Internet Marketing

How to promote your business through viral marketing

Viral marketing is usually delivered through word-of-mouth or even enhanced by the network effects of the Internet and it is seen as a marketing "strategy", encouraging people to pass along a marketing passage voluntarily.

This strategy starts from the premises that a satisfied customer always tells other people about a certain product/service he was satisfied with. I recently read an article about what viral marketing is not , which I found quite useful, underlining the skills necessary for a viral marketing campaign.

Which is the difference between viral marketing and word of mouth?

In the case of word-of-mouth marketing we speak about people that share their opinions concerning a certain product or service with their friends. Since it implies the sheer act of conversation, the life span of these word-to-mouth campaigns is rather short.

On the contrary, when it comes to viral marketing, the main purpose is to add some more personality. In order for your viral campaign to be successful, you must ensure that people really enjoy and feel good about spreading the message.

Viral marketing is described as a strategy by means of which people are encouraged to pass on a marketing content to other people. This kind of strategy follows the precise pattern of a virus, having the advantage of rapid multiplication.

Many people think that viral marketing and word-of-mouth are quite one and the same thing, but this theory couldn't be more wrong. In case of word-of-mouth, a marketer does something and then, it's up to the customer to forward to his friends and so on, while in the case of viral marketing, we are dealing with a compounding function, i. e. a marketer does something and the the customer spreads the news; to other five friends, whom, at their turn, spread the news to another five and so on.

And this way, the message spreads just like a virus. I recommend Seth Godin's explanation and another article with tips for viral marketing campaigns highlighting the difference between the two.

Maybe viral marketing has its roots in the word-of-mouth marketing, but it has grown stronger than the latter, becoming thus a reliable tool. This tool works best when the focus is strictly on the customer.

Pay attention though to the fact that viral marketing is not a marketing strategy. On the contrary, it is designed, conceived into a product even from the very beginning - it is inherent in the product. To better understand the mechanism of viral marketing, you must first understand the motivation behind the users behavior and then understand and exploit the resources to create viral loops. A viral loop is a set of features that connects separate functions into a cohesive, strong urge for the user to pass on the message to others.

Rules of viral marketing strategies

Viral marketing consists of several elements, which need not be all present in such a strategy, but the more they are, the stronger the results are, too.

Here are six fundamental elements/rules for your viral strategy to be an effective one:

1. give away valuable products/services
2. ensure an effortless transfer to others
3. easy scale from small to large
4. exploit basic behaviors/motivations
5. make use of existing communication networks
6. take advantage of others’ resources.

You can read more about them in the article elaborated by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson , Founder and Editor-in-Chief at Web Marketing Today®

At the same time, you should take into account also the shortcomings of viral marketing. The problems viral marketing deals with are mainly the problems met in the case of traditional advertising. One of the major problems is that people don’t like advertising and that is why they protect themselves from that by means of pop-up blockers, spam filters, no-call lists and so on. People see companies which make use of advertising as companies which lack credibility. This works best only when it reminds consumers of something they already know, but they forgot, rather than to tell consumers something new.

Therefore, to increase people’s involvement, special marketing agencies focus on creativity with mainly humorous concepts to gain attention. Still, this is not a greater success, either, because usually these humorous concepts have no connection to the brand itself.

Of course, just like in every domain, there are some secrets at the very basis of viral marketing, secrets that hide a great success. Viral content spreads on due to the fact that it by its nature requires to be talked about, shared with the others, because it is remarkably designed.

7 Secrets of viral marketing

1. Now, one of the most important secrets to be taken into account is about getting the headline right, and you can do this by adding numbers to the headline. Thus, you show the reader that he can find some real value in the content.
2. Another secret for a successful viral is to tap into buzz-worthy topics, and that is because content that talks about something which is currently talked about has the tendency to get talked about.
3. After that, you can also try to cram a lot of value into a small package, because the more value is to be found in one single place, the greater the impact.
4. No matter how experienced you are, you must always learn from what already works. You must always use a proven formula.
5. The viral content must be concise and right straight to the point, outlining the value, otherwise readers will scroll past it.
6. Insert links into what you write for a plus of value and depth. Make sure though that they are carefully chosen links.
7. And last but not least, the 7th secret is about spreading the word: you can be the one to start word of mouth.

On top on all the above said, some even assert that viral marketing could be considered the new king in contrast with content, which is considered the "old king"; If all, or at least some of these secrets, of these tricks are taken into account, you can already say you hold the success of your viral marketing, and this is just the beginning.