Viral Marketing

What Is Viral Marketing?

 Viral marketing is a sales technique that involves organic or word-of-mouth information
about a product or service to spread at an ever-increasing rate.
 The internet and the advent of social media have greatly increased the number of viral
messages in the form of memes, shares, likes, and forwards.
 Some marketing campaigns try to trigger virality, however many times just exactly what
goes viral remains a mystery.
 Once something goes viral, it is an easy and cheap way for a message to gain popularity.
 Viral marketing can increase a company's reach and, ultimately, its customer base.

Examples of Viral Marketing: -

A frequently used example of early viral marketing is Hotmail, the free web-based email service
launched in 1996 that included in its users' outgoing messages an embedded advertisement and
direct link inviting recipients to sign up for an account. This practice led to the fastest growth
among user-based media companies at the time. 

Oreo

Some of the best viral content comes from seizing the moment. Perhaps the most famous
example of this is Oreo’s “Dunk in The Dark” tweet during the 2013 Super Bowl.

While content like this can’t be planned, it's the quick thinking and quick-wittedness that
made this tweet so popular and so frequently cited by marketers.
What do most viral marketing campaigns have in common?
Although viral messages and content vary wildly from business to business, there are
three distinct elements that most campaigns share. Marketers should keep these in mind when
trying to assess whether or not a campaign has the potential for some serious buzz.

 They’re organic: - It’s about being at the right place at the right time.
 They’re timely: - Simply put, trends come and go.
 They’re bold: - Going viral means doing something that grabs the attention of the public.

Advantages of Viral Marketing: -

 Low cost: - What characterizes viral campaigns is that the users do a significant part of the
work for the brand, which drastically cuts down the costs of distribution. It is unnecessary to
buy advertising or media space. 
 Potential of great reach: - A viral video on the Internet has the ability to reach a huge
international audience without having to invest a ton of money or make an extra effort. Due
to this, a small company or even a private individual can go viral. 
 It is not invasive: - In viral marketing, the social media user is the one making the decision
to participate and share content, so it lessens the possibility of the brand coming across as
invasive. Because of this, the perception of the brand and the interaction are significantly
better, compared to more typical forms of advertising. 
 It helps build up your brand: - If you really hit the bull’s-eye in terms of creativity, you
create content so incredible that users share it and develop a personal connection with your
brand. It is without a doubt an extremely powerful tool when it comes to branding and
awareness.

Disadvantages of Viral Marketing: -

But as with everything, there are cons to go with the pros. While a good viral marketing
campaign can bring massive awareness about your brand in a cost-effective manner, it also has
the capability to dilute your brand. Or at its very worst, build negative buzz regarding your brand
and products. This is when “too much of a good thing” may just hurt your work in building your
organization’s credibility.

Virality rests upon the idea that people share your campaign with their friends. But many will not
do so if they’re afraid you’re going to end up scraping personal information from them or if
you’re simply going to add their friends to a spammy mailing list. Remember, individuals  have
their own “personal brand” to protect.
Additionally, going viral may lead to a massive influx of new users who suddenly disappear after
checking out your app. These campaigns won’t automatically bring you loyal customers who
will last years.

Overall however, the advantages of viral marketing far outweigh the disadvantages.

10 Viral Marketing Principles to Follow: -

Effective viral marketing campaigns have:

1. Excellent planning
2. Audience involvement
3. Spectacle + press-worthiness
4. Humor + like-ability
5. A worthwhile cause
6. Celebrity star power (optional)
7. Low barrier to entry
8. A really good incentive
9. Exclusivity
10. Urgency