How to create a hit through short video operations? Share 13 cases!

After an electronic beep, two lines of words appeared on the black screen: "Nothing is more powerful than an idea, whose time has time."

102.47 million is the number of views of Kony2012 as of July 23, 2019. At the end of 2012, the video ranked second in YouTube's popular video list and first in the public welfare category. When it was first released, Kony 2012 set a record for the video with the most views in a single day.

No one expected that this 29-minute and 58-second video would become a miracle with over 100 million views.

"Everything has its own routine." YouTube has been a leader in the audio-visual industry for many years, and there are traces of popular videos. Even behind the most accidental viral videos, there are still tricks to learn.

1. Speech guidance type

The video can give clear instructions to guide the audience to take action. After watching the video, the audience knows clearly what they should do.

"Kony 2012" is a typical example of this type of video. As the filmmaker of "Kony 2012", this is the twelfth war documentary Jason Russell has shot since he picked up the camera. His goal is to stop the atrocities of the rebel organization LRA, and it is also his "last fight".

Kony2012 video

In the 1990s, Russell travelled to Sudan on behalf of Reuters, where his "perspectives underwent a radical change". “The world doesn’t need another Hollywood movie or musical,” Russell said. But the world needs documentaries of war and needs to see the people struggling in the flames of war.

When it was first released, no one had confidence in this video because it was too long.

In fact, the spread of "Kony 2012" has reached an unprecedented scale. Many celebrities participated in the program, with the highest number of views in a single day reaching over 100 million so far, and the number is still rising.

How did Russell do it?

"The key is to teach the target audience how to get involved, " Russell said, adding that the video clearly calls on viewers to take three actions , including signing a petition, donating a few dollars a month and requesting an "action kit."

At the end of the video, specific requirements were given to the audience to share the video and a deadline was given.

Many viewers will be moved or even shed tears after watching public welfare videos, but no actual benefits will be generated after the video ends. "Kony 2012" puts forward three major requests to the audience in white text on a black background, and at the end of the video, it urges users to share and spread it.

This kind of clear and concise guiding video discourse plays a key role . They expand the audience's empathy , and the issues revealed in the film also provide the audience with a social topic.

Similar call-to-action instructions often appear in animal protection promotional videos. The purpose of this type of video is to encourage viewers to take action after they finish watching.

On October 14, 2016, YouTube released the official animal protection promotional video "Dream", which depicts the atrocities of humans hunting and killing animals in an animated way.

Screenshot of YouTube video "Dream"

The film ends with the innocent singing of a little seal, but the lyrics are so cruel that the audience can't help but burst into tears.

At the end of the film, there are also guiding words: "Please try to take action to change the status quo on Wildlife Charity Film Day."

The audience's sympathy usually reaches a climax at the end of the video. With the assistance of guiding words, they will be more cooperative with the needs of the public welfare publicity day and achieve twice the result with half the effort.

By participating in the dissemination of the video, the audience moved themselves and believed that they had done something great that could save the world. This may be a kind of self-indulgent sentimentality at work, but idealism can indeed bring emotional satisfaction to the audience.

2. Emotional resonance

Videos that resonate with people can stimulate the audience's participation and desire to share, and capturing the details in life will bring unexpected gains. The “Pizza Rat” video illustrates this point.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak" is the sound made by mice, a sound that should not be heard in a subway station. Matt Little and his friend looked down and saw that it was a mouse carrying the pizza.

Pizza Rat Video

On September 22, 2015, they discovered this scene on their way home from get off work. Little marveled at it while recording it with his mobile phone and uploaded it to YouTube.

Just two days after its release, the video has been viewed over 4 million times. As of July 23, 2019, the video has been played an astonishing 10 million times.

Many people don’t understand why this 14-second video became so popular. Kevin Aloka gave his own answer in “Swipe the Screen”.

"Honestly, I get it. I've lived in New York for almost a decade, and this rat is very New York. To a lot of people, Pizza Rat is a symbol of the average person in New York City. "

Comments on YouTube Pizza Rat Video

The comments under the video also confirmed Kevin's point of view.

By sharing the "Pizza Rat" video, viewers share their own lives and have an opportunity to express themselves by spreading this video.

The pain of not being able to find a job when first arriving in New York, the bitterness of the little people surviving in the cracks, and the hardship of adults trying to support their families and lives, these words that are usually difficult to say are expressed through the video. This "pizza rat" struck an emotional chord with ordinary people in New York City.

Many New Yorkers saw a reflection of themselves in the scene of the rat dragging the pizza down the stairs. Under the influence of this stimulation, they will have the same or similar emotional reaction tendencies.

The video "The Power of MAKEUP" that made YouTube beauty blogger Nikkie famous also stimulates the audience's real emotions about makeup and makes them resonate emotionally.

As of July 23, 2019, the video has reached 40.6 million views.

