The Viral
Virus is contagious and it spreads. Irrespective of every online marketing
technique that exists, there is no better form of marketing than word-of-mouth.
Online Marketing techniques don’t spread news, people spread news.
Waseem Saddique comments: “Online Marketing campaigns are just the catalysts that
compel people to sit up and take notice of a business that has something to
say.”
Waseem
Saddique Marketing Services reveals a comprehensive guide, giving businesses an
insight into the value of viral, and the key elements for implementing an
effective viral marketing campaign.
- The word ‘Free’ increases viral velocity
In the
marketing world, the word ‘Free’ will trigger a viral marketing campaign,
whether it was intended or not. Draw the attention of one consumer and they’ll
do the hard work for you, sharing an online marketing campaign with friends and
family, promoting a business with very little effort from the business itself.
Offering a
free product or service increases the speed at which consumers become aware of
your presence. With the aid of social media networks such as Facebook and
Twitter, viral marketing campaigns can spread like wildfire. In fact one of the
features of Facebook is that it allows you to monitor the impact of a posting
as it displays viral reach.
- Make your online marketing campaign easily transferable
In order to
send an online marketing campaign into viral overdrive, the information should be
quickly digestible and easy to transfer.
“This is what makes viral contagious”, states Waseem Saddique. The
platform that carries an online marketing campaign should be quickly
transferable and simple to replicate.
Waseem Saddique suggests: “The use of
e-mails, simple graphics, social media and other simplistic mediums that make
it easy for consumers to ‘spread the word’, will boost the impact of any viral
element of an online marketing campaign.”
Social media
platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow for the quick transfer of
information. Facebook in particular has a ‘share’ feature and Twitter restricts
postings to 140 characters and has a ‘re-tweet’ feature, allowing people to
instantly transfer information that is of particular interest to them personally.
- Exploit common motivational factors
Intelligent
online marketing campaigns factor in how they can achieve a viral aspect.
Successful viral marketing campaigns exploit human motivations. Waseem Saddique
says: “Focus your online marketing campaign on what drives people, for example,
the desire to be loved, popular, wanted and understood are all driving forces
of human existence and, on a slightly controversial note, so is greed, so viral
marketing campaigns should target these forces.”
- Utilise established communication networks
The majority
of people are social. According to social ‘experts’ every person on the planet
has a ‘circle of influence’ that consists of between 8-12 people that includes
family, friends and acquaintances. Attract the attention of a single person and
viral marketing escalates, impacting that person’s ‘sphere of influence’.
- Make use of other resources
Extremely
creative viral marketing campaigns work in conjunction with other resources in
order to ‘spread the word’. Waseem Saddique states: “To inject life into an
online marketing campaign, businesses should consider affiliate programs, for
instance, post text or image links on other websites, give away free articles
and seek to get them published on other websites. Generate news releases and
issue them to distribution sites.”
The potential
reach of viral marketing is unlimited and the impact of viral can transform any
online marketing campaign, taking it from obscurity into ‘overdrive’.
