How to create a viral video, according to creators

There are many ways to build a sustainable career as a content creator, but starting off can be really tough. One of the swiftest ways to break into the algorithm is by creating viral content.

The definition of "viral" varies depending on who you ask. For one creator, 100,000 views on a video is viral; for another, virality isn't accessed until the one million viewership threshold is passed. For an individual creator, a good rule of thumb is that a video goes viral when the views on that video is significantly higher than the views on a creator's typical content. Ultimately, viral videos are measured in impact, and there are dozens of ways to measure that, too.

Creators with viral success often say that making a video reach a new audience is up to luck, and the real work lies in maintaining those views. All the experts agree: You need a good story, you need to lead with curiosity, and you need a solid hook. But here are three tips from three creators who have done the work successfully:

Be consistent

Jenny Solares's first viral video was a song parody. At the time, her video got about 500,000 views, which felt "huge." Now, she has more than 32,000 subscribers on YouTube, 942,000 followers on Instagram, and three million followers on TikTok. Multiple videos have crossed the one million view threshold on TikTok. Her tip for creating viral content? Be yourself and be consistent.

"It's a little tough because sometimes the videos that you expect to go viral don't, and the ones that you least expect to [go viral] do. I would say not to hold back on being yourself fully. Don't be scared to put your full personality into something. And be consistent," she said.

Study the masters

Jenny Hoyos' first viral video was a hack for making a $3 burrito. Now, with 9.15 million subscribers on YouTube, 186,000 followers on TikTok, and 172,000 followers on Instagram, her videos go viral all the time. But she finds that "anything [can be] a viral video." Her biggest recommendation for creating videos that will garner huge views is to "study what other people are doing and twist it."

"Either combine trends or try and put a twist to a trend. If people are doing something in the color blue, try and do it in the color red," she said.

Be yourself

Zay Dante's videos are fun, entertaining, and musical, and they do incredibly well on TikTok. He now has 431,000 subscribers on YouTube, 1.8 million followers on TikTok, and 400,000 followers on Instagram. You might have heard his tip for creating viral content, but he says it bears repeating: "Be yourself."

"I know that is the cliche," he said. "There's never been a better example of being yourself than being online, because everybody that I know, and everybody that you know as well, is trying to feed into an algorithm to a point where it is not natural anymore. Be yourself and do the things that you find funny, not the stuff you find funny because you think it's gonna make you go viral."