Viral Marketing

Originally Published: February 2006

Viruses are feared both in the online and offline worlds. They latch on (many times unknowingly), take hold and spread extremely quickly. Viruses can inflict serious damage and there is little that can be done until symptoms arise, which is usually when the damage has already been done. However, this exact concept has been harnessed by savvy online marketers for effective, low-cost brand promotion. Dubbed viral marketing, the concept of one person spreading a message to a few others who turn around and spread it to a few others who turn around and send it on and on and on until millions of people have viewed the message continues to be an effective online marketing tool. From the time Hotmail pioneered the concept until now, marketers have used this ultimate form of online word-of-mouth marketing to quickly promote brand growth.

Around 1996, Hotmail decided to try a novel concept (at the time) – free Internet-based e-mail. To promote the service, the company attached a line at the bottom of users’ e-mail encouraging the mail recipient to check out and pass on the Hotmail service. In its first year and a half, Hotmail signed up over 12 million users. The most interesting aspect is that from the start of the service with zero users until the time they hit 12 million users, Hotmail spent less than $500,000 on marketing, advertising and promotion. This is an amazingly low number considering $500,000 would have bought the company about 6 seconds of a Super Bowl ad this year.

As the Hotmail example shows, viral marketing is popular because it is relatively easy to execute, offers lower costs than other forms of online marketing, has a built-in targeting mechanism (people who are interested in the offer, product or entertainment value of the message pass it on to others that they know would be interested as well) and high, rapid response rates if the campaign is executed correctly.

The important things to note when implementing a viral marketing campaign are:
· Use a message that entertains or promotes the giving away of valued products or services
· Make it as easy as possible for a recipient to pass it on
· Create a “cool” message and allow it to take on a life of its own

Entertainment can come in the form of interesting or funny commercials, fun games or attention-getting audio. One recent example of the power of entertaining viral email was the video of a house with a spectacular Christmas light show that was set to music by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The video shot just south of Dayton in Loveland, Ohio, surfaced around Thanksgiving and spread so quickly and drew so much attention that it became a national beer commercial before Christmas. The man who set up the display actually had to shut it down because it snarled traffic in his neighborhood.

Games are another entertaining form of viral campaigns. As I’ve stated in other columns, advergames are extremely effective at providing entertainment for gamers while pushing a brand at the same time. Many companies offer the option of sending game web links to family and friends at the click of a button. Giveaways and contests are another great way to spread a brand message. If someone spots a valuable giveaway or contest, they usually want to involve their family and friends. People have a natural tendency to want to help or impress their family and friends, so informing others about giveaways, contests, or just a fun game or entertaining video makes people feel good. They want to spread the word, not only to help their friends but also to gain a sense of being on the cutting edge – “Look at the cool thing I found.” So, the sender feels good about it, while the company that originated the message receives the benefit of more eyes on the branded message.

Once an interesting message has been crafted, marketers must make it extremely easy for a person to pass it on to others. Send to a friend buttons are the most popular and easiest way to do this. Also, making it easy to pass along an attachment or encouraging people to forward a web link are other great ways to make it easy for the message to spread quickly.

There tends to be a thin line between the success and failure of a viral marketing campaign. That success depends heavily on the coolness factor. People want to show off interesting, funny, new, cool things. The most successful viral campaigns also tend to be the ones least controlled by the company sending the original message. Generally speaking, the more a viral marketing campaign is planned and controlled, the less likely it will succeed, while the less a campaign is controlled and allowed to spread out and do its own thing, the more likely it will be to build a strong following. It is very similar to the street credibility of a rapper. If someone raps about the tribulations in his life, when he actually went to prep school in New England, that rapper has no credibility and will likely flop in the music industry. The same can be said with viral marketing. The company or brand should release a great message that the target group would be interested in, make it easy to pass on the message and then let it run its course.

While people tend to have negative views of traditional commercial messages, viral marketing has become somewhat of a pastime for Americans. A study by Sharpe Partners found that 89% of U.S. adult Internet users share content with friends, family and associates by e-mail, 63% share content at least once per week and 25% share daily or almost daily. This content includes jokes, news stories, short movies, web links and other marketing messages. Sharpe Partners learned that adding overt brand messages only slightly reduces the likelihood that content will be shared with others. Only 5% of respondents said they refuse to share content that contains a clear brand message and 89% of those who receive e-mails with brand sponsorships had no adverse feelings toward the brand or message.

Viral marketing also allows you to promote your brand message to a targeted group far beyond the original audience. People pass the message on to others who they know would be interested, thus your message can hit portions of your target market that you could never hope to reach on your own. Because individuals become the medium (rather than traditional direct mail pieces, launching a nationwide television ad campaign, etc.), the cost stays low and return on investment can be very high. Viral marketing is a true form of online word-of-mouth. This is one virus that I would highly recommend getting.