Final Thoughts

At the beginning of this semester, I did not really know what viral marketing was. I had also never had a blog before. Through this blogging assignment, I have learned so much about what it actually is as well as the different trends that are emerging. I have also learned about how big blogging really is. When you think about it, viral marketing really is a genius concept. Rather than spending millions of dollars on media, you spend nothing. Instead, you let fans of the content do the work for you. I don't know about you, but spending less money to have people do your work for you sounds like quite a deal to me.

One of the biggest things I learned was the power of viral marketing. According to a report just released by Sharpe Partners, a marketing agency, 89% of US adult Internet users share content with friends, family and associates by e-mail, with 25% of those people doing so daily (see chart below). The study was done in 2005, so the numbers have probably even gone up since then. This means that online content has a very good chance of being passed along. The study also identified a group it called "Brand Fans." These are people who share so much viral content that they are "contagious." They are likely to share content with ten or more people. 35% of Brand Fans share content daily. Over 80% of them feel positively about brand sponsored content shared at least once a week. It seems like more companies would take advantage of viral marketing if they knew the actual potential of it.


















One trend that really stuck out to me was what type of content has the highest pass along value. After writing about several successful campaigns, it seems that humorous campaigns work the best. I myself am most likely to send something to my friends if I find it funny. The chart below shows that humor works the best for viral marketing. Two examples of sites that are popular purely for their humorous content are the Cart Whisperer and the Ford F-Series websites. They both feature very funny videos that have seen great viral success. It also does not surprise me that news is the second highest type of content that is shared via E-Mail. The Internet allows users to get the most recent, up-to-date news. They can then pass this new information along to their friends. Games also work well for viral marketing because they are interactive. I wrote about campaigns for Travelzoo and the Great Delivery Race for QAS. Both of these campaigns were successful because the games were actually fun to play and really engaged the user.




















In looking at different campaigns this semester, I have learned the "dos" and "don'ts" of viral marketing. While it is impossible to determine which campaigns will fly and which will flop, there are certain factors that serve as good predictors. There are two things that really stuck out to me as "don'ts."
1. Don't bother viral marketing if you don't have something sexy, funny, controversial or interesting. People will not just pass along any old message. It has to be something interesting and relevant to them. Humor is always a great way to go with viral marketing. People love to pass along funny things to their friends. No matter what it is, make sure it is something people will want to see.

2. Don't put all your focus on the tactic and none on stratgey. You may come up with a brilliant idea for viral marketing, yet if it doesn't go along with your strategy then it most likely will not help you. People may find it interesting and pass it along, but if it does not help your brand then it is not worth it. For example, the Subservient Chicken campaign received many awards but did little to help Burger King's sales.


While those are ways to ensure that a campaign will flop, these tips will help increase the successfulness of a campaign:
1. Create and emotional reaction. People will be more likely to pass something along if it is something they feel passionate about it. You should try to evoke an emotion from the user of the content. Whether they laugh and feel happy, or feel inspired to do something, just getting them to feel something will help towards your viral goal. The My 2 Cents For a Change website is a great example of this. Kids do not always get a chance to speak out. This site gives them a sense of empowerment because they can voice their own opinions. The Nike Free Running website is also good at evoking emotion. Seeing your name or whatever phrase you want in the video can make users happy. If it is something they find entertaining and emotion-provoking, then they will be more likely to send it to a friend.

2. Do something unexpected. Make it a clutter-buster. When I think of something being a clutter-buster, I think of people's jaws dropping. I imagine that people were shocked when they saw the Obay campaign ads. The HEMA website is a perfect example of a clutter-buster. At first glance, the website looks like any other, but then the products begin to interact, leaving the viewer somewhat mesmerized.

3. Do no make it a blatant advertisement. Viral marketing is not just people sending advertisements to their friends. They need to have a reason to send it in the first place. However, the product and brand name obviously need to be some way involved in the viral marketing tactic. If they are not included, then no one will know who is behind the campaign.

4. Follow up. Make sequels to campaign content. This will keep people interested in it. The campaign for Dark Knight has been successful because there are always new developments in it. Fans are always wondering where the next event will take place and what the next website will be for. The beginning of the campaign was focues on the Joker, then it moved to Harvey Dent.

5. Allow sharing, downloading and embedding. The whole point of viral marketing is to get users to share it. Make it easy for them. Make sure to include a "send to friend" option. If your website has videos, allow users to download the video.

6. If it's a video, keep it short! No longer than about 2 minutes. People have short attention spans and don't want to sit and watch a long video. Keeping it below 2 minutes will help hold the viewer's attention throughout the whole thing. They will be less likely to skip through it if it is shorter.

7. Spread the word. Bloggers are your friends! They will help you. Forums, social networking sites, emails, and friends can all help you to get the content out there.

8. Suspense. Campaigns I've written about for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Lost, and Dark Knight are great examples of this. Perhaps the best example of a suspenseful viral marketing campaign is the Obay campaign. The Internet was littered with blog posts and news articles speculating who was behind the ads.

9. Give readers incentive to come back to the website or share its content. This can be accomplished by offering something to your readers for free. Whether it is free wallpaper downloads or free screensavers, users appreciate anything that is a gift. The Simply Marry campaign allowed users to download the song in their viral video for free. This gives users more of an incentive to send it to their friends. You can also do this by having a contest. This will give readers incentive to keep coming back to the site. Some websites have contests that involve users inviting their friends. The Travelzoo contest allowed users to have more entries in the contest each time they invited more friends. The Indiana Jones contest gave fans the chance to win a trip to the movie premiere. These contests work well because the prizes are something relevant to users of the websites. Someone using Travelzoo would be likely to appreciate a vacation package, and Indiana Jones fans would most likely enjoy going to the movie premiere.