How to Create Viral Videos for Your Business

New to Louisiana? Enjoying that new manicure? Have Tinder swiping to do? Peelr just might be what you need to have more crawfish fun. Peelr is an app that lets you find a person in your area who can come to your party and do the peeling for you. However, despite its successful advertisement on social media, Peelr (sadly) is not a real app. The video you might have seen on your feed was, in fact, an April Fool’s joke. While the Peelr video won’t actually help you find a crawfish peeling service, it can teach you valuable lessons about how to create viral videos for your business.

If you’re a New Orleans transplant, you probably wish crawfish peeling assistance were a real thing. If you’re a lifelong NOLA local, you probably wish peeling crawfish were a real side hustle. But if you’re fascinated by how the Internet works, then we know you’re wondering how Online Optimism created such a successful April Fool’s Day video.

This video received a ton of traffic on three big social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Since we limited our marketing efforts to the days leading up to April Fool’s Day, we only received limited Page Likes for Peelr on Facebook. However, the entire execution of Peelr yielded tens of thousands impressions. Those impressions gave Peelr over 10,000 video views of three seconds or more. Our video was able to reach this amount of people simply because it was so likable and shareable. Peelr’s Instagram and Twitter accounts also gained considerable traction. With thousands of Instagram and Twitter impressions, this video had an impact on its viewers across all platforms.

In terms of YouTube advertising, our video earned tens of thousands impressions. Out of those impressions, 13,000 people took the time to view the video for 30 seconds!

Wondering how we managed to reach so many viewers? Here’s what we learned about viral videos from Peelr.

Viral Videos Are All About Timing

“Crawfish season is in full swing”—literally! Because it’s New Orleans’ favorite season, we knew that people might actually believe Peelr was real. We also knew this video would be on topic since crawfish season coincides with April Fool’s Day. Rather than creating any random April Fool’s Day video, we recognized that online audiences are most interested in content that’s relevant to them.

At this time, a lot of New Orleanians and Louisianians are sharing content about their crawfish boils. Because a lot of people are sharing such fishy content, Facebook recognizes that and prioritizes that content on people’s feeds. Since our Peelr video is about crawfish, we knew Facebook and its users would care. Since it was related to April Fool’s Day as well, we knew people would find it funny.

They’re Also About the Little Details

Being believable is all about attention to detail. Beyond creating a video, we also created a website and several social media pages for Peelr. This way, if anyone looked to see if Peelr was a real app, they’d be able to find out more about it on the Internet.

The website includes basic information about the app to make everything seem believable. It includes Peelr’s “official” logo, brand colors, and more. We designed it like any other website for any other app. The Facebook page also includes the same information and branding, which allows users on social media to learn more. Both outlets made our Peelr April Fool’s joke appear a little more real, even though it was completely fake.

Bring this same attention to detail to any viral video you want to make. While some videos that go viral are unpolished, if you want the video to represent your business, it still needs to be professional. Make sure you include your company name, website, logo, or any other relevant information to direct valuable traffic from the video to your business.

Tell a Story That Resonates

We’re a marketing agency in Louisiana. We might spend a lot of our time working on advertising projects under our office’s roof, but we still love a crawfish boil. We do live in New Orleans after all, so we understand that magical feeling of smelling, seeing, peeling, and tasting crawfish. The beginning of our video showed our digital design specialist, Rosa Balaguer, jumping for joy after she saw a pile of crawfish poured onto a table. We know people throughout the state love it when that happens. This is how we told a nostalgic story our viewers could relate to.

Have Fun Making Your Video

Our Peelr video starred the employees at our own company, Online Optimism. Starring in this video felt more like attending a party than working a paid acting gig. Rather than pretending to attend a crawfish boil, we actually did dig into a 40-pound pile of crawfish, sip craft beer, and hang out during filming. Our office pup, Pimm’s, also attended and we all got to enjoy a Friday afternoon at The Fly along the Mississippi River. What could be better?

As we were having fun in real life, the camera guys were able to pick up our enthusiasm on tape. Those who saw the video on Facebook were able to tell we were having a good time in the video. Once filming and editing were done, we were able to have this video as a fun keepsake in case we ever need a reminder of how much fun we all have when together. That said, the process of making a viral video should not feel like work. Having a little bit (or a lot) of fun makes all the difference.

To learn more about our video production services at Online Optimism, check out our video production page. We love creating videos and look forward to creating the perfect video for your brand.