Viral Marketing is the idea of influencing people to spread the message that you are trying to market. In literal sense Viral means to get something accessible and popular. It can also be called viral advertising or creating a buzz.
Any powerful and potent manhood of the channel dominates the routines of additional station associates.
Viral marketing peaked popularity in the 1990s. It is very similar to word-of-mouth but not same as that. Viral marketing can stand as a useful tool as a part of significant marketing tactics. It is used mostly by political parties for creating campaigns, movies also some food companies to make it look like a trend.
WHAT’S IN IT
ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN VIRAL MARKETING
The power of extreme growth of social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. has contributed heavily to the growth of viral content on the internet, which leads to being viral marketing now.
As the users grow day-by-day, more people are hanging online, thereby, and more time is spent online. More people are watching and forwarding content online through their preferred social networks.
By knowing this, you must be convinced that for you companies growth you should be spending online, unlike traditional marketing. You should shift your marketing campaign to create email and social media campaign so that it has more chance of going viral.
CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF HOTMAIL
The traditional instance of viral marketing is Hotmail.com that will be just one of those very first complimentary email services that are on-line.
The strategy is straightforward and simple.
- They give away free email addresses and services.
- Then they attach a simple tag at the bottom of every free message sent out as-
“Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com”
- Then they wait while people email to their network of people, friends and associates.
- And then, who sees the message; sign up for their free email service, and this helps the word to spread more full group of people to their ever-increasing circles of friends and associates.
When Hotmail launched, much of its early success was due to the virality of the tagline that is attached to every outgoing email inviting the recipient to join.
TRADITIONAL MARKETING Vs VIRAL MARKETING
In traditional marketing, more importance was given on selling the product. They start with production and marketing while swelling and promoting the product to attain sales at a profit.
In this method, the existing products are imposed on the market through aggressive selling and promotion.
Whereas here, the main motive is customer satisfaction. It is achieved through an integrated and wide range of marketing activities.
This understands the needs and desires of the customers and the product is designed accordingly. They use internet media to create marketing campaigns.
Ordinarily, they utilize of weblogs, landing pages, face-book webpages, Twitter, Youtube, etc.. Viral marketing and advertising procedure might be implemented in virtually a myriad of small business.
5 TIPS ON HOW TO BECOME VIRAL IN YOUR INDUSTRY
- Allow access to marketing content.
- Create something out of the box.
- Make interesting advertisements.
- Leave an impact on your pre-existing customers.
- Connect with your customers online.
ADVANTAGES OF VIRAL MARKETING
- Viral marketing is usually cheaper than traditional ad campaigns as it lowers down the cost of dispersion and it becomes unnecessary to buy media space.
- It’s a simple means for smaller organizations to receive their name outside from mainstream.
- This strategy has the potential to become very popular.
- This strategy can get you great leads and excellent outreach. A content piece on the internet can reach a huge audience, both national and international, without investing a ton of money or by making any extra effort. Because of this, even a private individual can grow viral.
- Viral marketing includes a person creativity in such a way that users decide to share it themselves. It is a potent tool for awareness and power.
DISADVANTAGES OF VIRAL MARKETING
- It has a shorter life span per campaign so it has a low chance of becoming highly successful.
- Due to a fake advertisement, it can backfire.
- It has a limited size of information.
- Once your brand is popular, it is uncontrollable to stop it.
- It can be annoying and can be considered as spam.
- It benefits the company only if actual sale is made from the ad campaign.
- Many competitors can easily imitate other viral marketing techniques and steal the market from other companies.
- It focuses more on short term success as you have to recodify your ad from time to time.
CASE STUDY OF VODAFONE ZOOZOO ADS
Vodafone zoo ads are a perfect example of viral marketing.
If you’re an Indian afterwards, I am rather certain you’ll never forget the fun in the Vodafone Zoo Zoo event advertisements, and that mainly arise throughout the IPL year old. These adverts are all extremely desirable, plus also catches the interest of just about every person.
