In the era of digital marketing, it is impossible to not hear about viral marketing. You may have come across this term more than once. But what is it exactly? How is it done?
Viral Marketing is a trending new type of digital marketing which uses the concept of word-of-mouth publicity. By this method, common people are inspired to share the marketing content of your firm. It can be anything from a viral video to a message that people find extremely amusing so that they share it repeatedly. When the content is shared, the marketing of the brand happens with it automatically.
Done properly, viral marketing can create exponential growth in business. It can also foster brand awareness and can increase its reach many folds. But if something goes wrong, the name of the brand can get dragged through the dirt.
How does something become viral?
Many contents go viral by accident. There is no explanation to how it got so much reach and what actually triggered it. But when it comes to marketing, most viral contents are created deliberately to promote the brand.
Exhaustive and careful research into what gets shared and what not is the first step in viral marketing. Creating an engrossing content which appeals to a wide audience is the second. Sharing the content in social media platforms where it is easily noticed by people is the final step. If people find it interesting, they market the content by sharing with their friends which starts off a chain sharing that makes it viral.
What are the factors affecting viral marketing?
There are three main factors in viral marketing: Message, messenger and environment. Each aspect has to be perfectly leveraged to make a successful viralmarketing campaign. A number of tools like videos, images, games, socially relevant content, text messages, emails and so on can be used for the campaign.
There are two types of dispersion strategies in viral marketing: Concealed or shown. In the latter people know they are watching the advertisement of a brand. But in the former, they are unaware of the branding which is only revealed later. If not done properly the concealed method can backfire as people may feel cheated.