VIRAL MARKETING

Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, online video clips or even text messages. The basic form of viral marketing is not infinitely sustainable.

It is claimed that a customer tells an average of three people about a product or service he/she likes, and eleven people about a product or service which he/she did not like. Viral marketing is based on this natural human behavior.

The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to identify individuals with high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create Viral Messages that appeal to this segment of the population and have a high probability of being passed along.

The term "viral marketing" is also sometimes used pejoratively to refer to stealth marketing campaigns—the use of varied kinds of astroturfing both online and offline to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm.

One of the most efficient ways of spreading the word around about one’s products is the viral marketing technique. It takes the form of a few different internet marketing strategies that have proven their success. They actually take advantage of the great connection which exists among all internet surfers. And bear in mind: if you want to be a really successful internet business person who wants to earn money online, you have to take advantage of at least one of these simple strategies:marketing technique. It takes the form of a few different internet marketing strategies that have proven their success. They actually take advantage of the great connection which exists among all internet surfers. And bear in mind: if you want to be a really successful internet business person who wants to earn money online, you have to take advantage of at least one of these simple strategies:

THE PASS-ALONG TECHNIQUE
Have you ever received a mail with a funny video? A mail that shows you something very funny or very unusual. After seeing that, your immediate reaction is to pass it along to your entire group of friends for them to see that cool video, or picture, or letter, whatever. Well, this is the main purpose, as it encourages you to do just that. There are many ways of spreading it. At the beginning, the main one was the e-mail. Nowadays, Instant Messaging is very popular because all of us are more likely to trust a link sent by a friend than one received in our e-mails.

THE UNDERCOVER TECHNIQUE
This one is actually trickier, because you don’t get the impression that something is actually marketed. It takes the form of an out-of-this-world piece of news, picture, etc. The publicity is made somewhere in the background, and it doesn’t have a direct connection with what you are viewing.

THE WORD OF MOUTH TECHNIQUE
Also called the “buzz” marketing technique, it takes the form of a gossip, or a piece of news that is bound to create that buzz it borrows its’ name from. The information within this viral is very controversial, it makes people discuss the issue with others. This is most effective when there are celebrities involved, because everyone wants to know what happens to Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Robbie Williams, etc.

THE “REWARD” TECHNIQUE
Each time a person is signed up for a certain e-mail database, he gets a reward for referring it to others. This is a great way to dramatically increase the referrals database. It is even more efficient when it prompts for action, like participating in online contests.

Lien Leonardi