Initially, everyone thought it was animation, but later it was found out that the whole thing was enacted by kids wearing masks.
Even though it wasn’t just a completely free cost effort, nonetheless it successfully sparked a viral series. Once launch the effort, Vodafone’s subscription premiums rose by nearly 30 per cent and they left a fantastic sum of cash attempting to sell ZooZoo goodies.
Of course, this took tens of thousands of dollars as these certainly were running throughout significant viewership the famed Indian premier-league, however, they have successfully made a lot more than what they had invested.
So I hope this clears a myth floating around people’s minds that viral marketing is free. It is free in many circumstances, but it will be much faster and easier when it is paid.
VIRAL MARKETING MISTAKES
- If you fail to make your content interesting enough, it is difficult to get pass along.
- If you fail to provide incentives to encourage people to pass your message, then it is hard for your brand to get viral.
- Don’t focus on a single viral piece; instead, focus on viral processes.
- Do not ever fail to track and test your results.
- Not recognizing that it is different from word-of-mouth marketing.
4 VIRAL MARKETING STEPS TO MAKE YOUR CONTENT GO VIRAL
Have you ever wondered why some of your content go viral and others never? If you thought it was because of massive creativity or just dumb luck, then you are probably wrong. Think again! These strategies are a scientific formula that will make your ideas and products spread like wildfire.
They are little snippets from the book Contagious by Jonah Berger.
Social currency
Social currency is like the car we drive or the clothes we wear; what we say affects how other people see us.
For example, if you have got an email in your inbox from your LinkedIn saying that you are one of the top influencers in the site then know that a lot of people got this email, they felt really good, they patted themselves on the back and they show off by telling other people about it.
Notice that they are not only talking about themselves but also LinkedIn. So LinkedIn got to be the part of the conversation too. The idea here is to make people feel like insiders.
Lots of videos you see online, the more remarkable it is, the more people share it. They share it because it also makes them look good.
Triggers
Top of mind, The tip of the tongue
If something in our environment reminds us of something, we are much likely to share it. The fact that when you think about a thing, it made you think about another matter but also makes us talk and share about it.
Think about a trigger that you can use in your business that every time people think about that or see it, they think about your brand. It doesn’t have to be the biggest thing in the world; it just could be something in their environment.
Even if we like something, we are not always buying it if we’re not thinking about it.
Discounts
The key to discounts is making people feel like they are getting something special. It should make them feel like this is an opportunity, and I have to take it. It’s not going to be forever, so they will want to get it now. That’s the key to deals.
No one knows how much something should cost, they do not have a reference point, and so by giving people options and information to help them figure out whether something’s a good deal or not, you convey that information and help them decide.
Message
Have a short version of your message that is easy to communicate. Find something so that you cut yourself through the clutter of similar ones. Figure out what can sharpen the word in a way that everybody remembers.
6 POPULAR METHODS OF VIRAL MARKETING
Customer participation and polling services
- Use customer feedback.
- Frequently asked questions and answers on your website.
Internet search engines and blogs
- Using search engines and blogging websites.
- Ex-Google and blogspot.com
Mobile smartphone integration
- Application with ads.
- Application with links.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- It is the procedure of changing the visibility of a site or a webpage on search engine benefits.
- Far more frequently a website looks from the search results listings, the more visitors it’s going to obtain from the internet search engine’s people.
- Also, You can read our Blog on SEO Guide For Beginners | Learn Everything You Need
Social Media Optimization (SMO)
- Using quite a few social networking sockets and communities to build marketing and also to grow brand recognition of the item.
- It includes social news, bookmarking sites as well as social networking sites.
Television and radio
- Ads on TV and radio
- Channels and FM stations.
CONCLUSION
Viral marketing campaigns can be uncertain, but with proper planning, you will experience rapid exponential growth to reach a large audience in a short period at a reasonable cost.
By studying many viral marketing and advertising campaigns, it’s ascertained the potential for advertisements from viral advertisements could turn into among much main selection of moderate for most advertisers.