I’m sure you’ve heard the term “viral marketing.” But do you really know what it is? I thought I knew, but just to be sure I consulted Wikipedia, Web Marketing Today and a few other Web sites and blogs to make sure. I’ve compiled the characteristics of viral marketing as a marketing technique that:
• Uses existing social networks
• Encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, either online or offline
• Consumers volunteer to distribute (the marketer doesn’t ask consumers to pass on the message; the marketer creates a compelling message that consumers want to pass on)
to
• Increase brand awareness,
• Increase sales,
• Influence others, or
• Achieve some other marketing objective.
Viral marketing is generally word-of-mouth marketing on the Internet. Offline, viral marketing is usually referred to as simply “word-of-mouth marketing.” The word “viral” conjures up nasty images of sick people, bacteria and a whole host of other sicknesses that spread quickly. Viral marketers are thought of as being somewhat nasty as well. Nasty, but effective.
Many have tried to rename viral marketing to something more pleasant, most recently, a new marketing company called Dandelion is referring to viral videos as “dandelions,” but so far, the term “viral marketing” is here to stay.
The term was coined by Harvard Business School professor, Jeffrey Rayport, in December 1996 article for “Fast Company”: The Virus of Marketing. Later, Tim Draper and Steve Jurvetson from the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson used the term in 1997 to describe Hotmail’s practice of including ads for itself at the end of every outgoing mail from their users. The Hotmail practice is seen as the first viral marketing campaign.
The practice was so simple and it worked beautifully. Hotmail gave away free email accounts, waited for people to email their network of friends and family who read the message and then signed up for their own accounts. Then those friends and family emailed their friends and family, and so on and so on, and then almost everyone caught the “bug” and opened a Hotmail account. It occurred pretty rapidly from Hotmail’s idea to let its users spread the word for it.
The Elements of a Successful Viral Marketing Campaign
For any successful viral marketing strategy to work, it needs to include the following six elements:
1. Give something away – everyone wants something for free.
2. Easy to transfer to others (email, phone calls, text messages) – viruses spread when they’re easy to transmit (like how easily it is to catch the flu from a cough or touching something someone sick has touched).
3. Scales easily from small to very large – you have to be able to support the spread, either with your free product or more servers to accommodate more Web hits.
4. Uses common motivators and behaviors – people want the best, they want money, they want to be cool. Use these motivators to your advantage and make your viral message something everyone will want to know about.
5. Uses existing social networks – this is what makes it so easy. You’re using people you know to get to other people they know and so on.
6. Uses others’ resources – by putting your message on someone else’s Web site or blog, you’re not doing any work after that person sends your message to others – you basically have tens, hundreds or thousands of people working for you for free.
Once you have all of these elements in place, your viral marketing message is more likely to hit the masses and give you much coverage and success. The sales don’t come right away – you must be patient and they will come.
No Comments Yet
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
