How to create viral youtube video clips

As we all know Youtube is a site that allows the general public to watch movie clips, TV clips, music videos and video blogs amongst much more. Youtube was created by three former Paypal employees back in 2005 and the site took off almost instantly. In 2006, Google Inc bought Youtube for a reported 1.6 billion dollars and the site has enjoyed continued growth ever since.

Recent reports state that over 24 hours of video footage is uploaded to Youtube every single minute and that there are over 2 billion views each and every day. With these kinds of figures it is going to take an awful lot of luck to get your video footage seen, however some people do manage it and their clips go viral. These viral clips are seen and enjoyed by tens of thousands of people all over the world. So, what is the secret to Youtube success? How do you get your video footage to go viral?

First off, we have to think what makes a video clip good? What is it about a particular clip that draws us in and makes us carrying on watching the clip to the end? What is it that actually makes us take time out to write a comment about the clip and then post it on to various social networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Stumbleupon, Reddit and Pinterest amongst the hundreds of others?

Despite what your mom says you are not unique. In fact, none of us are unique and there other people in the world who are just like us. These people will like the same things, have the same sense of humour and have the same traits we do. Therefore, if you like a particular clip there will be other people who will also like the same video clip. So if you can answer the questions above you have the potential to create a video clip that can turn viral.

The image quality of many popular and successful youtube video clips leaves a lot to be desired and can be described as "watchable" at best therefore you do not need an expensive HD video to create viral video footage. In fact, the majority of viral videos are shot using mobile phones or pocket camcorders, with pretty poor image quality. If you can get some good footage using a decent video camera, by all means use it however the opportunities with a decent video camera are going to be few and far between.

In order for some video footage to go viral it needs to be interesting and have mass appeal. Footage of your family party is not going to cut it and other than your family members, no-one is going to want to see granddad blowing out the eighty candles on his birthday cake. That is unless something out of the ordinary happens. For example, if granddad spat his teeth out when blowing out the candles, or sneezed and got a face full of cake, or slipped off the chair and pulled the cake off the table, you have got some footage that may have mass appeal and is uploading to youtube. However, if everything goes to plan and nothing sinister happens, the footage is only useful for the family archives.

In order for video footage to go viral it needs to be unique, different and something that hasn't been posted before. Footage of your mates down the skate park pulling off some stunts may be impressive but it is not going to go viral because this has all been done before. Similarly, footage of some snowboarders performing awesome moves on the slopes is also highly unlikely to go viral. On the other hand, if you capture some footage of animals doing some strange things you may be on to a winner. The point here is to think outside the box and to shoot and record things you wouldn't normally.

If your footage evokes a reaction or emotion of some kind it is more likely to go viral than footage that doesn't. It doesn't matter if your footage makes you laugh out loud, makes you wince with pain, makes you inhale and say "ouch", makes you go all gooey inside and say "aw", makes you feel rage or makes you feel any other type of emotion, you may be on to a winner and have a youtube clip that may go viral. So a reaction is all you need, and that can be any reaction other than a shoulder shrug.

Footage that is predetermined and staged, or set up, rarely goes viral because it is just so false. Viewers like things that happen naturally and off the cuff, therefore you should concentrate on trying to get this kind of footage. This footage will often when you are least expecting it, so make sure you always have a video camera to hand.

Long video clips are not good and unlikely to go viral. The length of attention span will vary from viewer to viewer, however it is best not to have a clip that lasts more than a couple of minutes. We all like a bit of build up leading to the main event, but too much build up and the viewer will soon get bored and switch off. As a rule of thumb, the lead up should be 25% of the total footage time, the main event should make up 65% of the total footage time and the aftermath should be 10% of the total footage time. These amounts are only guidelines so there is a bit of flexibility but if you stay within these your footage will work well. So, the point here is to edit your footage as necessary. If the lead up is too long and you get bored watching it, so will your viewers. In this scenario reduce it and cut it down. It is not only the lead up that you need to consider, oh no, you will also need to look at the length of footage after then main event, i.e. the aftermath, and cut this as necessary.

Simply uploading your footage to youtube and letting it sit there is highly unlikely to get you many views, if any at all. You need to remember that there are hundreds of hours of video footage posted each and every day so there is a lot of competition and it is all too easy for you clips to get lost in the ether.

In order to drive traffic to your footage and get views you are going to have to spend some time and effort promoting your clips and spreading the word to the internet at large. No one likes promoting their clips, but it is something that has to be done and if you don't get the ball rolling no one else is going to do it for you.

The best way to promote your youtube clips is to use social networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg and Reddit. There are many others, some of which you will like and some of which you won't. Before deciding which social networking and book marking sites to use it is well worth doing some research and seeing what other people are using.

If you have your own blog write about your youtube clips and post the details, and the links, on your blog. If you write for some of the various writing sites, such as Infobarrel, Bukisa, Hubpages etc. write about your youtube clips and post a link. The idea is to put the word out on as many palces as you possibly can, although you have to make sure that you don't spam any site when doing so.

Social media sites are, without a doubt, the best way of marketing your Youtube clips and getting visitors to view them.

If you want to get your Youtube clip in as front of as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time you need to use some social networking sites. There are loads of different social networking sites out there, although the most popular are Facebook and Twitter, which consequently have the biggest impact.

Simply post the URL of your Youtube clip on your Facebook wall and share it with your friends. Hopefully, your friends will share it with their friends who will share it with their friends and so on. This snowball effect can be huge and result in a lot of views.

Similarly, post the URL of your youtube clips along with some punchy narrative on Twitter and wait for your followers to check out your clips. It is possible to increase the number of visitors with the careful use of hash tags, which means even those people not even following you may still be made aware of your link.

