VIRAL MARKETING

'Viral marketing' and 'viral advertising' refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. ^[1] Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily.^[2] Viral promotions may take the form of funny video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, images, or even text messages.
It is claimed that a satisfied customer tells an average of three people about a product or service he/she likes, and eleven people about a product or service which he/she did not like.^[3] Viral marketing is based on this natural human behaviour.
The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to identify individuals with high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create Viral Messages that appeal to this segment of the population and have a high probability of being passed along.
The term "viral marketing" is also sometimes used pejoratively, to refer to stealth marketing campaigns^[4]--the use of varied kinds of astroturfing both online and offline ^[5] to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm.

Contents

History

Notable examples of viral marketing

Video

See also

References

History

The term ''Viral Marketing'' was coined by a Harvard Business School professor, Jeffrey F. Rayport, in a December 1996 article for Fast Company ''The Virus of Marketing.'' ^[6]
The term was further popularized by Tim Draper and Steve Jurvetson of the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson in 1997 to describe Hotmail's e-mail practice of appending advertising for itself in outgoing mail from their users.^[7]
Among the first to write about viral marketing on the Internet was media critic Douglas Rushkoff in his 1994 book ''Media Virus''. The assumption is that if such an advertisement reaches a "susceptible" user, that user will become "infected" (i.e., sign up for an account) and can then go on to infect other susceptible users. As long as each infected user sends mail to more than one susceptible user on average (i.e., the basic reproductive rate is greater than one), standard in epidemiology imply that the number of infected users will grow according to a logistic curve, whose initial segment appears exponential.



Among the first to write about algorithms designed to identify people with high Social Networking Potential is Bob Gerstley in ''Advertising Research is Changing''. Gerstley uses SNP algorithms in quantitative marketing research to help marketers maximize the effectiveness of viral marketing campaigns.

Notable examples of viral marketing

★ ''BusinessWeek'' (2001) described web-based campaigns for Hotmail (1996) and The Blair Witch Project (1999) as striking examples of viral marketing, but warned of some dangers for imitation marketers. ^[8]

★ Burger King's The Subservient Chicken campaign was cited in ''Wired'' as a striking example of viral or word-of-mouth marketing. ^[9]

★ In 2000, Slate described TiVo's unpublicized gambit of giving free TiVo's to web-savvy enthusiasts to create "viral" word of mouth, pointing out that a viral campaign differs from a publicity stunt. ^[10]

Video

With the rise of Millennial business owners and incorporation of video into the preexisting industry of online marketing, viral video outlets have been introduced as a new marketing tool. Just as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) became a popular tool for the marketing of new websites hitting the WWW (World Wide Web). In the same way, Viral Video Optimization (VVO) has become a new way to spread messages to viewers across the many virtual social social networks. The process of V.V.O. harnesses the power of a multitude of video integrated Web 2.0 networks to reach larger global populations, as well as, to hone in on niche local communities. The term V.V.O. was first coined by Caitlin Dyer (CTO of a silicon valley based media company by the name of Millennial Productions). However, since then similar or related processes of video marketing have been referred to as V.S.O. (Video Search Optimization) by SEMPO & SES, and S.M.O. (Social Media Optimization) by Rohit Bhargava.

See also

★ Social Networking Potential

★ Viral video

★ Book trailer

★ Customer engagement

★ Word of mouth marketing

★ Alternate reality games

★ Direct marketing

★ Spamming and E-mail spam

★ Guerrilla marketing

★ Reputation management

★ Astroturfing

★ Stealth marketing

References

1. USAToday: Viral advertising spreads through marketing plans June 23, 2005, 2005
2. http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/viral_marketing/
3. Bizsum Book Summary: Secrets of Word Of Mouth Marketing by George Silverman

4. Wired: Commentary: Sock Puppets Keep It Shill on YouTube May 8, 2007
5. Onion: I'd Love This Product Even If I Weren't A Stealth Marketer December 14, 2005
6. The Virus of Marketing
7. Applying Quantitative Marketing Techniques to the Internet, , Alan, Montgomery, Interfaces,
8. Viral Marketing Alert!
9. Marketers Feverish Over Viral Ads
10. TiVo's Stealth Giveaway