The Power of MAKEUP Video

In the video, Nikkie mentioned: "Nowadays, many people think that wearing makeup is a shameful thing. But we don't need to feel ashamed of wearing makeup." This sentence received countless approvals. Nikkie released the voices buried deep in the hearts of many people through the video. It’s no wonder that the video went viral.

Another early YouTube video, "Charlie bit my finger-again!", became a viral hit because it captured the smallest but relatable moments in life.

Screenshot of the YouTube video “Charlie bit my finger – again!”

"Oh Charlie, you bit me. That really hurt."

In the video, brother Harry is sitting on the sofa holding his younger brother Charlie, and the younger brother bites his finger. Such a simple piece of content has been played 860 million times. The video brought back happy childhood memories and a sense of déjà vu for millions of people, especially those with siblings.

When the subject is unconsciously influenced by the object, participating in video dissemination becomes the best outlet for the audience. When a video hits the audience's pain points, it will gain unexpectedly high popularity.

Tik Tok user Yu Huan has 2,622 followers, and the average number of likes on his videos is less than 10. But a video she uploaded in June 2019 of her taking care of her children went viral, receiving 324,000 likes. "The hospital advocates breastfeeding, while experts do not advocate grandparents raising children. But that's not all, they even say that women must be financially independent. The role of a mother is really cruel." The text of the video resonated with many mothers , and the number of comments reached more than 4,000.

Screenshot of Yu Huan's comments on the Tik Tok video

Mothers express their recognition and support by liking, forwarding and commenting on the videos. People of the same identity speak freely in the comments, express the unspeakable depression and bitterness in life, and comfort and understand each other.

Both of these extremely popular videos focus on the subtle details of life. Without filters or dubbing, the lifelike nature of the video content allows the audience to speak freely.

Overly refined videos may no longer be suitable for this fast-paced era. This is the power of emotional resonance.

3. Buried stems and blank space type

A video that is not very sophisticated can also gain high popularity. The key is that the video leaves enough room for the audience to play. As long as there are enough jokes, the audience is more likely to add to the popularity of the video.

The elder sister Lily covered her face and cried loudly, while the younger sister Chloe sat beside her, confused. Here is another video that has been viewed over 10 million times on YouTube - "Lily's Disney Surprise (Part 2)".

I believe that many people who are addicted to emoticons have an emoticon package of the little girl Chloe on their phones: "Chloe with squinting eyes".

Screenshot of YouTube Lily's Disney Surprise (Part 2) video

Chloe's expression became one of the factors that made the video popular. Viewers captured her expression and added text, such as "My expression when I see a weirdo" and "What nonsense are you talking about".

In this way, audiences exchange their views on events, their feelings about life, and their attitudes towards popular culture. Use your own values ​​to give new meaning to the video, thereby promoting its dissemination.

It is this additive attribute that drives the continuous spread of videos. The seemingly insignificant content becomes increasingly rich in connotation after being processed by the audience.

The Huanong Brothers and food writer Wang Gang may also have to thank netizens for reprocessing their videos. As one of the representatives of down-to-earth videos, the Huanong Brothers became an Internet celebrity because of their 100 ways of eating bamboo rats.

"Bamboo rat" has become one of their labels. When it comes to bamboo rats, the video bloggers that come to many viewers' minds are the Huanong Brothers. The video "This bamboo rat had heatstroke. It couldn't survive after rescue efforts, so we had to roast it by the river" released by the Huanong Brothers on July 19 has been viewed 1.33 million times as of July 23.

Screenshot of Huanong Brothers' Watermelon Video

The video content of Huanong Brothers leaves enough room for the audience to play with it, and the blank space in the video stimulates the audience to further explore their subjective interest. The audience had a lot of fun using memes in the comments. Many viewers made bamboo rats into emoticons, with text such as "I don't have heatstroke", "I don't have internal injuries", "I'm not depressed", etc. Passers-by couldn't help laughing when they saw it.

There are many highly praised comments imitating the dialogue between bamboo rats and the Huanong Brothers, and the personal responses from the Huanong Brothers themselves have obviously led to further increase in popularity.

Screenshot of the comments on Huanong Brothers' Xigua video

The videos of Huanong Brothers give the audience a great sense of participation and satisfaction. Many viewers are willing to actively participate in sharing video content in order to get a response from the real person. The topic about Huanong Brothers on Weibo #One Hundred Reasons to Eat Bamboo Rat# has been read 160 million times, and "Huanong Brothers" has become a phenomenal short video IP for agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

A food writer with a similar “down-to-earth” video style to the Huanong Brothers is Wang Gang, a relatively well-known food writer.

"Next, add a spoonful of oil." The video screen turns to the large pot on the stove, and Wang Gang skillfully pours a spoonful of oil into the pot. His classic lines in the video were processed by netizens and turned into Wang Gang’s own label and a hot topic. On Xigua Video, his most popular video, "Fry Yourself with Lots of Oil," has been viewed 26.4 million times.

