Obviously I don’t actually know. Let’s start there.
If there were a perfect formula, and I knew it, I’d have a gajillion viral videos. I’d have millions upon millions of followers, and I’d be a full-time influencer.
BUT this is what I will say, which has been crazy for me.
- It is ALWAYS when I think to myself “this is kinda stupid, but I might as well generate something for the day. I bet 10 people will see this.” Anytime I’ve had a ‘great idea’ like “oooooh, people will love this” – crickets. And when I’m like “let’s try this for funsies even though I might only get one like or one surprise,” it’s madness.
- It’s gotta be controversial – which is HILARIOUS because I literally did not think either of my ‘hits’ were so controversial? I thought the reality TV one was gonna be purely funny because I thought “everyone knew” that behind-the-scenes kinda sucks often – that it had been talked about a lot.
And with Jax, I just thought it was crazy she’d been on a major reality show and I didn’t know. That’s it, pretty much. End of thought.
BUT people jumped on the first one wondering how I could say those things, or not knowing before and wanting more.
And they jumped on the Jax thing like I was attacking her for being on Idol, which I didn’t think I was, though I guess I could see how it could be construed that way, even if that wasn’t how I intended.2b. Maybe actually you just have to tell people something they don’t know, because people did seem to be fascinated by something they didn’t know in both cases. - I guess you gotta be ugly? haha I saw a video that said don’t worry about being pretty. And I have done well when I’ve cared least about how I look. [I know you don’t have to look ugly. But I’m just embarrassed that it’s every time I don’t shower first and stuff that it takes off; maybe this just means shower more.]
- Ultimately, it feels like it’s luck. I’ve had zero hashtags on videos that have gotten popular.
In conclusion, I think it’s a crap shoot. I don’t know anything. But it’s when I don’t overthink, I think it’s dumb, I don’t try to overproduce or over-look-cute. I just put out something silly and BAM!
These are my hypothesis right now. So, we’ll see if it ever happens again for me! And if so, we’ll see if it follows the pattern!