VIRAL MARKETING
The term "viral advertising” or viral marketing refers to the idea that people will pass on and
share interesting or valuable information amongst people they know, this is usually sponsored by a
brand or company which is trying to build awareness of its product or service. A viral advertising
often takes place in the form of funny video clips, or interactive Flash games, images, and plain text.
Viral marketing is very popular because it is easier to execute, its very affordable when it comes
to costs as compared to other advertising methods and not forgetting the high and fast response rate.
The main strength of viral marketing is its ability to obtain a large number of interested people at a
low cost.
The term "viral advertising” or viral marketing refers to the idea that people
will pass on and share interesting or valuable information amongst people!
— J. Nortje (Marketing Director)
Barriers to viral marketing
- Size: If viral content is a video clip or streaming video, it might be too large for the recipient
to receive which might restrict other people from viewing it.
- Media Format: A viral marketing campaign will be unsuccessful if the message is in a format that most
people can't use, like if a certain software package needs to be installed in order to be able to view the email.
- mail attachment: Many people receive viral marketing messages while at the office, and company anti-virus
software or firewalls can prevent people from receiving or viewing such attachments.
- Referral Mechanism: A viral marketing campaign should be very easy to use and understand in order for it to be successful.
- Sabotage: Unfortunately viral marketing can also be used to sabotage the company reputation, by sharing damaging information about that company or person.
Tips on how to run an effective viral campaign
- Offer an incentive. Viral marketing works best when an incentive is offered, because it will encourage people to forward an email to their friends more than when they have nothing to gain, but one must be careful not end up in too much debt.
- Personalize the referral email. The response rates increases when users can see that a message is coming from a friend instead of a stranger, because then they will be keen to read its contents.
- Track and analyze the results. As with any marketing campaign, tracking the results and optimizing performance over time is absolutely necessary.
Advantages of viral marketing
- Cheap and low cost (there's no printing involved!)
- Extensive reach
- High credibility
- High efficiency
Disadvantages - things to avoid
- Brand Dilution
- Association with unknown groups
- Avoid making purely financial-based offer
- Large-scale Spam issues
Brand Dilution
Viral marketing depends upon people not versed in your brand to do the "selling" for you. It is important
to carefully craft a message that is strong enough to endure misinterpretations or make your communication
brand less.
Association with unknown groups
Viral marketing's strength is its potential to spread from one person to another and during this process,
your message could end up in the hands of wrong people and passed on by people you would rather not be
associated with, which is why you should carefully choose and limit the amount of information you make
available for your viral marketing.
Avoid making purely financial-based offer
If you try to use money as an incentive there is a chance that :
- your offer will be spammed across the web and you will owe a lot of people
- your offer will be perceived as "too good to be true" and won't work at all.
Spam threats
If done poorly, viral marketing can lead to large-scale Spam issues. This can be problematic for your company image.
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