel real. They’re relatable. They’re trustworthy. This is where social proof enters the picture. Think of it as the digital version of a packed restaurant; when we see other people loving, sharing, and commenting on a video, we’re instantly more curious. It tells us it’s worth our time.

Tapping into User-Generated Content

One of the quickest ways to build that social proof is by leaning into user-generated content (UGC). When you feature videos, comments, or even ideas from your own audience, you’re doing two incredibly powerful things at once.

First, you’re signalling to new viewers that you have a thriving, engaged community. Second, you’re making your current audience feel seen and appreciated, which only encourages them to interact more. It creates a brilliant, self-fuelling cycle of engagement. Look at how trends explode on TikTok—big creators often "stitch" or repost videos from smaller accounts using their sound, validating the original and inspiring thousands of others to jump on board.

Your audience wants to be part of the story, not just a passive spectator. By weaving their contributions into your content, you turn your channel from a broadcast into a conversation.

The Power of Micro-Influencers

Working with other creators is a great way to reach new audiences, but it has to feel right. This is precisely why so many brands are shifting their focus to micro-influencers. These creators might have smaller communities, but they are often fiercely loyal and built on a foundation of trust and genuine connection.

When a micro-influencer recommends something, it doesn’t feel like a soulless ad read. It feels like a tip from a trusted friend. This is especially true in the UK market, where visual authenticity and creator recommendations are huge drivers of viral success. In fact, over 50% of Gen Z here admit to being influenced by creators. The data consistently shows that micro-influencers deliver better engagement because their content just feels more real. You can dig deeper into the impact of influencer marketing in the UK to see just how tied it is to viral trends.

Case Study: How Relatability Built an Empire

Think about the rise of YouTuber Emma Chamberlain. She didn't go viral because of slick editing or big-budget productions. Her success was built on raw, unfiltered authenticity.

Her vlogs, with their simple editing and candid, sometimes awkward, personality, were a breath of fresh air. People saw themselves in her everyday life. That intense relatability created a deep sense of trust and community, turning her into a cultural phenomenon. She’s living proof that a genuine connection is far more valuable than a massive production budget.

From Passive Viewers to Active Promoters

Your mission should be to make it as easy as possible for people to interact. Don't just say "leave a comment"—ask a specific, easy-to-answer question that gets the ball rolling.

On platforms like TikTok and Instagram, you can be even more direct.

Prompt Duets and Stitches: Actively encourage your viewers to get involved. Use calls to action like, "Duet this with your reaction" or "Stitch this with a time you felt the same."
Create Open-Ended Challenges: End your video with a question or a challenge that begs for a response.
Reply with a Video: When you get a great comment, use the "reply with video" feature. It’s a fantastic way to reward engagement while creating new content at the same time.

When you make your content interactive, you give people a reason to do more than just watch. They become co-creators. If you need a hand organising all these community interactions and content ideas, you can find tools that help you manage your content channels effectively all from one place.

Your Viral Video Questions Answered

A person looking at a screen with question marks and charts, analysing video performance.

Getting into the world of viral content can feel like you're trying to piece together a puzzle where the pieces keep changing shape. Even when you have a solid plan, you’re bound to have some nagging questions about how it all really works. This section is all about giving you direct, no-fluff answers to the queries that pop up time and time again.

Think of this as your practical toolkit for navigating the inevitable uncertainties. We’ll get into everything from video timelines to handling those frustrating performance slumps, giving you the confidence to see your strategy through.

How Long Does It Take for a Video to Go Viral?

One of the biggest myths about going viral is that it’s an overnight explosion. Sure, some videos catch fire almost instantly, but I’ve seen many more that have a "slow burn" before they really take off. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

It’s completely normal for a new video on YouTube or TikTok to have a quiet start, building momentum over days or even weeks. The platform’s algorithm is busy testing your content with small groups of people to figure out who it resonates with. If it sees positive signals—good watch time, plenty of shares, and lively comments—it will gradually start pushing it out to wider and wider circles.

Key Takeaway: Don't panic if your video "flops" in the first 24 hours. Virality often unfolds over time. You have to be patient and let the algorithm do its thing.

For instance, you might post a how-to video that only gets a few hundred views on its first day. A week later, the algorithm might surface it to a dedicated niche community, bumping it up to 10,000 views. If the engagement stays strong, that’s when it has the potential to cascade into the millions.

Should I Delete a Video That Isn't Performing Well?

I get it. The urge to delete a video that’s not getting views is powerful. It feels like cleaning up a mess. But, in almost every case, you should fight that impulse. Deleting a video wipes out all the data the algorithm has gathered—data that’s still incredibly useful.

Every video, even a "flop," is a data point. It tells you something valuable about what your audience doesn’t respond to. Taking the time to analyse why it didn't connect is far more productive than just pretending it never happened. Plus, you never know when a video might find its moment. A topic that’s dead today could suddenly start trending months from now, breathing new life into your old content.

Here's why you should keep it:

You lose valuable data: Deleting erases all the analytics, so you can't learn from what went wrong.
You miss out on "sleeper hits": Some videos take months to find an audience and can suddenly blow up long after you've written them off.
It can be demoralising: Constantly curating your channel for perfection creates a lot of unnecessary pressure. Focus on your next creation instead.

If you really can't stand seeing it on your channel because it no longer fits your direction, make it unlisted instead of deleting it. This keeps it off your public page but preserves all the precious data.

How Do I Replicate a Viral Hit?

Getting a viral video is an incredible high, but it’s often followed by a new kind of pressure: how do I do it again? The secret isn't to create an exact copy. It's to deconstruct why the original worked so well.

What was the magic ingredient? Was it the format, the topic, the hook you used, or the specific emotion you tapped into? Your job is to pinpoint those core elements that made people click and share, then find fresh ways to apply them.

Case Study: #AlexFromTarget

Remember Alex from Target? A simple photo of a teenager bagging groceries went globally viral back in 2014. It was a true lightning-in-a-bottle moment, fuelled by randomness and audience fun. Target and Alex couldn't just post another photo and expect the same result. The virality came from its organic, completely unexpected nature—not a formula anyone could replicate.

Instead of trying to clone your last success, ask yourself these questions:

What problem did the video solve? Did it offer a clever tip, a good laugh, or a moment of genuine awe?
What was the emotional trigger? Did it lean on humour, shock, relatability, or inspiration?
What was unique about the format? Did you use a particular editing style, a trending sound, or a new way of telling a story?

By really understanding the "why," you can create new content that delivers a similar value or emotional punch without feeling like a re-run. This approach helps you build a sustainable channel and a loyal audience that shows up for your style, not just for one hit video.

Ready to stop guessing and start creating data-backed video ideas with real viral potential? Vidito is an AI-powered platform that generates and validates dozens of concepts in seconds, helping you discover what your audience wants to watch before you hit record. Start generating viral ideas for free at Vidito.ai.