How to Stage a Viral Event

by HOWTODOEVERY.COM

April 19, 2026

 Let's face it: everyone is either a content creator, influencer, singer or dancer, and practically everyone has written a book. The cat has long been out of the bag: you don't have subscribe to the daily grind like your grandparents did. You can indulge in fun and make money to boot. But, as millions of people in developed countries across the world catch on, the competition to make money dimishes. If you aren't going viral once in a while, you are not making any money. Your content just sits there. Even some of your friends and family fast-scroll past your latest stroke of video genius. It's not that it wasn't good, it's just a bunch of million more people online that same day have something better. 

It would be nice if you could capture authentic viral moments and cash in, but the reality is that real viral moments are rare, and when they do happen your phone is in your purse and pocket and by the time to are ready to record, the moment has passed. So enter the staged viral event. Creators and influencers do it all the time, and it pays off when it receives millions of views. The good news is you can stage viral moments and they can look pretty darn real. Some of the best viral events are those in which you or someone you know does something weird, strange, wild, unusual, absurd, funny, cray, dangerous, sad - all those emotions and more. There are trends that come and go, but some of them still manage to get a lot of views.  Here are a few you might be able to work with. Be advised you should always proide disclaimers - especially if something might be dangerous. Don't encourage others to do dangerous things. 

THE BOLD STRANGER: This is a situation in which a couple are holding hands, strolling in a park or mall - somewhere public and where there are a generous amount of people around. You are your stunt person passes by the couple and then grabs the free hand of one of the lovebirds. To make it more interesting you could have a male stunt person grab the guy's hand, or he could grab the woman's. Perhaps the man will run after your stunt person and act like he's going to hit him.  There are different variations of this, and doing this on a double escalator is a popular take on this. In this case it could be one guy coming up on the escalator and on the down escalator another guy reaches over and touches his hand or shoulder. 

Here's a unique one:  CHANGE A TIRE: A guy is trying to change his tire and doesn't know how. A woman in a skimpy dress pulls up, gets out and goes to work. The guy sits there embarassed. 

PAY WITH PENNIES: Your stunt person is browsing in a high-end jewelry store. He or she selects a diamond bracelet and the salesperson takes it out of the case and approaches the checkout kiosk. Your stunt person pulls out a huge bag of pennies and dumps them on the glass case.  You can have the salesperson be a stunt player as well. All you need is permission to use a jewlery store for a few minutes.

BUG SANDWICH: Two people are eating burgers in an unnamed fast food restaurant. While eating one of them pulls a roach from their sandwich. The other person drops their burger in shock. They are even more shocked when their restaurant companion flicks the roach to the side and keeps eating. Of course it was a plastic roach.

I'M RICH!!!  A few friends are sitting around checking their Powerball tickets. Unknown to one of them another person in on the joke knows one set of numbers their picked. That person reads off a few ticket numbers and they all groan. Then he reads of the exact numbers on the friend's ticket. The friend thinks they won the jackpot but doesn't say anything to the others. As they are all tearing up their losing tickets someone grabs the "winning" ticket for the person and tears it up right before his eyes. 

There are literally thousands of scenarios. Use your imagine. Stage a viral event and watch your commissions grow with each one.