The Viral Video Manifesto
“The Viral Video Manifestoâ€, by Stephen Voltz and Fritz Grobe is THE book to read if you want to create videos that will become VIRAL online.
“The Viral Video Manifestoâ€Â is filled with examples (such as Diet Coke and Mentos experiments) of videos that have gone viral, and it explains what these videos have that made them so popular.
The book includes over 100 QR Codes that have links to these viral videos. The core of
“The Viral Video Manifesto†is about three things:
- Be legit
- Be concise (get to the point!)
- Originality rules
Being legit in your videos is simple.
Present what’s real.
Don’t cheat your viewers from viewing the authenticity of YOU and YOUR style.
Who you are should come out in the way you present the video.
For example, unless there are HORRIBLE (and I really mean HORRIBLE) errors in your video, don’t do take after take after take of the same video, because it won’t be hared for your viewers to see the staged presentation.
Secondly, open up the main content of your video sooner rather than later.
By this I mean, don’t try to pretty up the video with an unnecessarily long introduction or other extra details, but get right to the point. Just tell the viewers what they’re going to see (this is what titles are good for), and present it. By presenting content quickly, you capture the viewers interest immediately and make them less likely to click off.
Finally, according to Voltz and Grobe, originality rules.  If you want people to actually care about what you’re posting, you need to make it original.  You need to be able to create videos with a twist that others don’t have; a kind of video that will leave viewers feeling that only from you can they get that same kind of spin that they just saw.
By making these videos unique to yourself you not only give viewers a good taste of what else they may get from you in the future, but you can also create a virtual “hook†that will make them come back for more if they like what you  have to offer.
Whether you’re creating product reviews, marketing videos, or videos designed to bolster a presentation, using these three guidelines for a viral video as a benchmark for your company’s video productions is a way to ensure success. I think “The Viral Video Manifesto†is a book with an awesome game plan for creating successful videos, and if you follow this game plan(with time) you should be able to gather video views.  However, if you are short on time, this book may not be the best choice to read. Although the three tips are valuable, the majority of the book is example after example of videos that were successful as compared to videos that were not. Even though the examples are helpful, the important points of the book can be summed up into a short pamphlet or an article and you won’t have missed much.
