viral marketing

“They tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and they tell two friends.”

This is the basic premise of viral marketing. Online marketing campaigns or promotions that go “viral” when they mimic the behavior of a common cold virus. This means that they exploit the natural, interactive behavior of their hosts to spread.

The interconnected nature of online communities enables a similar spreading of marketing messages through the Internet. If your marketing message informs, entertains, provokes, or otherwise attracts attention online, its recipients can easily forward it to their friends. This amplification of your promotions can happen quickly and inexpensively leading to massive attention and website traffic for the sponsoring company or website.

To take advantage of this “word of mouth on steroids” potential of online marketing, your promotion needs to offer incentives to its targeted recipients. The incentives should be geared to encouraging them to take the action that you and your products most desire. Usually, this means offering your audience a chance to look smart, well-informed, or clever by forwarding your marketing messages to their friends and colleagues.

by Scott Fox Are you a writer, passionate about this or any other topic? Join Blogcritics!

Latest blogosphere posts tagged “viral marketing”

• Who is behind Pharmageddon 2012?

  
  AdPharm Blog — Authority: 153
  YouTube video, part of the Pharmageddon 2012 self-promotional campaign for communications agencies Friday Morning and S+R communications. click here to visit the site To see all of the ads from this... Read the rest on AdPharms blog!
  3 hours ago

• Social Media - Examples of its ROI

  
  { nicole galletta } — Authority: 122
  Another cool video by Erik Qualman .You might have seen another one of Eriks Socialnomics videos . If not, check it out. Check out Socialnomics - Erik dives even deeper into some examples of social media and its ROI. By the way, how many of you utilized Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc. to aid in your Black ...
  3 hours ago

• Social Media Turns #Red

  
  iePlexus — Authority: 136
  December 1 marks World AIDS Day, a one-day campaign to bring awareness to the AIDS epidemic in Africa.  Known as (RED), Nike, along with Internet powerhouses Facebook, Twitter & Google are all trying to bring awareness to the campaign which was started by Bono & Bobby Shriver in 2006. Facebook has an entire ...
  4 hours ago

• Internet Viral Marketing

  
  Internet Marketing Articles — Authority: 407
  Viral marketing is sweeping the internet; both as a means of reaching huge client bases, and helping businesses expand rapidly. When it comes right down to it, we trust our friends’ recommendations over almost any other form of marketing-related persuasion. This friendly persuasion is how viral marketing works. All ...
  4 hours ago

• Why are Linked-In and Twitter SO...... SMALL!?

  
  Community Marketing Blog — Authority: 121
      I would like to wish the best of luck and success to the other BlogOff2 contestants.       There isnt one person that I know that doesnt have a Facebook account.  I decline friend requests daily from people such as ex-girlfriends fathers, old professors that flunked me, and even an old boss from when I ...
  9 hours ago

• Viral marketing

  
  Advertising, Marketing and Design — Authority: 149
  A Viral Marketing campaign is a Form of Link Baiting. I would define a Viral campaign as sneaky marketing. What you get is indirect marketing of the brand through a device or vehicle that people find entertaining and interesting. Usually a subtlety branded video or website, if done effectively, is a good way to spread ...
  11 hours ago

• Duke Nukem: D-Day Teased, New Duke Nukem Title?

  
  GamerCenterOnline — Authority: 493
  Earlier this year, the 12 year-long soap development opera that was Duke Nukem ’s development cycle came to an end, marked by the laying off of almost its entire development team at 3D Realm. However, today, rumors point to there being a new installment in the works, teased by the Facebook account for ...
  11 hours ago

• Facebook, Viral Marketing and Real Estate

  
  AgencyLogic PowerSites — Authority: 480
  I love creativity. I never get bored of seeing how people invent (or reinvent) themselves and their business. Now, more than ever before, there is an opportunity for anyone, in real estate or not, to do that and to own their market. The new “social” world is the platform yet brands, personal and professional, ...
  16 hours ago

• Internet Marketing Viral Video Success Tips To Find A Free Legit Job Online

  
  Learn Free Internet Marketing Learn Free Internet Marketing Strategies using Video, Articles, Social Networking, Social Media, Web 2.0, Blogs, Affiliate Marketing — Authority: 167
  budurl.com Call Internet Marketing Expert Brendan C. @ 281-685-3143. Internet Marketing Viral Video Success Tips To Find A FREE Legit Job Online Fast is here!! If you are not aware of the power of Social Media and Attraction Marketing Brendan’s site will show how to position yourself effectively to prosper in this ...
  22 hours ago

