The following guest post was written by Trent Swardson, a video producer who’s had several of them going viral in the past – the best of which got nearly 20.000 views. His take on the viral video industry is know to be somewhat harsh. The opinions that follow are entirely his.
Viral Videos these days are all but unoriginal and non-creative endeavours. Want your video to got viral? Just make a derivative, unorigional parody (although I have to admit, sometimes possibly funny) of something that existed and was popular before, and voila, there’s your viral.
The pattern is very clear when you just have to see the viral video chart at any given day.
Say today.
Case in point – at number 10 on the most shared videos in the world today is a Sesame Street parody of hit song Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.
Again, I’ll have to admit it’s somewhat funny due to Sesame Street having good characters, but hardly original and hardly what someone would call an inovative video. Nonetheless, it has 6.7 million views.
Another case in point: a video that until recently (a few days ago even) was in the top 10 most shared videos in the world, something called “I’m Farming and I Grow It”. What is it? Again, it’s a parody, of “I’m Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO.
And again, I’ll have to admit there’s something to it, but not the most original video to be made. It stands at 6 million views.
The next question to be asked then is: do people even want to see original videos? If not, should they? And why does that even matter?
Another question is: as a brand, you want to make good videos or do you want to have a lot of people watching your videos?
Final proof: something that was also until a few days ago in the list, a parody of Gotye’s hit “Somebody That I Used To Know” done Star Wars style. 3.8 million views.
So if you want a video to go viral, but are not concerned if it’s derivative or unoriginal, here’s what you have to do:
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Next: spread that not-masterpiece but viral-video!
Bonus video: Star Wars Call Me Maybe (you’ll know how to judge this if you have learned anything from this post)
Swardson out.
And that’s it! Thanks Trent 
