How to 'go viral'?

[Hugging_Bear]

Hi guys,
sorry - I know this question is a non-technical question (in the strict sense of the word). But it's something that burns my hearts for a long while, and we are all artists among fellow-artists here. So I'm very interested to hear (or rather read) your opinions!

I started my YouTube channel five years ago, where I release the results of my creative work. But I celebrate it as a smashing hit when one of my videos reaches 50 views! I knew I was in for a slow burner, but it is stagnation all the way. A former friend of mine, explained to me that the good stuff automatically floats to the top and the 'bad stuff' sinks to the bottom of the ocean of oblivion. (Thank you for these words of encouragement!!!)

BTW - if this were true, that would mean that cat videos and 'best fails' videos were the pinnacle of high culture! It would also mean the Van Gogh was a bad artist because he only sold one of his paintings during his lifetime.

'Ars gratia artis' is a very noble attitude, but as an artist one can't help to want to share one's work with as many people as possible! (and reading about a starving artist is much more fun than being one )
So what can I do to achieve that goal???

[slowtiger]

Short answer: there's no How To. It's sheer coincidence.

Long answer: You need to evaluate your goals. Do you just want to have something which is shared everywhere (the original meaning of viral)? Do you want to have the most possible number of viewers? Do you want to accumulate followers? Do you want to make a living with this?

Last one is the most unlikely to happen. Because any "revenue" stems from genereated advertising money you'd have to commit to lots of restraints in order to keep the money coming, and then you still will be at YT's mercy.

Followers only come when they can expect a decent amount of new "content" in short time. So this only works if you're able to churn out that stuff very fast. (And who pays the rent in the meantime?)

Maximum audience will happen if several aspects come together: decent style and production value, some topic which resonates with a not too small number of people.

Viral only happens if you hit the nerve in exactly the right moment. Good luck.

[GCharb]

You never know what will attract attention, on my channel my most popular video is a 5 seconds video of a horse running I made in Moho 13 years ago, that video is also the one that got the most dislikes, it got 49K views in about 2 years, then it was my 12 animation principles series that got the most attention, ranging between 791 views and 46k views, my building 3D models in Anime Studio got 11K views, I never thought it would be of interest TBH, the bottom line is that it's a hit-and-miss, there is no sure way to predict a viral video !!!

Also, you might want to create a signature for the forum, like mine, it might help people, or at least Moho users, to find your channel, just a thought !

[Hugging_Bear]

Hi Slowtiger,
greetings from Ingolstadt to Berlin!

Followers only come when they can expect a decent amount of new "content" in a short time. So this only works if you're able to churn out that stuff very fast. (And who pays the rent in the meantime?)

You hit the nail on its head there! - 'Churning out that stuff very fast' is a problem in the animation field because it takes ages to complete a single video. And the YouTube logarithm rewards quantity of output over quality of content (which it can't judge anyway).

Well - 'going viral' is an unrealistic goal. But I can't help to feel that my videos deserve more than just 50 views.
On bad days, I'm wondering, 'Why bother to upload my video? If nobody wants to watch them anyhow!'

[Hugging_Bear]

Hi Gilles,
greetings to Canada (I lived there for three years).

Also, you might want to create a signature for the forum, like mine, it might help people, or at least Moho users, to find your channel, just a thought !

Thanks for this useful tip. I changed my signature accordingly.

[slowtiger]

Ingolstadt, of all places?

Yes, the preference of quantity over quality bothers me a lot. I'm old-fashioned, I was brought up with the believe that if I create something good it will eventually find an audience, but if I try to cater for everybody the result will be an indifferent mish-mash without any appeal to anyone. Also I started in a field where people actually paid to see my films (on festivals, in cinema), completely the opposite to nowaday's construct of my films just being background noise for continuous advertising.

Ah well. Another client job incoming, and I just have finished a 5 min personal animation in 2 weeks, made especially for one festival, but I'll send it around anyway. Very satisfying to work like that: no plan, just improvising and drawing stuff on a whim.

[Hugging_Bear]

Maybe the problem is that I want to achieve two things that are in part contradictory: being authentic (free artistic expression) on one hand and being popular (getting as many viewers as possible) on the other hand.

[slowtiger]

I don't think that "I want to be popular" will ever work. I do my best, I do what only I can do, that's the way to fulfillment and happiness, methinks. Eventually the audience will realize that. I don't have any large fan base, but the occasional positive comment makes my day, every time.

