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Viral Marketing
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Published: October 17, 2006
Often referred to as word-of-mouth, creating a buzz, leveraging the media and network marketing, viral marketing has become one of the most successful techniques used to achieve a large online customer base. Depending largely on high pass-along rates from person to person, this technique avoids the annoyance of spam mail while encouraging consumers to recommend a specific product or service to someone else.
What is Viral Marketing?
According to Dr. Ralph Wilson, Internet publisher and founder of Wilsonweb.com, viral marketing is best defined as any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence.
Though this marketing phenomenon is popular because of its good targeting, easy usability and rapid response rate, its main strength is its ability to acquire a large number of users at a relatively low cost. It encourages people to pass along a message to help build awareness of a certain product or service. For example, if a large percentage of users forward something to a large group of friends, the overall growth rapidly increases.
What is the Goal?
With a goal to spread the word about a specific product or idea, viral marketing requires little effort on the part of the propagandist, a person who tries to influence the behavior and opinions of others through the use of images and words; therefore, the receivers of the message become the primary source for spreading the message to other people. Because this type of marketing can be difficult to control, the message could possibly change as it passes from ear to ear.
Examples of Viral Marketing
Viral marketing can be seen in a variety of forms, including rumors, chain letters, gossip, leaked information and secondhand versions of official reports. Other examples include relationship marketing, free e-mail accounts and free e-cards.
Relationship Marketing
Amazon.com, a Web site dedicated to selling various products to online consumers at discount prices, has created the resources necessary to better serve their customers. Creating profiles based on their customer's selections, Amazon.com offers a variety of services to help make their customers feel special. From giving away free gifts after a certain number of orders to alerting customers when their favorite author releases a new book, this Web site creates a relationship with its users by giving them the things they want. Eventually, the users may tell others about the online store, thus drawing more attention and business to the site.
Free E-mail Accounts
Widely recognized as the first example of online viral marketing, Hotmail.com offers free, web-based e-mail to online users. Once an e-mail message is sent to someone, the tagline listed at the end of the message may be seen by anyone else who also receives the message. First, the site gives away free e-mail addresses and services to its users. At the bottom of each sent message is a tag line reading, Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com. After a while, people begin to send the message to their own network of friends, family and associates, who in turn may also sign-up for a free account. In the end, people may continue to send the message to their own personal network, thus expanding the message even farther.
Free E-Cards
When sending someone a free online greeting, the recipient does not receive the card in their e-mail box, but instead receives an e-mail message providing them with a URL link they can visit to view their e-card. After viewing their card, they may bookmark the site and may possibly send various e-cards to others, who in turn may do the same.
Sources:
Heyman, Darian SR. The Basics of Viral Marketing. ClickZ Network. 19 Nov 1999. Incisive
Interactive Marketing LLC. 16 Oct 2006.
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=818581< br />Lake, Laura. Value of viral Marketing. Your Guide to Marketing. 12 Oct 2006.
http://marketing.about.com/cs/viralmarketing/a/v iralvalue.htm
Viral Marketing. Marketingterms.com 12 Oct 2006.
http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/viral_m arketing/
Viral Marketing. Source Watch. 16 Oct 2006.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Viral _marketing
Viral Marketing. Wikipedia. 12 Oct 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing
Wilson, Dr. Ralph F. The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing. Web Marketing Today.
1 Feb 2005; originally published 1 Feb 2000. Wilson Internet Services. 12 Oct 2006.
http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-principles.h tm
What is Viral Marketing?
According to Dr. Ralph Wilson, Internet publisher and founder of Wilsonweb.com, viral marketing is best defined as any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence.
Though this marketing phenomenon is popular because of its good targeting, easy usability and rapid response rate, its main strength is its ability to acquire a large number of users at a relatively low cost. It encourages people to pass along a message to help build awareness of a certain product or service. For example, if a large percentage of users forward something to a large group of friends, the overall growth rapidly increases.
What is the Goal?
With a goal to spread the word about a specific product or idea, viral marketing requires little effort on the part of the propagandist, a person who tries to influence the behavior and opinions of others through the use of images and words; therefore, the receivers of the message become the primary source for spreading the message to other people. Because this type of marketing can be difficult to control, the message could possibly change as it passes from ear to ear.
Examples of Viral Marketing
Viral marketing can be seen in a variety of forms, including rumors, chain letters, gossip, leaked information and secondhand versions of official reports. Other examples include relationship marketing, free e-mail accounts and free e-cards.
Relationship Marketing
Amazon.com, a Web site dedicated to selling various products to online consumers at discount prices, has created the resources necessary to better serve their customers. Creating profiles based on their customer's selections, Amazon.com offers a variety of services to help make their customers feel special. From giving away free gifts after a certain number of orders to alerting customers when their favorite author releases a new book, this Web site creates a relationship with its users by giving them the things they want. Eventually, the users may tell others about the online store, thus drawing more attention and business to the site.
Free E-mail Accounts
Widely recognized as the first example of online viral marketing, Hotmail.com offers free, web-based e-mail to online users. Once an e-mail message is sent to someone, the tagline listed at the end of the message may be seen by anyone else who also receives the message. First, the site gives away free e-mail addresses and services to its users. At the bottom of each sent message is a tag line reading, Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com. After a while, people begin to send the message to their own network of friends, family and associates, who in turn may also sign-up for a free account. In the end, people may continue to send the message to their own personal network, thus expanding the message even farther.
Free E-Cards
When sending someone a free online greeting, the recipient does not receive the card in their e-mail box, but instead receives an e-mail message providing them with a URL link they can visit to view their e-card. After viewing their card, they may bookmark the site and may possibly send various e-cards to others, who in turn may do the same.
Sources:
Heyman, Darian SR. The Basics of Viral Marketing. ClickZ Network. 19 Nov 1999. Incisive
Interactive Marketing LLC. 16 Oct 2006.
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=818581< br />Lake, Laura. Value of viral Marketing. Your Guide to Marketing. 12 Oct 2006.
http://marketing.about.com/cs/viralmarketing/a/v iralvalue.htm
Viral Marketing. Marketingterms.com 12 Oct 2006.
http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/viral_m arketing/
Viral Marketing. Source Watch. 16 Oct 2006.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Viral _marketing
Viral Marketing. Wikipedia. 12 Oct 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing
Wilson, Dr. Ralph F. The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing. Web Marketing Today.
1 Feb 2005; originally published 1 Feb 2000. Wilson Internet Services. 12 Oct 2006.
http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-principles.h tm
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