If you want to go viral, your video format is one of the most important things that you need to get right. I would actually say it comes in third place behind having a good hook and having a good video idea. The format is how you structure your video to tell the story, and doing this effectively can make a huge difference. Having a good structure helps keep people engaged. You can have a really good video idea and a really good video hook, but if the story is told in a really bad way, people are just going to keep swiping.
In the previous video called Steal Like an Artist, I broke down the nine viral video formats that have been proven to work over and over again. Now, if you're a beginner, sticking to one of those formats is your best shot at getting a viral video as fast as possible. I'm going to say this one more time because it's so important. If you're new to content creation and you've never gotten a video that's gotten over 50,000 views, you should pick one of the nine formats that I outlined in the previous video. You don't need to reinvent the wheel here. You should just choose something that's already proven to work. Now, once you get some experience, you can totally experiment with new formats, but I'm trying to make this as easy as possible for you, so just trust me.
Now, there is also another problem. Most people don't stick with a format long enough to see results. So in this video, I'm going to explain why you need to commit to a format, test it multiple times, and refine your approach before giving up on it. So let's dive right in. Your video format dictates everything. The structure, the pacing, and ultimately how long people stay watching. And as we all know, retention is everything. The longer that people watch, the more the algorithm pushes your videos to a new audience. That's why certain formats consistently outperform others. They keep people engaged and they create a pattern that viewers recognize and come back to. They work.
Now, this means that if you're just making random videos without a solid format, you're making it harder on yourself than it has to be. But when you choose a proven format and execute it well, you're giving your content the best chance to go viral.
Now, if you missed the last video titled Steal Like an Artist, here's a quick recap of the nine video formats that are designed to perform well on social media:
	1. Social interview and incorporating strangers: This is where you incorporate strangers and unknown people into your content.
	2. Educational: This offers valuable knowledge or insights to the audience.
	3. Skits: This provides entertainment through relatable humor and comedy.
	4. Reaction videos: This engages the audience with emotional or humorous commentary.
	5. Information aggregation: This curates and condenses information for people to consume easier.
	6. Story time: This is sharing compelling personal experiences.
	7. Day in the life: This is offering a glimpse into a unique lifestyle or profession.
	8. Challenges and experiments: This is doing a unique challenge or experiment and showing the results.
	9. Expertise showcase: This is showing off skills or talents that you might have.
Now, again, this is just a quick recap of them all. But if you want a more detailed explanation, go check out the last video titled Steal Like an Artist.
Here's the thing. Virality isn't random. It's actually a process of iteration. A lot of people think that if your first attempt at a format doesn't blow up, it must not work. But that's not how it works at all. One video isn't enough. You need multiple attempts to refine your work. Every video that you post gives you data as to how many people watch the full video, how many people shared it, what the comments are saying, stuff like that. All of this tells you what's working and what needs to be improved. And this is how so many viral creators blow up. It's not from one lucky video. It's usually from their 10th, 20th or even 50th attempt experimenting with the same format and refining it each time.
Going off my last point, do you want to know what the biggest mistake is that people make? It's that they give up too early. Every video is a test. If you abandon a format after just one or two tries, you're not giving yourself enough data to work with. You might be one or two tweaks away from having a breakthrough, but you'll never know if you just keep switching your formats too soon. The algorithm also needs time to recognize your content. If you keep bouncing between different styles, topics and formats, you're making it harder for the platform to know who to show your videos to.
Now, if you're experiencing bad results with a format, instead of changing formats, focus on improving your execution. And here are just a couple things to look at in order of importance:
	1. Improve your hook: This is where you should start and also where you should be making most of your changes. You want to make sure that people are hooked in within the first three seconds. And if you need help with your hooks, make sure you check out. That people are hooked in within the first three seconds. And if you need help with your hooks, make sure you check out the Viral Hooks Masterclass. It's going to be linked down below.
	2. Refine your video idea. The next thing to look at is your video idea. Does it follow the four elements of a viral video idea that we outlined in a previous video? Because if not, you might need to refine it further.
	   Number three, change your pacing or editing style to keep retention high. This means that you might need to edit your video to cut out more of the slow parts or maybe reorder some things to make them more engaging. Your whole goal with editing is to make your video as snappy and as engaging as possible. This means go and look at their content, see how they structure their videos, and see if they're doing something that you're not.
	   Once you've done all of these changes and you've tested each of them multiple times, only then would I think about maybe switching the format. So you might be asking, how long should I stick with a format before deciding if it's working or not? And I'm going to be honest, there is no magic number here, but I would recommend that you try between seven and 10 videos before you give up on it and you switch formats. This gives you enough attempts to analyze what's working and what's not, and you can also do adjustments and it gives you the opportunity to make those adjustments, post them, and see how they are working.
	   Instead of expecting instant results, focus on learning and optimizing with each new video. And most importantly, don't make decisions based on emotions. Just because a video didn't perform the way that you hoped, doesn't mean that the format is the problem. Again, look at the data, see where people are dropping off, and identify what can be tweaked before you decide to abandon ship.
	   Okay, so just to wrap it up, here are the key takeaways from this video:
		1. Your format is everything. So pick one and commit to it.
		2. One video isn't enough. You need multiple attempts to refine your approach.
		3. Don't give up too soon. The algorithm needs time to recognize your content.
		4. Analyze and tweak before switching formats. Small improvements lead to big results.
		5. Commit to at least seven to 10 videos before making major changes.
If you're serious about going viral, stick to one format and see it through. Anyways, that is it for this video. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next one.