[Lukas]

Maybe the problem is that I want to achieve two things that are in part contradictory: being authentic (free artistic expression) on one hand and being popular (getting as many viewers as possible) on the other hand.

Go for the first one. Be authentic and express yourself! The second one might follow if you make good work. It also, unfortunately, might not. Even if the work is great.

If your goal is the 2nd one, it will backfire 99% of the time and you'll have nothing.

[Hugging_Bear]

I guess, I express myself in an unfortunate way. I didn't mean, I want to be popular for popularity’s sake. But I think, it is only natural that after pouring endless hours of work and your heart into your project, one wants to share one's result with the 'world'.
Honestly guys, do you think when uploading your video 'Jeez, I hope no one will watch this piece of crap!'? Of course not! Everyone hopes, that your newest masterpiece will be watched by pretty everyone, who got eyes to see! It's only natural.

[Maestral]

Recently I received a few offers to work on animations, in series, for YT channel. All had a common thing...
There were a few YT channels presented as examples, to set the style reference but I noticed an odd thing about those channels.

Up to 10 videos within a year where the 1st one got 500K views and the last one, a year later, has almost 2M views. Far as I can recall, the number of subscribers gravitates towards 200-250K.
You'd think this is some spectacular content, right? Well, no. In fact, it's just childish doodles and edited images from web as visuals for some general topics followed by an almost sedated narrator.

Although the visuals were childish, at first glance, everything about those videos was meticulously planned and executed. From the continuity of the main visual elements (well disguised as childish) to video editing and voiceover directing.

Going viral these days (aiming M's of views) has less and less to do with the type of content you'd work on.

[Hugging_Bear]

The last post pretty much proves my point. In order to get views (and viewers who appreciate your videos) one needs exposure. In order to get exposure, one needs to beat the YouTube logarithm at its own game, i.e. to produce a lot of quickly made content.
You might call me a sell-out for saying so. But unfortunately that's the reality we are confronted with. BTW - I don't think I'm totally selling my soul as an artist that way, since I'm still working on my very own projects. There will still a touch of my personality in those short videos, and I'm unable to produce something that is totally boring.
Being forced to work quickly in order to produce a lot of content might even have its upsides: it'll probably smooth out my workflow and will make me a more efficient animator. And those increased skills will help me later on when I'm producing bigger and more demanding projects.

[hayasidist]

... i.e. to produce a lot of quickly made content.

I've gone on about this before in the context of "series" where there's an expectation (explicit or implicit) that you'll produce an episode every day / week / month or whatever. My own view on this is that (unless you're doing "current affairs"!) you don't need to PRODUCE at that rate as long as you've got enough of a pipeline to be able to PUBLISH at that rate. Obviously, when the pipeline runs dry, there'll be a hiatus - but the lessons learned during the "full-on production but nothing being released" will help you tune the production process; and the viewer feedback from from the first "dozen" releases will help you assess what the audience likes to see.

I'll also note that YT allows you to go unlisted at first - so feedback on a per-produced episode from a "closed community" can be useful during the production run - then you hit the publish button with the frequency that you choose when you've got enough lined up ready to go.

[Greenlaw]

Being forced to work quickly in order to produce a lot of content might even have its upsides: it'll probably smooth out my workflow and will make me a more efficient animator. And those increased skills will help me later on when I'm producing bigger and more demanding projects.

Hi Hugging_Bear,

When we launched the Little Green Dog Channel on YouTube last summer, I had to quickly learn a zillion things about how to produce my own YouTube show. Maybe I was naive, but it's been a TON more work than I anticipated. However, what you wrote above is exactly what I'm discovering: The more I do it, the easier it gets.

When I started out, it took several weeks to create a single tutorial video, with the longest one taking over a month. At that stage, running a YouTube channel did not appear to be a sustainable career model for me. But in the last couple of months, my skills have improved to where it now takes me about a week to make one video...and this includes quite a bit of original character animation! Also, the viewership and watch hours keep increasing steadily, and the positive response from students and animation enthusiasts has been encouraging!

I need to streamline my workflow further and get production up to 2 or 3 videos a week to make this project worthwhile, but I feel I'm finally getting there. Thanks for starting this topic...it makes me think I'm on the right track!

Anyway, I thought a little personal insight might be helpful.

[Greenlaw]

Hi Slowtiger,
greetings from Ingolstadt to Berlin!

Hi Ingolstadt and Berlin! I lived in Augburg for 2 years...in fact, I graduated high school there.