OK, let s start!
- What is Viral Marketing?
- There are two kinds of Viral Marketing:
1. The original classic one in which the marketing is the product or service (e.g YouTube and Hotmail). "The more people use them, the more people see them. The more people see them, the more people use them". The product or service must be something that improves once more people use it.
Will It Blend?
"Straight from the success of YouTube, Will It Blend has been known as a viral marketing sensation, with more than 65 million video views"
2. The second one is a marketing campaign that spreads but isn't the product itself. This can be illustrated through Obama's Viral Marketing Campaign 2008 (for more details at David Billion's Blog -CLICK ME).At that time, posters of Barack Obama were everywhere, because people chose to spread them. It was viral (it spread) and it was marketing (because it made an argument--a visual one--for a candidate.).
It can be said that viral marketing is a marketing tool that uses social networking sites to lead to increased brand awareness, increased sales and then marketing goal achievement through viral processes.
Due to the increase of the number of people spending time online, it has helped companies grow their business by adopting viral marketing to further reach their customers.
Nowadays, organizations get involved in social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter in order to target potential customers with advertising and promotion. Video sites such as YouTube and Google Videos allow users to build a profile, upload videos, post comments, and even allow others to subscribe to a channel. Another way is to circulate it through email; people usually forward information to their family and friends if they find something informative and interesting.
==> Viral marketing is just like any physical virus!!!
Please leave a comment if you have any other thoughts about Viral Marketing :D
Informative first blog Saint Pro :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Thi - a great start!
ReplyDeleteFor a message to spread viral, it has to be somehow extraordinary and remarkable. This often means that it has to be controversial, and possibly offensive. Could this lead to some damage to a brand?
I am thinking of the Ford Ka viral from many years ago, which offended many animal lovers. From memory, I think Ford distanced themselves from this piece of creative, but who knows?
What do you think?
Viral is an interesting area and I think could potentially mean a lot for a brand, especially when it comes to reach. But as mentioned, it has to provide something to the viewer. There must be something that not only attracts viewers but also make them send it on and talk about it. The "will it blend thing is interesting and although it's not actually part of a marketing campaign, it shows the power of viral.
ReplyDeleteRoss
@Wags: I totally agree with u regarding Ford's ad few years ago. In my opinion, i think it s an cruel ad, and I really hate to see that one again. There are still many positive ways of ad, but unfortunately they chose that way.. absolutely it has negatively affected customers' view towards the company before. Thus, I must say that all companies should be more careful in selecting the way to advertise their products in terms of viral marketing. Word of Mouth is so dangerous as well :D
ReplyDeleteThe concept of ‘viral marketing’ is truly fascinating to me. Although I always believe people should think independently in their political position, Obama appears to be quite attractive to everyone in 2009. Now many of his fans regrated on their votes and went ahead against him or feel being cheated by him.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that its great media and PR strategies worked very well to get more and more people on board. However, for a smart and experienced politician, all the social facts and economic statics from his mouth turns into the support of his policies. In the field of research, we call this ‘data mining’.