Viral Marketing: What Is It and How It Works

Introduction: What is Viral Marketing?

Viral marketing is a technique used to market a product or service in which users help distribute the advertiser's message to other websites or consumers create a scenario that can lead to multi-fold growth. Literally, anything that spreads quickly is considered to be viral. This phrase has a symbolic meaning when used in relation to the web or mobile domain. Viral marketing is defined as a marketing strategy that encourages consumers to share the message with other users, potentially resulting in exponential development.

It might be a brief message on your smartphone about a freshly released product, a news item (such as India winning the world cup), or a YouTube video that people share with other users.

Examples

Hotmail

Hotmail, a free web-based email service introduced in 1996 that included an integrated advertisement and a direct link urging recipients to join up for an account, is an often-cited example of early viral marketing. The user-based media companies at the time saw the fastest growth as a result of this technique.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is another illustration of how versatile viral marketing can be. The ice bucket challenge already existed before The ALS Association used it to increase donations and awareness. However, the widespread posting of ALS Ice Bucket films on social media generated a global sensation that significantly raised awareness of the disease.

Types of Viral Marketing

Puzzles and Riddles

The most popular type of internet information sharing is blog postings. Even though some of it has the potential to go viral, the outcomes of other online content, such as quizzes and riddles, are as important to consider. Until you can solve it, it appears to be taunting you. These puzzles and riddles are more likely to be found on messaging apps like WhatsApp.

Infographics

They can be used to entertain, engage, and educate the audience because they are brief, clear, and attention-grabbing. Infographics are a fantastic tool for obtaining high-quality backlinks. If you want to appeal to the eye, this format is excellent.

Motivational Content

Everyone needs something to motivate them to get up every morning, go to work, and work to improve every day in today's fast-paced world. As a result, motivating posts are among the most prevalent types of material on YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, and other social networking sites. They discuss positive behaviours, famous and wealthy people's statements, proverbs, and other things that make the audience feel good.

People will relate to and desire to share content with others if it has a strong message that is motivating.

Personality Quizzes

‘Which Game of Thrones character are you?’ quizzes are likely to be taken by most of us.

These tests are being used as a kind of content marketing strategy. They draw a sizable crowd and serve a certain demographic. For instance, a questionnaire geared toward mothers would ask, "Which Celebrity mom are you like?"

Keep one thing in mind before you start to become enthusiastic. For your audience to believe the quiz results, they must be relevant and logical.

Lists

Just count how many times you see titles like "X Useful ideas for..." or "Y Hacks to make your life easy" as you navigate through your Facebook feed or YouTube recommended list.

Marketing professionals know that articles and videos with titles that begin with a number received more likes, views, and shares than their equivalents.

There could be several causes for this. With all the pointers and sub-heads, they are firstly simple to browse. Two, they give a lot of information in an easy-to-understand fashion, divided into several pointers.

Case Studies

A practical example makes it very simple for you to understand a subject. One such item that examines one example at a time in-depth is a case study.

Readers like case studies because they are packed with data supported by research. People enjoy watching ideas and concepts in motion and are very interested in the outcomes.

How-To Guides

The majority of "how to" content adopts a problem-solution methodology. In fact, you'll see that many search queries individuals enter when browsing the internet start with the word "how to."

As a result, such information has a higher likelihood of turning up in Google search results. By doing this, you increase your organic search traffic.

Top Posts

Top postings frequently have the potential to become viral and can be a strong source of traffic. The top 15 recipes to amaze your visitors may have been in stories you have read. The word "top" in these names could mean "the best," "most popular," or "those with the best results."

Long-form Content

According to Google, a piece of writing must be at least 1500 words long to rank highly in search results. It appears that your target audience wants in-depth, thoroughly researched articles. Long-form content still receives more shares despite a rise in short-form material due to short attention spans and increased mobile content consumption. The rationale for this is that your readers will consider a lengthy, well-researched piece as a reliable source of information.

Steps To Create A Successful Viral Marketing Campaign

While part of that may seem frightening, you should be relieved to know that there are viral marketing strategies available, and companies like the Harmon Brothers producing hit after hit offers us hope that we can also master the process.

The following are some essential considerations when creating your campaign.

• Understand your target audience − This is marketing 101, but for a piece of content to become viral, it needs to be seen by the appropriate people. It all comes down to producing content that appeals to and emotionally connects with your audience.

• Facilitate sharing − You shouldn't merely provide content and hope that others will share it. Instead, take the initiative and incorporate sharing your content into your marketing. A referral scheme or the addition of share buttons to your blog article ar two examples of simple solutions.

• Be aware of your objectives and keep them top-of-mind − Why are you launching this campaign or attempting to become viral? Is it to broaden your audience, raise awareness for a cause, improve your SEO, or perhaps it's to publicise a specific occasion? As soon as someone notices you are paying attention, you may begin evaluating and streamlining each phase of the procedure.

• Keep your message concise − A key component of any marketing strategy is straightforward, easily digestible material. Before you lose your audience's interest, your content should be concise and to the point. You only have a few seconds to make an impression, so keep that in mind.

• Pieces of viral material are uncommon − The unicorns of marketing, they are. They do, however, all have traits in common that raise their chances of being popular online. Let's examine some of my favourite instances in greater detail and draw attention to the underlying marketing approach that contributed to their success.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that original, never-before-seen material is essential when establishing a viral marketing campaign. It ought to be captivating enough to draw in your viewers. They ought to be able to connect with the viral marketing's central idea. You may plan the optimal moment to publish your material that will go viral and do so to quickly reach your target market.