The difference between an average online video and a viral video that gets seen by millions is the creative strategy you use to produce your video marketing message. Video marketing can be a great way to improve your SEO and company sales, but a video that gets national or worldwide attention requires more thought and effort.

Here are four vital characteristics that you need in your video marketing campaign to try and attain viral status:

Great Content is Not Enough
Of course, you want to include great content in your video marketing message. However, content alone will not make your video viral. You need an extra touch of creativity to help your video get exposure and create interest. Including one of the features from the following list can spark your video to make it viral material.

• Shock and awe - People want to see shocking events that stimulates a "did you just see that?" response.
• Cleverness - Your video title can motivate further investigation by a viewer.
• No advertising - Your potential viral video must not appear to be an advertisement. Unless you have the budget to create artistic roller skating babies like Evian water, then make your video something interesting and not just a product pitch.

Make Your Video Educational
Alternatively, you can make a purely educational video that will help teach people something they want to learn. Perhaps you could choose a difficult task that people have been afraid to try.

If you can make the video both educational and shocking, then this further amplifies your viral potential. Who couldn't resist watching a video that taught you how to walk across a hot bed of coals?

Allow Sharing on Other Websites
One important aspect of a viral video is that it can be posted on other websites. For instance, YouTube allows a video to be "embedded" into any other website using a script. This will help get your video noticed not just on the hosting site, but on other popular websites that are read by thousands of other viewers.

Use Your Social Network
To help get your video marketing message on the viral path, it first needs "seed" viewers who can spread the word. When you have created and posted your new video, invite everyone on your contact and network list to view it. Post a notification on your Facebook page. Tweet about it (more than once) on Twitter. Send an email notice to your contact list. Getting this first set of viewers accomplishes two tasks:

• First, it encourages an initial group of people to view your video and invites them to share the content with others.
• Secondly, if you get enough people to watch your video, it could get noticed by the host. For instance, on their front page, YouTube has a "Videos Being Watched Now" section. This section highlights videos that are receiving a lot of attention. Get your video noticed and on that list, and it could go viral.

A viral video marketing campaign is not easy. It may take hit and miss experimentation, as well as the right creativity to achieve just the right video mix. However, the efforts are certainly worthwhile, as a successful viral video can mean millions more customers for your business.

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