5 tips to help your video go viral

I was reading the Entrepreneur.com blog this morning (like I do every morning) and came across the story of young 9-year-old Caine Monroy, who last summer constructed a makeshift arcade out of cardboard in his father's auto-parts store in Los Angeles, created an 11-minute video that features the young dynamo, which caught flames on the web in the last few days.

According to statistics, that video has been viewed more than 5 million times on Vimeo and more than 2.4 million times on YouTube since it went live last week. And more than 25,000 people recommended it on Facebook.

So why did his video go viral and how can you create videos for your own wedding business so that they go viral as well?

Here are their five best tips:

• Look for inspiration. Before you even pick up a video camera, spend some serious time watching web videos. Look for viral phenoms like Chuck Testa's taxidermy video and the Dollar Shave Club's razor video. "If you're genuinely interested in creating a sensation, you have to look at videos that have already done so," says Wood. And take notes, she adds.

• Create awesome content. Obviously, this is easier said than done. But the kind of video you aim to produce should reflect your target audience.  For instance, if you cater to mature women who live in the Northeast, there's a good chance you won't want to produce a hilarious four-minute segment about deodorant. But you may want to offer educational tips on how to dress at a daughter's wedding for instance. The key is to trigger intense feelings. "Content should be extremely funny or extremely moving or extremely useful or extremely entertaining," says Wood. "Ideally you'll elicit a physical reaction from the viewer. They'll be moved to tears or laughter or feel the hairs stand up on the back of their neck."

• Make it portable. Post your content to platforms like YouTube and Vimeo, and ensure that your settings promote sharing -- that is, allow people to upload at will and leave comments too.

• Choose the right platforms. Choosing which social-media channels to post your videos to will also depend on your target audience. In addition to YouTube or Vimeo, consider which social networks will supply an audience that will be most likely to view your content and share it. LinkedIn for instance is often a safe bet for business-to-business videos. Twitter is good for time-sensitive viewing, while Facebook caters to a more general audience.

• Advertise. Not every video will need to have advertising muscle behind it, but typically before a video can go viral it must first get promoted. Simply posting a video on Facebook and expecting people at large to see it likely won't happen. In fact, your followers may not even see it. For something to show up in Facebook users' feeds it has to be trending.  You can put stuff on YouTube, but only if it's taking off is it going to trend and if it trends it'll reach a wider audience. So unless this happens organically, you may need to pay to pump out your video.

What viral-video making tips would you add to this list? Leave a comment and let us know.