Viral Marketing

What is Viral Marketing? Definition: – A marketing strategy that relies on people rather than campaigns – Increasing brand awareness through social networks – Self replicating viral process – word of mouth or via internet Why do company’s use it? The role it plays in your business depends on four factors: 1- The nature of your product 2- The people you’re trying to reach 3- Your customer connectivity 4- The strategies used in your industry. Since these factors can change over time, the importance of buzz to your business and industry can fluctuate.

Which Products Use Viral Marketing Products that somehow create high involvement among customers: 1.Exciting products 2.Innovative products 3.Personal experience products 4.Complex products 5.Expensive products 6.Observable products

History? This field began sixty years ago with a study of the spread of hybrid seed corn among Iowa farmers Debate about when it actually started Today, some five thousand studies later, we know a great deal more about the diffusion model.

Types of Viral Marketing OnlineOffline Buzz :is all the word of mouth about a brand. It’s the aggregate of all person- to-person communication about a particular product, service, or company at any point in time.

Offline Viral Marketing Key Factors:  The first step in trying to find the individuals who act as hubs is to understand that such people come in many shapes, colors, and forms. In general, I’ve found they can be classified into four groups. First, I distinguish hubs based on the number of links they make with other individuals. 1.Regular Hubs 2.Mega-Hubs 3.Expert Hubs 4.Social Hubs

SWOT StrengthsWeaknesses Cheap (Low cost) & effectiveNo control (message itself) More Risk High level of trust in networksLack of Long-term traffic Penetration or market reachLack of tools or resources to track and monitor social media campaign results (Offline) Applicable to wide range of productsBrings traffic, but not sales Traffic can overload your hosting bandwidth - Just certain types of content attract viral marketing

SWOT OpportunitiesThreats Penetration into new geographic marketState of economy Social Networks (Online nowadays)Competitor is going after the same space, or same audience with similar campaign New target or niche market that are untapped. Infrastructure (Online) Promotions, discounts, offers that can be used through social media platforms. Sustainability of campaign Partnership with a publisher or advertiser -Loss of credibility of traditional advertising Negative publicity can crash the business

Successful VS Failed Campaigns Successful Endnote Failed Momenta

Online Viral Marketing

Successful VS Failed Campaigns Successful Old Spice Evian T-Mobile Failed Walmart Starbucks Skittles Molson

Famous Social Networks Youtube Facebook MySpace Twitter Blogger Hotmail Flickr Gmail

Recommendations Great Idea, Bad Execution You Aren’t Promoting It Right You Didn’t Spend Enough Time On Metadata Your Campaign Is Unoriginal Your Video Is Too Much Like A Commercial Ad

Thank You! Questions???