The media influencers’ view — The first Ten seconds mean everything
Can you plan virality?
— Mahesh Raghavan, a Dubai-based music sensation “The Internet is an unpredictable place; you can never tell what happens,” says Mahesh Raghavan, a Dubai-based music sensation, who rose to fame with his classical twist to international songs. “I can’t really plan a ‘viral’ video, but I can increase the chances of people sharing it by making my content interesting. Fresh content and ideas will always have an audience,” he says.
His version of Despacito, YouTube’s most watched trend so far, got him 4.9 million views, followed by a Game of Thrones theme and Adele’s Hello at 2.2 million and 2.1 million, respectively. “Planning something viral is surely a challenge. You have to really consider what it is that people will actually share. It needs to be relevant at the moment when people are watching or listening to something; plus, it has to attract a viewer’s interest within 10 seconds — that is the nature of the Internet today,” he says.
Meet a viral Instagrammer
— Nadine du Toit, with over 49k followers “There are so many collaborating opportunities as an Instagrammer that it is hard to do say no. I need to manage my time and pick the right opportunities,” shares Nadine du Toit, known by her social media identity, @glorygirlfit, with over 49k followers on Instagram.
There is just a small recipe for viral content — she shares candidly, “Create something shareable, something to which users would like to ‘tag’ their friends. The benchmark for viral content for me is the views and comments ratio and being tagged as a recommendation.”
She has never experienced the pressure of creating viral content and tries to stay away from it. She doesn’t spend on ads to amplify her content, but plans to start reaching out to bigger Instagram accounts to get featured. “Instagramming has never been a job for me, but a passion, and it’s what I want to continue doing rather than push myself to create viral content,” she says.
Pressure to produce viral content
— Alex Hirschi, whose videos have 30 million views “You can’t predict what will go viral. You can only do certain things to give your video the best ‘chance’ of going viral, and then sit back and watch. Focusing on producing content that could go viral is challenging because you have to think of unique ideas — things people have never seen before, but to which they can still relate. It’s not easy, and that’s why few people are able to consistently produce viral content. If a video goes viral, it gets me many followers during that period, which means my business grows,” says Alex Hirschi, a car vlogger in Dubai. Her Instagram handle, @supercarblondie, has 916K followers. Speaking about the viral benchmark, she says, “Since my social media accounts grow on a daily basis, my benchmark is to achieve more engagement than the average top ten posts. I would say something has gone viral if it far exceeds my network of followers. For example, I currently have over three million followers, and some of my videos have over 30 million views; these can be called viral.”
About amplifying content, she says, “Collaborations with other influencers and large publications are key for growth and reaching newer audiences. I’m always looking to create content that large accounts would like to repost and reach a larger audience.” However, she insists that she doesn’t pay YouTube, Facebook or Instagram to amplify posts as her content reaches millions organically. She worries that if she needs to promote her post, then she is failing because maybe her content isn’t good enough.
The UAE recently implemented a new regulation for social media influencers to hold a media license to operate and Hirschi sees this as a challenge for beginners in the industry. “But, I think it’s a very positive step as it will give brands more confidence and legitimise the industry,” she says.