Viral Marketing Explained
June 1st, 2008 by Hunter
Just like the cold virus spreads from person to person, so does a marketing campaign when done correctly. Viral marketing uses techniques that exploit existing social networks to increase awareness of a business or product. Viral marketing is a technique that has been used in the offline advertising word for a long time and has recently made its way to the Internet.
How Viral Marketing Works
Viral marketing is accomplished when a website or program facilitates and encourages people to spread marketing information along voluntarily. Viral marketing tactics include:
- ebooks
- branded software
- flash games
- the use of video clips
- images and even text messages
Viral marketing is very different from network marketing and multi-level marketing schemes. Viral marketing is essentially a separate activity all by itself and has little in common with either of these things. It does not involve participants signing-up or paying for anything during the marketing process.
Early Examples
A classic example of early viral marketing techniques was when companies placed links at the bottom of users free e-mail accounts so the recipients of the e-mail could follow the link to sign-up for a free account. Many people use this technique within their own e-mails now to advertise links to their business website. Additionally, many of the web based free e-mails services allow companies to place their link at the bottom of their users e-mails.
Word of mouth and other tactics have been used to spread information since the beginning of time. Using new technologies like the internet has made this method of exchanging information much faster. Increasingly people are spending more time online and they are creating online identities and communities. Viral marketing takes advantage of the power of having these communities easily accessible by connecting with people in the online communities, so they can connect to other people.
Spreading The Word
If a company creates a marketing material through a blog, video or article they can begin the viral marketing campaign by starting the spread of that marketing material using an RSS feed. They would place the item on a website other than their own using the RSS feed and other people will see it and spread it elsewhere. Thus, the marketing material takes on the characteristics of a virus.
When people see the blog, video or article they may become interested in its origins and use the information they obtained from it to seek out information about the company that created it. That is why it is important to discreetly brand you viral marketing promotions with your companies information. You don’t want to be overt about branding your content, but it is important to slip it in there.
Conclusion
There are many reasons people choose to participate in viral marketing. A successful viral marketing campaign will spread like wildfire all over the internet and generate a great deal of interest in what your business has to offer. It is the Internet equivalent of creating product buzz on the streets. Viral marketing is also relatively inexpensive as well because you are not paying for the message to be spread. The idea is that your potential customers are spreading the message for you.
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