In recent years, YouTube shorts have gained much popularity in the market due to its short-form video content. These are quick and up to 60 seconds long video content which are easy to watch for the modern online users who are quite impatient. The video content is offered in a creative way with music, voice-over, texts, and other edits which make them even more engaging. Shorts can help to gain up to 2 billion monthly views which push the channel forward.
However, YouTube is also a highly competitive platform where shorts need to be promoted as well in order to provide an overall boost to the YouTube channel. 2024 has shown that YouTube’s algorithm is based on the users rather than the video content itself. They rank the videos based on user engagement and getting viral through shorts can be a daunting task. However, following the right rules with the right strategies can help to stand out.
12 Hacks to Make Your Shorts Go Viral
1. Spot the Target Audiences
Even if you are able to create cool videos with creative editing; people are not going to find it interesting unless it is a trendy topic. While all the people might not be into the topic, you can still find the wave of interest through a simple search on Google. Find the trends in the niche that help you find more relevant and potential viewers who would interested in your content.
2. Aim for 100% Short View Duration
For YouTube Shorts, the metrics you need to focus on is the average view duration which helps to monetize. If you are trying to get viewers for a longer engagement try to focus on retaining 100% short view duration.
3. Tweak the Title with Keywords
The title is the first thing that viewers will notice and what helps it reach relevant users is the keyword. You can use relevant keywords with high search volume in the title of the short to make it more SEO-friendly and help it appear on the search engine result pages. But make sure to avoid clickbait titles which appear quite repulsive for the online users.
4. Focus on the First Few Seconds
Shorts is all about creating a sudden impact with a video that is only a few seconds long. If the short is not interesting, the user is more likely to scroll and skip. Therefore, the first few seconds of the video are crucial to create the engagement that makes them go through the whole content. Do not keep any awkward pauses from the beginning of the content and start engaging from the first second. Make sure to create a hook that can grab everyone’s attention.
5. Offer Hooky Question
Most viral shorts are found to consist of a question that creates a hook for the audience. The successful and viral form of questioning includes related to common beliefs or something very unusual that piques interest right away.
6. The 5-second Rule of Change
Change is the only constant thing that every human seeks as they tend to get bored pretty easily. Short is a brief video itself and you need to keep evolving all the time or else viewers might skip. In order to keep it engaging, you can follow the 5-second Rule where you offer something visually compelling every 5 seconds. You can make it catchier by adding other videos, images, screenshots, or other text-based elements that make it creatively engaging.
7. Call-to-Action in Shorts
CTA or call-to-action plays a vital for online activities like likes, comments, and subscriptions. Since the short is very short in size, you need to keep your CTA even shorter.
8. Utilize Comments to offer The ‘Next Step’
Do not offer every step of CTA in the video content or the caption, instead, you can use the comments to pin the next steps. Online users are accustomed to checking comments and it can help you engage more viewers. You can also use the comments for communication with the viewers and fans. Replying to your comments can help to improve online engagement for the YouTube channel.
9. Add Captions and Texts
Captions and texts are the best sections to incorporate your keywords naturally. While it helps to improve SEO for the short, texts are also able to offer the information that viewers are looking for. Closed captions can make your video content feel speedy and keep people hooked.
10. Use Hashtag in Shorts
Hashtags are still trendy and they work pretty well for these social platforms where millions of people are active. It works like a natural keyword that helps the content stand out while being accurately categorized. Hashtags can help to improve reach greatly but you should remember that YouTube will reject all of them if you use more than 60 hashtags in a single short content.
11. Utilizing Trending Music
Just like videos on TikTok and reels on Instagram, trending music plays a vital role in making shorts go viral. On YouTube, you can easily find music to add to your video content. There is a 'trending' tab from where you can find all the trendy music and songs that are being mostly used these days. You can utilize this trending music to generate more views which helps to create a sense of familiarity with the audiences.
12. Repurpose Video to Short
The best thing about shorts is that they help you repurpose your long-form video content that is already existing in your channel. This way, not only the short but the repurposed videos also receive a good amount of organic views. It is great for pushing the overall YouTube channel.
Concluding Thoughts
Nowadays, you can also find AI-driven tools for short editing and researching market trends which make the task easier and more effective. Shorts offer an innovative way to push your channel and you should utilize it to its last bit. Take professional help for more guidance.
