Why are some brands mores successful on YouTube than others? This brings up the question: Why would someone pass a video on? Because the video is funny, amazing, remarkable, fascinating or controversial.

Practical insides: Create a short video (2 minutes or less), with a clear description.  Link the video to your site and social media channels.

Insides in how to make your video go viral:

(1) Tell a great story:  The story should matter more than the product. (2) Catch attention: Capture user attention within the first 5 seconds. (3) Make it emotional: Keep audiences interested by making them laugh, smile or cry. (4) Share with your key influencers: Make sure the right people are watching your video. (5) Create attention the first 24 hours: YouTube algorithm monitors during the first day the amount of interaction. Only when its high, the video will be promoted to its country’s YouTube chart, which dramatically increases the video’s chance of going viral. (6) Look at the number of shares. Stops looking at the view chart and concentrate on the number of shares, as these create awareness.

Brand Example: Red Bull is the YouTube hero. Its videos make you experience the world “like you’ve never seen it before”, focusing on adventure and extreme sports.

In October 2012 Red Bull released a YouTube video where Felix Baumgartner jumped from a balloon 24 miles above the Earth, breaking the record for speed of sound. It pulled the most live-stream viewers for any event.  The video is telling an emotional story, which immediately grabs one’s attention.

Red Bull’s YouTube channel has over 850,000 subscribers that come back for fresh content posted daily by the staff at Red Bull. A lot of brands can learn from Red Bull’s youtube strategy.