Viral Marketing… All about it
Viral marketing is what all companies want. There is no brand that does not want to create campaigns with content that touch the magic keys to reach the public and thus reach millions of views, likes, shares … it is like a domino effect but more powerful because it gets to more crowds spreading the news, or a new product or service.
Today this happens with many types of content, some have been created intentionally for this to happen and others have been created simply for fun and without intention, and yet they have managed to go viral. Viral Marketing goes from person to person and spreads just like a cold.
If you want to know more about this discipline of marketing, strategies, how it really works then… keep reading!
What is Viral Marketing?
Viral marketing is the type of marketing that has the ability to reach your audience quickly and easily. In this type of marketing one characteristic stands out: it is shared by itself. It is the audience itself that advertises the message or the campaign through ‘shares’ on social networks, views, likes, and so on.
The only thing the company or brand has to do is make the viral message to capture the public’s attention and… this is not an easy task! Not many companies are able to successfully create viral marketing.
How does Viral Marketing work?
The operation of a viral marketing campaign is simple and to implement this type of marketing you have to:
- Create eye-catching content: the content has to be really attractive to your target. It could be an image, a video, a text … it does not matter as long as it is attractive! I must mention videos are most shared by users, as long as they are well executed.
- Select the Media channels: now you that you have the content, you must select the channels you will disseminate it. Place it in front of your audience, where they are such as Facebook, Tiktok, Youtube, Linked In, or Pinterest.
- Select the best time to make it viral: learn when your audience is most active and then release the new content, don’t do it when they are not connected, select the day and time of the day where it can create the domino effect. For example on a weekday from 12:30 to 1:00 is when most people have lunchtime and they are on their phones… that’s the perfect time for things to go viral.
Kinds of Viral Marketing strategy
There are different viral marketing strategies that you can implement. Some of them are the following:
- Target your audience and surprise them with a picture or video. The image has to speak for itself and be able to grab the attention right away, if it doesn’t then you need to fix it.
- Create a Video with unpredictable and catchy content.
- Give away a product or service for free, use a unique picture, you must have a video too.
- Do something unpredicted, something no one expects you to do it.
- Sharing, Downloading, and embedding. Everything you do has to have it.
- Wow your audience! And they will share it with the world.
Advantages and benefits
- It has a great reach, more than you can imagine, it can cross borders. If it is properly planned and carried out it can even reach other cities, states, continents, and countries.
- Low cost to implement, as we mentioned before because your content becomes advertised by your audience, not by you. The users and potential customers do all the work for you, this will save you money and you will get more exposure, more leads, more sales, and more revenue.
- It will help you build brand trust, users and potential customers will notice your brand as a solid company, this will help you support and empower your brand. Your brand will get noticed and it will help you get more business, not only directly from your customers but from other companies.
- It is safe, not invasive, not spam at all. This is because your potential customers will do the advertising for you, it is just like recommendations by people you know and trust. You will click on a link or a file coming from a close friend or relative.
- Oh yes, faster than you think. When content gets viral you will know it because the results are quick, the sharing process happens right away and lasts for a while, I could say days and weeks.
You don’t need the very best product to become a viral trend, all you need is creativity and get the attention of your potential clients.
The Viral Marketing Success Formula
Unique content + Distribution Channels + Right Distribution Time + Right Target Audience
This formula is simple and it does not need much explanation, it works, not because I’m telling you I have heard it works but because I have done it, and works like magic. Sometimes you can create Viral Content you did not expect would become Viral at all, content you had planned to complete a simple task or by accident, then BOOM gets viral to a niche or group, or audience who happens to be on that niche.
Frequently Asked Questions about Viral Marketing
Why is Viral Marketing important?
- Spam threats, some spammers use the Viral Marketing wave to fool the audience with fake pages, videos, and links.
- Bad Planning could hurt the company, make sure you do it right otherwise instead of creating trust and reputation you could do the opposite, that is why before releasing a Viral Marketing campaign it has to be revised over and over, so there are no mistakes. Mistakes can and will hurt your revenue.
- Do not copy your competition, if you do this your company will get hurt and known as fake, it might also get legal problems. Be unique in your campaigns, your customers will remember uniqueness over more of the same.
- More Brand Recognition.
- Better Brand Loyalty.
- More Conversion Rates.
- Reduced Marketing Costs.