I’ve mentioned viral marketing but I haven’t really talked about it.
Three weeks ago, Susan Boyle was an unknown, middle-aged Scots homemaker.
Her video on YouTube has now been seen 64 million times.
How did this happen?
FIrst, she was on TV on “Britain’s Got Talent.”
Someone put the video of her performance on YouTube.
People were excited and started telling each other about her and sending the link to the video.
Now, what do you think that is worth to Susan Boyle and anyone wanting to use her to market something? Millions? Tens of Millions?
This example contains all the essential elements of viral marketing:
1. You have to START with something that people are going to get excited and tell each other about. No matter what you do, if you don’t have something that is going to create a buzz, it’s not going to buy you any beans.
That’s what viral marketing is – viral meaning spreading in the same way a virus does, person-to-person, and like a virus, one infected person can become millions. This is the plus side of what computer viruses are the negative – the incredible power of the Internet to rapidly disseminate something.
2. You have to jump start awareness of that something. This is usually done through publicity. TV or radio or magazines or newspapers pick it up for the same reason – it’s cool, it’s fun, it’s bizarre, it’s exciting.
3. You have to have a way it can be easily spread by email or twitter or Facebook, etc. That usually means a link to a video or website.
That’s the whole story on viral marketing.