Useful Guidelines for Viral Marketing Campaigns

Viral marketing involves marketing tactics aimed at increasing brand awareness based on pre-existing social networks. It operates by way of self-replicating viral procedures, which is somewhat similar to how pathological viruses spread.

Viral marketing is normally delivered either by word of mouth or through the internet. People are encouraged to pass along marketing messages voluntarily. This technique begins with the premise customers who are satisfied with certain products or services always tell others about it. In order for a viral marketing campaign to succeed, you need to make sure that people feel good concerning spreading the message.

Many people think that word of mouth and viral marketing are the same. This is not true. In word of mouth, a marketer shares a message and leaves it up to his prospect to forward to friends. However, for viral marketing, the marketer shares a message and the prospect passes the message to a few friends, who in turn pass the message to their friends, and so on. This way, the marketing message is spread like a virus. Viral marketing has been instrumental in promoting my blog which features ediet coupons and weight watchers discounts.

Though viral marketing has its basis in word of mouth marketing, it is more powerful than the latter and is thus a very reliable tool. However, this tool is more effective when it focuses solely on the customer. To understand how viral marketing works, you need to understand the motivations influencing users behavior.

The following are five vital rules/elements for an effective viral marketing strategy:

• Give away valuable services/products
• Make sure transfer to others is effortless
• Exploit basic motivations/behavior
• Make use of available communication networks
• Take advantage of other people’s resources

At the same time, it is important to keep in mind the drawbacks of viral marketing. One major problem is that many people do not like advertising. This is why they try to protect themselves using spam filters, pop-up blocks or no-call lists. Companies which use advertising lose credibility. Some agencies try to get people’s attention by using humorous concepts. However, this can fail when the humorous concepts are not related to the brand itself.  Effective viral marketing happens when other people say you are great. This enhances your credibility and builds up your brand. The most important aspect is the third party factor.

The following are some tips for a successful viral marketing campaign.

Get the headline right:

This can be done by including numbers in the headline. This shows the visitor that he can find great value in the content.

Tap into buzz-worthy subjects:

Content that covers topics people are currently talking about is likely to get talked about.

Learn from what has worked before:

You should always use a formula that has been proven.

Be brief:

The viral content should be brief and concise, pointing out the value within it. Otherwise, your readers will simply click away from it.

Insert links into your content:

This adds both depth and value to the content. However, make sure the links are carefully chosen.

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