Decades ago, Andy Warhol prophesized that there will come a time when everyone would be famous— for 15 minutes.

Viral videos have confirmed the truth of his words.

One of the best ways to make a name for yourself and get noticed is by going viral on YouTube. The platform gives you an unprecedented reach and boosts your popularity. Working on a dance video is an exciting endeavor as it gives you the freedom to unleash your creativity and take risks with the concept and choreography.

As if free advertisement, millions of views and subsequent popularity weren’t reasons enough to dabble in producing a viral video; you have the opportunity to earn a substantial amount of money by monetizing your videos.

Whether you are a dance studio owner or a performance dancer, if you wish to curate a viral video, here are the steps to follow:

Create A Story

If the excessive consumption of movies, books and televisions series tell you anything, it’s that people like stories. Brainstorm ideas for what you’d like to portray through your dance video. A viral video called Girl Learns to Dance in a Year is a great example of showing a journey and telling a story that strikes a chord with the audience.

Be Creative

If you are looking to create a simple dance video to promote your dance group or studio, think of dance-offs or performing a dance routine on a super hit song of the season. Have fun with the outfits and concept and let your creativity run wild. Dance offs are a great way make a fun video, especially ones that include challenging choreography and good video direction.

If you prefer performing on a hit number, seek inspiration from dance cover videos such as Beyonce’s Run The World from a Korean dance group or pick an unlikely song such as the mellow-toned Shape of you by Ed Sheeran.

 

Keep It Short

Shorter videos tend to get more views. With less attention spans and a tendency toward fast consumption, you decrease your chances of getting higher views if your video is longer than three minutes.

Take Ownership

Once you’re clear on the concept, explain it to your dancers and give them clear guidelines of your vision for the video. Vague directions are the bane of any project so explain as best as you can what the video will entail and what you expect to gain out of it.

Plan But Improvise

You want to have everything ready – the dancers, props, equipment, location etc when it comes to shooting time so plan everything in advance. However, take the liberty to improvise as you go along. Great ideas tend to hit during an on-going process so feel free to mix things up.

Releasing day

Viral video makers in the know recommend releasing a video on a Monday or Tuesday so that your video gets an entire week to build momentum. These are also the days when people are more likely to watch videos at work. So choose your releasing hour and day wisely. Be sure to pick a day when major breaking news is not making rounds so you have an edge.

Spread Your Video

Once you have created your video, leverage social media to spread your video. Your first platform will be YouTube, however don’t ignore the power of other websites such as Reddit and Twitter. Contact influential bloggers with a big following to write you a post so that your video can reach a large audience.

Videos tend to go up in ranking faster than any other form of content. As more people start to watch your video or spread its link, it moves up the ranks. Even if your video doesn’t go viral, as long as it’s watched by a large number of people, your job is done.

 

For more information on setting up a dance studio, expanding your streams of revenue as a dancer or building and maintaining a solid clientele, visit Dance Pro Income Booster—your ultimate source of forging a successful career in the dance industry.