can someone help me out with this. I have read articals and ebooks till my head hurts but for some reason, I find it difficult to understand. Here is what I "think" in means: When you get an email that is going around that says please pass this to 10 of your friends(chain letter) you then put your site as a link in that email and pass it along (plus back to the person that sent it)... is this really what it is? Can someone give me an example... thanks for all your help.
That is not what it is. The perfect example is in my signature which takes you to a post on my blog about a free ebook. It is a free ebook that you can download and you don't even have to give an email to get it. The free ebook has a very compelling hook in the last chapter that you will want to read that may make you want to send in $10.00 (it made me want to). Anyway, this ebook is set up so perfectly that you will then want to promote it and then those who got it off you will want to promote it and so on. Basically that is viral marketing.
you need sumthin viral for viral marketing...like something exclusive..... some hacker got sexy pics of miley cyrus from her email and put his username at some forum over the picture, so when they look up this username on google one of the results is the forum hes a leader at....that viral marketing the forum.... ...i think
Something viral is just like something explode exponentially. So if anything is viral in marketing that means it has the capability to generate exposure non stop from just one action. Hope that helps a bit.
Well, it's neither one of those hokey chain-mails, nor a lame attempt to promote an ebook. A viral is anything that gets passed around - it's a cartoon or one of those videos that turn up on loads of blogs and forums and people email to each other. It's that 'thing' that for 48 hours or so seems to be everywhere. Mosr virals happen spontaneously, and they take on a momentum of their own - but marketers of course try to exploit this by creating something funny, or outrageous or controversial that will get commented about and passed around and posted in different places - in that it's got a lot in common with link-bait.
Agreed Magda, good points Linkbait is just a piece of content that has potential to go viral. John - Linkbait is something that is so funny or interesting that people cannot help but tell someone else about it - creating links and conversations about the content and if done correctly, you or your products. Viral marketing is making a piece of linkbait up and promoting it in sympathetic networks of users to get the ball started - creating a snowball effect as more and more people refer others to see this amazing thing you have on your site.
Thanks for all your help guys. I now think I understand what it is better, but still have to figure out how "I" can use it. I think I will focus on using and mastering some of the other stratigies I have and let this one soak in my brain... Again, I appreciate all help you contributed.
Viral marketing is in essence quite simple: Attach your marketing message to another message, people would willingly spread (and thus spread your message piggyback). The only difficulty is finding a few good "superspreaders" (people that really buy into it and tell everyone about it).
Viral Marketing is marketing that propagates itself. You use other people's interests, and good content to create a "buzz" and get others promoting your work. I.E. a shocking news story, or really cool video on YouTube.
A general characteristic of viral marketing is having your visitors spread the word about your site for their own personal gain. Facebook is a great example - I invite my friends there because it makes my experience there better. Affiliate marketing is also a kind of affiliate traffic because it sends out advertisers "for free," except for after-sale sharings.
Viral marketing is all about something cool that people will talk about. On average a normal person tells 13 people something exciting that they hear. It can be shocking news or something that just made someone's life easier. Also saving and making money will alway interest people.
I never participate in this activities with my e-mail address. Giving your e-mail address to others are increasing the risk of computer viruses by e-mail ;-)
I actually wrote a little article about this today! Here it is below: Unlike computer viruses, internet viral marketing requires the message to be appealing in some way, in order for people to consciously, and willingly pass it on. A carefully designed viral marketing strategy will rapidly gain momentum, as more and more people pass it on, quite quickly multiplying to thousands or even millions. Think of it like the snow ball effect. Some viral marketing strategies will work much better than others, but many will not work at all. A lot of planning should go into setting up a viral marketing campaign. There are 6 basic components that can be included in your viral message, in order to maximize it's effectiveness. 1. Give away something for free (video, game, cartoon, poem, joke, photograph, audio, email, etc.) 2. Can be effortlessly sent to others (via email, social network messages, instant message applications, forums, etc.) 3. Taps into common motivations and behaviors (humor, shock, inspiration, intrigue, urgency, compassion, etc.) 4. Utilizes existing communication networks (YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, etc.) 5. Takes advantage of other's resources (eg. a video hosted on YouTube will not cost you any money in server bandwidth when more and more people access it) 6. Includes your URL or brand name within the message (to promote your business) If you are interested in implementing an internet viral marketing campaign, then you will need to create what is called a 'viral agent'. This is the item or experience that you will use to initiate a dual positive reaction. The first reaction involves the recipient of your marketing message enjoying it so much that they forward the item or experience on to an associate. The second reaction you are going for, is the recipient responding to the message within the item or experience (this can involve anything from exposing them to your brand name or attracting them to your website). The quality of your viral agent, whether it be a video, game, cartoon, poem, joke, photograph, audio or email will largely effect the possibility of people passing it on. It's also important that the message can be passed on easily. This might mean including a 'send to a friend' button, or at the very least making sure that it can be easily passed on by email. It is particularly effective to have the viral agent hosted at one particular destination, as people will be able to send their friends a simple link to it. This will also benefit the viral agent's exposure in the search engines, allowing even more people to see your message. Hope this helps!