Viral marketing has consumed the business world. Now, it
seems everyone and their brother has integrated some aspect
of viral marketing into their marketing strategy. So what
exactly is viral marketing, how can you make it work for
you, and how can small businesses jump on the bandwagon and
still stay on budget?
What exactly is viral marketing?
According to the experts at Web Marketing Today, "Viral
marketing describes any strategy that encourages
individuals to pass on a marketing message to others,
creating the potential for exponential growth in the
message's exposure and influence."
Viral marketing comes in many shapes and sizes. For
example, videos on YouTube are shared by millions every
day. Articles, reports, and books are shared and emails
are forwarded. Content, whether it is audio, video, or
written content, is one of the most powerful viral
marketing tools.
Write an article with tips that make peoples' lives better,
create a video demonstration, or publish a podcast, they're
all viral. One reader or listener shares your content with
another, who then shares it with two other people who then
share it with two more people and your audience grows and
expands. As your audience grows, your awareness broadens,
and your bottom line grows too.
How can you make viral marketing work for you?
The very first rule of viral marketing is to take a good
look at your target audience. Make a thorough study and
analysis of where they spend their time and what they spend
their time doing. For example, PeerFlix created a low cost
game where the objective was to take pictures of
celebrities misbehaving. The game was seeded or promoted on
gaming sites and entertainment blogs, places where their
target audience visited, and within 90 days there were more
than 2 million unique visits to the game site and 5% of
users continued onto the main website.
So the key isn't just what form of viral marketing you use,
it is how you get the word out. Here are a few other rules
of thumb to keep in mind.
The viral marketing tool must be valuable or provide value.
This is one of the reasons content works so well. It's
easy to provide value in the form of a how to, tips, or
even for entertainment. The game used in the earlier
example provided entertainment value.
It must be easy to use and easy to access. Online you have
a prospect's attention for about 20 seconds. In those 20
seconds they make a decision about whether or not they're
going to continue to pay attention. For example, consider
your behavior when you watch a YouTube video. It's easy to
use because all you have to do is click on a video and
watch it. The videos themselves are easy to access because
they're all available and searchable on a single webpage.
The same holds true for the game. Accessing the game was
as easy as typing a URL into your browser and playing the
game was simple and fun. If people have to jump through
hoops to access your viral medium, they will leave.
How can small businesses jump on the bandwagon and still
stay on budget?
Viral marketing doesn't have to be expensive. Valuable
content can be as simple as a tips newsletter emailed
weekly or monthly to your customer list. Audio and video
can be created with open source software and uploaded onto
your website for free. Business owners can interview
experts and share those interviews with their prospects and
visitors as a free download to share and pass along.
Ask yourself what you can offer that is valuable, easy to
share, and is easy to seed or promote where your target
audience hangs out online.
----------------------------------------------------
Joan Finholt is a retired teacher who is co-owner of Bound
and Determined Books. She enjoys using the internet to
market the business. Visit her site at:
http://www.boundanddetrmined.com
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