Internet Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is sweeping the internet; both as a means of reaching huge client bases, and helping businesses expand rapidly. When it comes right down to it, we trust our friends’ recommendations over almost any other form of marketing-related persuasion. This friendly persuasion is how viral marketing works.  All businesses have historically credited referrals as their best business lead generator.  Viral Marketing can be considered a potential for “referrals on steroids.”

Viral marketing is how your business sends everyone’s friends to work for you. The earliest form of viral marketing was the rumor, and it is still in constant use; it’s so effective. But it doesn’t always have to be as straight-forward as the word-of-mouth example.

I believe it was Hotmail who first appended their offer for free e-mail services to the end of their users’ e-mails. Why, those first users were recommending Hotmail to all their friends, just by sending them e-mail. (The word “free” most certainly didn’t hurt either.)

The internet has proven itself an excellent pathway for viral marketing as email and instant messaging communications are incredibly rapid, and therefore, so is the passage of the marketing message from one person to the next. YouTube especially has become a means of transmitting an entertaining message to the world, and is rapidly overtaking even e-mail.  Also consider that many, particularly teens, are currently using Twitter as a complete substitute for email.

With the recent surge in popularity of social networking media, viral marketing has gotten even easier. With technologies like Twitter, people’s updates often come closer to an hourly basis than a daily basis, as the short length of messages limit content, as well as expectations. For those engaged online, these constant updates, rumors, stories, and links, all have the potential to spread like wildfire worldwide, across borders and nationalities.  Just look at Twitter’s Trending Topics the next time you logon … this is all viral!

Creativity can really capture the public’s attention. After all, to be viral, you need to think of something in a way that no one else has. A clever video or image can get you into the public eye.

Keep in mind that, should you use a video or marketing image, it doesn’t even have to be related to your business — the importance is catching the consumer’s attention and entertaining them, or surprising them enough that they feel compelled to pass it along, with your company’s name attached. Brand familiarity drives sales, so get that name, that logo out there.

If you decide to go the e-mail route to get you business’s name out there, there are a few ground rules that you should keep in mind, since unsolicited e-mail is a pretty touchy subject. Start producing anything that can be labeled as spam and you may drive away as many or more customers than you gain.

You should treat every business e-mail that you send as a potential viral marketing tool. Put a limited time coupon in it that encourages people to forward, or include an engaging message. You’re going for the “buzz.” Get people talking about your business, or your product. Don’t forget about forums and blogs in your campaign; this is a great way to disseminate information, to get it moving among the masses. Figure out who your customer is and how best to target that group. Your research here can really pay off.

Also, just because most of your marketing is taking place online doesn’t mean that you can’t work to get tongues wagging offline, as well. Tradeshows and press conferences are also great breeding grounds for viral marketing campaigns.  A special offer, new product or service attached to really creative “eye candy” or “play on words” can be the spark.  Syndicate these events through email, the Social Media and you start to get an idea of how your great idea can become viral.

Got a great idea?  Need help making it viral and ultimately a winner for your business?  Contact us for a no obligation initial consultation.