What is Viral Marketing
By ysdataco on Feb 18, 2008 in Online Marketing
Viral marketing is a marketing technique used with pre-existing social networks to increase brand awareness.
Usage Example:
-
Posting a link on your Facebook profile.
-
Including “Tell a Friend” automatic email link on your site.
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Posting to Craigslist
Some claim effective viral marketing can lead to 500 – 1000 times greater impact than what you could get from regular advertisements.
7 Viral Marketing Tips
- Create an emotion (express an idea that is currently being debated or ask a question that has several answers)
- Stand out from the crowd
- Tell a good story around the product/service you’re marketing
- Tell the story over multiple parts
- Allow participation (email to a friend – downloading – embedding on other sites)
- Allow comments to be posted live on your site
- Don’t restrict access
The Classic Hotmail.com Viral Marketing Example
The classic example of viral marketing is Hotmail.com, one of the first free Web-based e-mail services. The strategy is simple:
- Give away free e-mail addresses and services,
- Attach a simple tag at the bottom of every free message sent out: “Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com” and,
- Then stand back while people e-mail to their own network of friends and associates,
- Who see the message,
- Sign up for their own free e-mail service, and then
- Propel the message still wider to their own ever-increasing circles of friends and associates.
Granted, so strategies work better than others so play around with some techniques to see what works best for you. Just remember that off the internet marketing rules apply — create a buzz, leverage the media, and network.
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