Video Breakdown: How I Made This Video Reach 64% of All Swedish TikTok Users
This is a breakdown of a video referred to as the "bonfire video", which you can see below. A taxi has gotten stuck in the middle of a crowd watching a bonfire. The setup is "Who called a taxi?" and the punchline is showing the lost taxi in the middle of the crowd.
In this article, I will explain all the steps I took to design this video from start to finish, how I used viral tips and strategies throughout the whole process, to finally reach more than 800k views on TikTok and Instagram combined. For reference, this is a video in Swedish and it got 637,000 views on TikTok. TikTok has roughly 1 million daily users in Sweden, which means that the video reached almost 64% of all the daily users in Sweden.
Source: 1 million Swedes use TikTok daily
Step 1: Idea & Recording
At this big bonfire, I see a taxi being lost and slowly moving inside the crowd. This looks pretty funny because of how out of place it is. I decide to record the moment, save it on my phone, and decide to work on a video concept later. I decide to start the recording very zoomed in on the bonfire, doing a quick pan over the crowd, and finally zooming in on the taxi in the end. This approach makes it very easy to deliver a hook and resolve (or setup and punchline if you will) later on.
Step 2: Hook + Resolve
A few days later, I have some time and start designing the hook. The hook represents the promise I make to the user about what they will get out of this video. I have exactly two seconds to tell the user "this is what you will get if you stick around until the end." The hook I decide on is the text "vem ringde taxi" (or "who called a taxi" in English). This hook is multifaceted, containing multiple layers.
- The text tells the user that there is a taxi somewhere - but the user only sees a big bonfire and a large crowd. This indirectly tells the user that they will get the full context if they stick around. This causes curiosity.
- Even though I saved the video in my gallery, I decide to load it into Snapchat and add the text in the Snapchat editor rather than the TikTok editor (or any other video editor). This decision is very purposeful because it gives the video realism.
To expand on the second part, this is indeed one of my most effective viral strategies and it has worked really well for many of my videos. By adding text inside of Snapchat, instead of for instance the TikTok editor, the viewer don't suspect that this video was directed and purposefully designed to go viral. Since a lot of people are familiar with the Snapchat text, it makes it look like a video that I recorded quickly on the fly and sent to a few friends. Also, I apparently thought it was so funny that I decided I had to save this video and share it with the world.
This triggers a special psychological response in the viewer - because they get to feel like they are a fly on the wall in a real-life situation. This is the same reason why people are obsessed with reality TV. They think that what they are seeing is not dramatized or staged at all - that it is real life, and they get to stay in the background and watch.
Common mistake - If I had added a large text within the TikTok editor, the video might have tanked, because people would perhaps feel it was staged and become more skeptical.
Another important aspect here is that I purposefully only use lowercase characters in the text. This makes the text look more like a quick message that I sent to a friend, rather than a polished message meant for a larger crowd. This is another way to make the video feel more real and trigger the fly-on-the-wall-effect even more.
Common mistake - If the text looks very well-formatted, it might not interest the viewer as much, since they could sense that the video is staged.
Remember, I have only two seconds to deliver my hook. The hook in the bonfire video is partly "you will see something funny if you stick around", that triggers curiosity, and partly "this is a real-life situation" that triggers the fly-on-the-wall-effect and realism.
The resolve of the video is tying all the loose ends together, and finally give the user the full context, and the punchline, when they get to see the lost taxi in the middle of the crowd. Hopefully, they get a good chuckle, and a feeling that they got what they were promised.
Step 3: Video Timeline Design
After that, I can carefully design the timeline. The start is a zoom in on a big bonfire - this is a very eye-catching start that will grab people's attention. Because of the fact that I filmed the video like this from the start, and because it is only 8 seconds long, I don't have any dead space or wasted time in the middle of the video. So I don't need to cut anything out.
Common mistake - If I had spent too long without any action at the beginning, for example by only seeing the crowd initially, or dragged it out a lot before reaching the punchline, the viewer might have lost interest.
The hook is very clearly displayed in the video because of the Snapchat text that is attached to all 8 seconds. The resolve or punchline is delivered quickly, in just 8 seconds, which means we don't have to cut anything out.
It is probably very beneficial for the video that the zoom actually needs a few seconds to find focus on the taxi, but this was just accidental. By ending the video quickly after the taxi has been displayed, I've made sure that most people reach the end of the video, and a lot of people might even have to watch it a few times over to fully see what is going on at the end.
Common mistake - If I would have had too many seconds showing the taxi in the end of the video, the viewer might have gotten bored as soon as they understood the punchline and left early before the video was over. We want people to reach the end.
Step 4: Caption
Finally, I design a caption to accompany the video. I end up with "bra service på det där taxibolaget" ("good service at that taxi company" in English) and nothing else. This is concise, with a funny remark that ties the video together. The key here is that I still don't format the text - which would mean appearing as try-hard in the eyes of the viewer. I also don't add any emojis, hashtags, or anything else. Because I am very keen that users feel like this video was not designed for them. They just get the opportunity to see something funny that I witnessed.
Common mistake - If I had added emojis, hashtags, or tried too hard on the caption, the viewer might have felt like the video was staged and not real.
Conclusion
Carefully design a hook and resolve. Design your video so it delivers the hook instantly, then keep the user entertained throughout all the middle parts, and finally reward them with the promised resolve in the end. By utilizing the methods to make the situation feel real and not staged, I keep the trust and interest from the user.
Remember, users don't feel trust anymore because of all clickbaits and false promises on social media. If I can make the user interested in my promise, feel trust that I will deliver on that promise, and then deliver exactly that - I have a good chance of making the video go viral.