If you ever find yourself watching a video that has been shared thousands (even millions) of times, don’t worry, you aren’t the only one. These ‘viral’ videos have taken the internet by storm, captivating users, stirring strong emotions, and even provoking thoughts surrounding the video’s success in gaining views. What is the secret formula? Join me as we explore the psychology surrounding why viral videos are popular and why we can’t resist the urge to click, share, and rewatch them.
Emotion: The King of Virality
Recall the last viral video you came across. It likely resonated with you on an emotional level. Laughter, inspiration, anger, awe—whichever emotion you felt, videos going viral almost always has emotion involved.
Why Emotions Matter
Studies show that content that elicits strong emotion stands a greater chance of being shared. Psychologists call this ‘emotional contagion’’— the process of one person’s emotion evoking a similar emotion in others, and vice versa. Positive emotions like happiness and inspiration seem to have the winning edge. After all, who doesn’t want to be the reason someone smiles?
The Role of Awe
A powerful feeling is ‘awe.’ Awe inspires sentiments within us through nature, astounding talents, or even remarkable breakthroughs. Guaranteeing self wonder and curiosity, awe enables individuals to feel and connect themselves to a cause that’s greater than them.
Relatability and Identity
How many times have you watched a video and thought to yourself, “that matches my personality”? Such is the power of relatable content; we feel acknowledged as it captures our identity. More often than not, these videos use laughter, shared experiences, or pop culture to connect with their viewers.
Building a Sense of Belonging
When we share videos that we can relate to, it helps us express ourselves. We are, in essence, saying “This is what I consider fun” or “This is what I am.” Sharing these videos binds everyone together and helps build an online community.
Surprise and Novelty
The potent element of surprise is another factor that drives virality. Sudden turns of events, spine-chilling reveals, or peculiar ways of telling a story can be captivating and urge us to immediately share with others.
Why We Love Novelty
The human mind gets easily bored. The brain rewards us with dopamine, the good-feeling neurotransmitter, whenever we come across something new or when we face a surprise. The reward gives us a sense of pleasure and compels us to share the excitement with others.
Timing and Trends
Going viral is often a game of perfect timing. Videos that ride on the back of trending topics, memes, or recent events have a higher likelihood of exploding in popularity.
Riding the Wave
There’s fertile ground for viral content due to trending hashtags, challenges, or news stories. A video is more likely to go viral if it is in line with something gaining attention across the internet.
The Role of Humor
Humor is a universal language. Funny videos often top the charts of virality because they bring joy and lighten the mood. The more relatable and cleverly executed the humor, the more likely it is to resonate with a wide audience.
Humor as a Coping Mechanism
In uncertain times, people gravitate toward humor to cope with stress and anxiety. This is why lighthearted and comedic content often spikes during global crises or challenging periods.
The Science of Social Proof
Social proof is one of the concepts that deals with people’s behavior as it is a phenomenon wherein individuals conform to the actions of others in order to reflect what is popular. When a particular video gets many likes, shares, and comments, it greatly assists in bringing in more viewers resulting in a greater number of responses.
FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
When something goes viral and captures attention, many people go ahead and view it due to the urgency. This drives even more views and shares, thus completing a cycle of virality.
Storytelling: The Ultimate Connector
Awesome stories draw us in actually. These stories have their beginnings and endings. They keep us engaged throughout their duration. Even TikTok and Youtube videos tell interesting stories. It can be any video really. From emotional reunions, and triumphant victories, to amazing surprises.
The Hero’s Journey
A lot of viral videos follow the traditional structure of the ‘Hero’s Journey’. With this plot structure, the audience is taken on an emotional journey which makes the videos remarkable and increases the likelihood of them being shared.
Authenticity: Keeping It Real
With so much curated content available, the need for uniqueness is demanded from consumers. Viewers are captivated by unedited and “real” videos. This is the reason why candid photography and videos depicting raw emotions or behind-the-scenes shots are so popular.
Building Trust
Genuineness inspires trust. Viewers who believe a video is truthful and genuine are more willing to interact with and relpost the video.
Visual Appeal and Technical Quality
Regardless of how valuable the content is, one must pay attention to aesthetic appeal. Good production value, immersive graphics, proper sequencing, and expertly done editing all heavily increase the chances a video goes viral.
The Role of Thumbnails and Titles
For the client to notice your video, an attention capturing thumbnail along with an engaging title should be used. It works as a doorbell for the video enticing viewers to click on and watch your video.
Conclusion: Cracking the Code of Virality
Going viral is not simply based on chance, rather eliminating the guesswork and focusing on human behaviour and instincts. By evoking deep emotions, genuine feelings, laughter, and famed trends, one can enhance entertainment content to increase the chances of reaching the peak of the web.
With us at Reset Media, get ready to make ideas that people will engage and interact with. As experts in catalyzing imagination into eye-catching stories, we are prepared to help you, with goals at any level, whether trying to achieve global visibility or just aiming to leave a mark in the audience’s memory. Make sure to visit us today, and together let’s bring worthy visions to life through the magic of creation