Viral Marketing
What Is Viral Marketing:
Viral Marketing is a means of promoting and distributing a product, offer, promotion etc...FREE of charge and creating a buzz about the product. Viral Marketing is just how it sounds, it is a way of spreading the word like a virus. Viral Marketing, is a fantastic cost effective way to raise awareness about something in a short period of time.
A Viral Marketing campaign can be conducted in many ways such as: Word of mouth, video, ebooks, video games, software, images, photographs, text messages, emails, articles.... essentially, it can be anything that attracts attention and creates a form of action to 'pass it on' to somebody else.
For Example:
Let's imagine you had a new product, offer or promotion that you wanted people to hear about. You could create an article, video
or an ebook about the product, telling people about it and how it would help them. At the end of the article, video or in the ebook, you would provide a link to your web site. You could then offer this article or ebook FREE to all your existing customers. You could then encourage the people who receive it to 'pass it on' to their friends and they could then encourage their friends to 'pass it on' etc, etc..................
The result is, your article, video or ebook could reach thousands of people in a very short period of time and it will not have cost you a penny. Spreading like a virus, hence the word 'Viral'.
How To Capture And Use E-Mail Addresses For Viral Advertising
Viral marketing has an array of possibilities and ways to achieve your overall goals. However, just like everything else, pre-planning and the right setup to create success are the things you will need to make it work for you and your e-business.
The first thing you want to be sure not to do, is get over-zealous. The one thing you need to avoid at all costs is spamming. Spamming is still used widely but with the government establishing more restrictions and fines you don’t want this to be a problem for you. The professional image of your web site and business will also suffer if you send emails blatantly.
Spamming requires a database that contains a huge list of e-mail addresses set up so that the message can be delivered with one click. The problem with it (aside from the governmental restrictions and associated fines) is that it irritates the recipients and kills the validity of your campaign, which in turn kills the factors that would motivate someone to refer your web site.
The majority of spamming is by people sending unsolicited emails to recipitants that are not expecting an email. This can either be by people buying an email mailing list or simply by people randomly sending emails to addresses of people they do not know or have never had any contact with.
The best way to avoid spamming is to create an 'opt in' mailing list or newsletter (Read more about Opt In Lists here), to which visitor provide their email address and give their consent for you to send them email.
You need to personalise the experience to your visitor by creating and providing personal appeal. You must ensure that your web site makes your customers feel safe, secure and cared for. E-mail is important because it is one of the most affordable ways to keep in touch with your customers.
People are always reluctant to provide you with their email address, which is fully understandable. They do not wish to be inundated with emails everyday and they do not want to have their email passed or sold on to any third parties. You must make it absolutely clear when asking for somebodies email address that they will not be bombarded with emails and that their email address will not be given or sold to any third parties.
Express why they need to provide their email address. Tell them that in return for them providing their email address, they will receive all the latest information, discounts, special offers, freebies etc, make them feel assured that they are receiving a good deal.
If you can build a list of email addresses of people that want to hear from you, you will always have a very powerful tool to start any viral campaign you wish and it will ensure you eliminate any chances of spamming.
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Getting a “Buzz” On
Viral marketing has matured a bit over the years, there really does seem to have been a shift to the web. It is now the medium where a campaign is launched to create a buzz before it hits TV and print.
Buzz works! It can work for small and start-up businesses, as well as large corporate firms. The planning stage of a viral campaign will set out objectives and develop the viral theme for a buzz. There are three core components to any viral campaign and businesses of any size can use them. They are:
1. The creative material: The viral agent that embodies the message you want to spread in a digital format (image, video, text, etc). The trick is to put together material that people will be eager to share with their family and friends and people are much more eager to share “advertainment”.
2. Seeding: Distributing and placing the agent online in places that provide the greatest potential spread. Placing direct viral material, downloads or links on specialist viral third-party web sites, can create awareness and can help spread your product even before users get to the campaign destination site.
3. Tracking: Measuring the spread of the campaign to provide accountability and prove success. It is absolutely vital that you know what is or is not working in your campaign. The only way to get that information is to track the results of your seeding.
Lessons have been learned, trends have been developed and there is definitely some science involved in creating a buzz successfully. The buzz technique is here to stay and if used strategically, it can make a difference to the success of your e-business.