What is Viral Marketing?

"Viral marketing describes 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."

I am using a simple example to explain how viral marketing works effectively.

Consider when you check your email, you see a mail from a friend which is a buy one get one free e-coupon offered by Levi's, you will always open it because of your trusting relationship with your friend. When you choose to forward this message to the other friends, you have already endorsed it and given credibility to Levi's product.

In this way, you become a brand advocate every time you transfer the message to others and the others will do the same to his own social network. Like viruses, the message will be replicated rapidly and reached thousands of people.


Key Points:
1.Viral marketing is a new way to reach your target audience.
2.For viral marketing to work, you must understand what will motivate your target audience to pass on a message to someone with similar interests.
3.Viral marketing is word-of-mouth marketing via a digital platform that can spread exponentially.

Source:The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing" by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
Source:"Viral Marketing:Get your audience to do your marketing for you" by Russell Goldsmith

Advantages and Disadvantage of Viral Marketing

Taking the example of IKEA Facebook Showroom, the main advantage of using Facebook to create viral marketing buzz is that its message can reach a larger number of Facebook users within seconds in a cost-effective way.

The vital of successful viral marketing is that messages are forwarded on to friends, family and social group who know the sender. Unlike junk mail, the receivers are happy to receive and forward any message among their friends. The positive word-of-mouth will allows marketers to tap into the community’s existing networks and spread not only the marketing message but also increase their purchase intention.

The main disadvantage is that IKEA limited their marketing communications through the social networks of Facebook only. I believe some of their target audience and brand loyalists are not the Facebook users yet, they definitely miss out the opportunities to reach them.

The other problem is that IKEA cannot control the users’ comment posted at Facebook, it can be either positive appraisal or negative sentiment about their company.

Source:http://viralmarketing4290.blogspot.com