Banksy's Rebel Rocket Attack and How to Go Viral Yourself

Every business dreams of creating a viral video. Viral videos bring in views which then lead to sales or a larger viewer following. I was sitting online chatting with some friends and one of them happened to send me this video entitled Rebel Rocket Attack. At first I thought that the video might be related to the news in some reference to the U.S. Involvement in the Middle East, but what I found was a cleverly designed Banksy edited video that had accumulated over 2.5 million views in one day. For any video to get several million views in a day is a gigantic feat that establishes the video at having gone far beyond viral. In an effort to learn more about viral videos and share what I find with you, I've decided to utilize this Banksy viral video as one of our first case studies.

Before you read about the video any further, I encourage you to first watch it yourself so that we can be on the same page.

Content and Breakdown

In the world of social media and sharing, content is king. If you have good content and it isn't of an unreasonable length, you can earn more views and hold higher viewer retention. With the Rebel Rocket Attack video a key combination was struck that allowed it to find its way across the Internet. These key features not only helped this video but can help YOURS as well.

1. Title - Rebel Rocket Attack
2. Length - 1 minute and 30 seconds
3. Subject Matter - Provocative and controversial artistic and realistic (to an extent) war coverage.
4. Ignitability

When attempting to create a viral video you must do certain things in order to make sure you are poised to reach and audience. My list is not created in order of importance but covers the main features of the video that allow it to succeed. When listing content on YouTube it is important to list themed keywords via the title, description, and video tags. Interestingly this particular video has absolutely no description but is able to achieve a better reach from its Banksy roots. Though this video had no description, you should definitely include within the description selected keywords that are in line with the title and tags. Having a catchy title and streamlined keywords throughout any form of text describing the video is a must to climb search pages. There are plenty of tools such as Google's new Keyword Planner that will allow you to choose the best keywords on the market.

You've heard it a thousand times by now, 'content is king'. Banksy's Rebel Rocket Attack strikes the gold mine of rich viral content. Viewers go into the video thinking they are viewing a controversial and emotional rocket strike by some Middle Eastern rebel force but once sucked into the video it is revealed the rebels have instead shot down Dumbo the elephant from the famous Disney film. One soldier jumps on the animated elephant and starts screaming 'Allahu Akbar!'. While I can't confirm whether the live action footage is staged or not (my guess is that it's not), I can comment on the viral integrity of the video. Short videos are generally king unless you already have a following. Users generally will be more willing to sit through a two minute video than they would a fifteen minute short film. In the case of Banksy's subject matter, he chose something relevant and current. The ongoing conflict in Syria combined with other conflicts is presently in the news and highly searched and read about. Finding something relevant and current is easy and once found you simply need good content. Keeping content short keeps the video moving, action going, and viewers viewing.

You don't have to be Banksy to make a hit video. By observing and applying what works in marketing a video and retaining an audience, you yourself can do the same. YouTube is a great creative tool that allows you to create, view, and share content. Creating a great video will make people want to share and ignite the video itself, something you can track statistically. YouTube has wonderful analytics built in so that you can also track how well you are actually doing yourself. If you get lucky and do all the right things you then have the chance to monetize your successful video to make money. If you load your YouTube uploads with killer content and hot keywords, you yourself can shoot Dumbo out of the sky.