What Is Viral Marketing?

Viral marketing is the idea of being so effective that people show other people your advertisements. It is a form of digital marketing commonly used on social media platforms. Viral marketing campaigns often encourage you to share them with others to reach a larger audience. Most people access the Internet and social media platforms via mobile devices. It is, therefore, more present than ever before. It is potentially more effective than any other kind of marketing due to the audience size.

The increase of using social media makes it more important for viral marketing because the current and potential customers spread them. This article elaborates on the importance of viral marketing and how to get viral.

Is Viral Marketing Effective?

It is highly effective, creating vast amounts of traffic and leads. It is a marketing strategy designed to spread like wildfire across the internet. The goal of campaigns is to convince as many people as possible to share content with other people. Case studies show that videos actively encourage this are more likely to become viral. The key to many successful viral videos is their simplicity. 

The Importance of Viral Marketing

It has increasing importance as a marketing strategy. Due to the fact there is the largest ever audience all connected and waiting to share content. It is a relatively new marketing technique that started due to the rise of technology. With more and more people accessing social media, its audience keeps growing. Getting interaction is crucial for social media and viral marketing provides interactions with customers. After sharing viral content, the customers take over it and promote them. You are not only boosting your company but also creating brand awareness with a low budget thanks to viral marketing.

When Is Content Considered Viral?

Your content becomes viral at ever-increasing milestones. Initially, it would be called viral after reaching 1,000,000 views. However, as more content hit a million, the mark for becoming viral increased first to two million and then five. It is expected the number of views to become viral will continue to increase. The important thing is that viral content should get millions of likes in a short time.

Examples of Viral Marketing

There are many examples of successful viral marketing campaigns, such as;

• The ALS ice bucket challenge.
• The Old Spice “the man your man could smell like” campaign.
• The Dove “Real Beauty Sketches” campaign

These campaigns were very positive and showed the strength of their marketing strategies. 

On the other hand, many viral marketing campaigns fail. Some failures include;

• Uber tried to show they weren’t just trying to make quick money when the New York Taxi Workers Alliance called a strike. However, they accidentally ended up supporting a travel ban #DeleteUber began trending.
• United Airlines accidentally went viral when they overbooked a flight. The airline asked people to volunteer to change flights so staff could fly. There weren’t enough volunteers, and United Airlines employees started forcibly removing some passengers. The whole incident was recorded and posted online.

Benefits of Viral Marketing

The benefits of marketing campaigns going viral are vast. As we mentioned the ALS ice bucket challenge, which raised over $100 million in 8 weeks. So the financial benefit after a viral marketing campaign is massive. The other benefit is that viral marketing is a low-budget type of marketing. Thus, it provides great financial benefits for a low budget.

Another positive use of viral marketing is spreading awareness of issues that many people face but are less well known to the general public. Brand awareness increases if the content becomes viral. The potential benefits for charity and other social endeavors are high, helping with fundraising and general awareness. Thus, if you need social media marketing tips, viral marketing can be a great suggestion for a brand.

Disadvantages of Viral Marketing

As with all marketing, there are downsides involved. The more obvious problems with viral marketing include going viral for the wrong reasons. For example, Adidas wanted to congratulate runners of the Boston Marathon with an Email. However, they used a disrespectful phrase only a couple of years after the Boston Marathon bombings. They congratulated their customers with this message “congratulations on surviving the Boston Marathon.” The Email quickly went viral, with Adidas making a public apology. Companies must be careful with marketing, as going viral for the wrong reasons is incredibly damaging to their image.

Tips to Create Viral Content

Social media is an ocean and getting millions of likes is not easy. Thus, if you want to create viral content, you must plan every detail of your campaign. There are a few things to help when striving for viral content.

• Your purpose is important for the campaign. You will create your campaign’s content for this purpose. Your campaign can be informative or you can target people’s emotions.
• You need to know your target audience. After deciding your purpose, you need to analyze your target audience. You will create content that meets the expectations of your audience. You need to know their ages, values, and why they should choose your company. Also, you need to plan for getting new customers.
• You should always try to be completely original. The viral content must be creative and unique. People spend a lot of time on social media and they expect to see new things for sharing. If you choose cliche content, it will not draw attention.
• Then you should craft the right message for your target audience. You need to be careful about your message. It shouldn’t be mistakable.
• Choose the best social media platform for your product, brand, or service. Social media platforms have different types of audiences. For example, While Pinterest is used mostly by women, TikTok is used by the young generation. You can choose the best platform according to analyzing the data.
• Planning the right time is crucial. Every social media platform has the best time for sharing posts. You should be aware of these times and share your content according to them.

Conclusion on Viral Marketing

We have discussed viral marketing throughout this article. As the use of social media increases viral marketing is gaining more and more value. If you need a cost-effective way for promoting your brand, you can get successful results with viral marketing.