Screenshot of Wang Gang's "Fry Yourself with Lots of Oil" on Xigua Video

Cooking is really the most trivial thing in the kitchen, but the audience's spontaneous value integration behavior, such as spoofing Wang Gang's kitchen language "more oil", "if you don't have XX, you can use XX instead", taking screenshots to make emoticons, etc., adds more fun to Wang Gang's videos.

Leaving blank spaces in the video can give the audience more room to express themselves, thereby increasing audience participation.

When a line of speech becomes popular due to the participation of the audience, they will have a greater sense of accomplishment and will be more willing to actively participate in the dissemination of the video. Ordinary cooking instructional videos have become more interesting and their popularity has naturally increased.

4. Contrasting personality

If the video content can show a huge difference between the video subject and the usual image, it may be more talked about.

The popular YouTube video series "Shit Girls Say" used the gender identity contrast of the protagonist Shepard to trigger a trend of imitation. "Can you do me a favor?" Shepard, wearing a wig and makeup, said in a coquettish voice while brushing her eyelashes in the film.

In the video, Shepard deliberately imitates girls' daily lives in a coquettish way: friends hugging and screaming at each other when they meet, repeating "listen to me, listen to me" when they are on the phone, lying on the sofa with potato chips in their arms, watching TV series, etc. This hilarious web series was a huge hit from the start, with the first episode having garnered 20 million views to date. Due to the popularity of the first episode, Sheppard and Humphrey produced three sequels.

Screenshot of Youtube video "The Bad Girl Says"

Canadian Graydon Sheppard is one of the masterminds behind "Sisters."

In 2011, he and Kyle Humphrey created the Twitter account @ShitGirlsSay, using it to post text jokes. In December, Shepard and Humphrey suddenly thought, "Why not make these jokes into a video?" They took action immediately. Shepard put on a wig and wore women's clothes to shoot the first episode of "Girls Say". The "Unlucky Girl Says" video series triggered the first Internet trend in 2012, and there were countless imitation videos at one time.

Netizens forwarded the "Suspicious Girl Says" video series to express their uniqueness and disdain for pretentious women, showing their generosity and naturalness and highlighting their own personality differences. "Shuaimeishushuo" grasps the users' demand for "personality" and uses gender contrast to create a "cross-dressing" drama, setting off an entertainment trend.

Achun, who became famous through TikTok, is a perfect representative of the "personality contrast" in China. In the previous article "The Spring of Gender Reversal: Why are Li Jiaqi and Achun so popular? 》 also analyzed the reasons why Achun became popular.

Achun Tik Tok page

"Women dressed as men" and "contrasting cuteness" are the obvious labels in Achun's videos. His Douyin video "Teaching everyone how to become an Internet celebrity" has received the highest number of likes, reaching 5.929 million. A 1.91-meter-tall boy turns into a cute girl after putting on makeup, which is not only funny but also stunning. The visual difference stimulates fans, and the female clothing image satisfies their curiosity.

"The great thing about video is that it gives people an opportunity to express their own personality and to understand the personalities of others."

Scott Lamb, deputy director of BuzzFeed International, believes that personality is the most powerful driving force of social media. Audiences promote their own personal pursuits by sharing videos and find like-minded people with similar personalities through comments.

In the video "Teaching everyone how to become an Internet celebrity", as many as 94,000 comments prove that the audience is willing to pay for the contrast in personality.

When it comes to personality contrasts, Grandpa Beihai must have a name. He is the father of the well-known emotional blogger Uncle Mana, and was called the "most handsome old man" because of a video clip. A video about Beihai Grandpa on Uncle Mana’s Douyin account has received 2.041 million likes and 65,000 comments.

Screenshot of Uncle Mana's TikTok video

With neatly combed silver hair, a clean and well-fitting suit, dust-free leather shoes, and a shiny black cane, Grandpa Beihai walks with his head held high and his expression confident, which seems to be very different from the audience's impression of a white-haired and even slightly hunched old man.

The image contrast shown in the video made the audience shout OMG, and they commented that they hope they can become such an elegant, gentle and kind grandfather when they are old. The personality contrast brought by Grandpa Beihai is in line with the pursuit of the younger generation. For them, high contrast can better highlight their own individuality.

The book "Swipe the Screen" also mentioned that "in the video age, social media platforms will always spare no effort to encourage users to express their own personality and convey their own values, and use this as a basis for social interaction."

Therefore, video content that can meet this requirement will become more and more valuable and gain higher popularity. The popularity of a video may require the right time and place, but the more important "harmony of people" can be controlled by yourself. The video has clear guiding words, which can resonate with the audience emotionally. The video content is full of plot points and leaves blank spaces, which can bring personality contrast to the audience. This is the thinking brought about by the popular trend of YouTube videos.

Based on the current domestic market conditions and by utilizing these techniques in accordance with local conditions, perhaps the next explosive video will be created by you.

Related reading:

1. 8 tips for creating a popular account through short video operation!

2. How to attract new users and retain customers through short video operations?

Author: Copywriter and Art

Source: Copywriting and Art