> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.postonce.to/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How to find a video format that gets views

> Find a short-form video format that gets views on TikTok, Reels and Shorts: copy proven outliers in your niche, test hooks, judge by your median and use trends.

Don't invent formats from scratch. Find videos in your niche that already went viral, remake them with your own topic or product, post every day, and keep whatever beats your usual views.

These steps come from interviews with app and creator founders collected on [GTM Sauce](https://gtmsauce.com), where remixing proven formats was the approach founders reported most.

## Find formats that already work

<Steps>
  <Step title="Save outliers in your niche">
    Scroll your niche for about 15 minutes a day and save videos that did far better than the account's other posts. A small account with one video at 1 million views tells you more than a big creator, because the format did the work, not the following.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Look for repeats">
    A format that went viral on several different accounts is safer than a one-off hit. Note the hook, the length, the structure and what's on screen.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Remake it, don't copy it">
    Keep the structure and change 10 to 20%: your topic, your product, your face or voice. Founders who copied videos exactly, down to outfits and backgrounds, reported that the copies didn't take off ([example](https://gtmsauce.com/tactics/copy-a-rivals-viral-videos-exactly-down-to-outfits-and-background)).
  </Step>
</Steps>

Two examples from founders:

* **Puff Count** logged its niche's most viral TikToks, remade a 20M-view "what's inside a vape" video with a 2-second mention of the app, and got 8.3M views ([source](https://gtmsauce.com/tactics/puff-count-log-your-niches-most-viral-tiktoks-remake-one-end-with-a-2-second)).
* **Runify** copied another app's viral Reels format before building its own app. One video reached about 2M views ([source](https://gtmsauce.com/tactics/runify-copy-a-proven-apps-viral-reels-format-for-your-niche-before-building)).

## Test it

* **Post at least once a day.** Formats are found by volume. Founders reported 40 to 300 posts before a format clicked.
* **Put most of the work into the first 3 seconds.** Hooks that open a question, take a side or name one exact situation hold viewers. One founder tested two hooks on the same video as Instagram Trial Reels: the question hook got about 50,000 views, the answer hook about 500 ([source](https://gtmsauce.com/tactics/the-evolved-founder-test-two-hooks-as-instagram-trial-reels-then-post-the)).
* **Change one thing at a time**: the hook, the length or the visual. Otherwise you can't tell what made the difference.
* **Show it, don't describe it.** If you sell something, show it being used in the video instead of only talking about the topic.

<Tip>
  On Instagram, turn on **Publish as Trial Reels** for a destination to test videos on non-followers before your followers see them ([Instagram](/help/platforms/instagram#publishing-to-instagram)).
</Tip>

<Tip>
  Using Claude or Codex? The free **viral-formats** and **hook-vault** skills pick formats and write hooks from the same kind of proven examples ([Free AI skills](/help/ai-skills)).
</Tip>

## Judge it against your median

Compare each video with your own typical video, not with viral accounts.

1. Open [Analytics](https://postonce.to/dashboard/analytics). The video table gives each video a score against your median video, where 1.0x is typical ([Analytics](/help/analytics#every-video-every-platform)).
2. Sort by score. Make more videos like the ones well above 1.0x.
3. Give a format 1 to 3 weeks. If none of its videos beat your median by then, drop it and try the next one.

Wait a few days before judging a video. Views keep coming in for days after a post goes out.

## Use trends

Trends give quick spikes. Formats built on a lasting need, such as lists, tutorials or before-and-afters, keep working for months. One job-board founder has posted the same "companies hiring remote" list format for two years instead of chasing trends ([source](https://gtmsauce.com/tactics/career-hound-keep-reposting-one-video-a-list-of-companies-hiring-remote-ending)). Use trends on top of a format that already works.

* **Trending sounds** can't be added through TikTok's or Instagram's posting APIs. On TikTok, use **Send as draft** and add the sound in the app ([TikTok](/help/platforms/tiktok#tiktok-options-when-you-create-a-post)).
* **Licensed music doesn't move with the video.** A sound licensed on TikTok can get the copy muted or blocked on YouTube. Use original audio, or a sound licensed on every platform you post to ([Copyrighted music on YouTube](/help/platforms/youtube#copyrighted-music-on-youtube)).
* **Remove the other platform's hashtags.** **Rewrite caption with AI** drops tags like #fyp or #reels for each destination ([Captions](/help/captions)).

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Turn views into customers" icon="bullseye-arrow" href="/help/growth-guide/views-to-customers">
    Get viewers to sign up or buy once a format works.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Scale to more platforms" icon="arrows-split-up-and-left" href="/help/growth-guide/scale">
    Post every winner everywhere, on more accounts.
  </Card>
</Columns>

## Still stuck?

Search this help center with <kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>K</kbd>, or email [support@postonce.to](mailto:support@postonce.to) from the address you use for PostOnce. Include the platform, the approximate time, and the exact message you saw. Never send passwords, access tokens, API keys, or card details.

Something missing from PostOnce? [Request a feature](https://postonce.featurebase.app/) or check the [roadmap](https://postonce.featurebase.app/roadmap).


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