Get Ready to ‘Go Viral’, But Only If You’re Really Prepared

Viral marketing is a term which has recently acquired some renown in the world of online business as new strategies in social marketing have been making their mark on Internet commerce. In brief, it’s a method of marketing which encourages people from all walks of life to spread the word as much as possible. When this “word” is actively pushed forward, it has the opportunity to expand exponentially, thereby reaching a massive audience, just as a virus could spread during an influenza outbreak.

There are quite a few internet marketers out there who are trying to initiate a viral marketing strategy, or they’re doing everything they can to make their products or services “go viral”, but most of these people just don’t realise that this is possible only if they pay particular attention to the essential elements which are necessary for this to work.

To begin with, you need to have a product or service that’s easily saleable and highly scalable. You can create a “buzz” about anything and everything, as we have seen from examples within the popular media. For instance, who would’ve ever thought that several million people would log onto their computers and then go to a specific web page so that they could watch the video from a webcam streaming a pile of cute puppies sleeping in someone’s bed? Although most of the time, in real marketing terms, you need to start off with products or services that can inspire a great deal of excitement.

Many people feel that one of the best ways to create a viral marketing campaign is to start with something that’s free. The word “free” is of course one of the most powerful in our language, and it almost always creates attention of some kind. Consider giving something away for free in the knowledge that should your marketing campaign become effective, you will have the attention of large numbers of people to whom you may promote and potentially sell other products.

Whatever you’re selling, you need to be able to sell large numbers of it through your website development strategy. The ability to scale easily from small to very large is essential, as is your transmission method. You must plan ahead of time if you’re serious about creating a viral marketing campaign – and remember, scalability is very important. If you are not able to keep up with the demand, your initiative is dead.

If you really want to create a buzz about your product or service, it should have a certain element of “coolness” to it. What sets it apart – what is its unique selling proposition? Find something to create that spark, and you may also be able to feed off some current trends to help you. Consider researching “Google trends” online – it’s a great resource for learning about what’s hot, what may even be volcanic or what’s not.

Your viral marketing project should be able to utilise existing communication networks. Networking is very hot these days, and social networking within the Internet world even more so. Place your message succinctly into the correct networks to achieve your goal. If you really want something to go viral, you should try and take advantage of another network’s network. Construct great press releases and sew a seed in that particular area, for example.

Whatever product or service you’re using to initiate a viral marketing campaign, you must make sure that you have correctly implemented your back end operation. It’s no good giving something away for free or at reduced cost – creating a great viral marketing explosion, if it doesn’t lead you to significantly increase the sales of your keynote product or service. Many people have successfully initiated viral marketing exposure, but haven’t really benefited from it, as they didn’t have a clear overall strategy in place!

Michelle Dale is Chief Executive of Virtual Miss Friday, an adept and highly-proficient Virtual Assistant Service which works closely with enterprising people who really want to succeed in their chosen field. If you’d like to learn more about online business building success strategies that are tailored to your needs, contact VMF today!