• The Crazies Goes Viral - Save Ogden Marsh from Toxic Waste

  
  FirstShowing.net — Authority: 694
  We havent really seen a good viral kick off in a while, so this is kind of exciting to see another one start up. Theres nothing going on with Tron Legacy viral at the moment and with District 9 almost out on DVD , that one has wrapped up as well. Thanks to our friends at MovieViral though, weve got a lot of ...
  1 day ago

• Report: Hulus time may have come

  
  BizReport — Authority: 578
  Although YouTube/Google sites continue to rule the online video universe, several smaller video hubs are making strides and catching the attention of more consumers. Among the fastest growing video sites is Hulu which delivered a record 856 million video views for the month of October. Research further shows that more ...
  1 day ago

• Paramount Picks Up Oren Peli’s ‘Area 51′

  
  The Flickcast — Authority: 533
  With the unbridled success of this fall’s Paranormal Activity , it seemed a sure thing that director Oren Peli’s next project would be an instant pickup for the studio, and that theory has proven to be true. According to Variety , Paramount recently bought the distribution rights for Peli’s Area 51, ...
  1 day ago

• Viral Marketing & Business Building Event of 2008 Finale

  
  Learn Free Internet Marketing Learn Free Internet Marketing Strategies using Video, Articles, Social Networking, Social Media, Web 2.0, Blogs, Affiliate Marketing — Authority: 167
  StrategicProfitsNews.com Learn How To Write An Internet Business Plan from the World’s 10 Most Successful Internet Marketing Experts RIGHT NOW StrategicProfitsNews.com Share on Facebook
  1 day ago

• Friskies: Free Running Cat

  
  Digitology - The Digital Marketing Blog — Authority: 127
  Pet food brand Friskies , who are part of the Purina group, will be launching there latest ad tomorrow (Tuesday 1 December). The ad will be used for TV, cinema and online, and was created by DDB London . The documentary-style ad follows Bobo and his crew as the ‘worlds best free-runners. Of course this mighty ...
  1 day ago

• Linkbait

  
  Advertising, Marketing and Design — Authority: 149
  Linkbaiting is the concept of creating a piece of content online specifically for the intention of garnishing as many incoming links from as many sources as possible. The classic example of this is to write a great article, then submit it to Digg and other social media sites. The goal is that it catches fire, gets ...
  1 day ago

• Pole Dancer Ruins Wedding -- Sponsored by Heineken

  
  Asylum — Authority: 723
  Filed under: Entertainment , Booze , Video , Weird News , Vid of the Moment Last week we posted shaky camera footage of a wedding in which a tanked guest brought down a whole tent by gyrating on a support pole. We then asked whether you thought it was fake or the real deal. Sixty-four percent of the almost ...
  1 day ago

• Viral marketing is harder than advertising

  
  bnox — Authority: 419
  Viral phenomena are "objects or patterns able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them." But unfortunately the popularity of some internet memes sparks the ambition in some to "go viral" with their next campaign. Mostly because of all the bad ...
  1 day ago

• Why and How E-mail Viral Marketing Works

  
  NicheUltra Dot Com — Authority: 142
  Now, you might be wondering why it was called viral marketing? This kind of promotion includes strategies that would encourage people to transfer information to other individuals. Hence, increasing the exposure of the ad. Similar to viruses, these methods rapidly multiply, reaching thousands, or even millions of ...
  1 day ago

• Virality is not a strategy

  
  Social Hallucinations — Authority: 118
  "Virality is something that has to be engineered from the beginning…andit’s harder to create virality than it is to create a good product. Thats why we often see good products with poor virality, and poorproducts with good virality.  The reason that over $150 Billion isspent on US advertising each year is ...
  1 day ago

• ‘Viral Loop’ shows how viral marketing boosts start-ups (USA Today)

  
  Stompernet SEO Course — Authority: 166
  Viral Loop explains viral marketing, a method of promotion that relies on getting customers to market a product by telling their friends.
  2 days ago

Comments about viral marketing