You’ve probably heard a lot about viral marketing campaigns. You may be wondering what exactly it means for something to “go viral.” Well, you know how viruses spread, right? They pass from person to person and continue on and on for a very long time.
Viral marketing campaigns work in much the same way. The marketing piece spreads through word-of-mouth, as people tell other people about it. Viral marketing can come in many forms. On the Internet, viral campaigns are typically in the form of videos or reports, but they may also come in the form of audio or images.
Video is probably the most viral of the various media methods, because people seem to get more excited about videos. But text reports can also go viral very quickly if the information contained in them is exceptional.
The best forms of viral marketing give away extremely valuable information for free. If you promote a dog training guide, create a short precious video about potty training a puppy. You don’t want to give away everything, but show one really good element that makes people realize you’re not all about the fluff and filler.
If you’re using text as your viral medium of choice, then it provides the perfect opportunity for you to profit through a freebie. Viral reports usually have links sprinkled throughout them, either to your direct offers or affiliate items, but they still provide real value to the readers.
If providing an interesting or informative marketing piece is the most important part of viral marketing, getting the piece in front of people who will spread it is the second most important thing.
If no one sees the piece, there won’t be anyone to spread it around. You need to figure out a way to get your piece seen by enough people that it will go viral. If you’re using videos, you can usually get enough views to a video to start a viral campaign just by submitting the videos to a few video sharing sites.
If your information is valuable enough, people will probably flock to it. But sometimes it takes a little more than that and you’ll have to use social bookmarking, forums, and other methods to bring the initial wave of targeted traffic.
If you offer a really high-quality report or video for free, you’ll usually have no trouble getting it to go viral. Post it in a forum as a freebie, send it out to your list, but make sure it states clearly that you encourage your readers or viewers to share the download link, or else they may feel like they’re doing something wrong.