Essential Marketer

Put simply, Viral Marketing is a word-of-mouth message delivered and enhanced online, enabling marketers to instantly reach vast solcial networks.

Brands are able to exploit the power of peer-to-peer advertising to raise their awareness and attract the full attention of their audience. Compared to other traditional media this is undoubtedly a major strength of online advertising.

The sucess (or failure) of viral marketing is simple - it is based on ‘coolness’. If the recipient of an email enjoys the content they will pass it on to their friends or colleagues. By using viral marketing you can create a ‘buzz’ around your product/service at a relatively low cost. You must distribute a cleverly constructed campaign to your targeted, specific database of users.

The most common types of viral campaigns include funny videos, entertaining - purpose-built microsites, games, special offers, interesting stories or images that are passed around the online community.

Brand must be aware that viral campaigns based around offensive or controversial content can damage a brands image. Like most successful marketing campaigns and techniques, successful viral marketing campaigns tend to be intelligently created and deliver in line with the tone of the brand’s overall communication strategy.