5 Easy Ways to Make Viral YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts viewers grow by an average of about 20 billion annually, from around 30 billion in 2021 to 70 billion daily views in 2023.

Imagine having a viral YouTube Shorts, and the viewership can increase exponentially. The financial and prestige implications of such events are every YouTuber’s dream come true.

But how do you ensure your YouTube Shorts blitz the social media trending landscape? Check out our five easy ways to make viral YouTube Shorts and start your influencer journey excellently.

What Is a YouTube Shorts?

Before we dive deep into making trending YouTube Shorts, beginners should appreciate what these videos are.

As the name implies, YouTube shorts are short-form video content that never exceeds a minute of viewing time.

If you watch Instagram Reels or TikTok, YouTube Shorts are like that, but they are for the YouTube platform.

You might think Shorts are similar to ‘ordinary’ YouTube videos.

They’re not.

Shorts are like ordinary Facebook posts appearing in the News Feed, except the content is in a video format on YouTube. Moreover, you don’t need a YouTube Channel to create and post such videos.

More importantly, YouTube Shorts videos are easy to film, edit, and publish because the platform already features built-in tools. All you need is a mobile device with a good-quality camera.

Why Should You Make YouTube Shorts?

The following benefits of YouTube Shorts are worth leveraging.

Reach new audiences

Did you know around three in four consumers prefer short-form product or service videos to ads lasting more than a minute?

More importantly, people watch three in five short videos for up to 80% of their length (around one in three for 80% or longer).

These figures underscore your chances of expanding your audience. And if you’re marketing or selling something, a well-crafted YouTube Shorts video should boost leads.

Promote your channel

Although you can create and publish Shorts without a YouTube Channel, it makes more sense to have one.

Monetizing YouTube is more significant with ordinary long-form videos than YouTube shorts.

The good news?

YouTube Shorts offers audiences a glimpse of your channel.

They can choose to watch the full-length video, which will help you monetize the interactions, provided you entice them to check out your channel.

Test Content Ideas

YouTube Shorts can be a testing platform for your long-form videos. You can create and publish a Shorts video within seconds.

Alternatively, you can use AI-powered videomakers to upload onto the Shorts Feed. You can monitor the short-form video’s performance, including views and engagement, to check whether it’s worth developing into full-blown content.

Tweaking the video is also more convenient and quick.

5 Easy Ways to Make Viral YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts are an exciting tool for gaining people’s attention.

Unfortunately, keeping them glued to your creations and making them spread the word requires a few tactics to ensure the videos go viral. Here are five easy ways to make viral YouTube Shorts.

1. Hook your viewers within the first ten seconds (or maybe less)

You could start with catchy music or an AI-generated talking head featuring a recognizable character (think Shrek or Mickey Mouse).

How would your YouTube viewers react if Darth Vader sounds like Donald Duck?

Even your thumbnails must be attractive enough to entice viewers to click. Surprising elements can also pique audience interest, compelling them to finish the less-than-a-minute video.

Hooking viewers is essential to a viral YouTube Shorts.

Otherwise, people won’t feel the need to spread or share the content with their social circles.

2. Create a looping short-form video.

Sixty seconds (or less) aren’t sufficient to convey a message. Some folks might miss the critical takeaways unless they review the content.

Setting your AI-generated YouTube Shorts video in a loop addresses this concern.

The trick allows viewers to watch the short-form video continuously, as if it had no ending. However, you will want to create a compelling ending that seamlessly connects to the beginning hook.

A perfectly smooth video loop will increase engagement and boost the video’s chances of going viral.

3. Focus on trending topics and use relevant hashtags.

How else can you make a viral YouTube Shorts video besides including trending topics?

For example, “singing in public” is one of the hottest YouTube Shorts trends today, registering over 1.8 million views.

You could do AI’s impact on the internet (around 2.3 million views) or Minecraft YouTubers (6.5 million views).

Use popular hashtags to boost your YouTube Shorts video’s discoverability.

Employing proven SEO tactics also works. Doing so can increase YouTube’s likelihood of featuring your video on YouTube Shorts Explore. That exposes your content to millions of YouTube users.

4. Use Puppetry to generate compelling and trending videos.

Although YouTube makes Shorts video creation effortless with app-integrated video editing tools, a third-party platform can be more productive.

You can permanently save the video on your PC and upload it to the YouTube Shorts platform.

Puppetry is a user-friendly AI-powered video maker, bringing fun to the already enjoyable craft of video production.

For a dollar monthly, you can create stunning AI avatars, talking heads, animated portraits, digital puppets, and other characters to make your YouTube Shorts videos more engaging.

Add visual and sound elements in a cinch. Make your video “talk” in different languages.

The best part?

You can have the Shorts video within minutes without using a rig or expensive editing software.

5. Expand and collaborate with influencers.

Newbies can make viral YouTube Shorts videos by collaborating with other YouTubers, preferably those with a more significant following.

For example, Uncle Roger’s collaboration with Guga Foods is classic, allowing both personalities to leverage each other’s strengths (including social media influence).

Of course, you must also expand the reach of your YouTube Shorts video by sharing it on other platforms. Post the link on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X.

Audiences in these channels will know your content and share it with their social circle to make your video go viral.

Final Thoughts

Making viral YouTube Short videos is easy. You just need a surprisingly well-crafted hook to grab the audience’s attention and a dutifully executed video script.

Although we appreciate time-honored video production processes, we cannot dismiss AI-powered technologies' unmatched convenience and efficiency.

While you can make YT Shorts with your smartphone or DSLR, relying on Puppetry and other AI-powered video producers makes more sense.