If you are reading this, you have probably heard the term “Viral Marketing” and may possibly be even questioning the actual term “viral”. You probably want to find out more about how what it has to do with marketing, but for those who understand how it works, viral is a good thing when it comes to social media and viral spreading of information.

If you are looking for a formal definition of viral marketing, it is:

“To promote information or products that other customers are compelled to give to other friends, colleagues, family, and other warm markets.” It is also a way to promote your services or products to the nth degree. You remember the slogan from the old Flex commercials (well maybe not)…”I told a friend and they told two friends, and so-on and so-on….” You see, it is like a handful of people tell another handful of people and the information spreads, just like a virus…hence viral!

The wonderful thing about how this type of marketing works is that you may not even see how it is spreading. It may even stay dormant for a period of time, and then all of a sudden…bamm.. it will be explosive in numbers. It can create a snowball effect with hosts with no intervention from you. This is how your message can grow exponentially.

Now I bet you are asking, “How do I mount an effective viral marketing campaign?” Below are some ideas that may help you with your campaign.

1. Do not always charge for products or services – Believe it or not, the idea of something free still holds power. Almost all of these strategies give away something of value such as a product or some form of services.

2. Make sure your virus is caught by others – viral marketing, like human viruses, require some form of contact to transfer…in this case electronically. So they must be easy to transmit if it is to be successful. Make sure when you are researching a viral marketing plan, choose a method that carries your message easily to other hosts. For example; Twitter is one of the most popular mediums that quickly transmits information. With Twitter, over 3 million (and growing) messages are posted everyday. The simple fact of re-tweeting, redistributing a message from another user, makes your message easily transferred to other hosts who in turn may get re-tweets.

There are many of other ways Twitter has become useful in marketing since it provides an easy platform for you to post updates and news about your company’s products or services. Once you get a following (Twitter term), you can take advantage of a number of different methods of marketing such as promotions, sales, or specials. Think of it…with Twitter you can brand your company rapidly and less costly than conventional means.

Some other thoughts on ways to transfer information is through a news release. Often these can be free, and you can announce your give-aways, contests, or even providing a free product or service. Think of it, if your news release is carried by just a small portion of the media, say 5% of who you send it to, you will not only have your product or service in front of literally tens of thousands of readers at little or no costs, but you are doing this at the speed of light!

3. Motivate your warm market – As humans, we have numerous things that motivate us. As we all know, marketing is about tuning into those motivations and working with them. Basic motivators are the need to be popular, loved, appreciated, and understood. If you discover something that is free, cool, or makes one feel very unique, it will drive many of us to embrace it, and then to share this so-called ‘inside information’ with others.

4. Use all resources to accomplish your goals – Blogs, forums, social networks, podcasts, RSS feeds, text messaging, instant messaging, Facebook chat – These resources are all capable of instantaneously distributing information across most borders, or what we call silos. They can even breech time zones. You will also touch people in a more targeted and personal way than you could ever imagine. Creating timely and non-intrusive communications within your new niche audience is the key to a successful viral marketing campaign. Today’s shift in social media on the Internet is spawning a whole new breed of brand influencers. It will be up to you convince them that your brand is worth passing on to their warm market. So now we can see that the viral nature of the Internet can help you achieve goals of marketing that could never have been achieved by traditional advertising means, and for a fraction of the cost.

As we stated before, viral marketing does not have to be complicated or even very expensive. It will require plenty of pre-planning, committing to following through, and monitoring your plan. Do not be disappointed by a lack of immediate results. Just stay on the course, do your homework, and Sit back, Relax, and enjoy the ride!

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