This is Part Two of a piece called Clickability, How to Make Viral Content.

Part One addresses what causes Burnout in the industry so you may better understand how to avoid it. You can read that part --here.

Part Three talks about The Secret metrics you need to know about viral videos. You can read that part -- here

This part will discuss what ways you can play the system to make your content more likely to Go Viral..

~ Clickability ~

How to produce viral content

Part Two -- GOING VIRAL..

In Part One of Clickability, we learned of the consequences of trying to produce great content day-in and day-out. While, we, as digital content creators, are always trying to do our best to release high-quality content, the constant effort that goes into this can take it's toll in the form of mental fatigue, or Burnout.

One reason for this may be the strain of trying to stay on top of the algorithm, a system that works to figure out what will get your content promoted. We know that a constantly changing algorithm can create a less than ideal working environment. But today, let's see if there is a way that we can hack the system, get on the trending page, get more views and go viral!

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According to Urban Dictionary, something that “goes viral” is an image, video, or link that spreads rapidly through a population by being frequently shared with a number of individuals.

Sure, but what makes one piece of content get shared globally, while another sits on the shelf.

To find out, let's return to Derek from Veritasium's video and his hypothesis that the algorithm, rather than viewer preference, drives views on the site....

On a platform where over 500 hours of content are uploaded every minute, there is steep competition for attention. The odds seem insurmountable to get your content promoted on the Recommended or Trending page.

In his video, Derek explores how YouTube has evolved since it's humble beginnings in 2005.

In the early days, Youtube would promote a channel's content to it's subscribers. This often meant that channels with a larger subscription-base would grow larger, while smaller fish struggled to get noticed. The rich grew richer, and the small stayed small.

This self-contained model didn't provide a level playing ground for creators, and it also didn't allow for much growth as a company. So YouTube started to tweak this model. They soon found out that by reducing the importance of subscription, the watch time on the platform increased!

And while this makes senses (not all content from one creator will be gold), it did create a different environment from which creators had to work to get their videos seen.

Derek explains that moving away from the subscription metric meant creators have to rely on Yellow Journalism tactics to garner viewers to their content.

Basically, in order to survive, Youtubers have to now employ sensationalism and click-baity thumbnails to attract viewers.

Breakout Youtuber, Mr. Beast, seems to have the Midas Touch when it comes to making viral content. He now has over 19 Million subscribers and averages that number of views or more on his videos.

At the Creator's Summit in New York, Derek decided to share his ideas for the latest video he had been working on with Mr. Beast. He showed Mr. Beast the thumbnail he had planned, and Mr. Beast immediately recognized it as "A Banger!" Then Derek told the title he had chosen for the video, and Mr. Beast was less than impressed. He told him to change it and offered a suggestion... Derek took his advice and sure enough that video went viral (currently sitting at over 29 million views).

So, how did Mr. Beast know..? and What can WE do with our content to get the same results? Follow me over to the final part to this three part series to find out!

Have you had any content go viral? What do you think makes a video or article rise to the top of the charts? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below..

Until Then..

• Note-- all images in this piece are from this source