August 28, 2007

Thinking out loud as I usually do, it came up in a conversation that I should become regular contributor to Marqui’s Blog. It has felt a little quiet on our company blog so weekly I’ll be sharing my thoughts and I welcome your comments and feedback. *handshake*

Viral Web Marketing – 6 Tips

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot about new tips for viral marketing. It is a marketing practice that facilitates and encourages people to communicate and pass along a marketing message voluntarily. Viral marketing campaigns are also known as word-of-mouth campaigns, referral marketing or network marketing.

To date, viral marketing is the most cost effective form of marketing and can produce a powerful impact. Using viral marketing, your campaigns will suddenly get a life of its own - and start to spread like wildfire.

Here is a recent Viral Marketing campaign we all have seen lately from Dove:

Before heading out and telling the world, here are some tips to follow when viral marketing.

1. Create an emotion

This is rule #1. Create a message with a strong emotion that will excite and interest your audience. Forget trying to please everyone, with viral marketing you want your audience to choose a side. (Make it easy for them too!)

2. Be different and unique

Using a unique message will stimulate conversation that is worth sharing. People are sick of the same old promotional techniques. When a message is unique and unexpected it will create a memory that will leave a lasting impression.

3. Create a story to remember

Viral marketing is essentially storytelling. So if you want to grab the public’s attention, be sure to create a memorable story. Keep the story simple, short, and concise.

4. Use Pre-Existing Social Networks to Generate Awareness

Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube are some examples of places to start.

Wikipedia has a great list of social networking sites for your reference 

5. Promote sharing

Making your message easy to share by providing multiple online formats can improve the overall result of the campaign.

Some ideas for formats:

• Downloadable content (Vidoes in MPEG, Pictures in JPEG, Soundsin MP3)
• Allowing them to easily embed the content on their own sites and bookmarking sites
• Share it with your extended network
• Sending the message out in an email campaign

6. Encourage Feedback

Your main goal is to connect with your audience and the best way is to get them talking. Blog commenting is an effective tool to start the conversation about your campaign. The best campaigns create an emotion; this means some people will like and some will dislike your message. You have to be accepting of both sides and make sure you keep the back and forth blog arguments under control.

Following these steps will ensure the best possibility of success for your Viral marketing campaigns. If you have any further questions. Please comment below and I’ll be glad to answer them.

Roland

Posted by Roland Poulin at August 28, 2007

Comments

Peter email - www.hitmeister.de

This sounds very interesting too bad that not everyone can afford to spend so much money on fancy videos. It would be interesting to see some low cost examples for viral marketing. Well at least now I know more exactly what I have to look for if I try to implement a viral marketing strategy. Thanks

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