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Lessons in making viral video and reaching massive new audiences

This week I’ve seen two of the most useful articles – I’ve read in some time – on what makes great online video – and how to reach huge new audiences.

They are;

How Channel 4 News increased its facebook video views from 5 million to 200 million a month

How INSIDER travel is creating viral facebook videos

Channel 4 News has gone from 5 million video views a month in January 2015 – to 200 million in June 2016. While INSIDER Travel, which is owned by the publisher, Business Insider, is getting close to 2 million shares a month for its videos.

While they are doing nothing revolutionary, in fact they are doing nothing that we haven’t written about many times on this blog before. It is useful to illustrate the success you can achieve, if you create high quality, engaging, digital first video.

There are some very clear messages that I think it’s well worth repeating.

Make video that is engaging, unique, powerful and aspirational – this is so obvious it’s almost embarrassing to point out. However, it is staggering how often people don’t stick by these rules. There is so much video online that you need to stand out. Unsurprisingly the better the video – the more likely it is to succeed.

Storytelling is king. No surprise here make video that tell interesting stories and people will watch.

Facebook is king too. If you want to reach the highest number of people – you need to be on the platform where they are. The strength of Facebook video continues to grow and grow.

Mobile video. Both Channel 4 News and INSIDER travel are concentrating on making either vertical or square format films. These work on mobile platforms and most importantly suit Facebook’s newsfeed.

On-screen text. The audience is watching video with the sound turned off – so text based video is essential.

Brand Identity. It is essential to have a strong brand identity on social video that is more often than not – viewed off-site. If it’s not immediately obvious who made the film it’s wasted. Both INSIDER travel and Channel 4 News have got this nailed.

There is no doubt, video is the future if you are going to succeed in the world of communications. Whether that be publishers, news organisations or businesses, you need to understand not only how to make quality video, but how to exploit it.

We are doing an increasing amount of work with clients in this field and using all of the above techniques. It’s proving very successful.

To find out how we can help you – get in touch and let’s talk.

david.hayward@2020.media