Now I’m not going to say I cracked the code of viral video by any means. There are far more accomplished online video people here than I. That said, this video I made hours after I got my iPhone has received +12,000 views with no promotion on my part.

Here’s what I learned:

1) Make it timely.
Because of the fact that I got my iPhone the day it was release (in the suburbs … so no lines) and did a video of it that night propelled it to a #35 raking on YouTube that weekend in their technology section. Yes, I was surprised, too :)

2) Make it honest.
What you see in that video is just me … no bullshit, no marketing speak, no “messaging.” Mind you, I’ve been making professional videos for 15 years, so I did have a leg up, but as you can see, there was nothing I did that any college kid with a camera and iMovie couldn’t do. I just told my story without any regard to marketing. I like to think that my computer, Porter Novelli, accomplished that with these videos we produced for HP. They got over 100,000 impressions between the site and the videos. In them, see if you can identify fellow ADM member John Havens and me in them. First person to comment back with the right answers gets a free iTunes gift certificate from me … really!

3) Respond.
Because of the egotistic nature of seeing my own video go to #35 on YouTube, I watched the responses a lot. And I responded to them. In doing so, it raised the activity level of that video. Nothing screams that a video is “working” like when it’s commented a lot. But comments with no responses are like billboards on cul de sacs — no repeat business.

4) Make it interesting.
I have to say this video was moderately entertaining with some video tricks thrown in there. But the best judge of if your video is interesting and entertaining is NOT YOU. Show it to 10 other people. If only 2 of them chuckle, ditch it. In the video post-production world, it’s called “killing your babies.” Finally, keep it short. A video you think is the right length is always still 20% too long.