Creating viral content: The 5 questions you need to answer first

But guess what—we don’t live in a perfect world.

Due to the fragmentation of social media, and the desire of so many people to get involved, content is often created without any understanding of where it will live online.

Here’s what I mean:

• Brand X asks Agency Y to create video content;
• Agency Y creates a high-quality three-minute video;
• Brand X loads it on YouTube and waits for the views to roll in;
• The views barely trickle in, and Brand X is left scratching its head.

Sound familiar?

There are a few options available to Brand X, and many of them involve hiring a viral seeding agency to place your content among established global networks (delivering one view for every 10 to 15 cents invested).

Good news is there’s a better way of doing this; it involves a far more integrated approach, most of which is good old common sense.

Video content needs to be created with a true editorial mentality in place. By this I mean YouTube is not the channel you need to focus on—it is simply a hub.