Other social networking sites include place like Digg, Pinterest, Stumbleupon and Reddit to name just four. These other networking sites are also useful for driving traffic to your Youtube clips but none of them are as powerful as Facebook and Twitter.

So, if you want to increase the chances of your Youtube clips going viral make sure you sign up to the best social networking sites and learn how to use them properly.

After the social networking sites, the next most obvious place to market your Youtube clip is on your own website. If you don't have a website don't worry as you can post your Youtube clip as a blog entry on a blogging site. There are loads of blogging sites available, although one of the best and easiest to use is blogger, and what's more is it is totally free so you won't have any problems adding your Youtube clip.

Generating traffic using your own website or blog is not easy and in order to maximise the traffic you need to ensure you are using the SEO techniques (such as keywords, tagging, densities etc) properly.

Article writing sites are a great place to market your Youtube clips. All you need to do is write an article (of at least 400 words) that is related to your video footage and then add a video module that links back to your Youtube clip.

There are many article writing sites although the most popular, and the best, include Infobarrel, Wizzley, Seekyt and Hubpages. All of these sites demand high quality content, i.e. articles that are written in good English, are free from spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. All of these article writing sites demand content that is useful and adds value for the reader. If your articles do not conform to the minimum requirements they will be pulled, along with the link back to your Youtube clips.

These article writing sites are extremely popular and can be a good source of traffic. What's more is they carry a good authority and Google likes them, which means you should do well in the SERPs.

Bookmarking sites are the quickest and easiest way to generate backlinks to your Youtube clips. There are thousands of bookmarking sites out there and in order to generate a backlink all you have to do is post a title, some keywords, a bit of narrative and the URL of your clip, and that's it. You need to choose your bookmarking sites carefully as the majority of them have "no follow" backlinks, which are very weak and don't carry much authority. Wasting your time posting the link to your Youtube clips to these sites is going to be of little benefit so make sure you do some research on the best bookmarking sites first.

Always have a video camera to hand. You don't need a top of the range HD video camera and a small pocket camcorder will be more than good enough to get the quality of footage you need. If you have a cell phone with a video recording feature this will do during those times when you don't have a pocket camcorder.

Always be prepared and expect the unexpected. If you think an opportunity presents itself get you camera out and start recording. If it comes to nothing don't worry about it and simply delete the footage. Don't be afraid of recording rubbish, after all it doesn't cost anything.

If your footage makes you smile, laugh, cringe or wince you have some footage that may go viral and is worth uploading to youtube. If your footage doesn't create any emotion then delete it. After all, if the footage does nothing for you it is not going to do anything for the viewers. Only upload footage you are proud of.

Once you have the footage edit it as necessary. If there is too much build up cut it down. It is better to have a short and sharp clip that lasts for a few minutes than a clip of several minutes which many viewers will turn off before the clip finishes.

Be careful what you upload. There is no point in offending or upsetting people just to get another clip uploaded on youtube.

Once your content is uploaded you need to get it out there and promote it using various social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Digg and Reddit, to name jsut a few of many.

Following the tips and advice above won't guarantee you will have success and lead to your video clip going viral, however it can't hurt and will certainly increase your chances than recording any old footage, posting it on Youtube and leaving it to its own devices.

One of the best video cameras for creating viral youtube footage is the humble pocket camcorder. Pocket camcorders are about the same size as a cell phone, therefore they are light, transportable and something you can carry anywhere and everywhere. When these cameras are not in use they are small enough to be tucked away in a shirt pocket or purse, which makes them ideal. Many pocket camcorders record in HD, however the image quality is nowhere near as good as that of regular camcorders, but the image quality is more than good enough to create a viral clip.

1) Image quality

Pocket camcorders do not have the same image quality as standard video cameras, but this is to be expected. The good thing is, pocket camcorders don't need to have the same image quality, so it is not right to compare the image quality produced by a pocket camcorder to that of a video camera.

The technology used in pocket camcorders is now exceptionally good and all makes and models of pocket camcorder will be more than capable of recording viral youtube clips. When buying a pocket camcorder the image quality is the last thing you should look at and it is advisable to look at other features.

2) Size

All pocket camcorders are small however some are smaller than the others. There is a trade off between size and ease of use and you need to consider this before parting with your hard earned money. The smallest pocket camcorders are great since you can take them anywhere, but the controls are also small and fiddly.

Your perfect pocket camcorder will be the smallest one with buttons you can still easily use. The ideal sized pocket camcorder will vary from person to person and will be largely dependent on the size of your hands and fingers.

3) Durability

In order to maximise the amount of opportunities you are going to need to have your pocket camcorder on you at all times, therefore it needs to be tough and durable. Some pocket camcorders are tougher than others, and the top end models are fully sealed which means they are shock proof, dust proof and water proof up to five metres.

The sturdier the better, especially if you want to use your pocket camcorder everywhere you go and/or you are a bit clumsy.

4) Price

Unfortunately, money is a limiting factor for most people and since we don't have really deep pockets and have other bills to pay, we all have our own individual budgets. Pocket camcorders can be picked up extremely cheaply and some models are under twenty bucks. Other models are quite expensive and can cost over a hundred bucks, although these are still a fraction of the cost of standard video cameras.

Cheaper pocket camcorders don't have the same image quality as the more expensive pocket camcorders. Affordable pocket camcorders don't have the same level of features as more expensive pocket camcorders and neither are they as tough and durable. The trick is to get the best one you can afford.

When you buy a pocket camcorder the most important thing to look at is the toughness and durability of the camera. You want to use your pocket camera at each and every available opportunity right? Well, one that is dust proof, water proof and shock proof will allow you to do this.