Viral Marketing

The latest thing going on in the world of marketing is viral marketing. What is Viral Marketing and how can you make it work for you?

The first thing you need to understand is that viral marketing is marketing that uses the technology of the internet to spread your message. What is your message? How do you get it out there now? And, how effective has that been for you? Are you getting a good bang for your buck?

A good example of viral marketing would be a video on YouTube. Now hopefully you know what YouTube is, if not, go do a search and find it and spend a day or two staring at things that have been created there. The site was not put together to host stupid videos put together by ten year olds, although that may be your first impression. Like many sites, it is, itself a viral campaign. The message is “come to my website and look at all the crazy videos.” No, that’s not the message. The real message is come to my website. With enough traffic, you can sell advertising on any site and make enough money to retire.

Popular websites like XANGA, MySpace, EZine, FaceBook and Blogspot are all in the same game, advertising. This is the beauty of true viral marketing. People going to the website really don’t think about the real reason for the website, they are going for the fluff that is provided as the bait. Do you get that? Even the very site you are on now is in the same game. Look around the edge of your screen; what do you see? It’s not a pretty frame to make my writing look good, it’s advertising to #1, pay for the web hosting and staff, and #2 to make the owners money. People blog willingly, and BlogSpot doesn’t have to pay for content (bait) .

Now why do writers submit articles and why do people blog and why do people submit videos? Is it for the glory and fame of being on YouTube? For some people it is…mostly for the unimaginative or the young. Other people see the opportunity to promote themselves, their products, their religion, their hobby or whatever. Now how do you promote yourself or your business? The point of it all is to get name recognition out there for yourself, your product or your website. The trick is to have the right type of viral marketing working for you.

There are two types of viral marketing; the good kind and the kind that totally sucks. If you are making a straight commercial and you put it on YouTube, it will go down in flames; verbal flames. If you make your commercial amusing, it may get some play. How many people liked those Budweiser frogs? You actually liked watching the commercial, sort of like the Superbowl. People watched for football, and then suddenly a new audience was added as the commercials became a highlight. (Some of the games were suck blowouts, that the commercials really were the best part after halftime.)

So what constitutes a sucky video? How about a guy standing on the side of a road telling you about his business? One camera (shaky) and a monologue about the benefits of toe jam juice. Or someone preaching at you to repent and join their cult? These types of videos get no play and soon are forgotten, even by the people that made them. If there is no amusement factor, don’t even upload. If you can incorporate a funny concept and blend your advertisement in a minute or two, your video may get passed around and become famous, along with your message.

Well, that is enough of my viral attempt. Now go to the side of this screen, check out my profile, visit my websites and buy my products.

: )