5 Tips for strating a Viral Marketing Campaign

Till now, I think you have read certain examples about viral marketing and obtain a clearly picture of it. However, you should know that the marketplace is changing day by day. Those marco and micro environmental changes will influence the effectiveness of the viral marketing campaign.

Therefore, let me share 5 tips with you for planning a viral marketing campaign.

1. Ensure your web site or e-newsletter are easy forwarding
If your message isn't easily forwarded, or it loses its structure in-route, your message will get lost in the tangle then your viral campaign just fizzled.


2. Offer an incentive, entertainment or service they can use
The consumers will only pay attention to the message that is perceived as beneficial to them.

3.Honesty and authenticity

Be sure your message is realistic and truthful. People will only forward the mail they believe is worthwhile.

4.Personalize the referral emails

When your message is forwarded, ensure the subject line is personalized. It is more appropriate if the subject line contain the name of the customer.

5.Continually promote friendly referrals
Every time you send something out, study your incentive success and repeat it with a slight twist to mix it up.

Viral marketing is perceived as an art instead of a science. The beauty is in the minimal costs can reap huge rewards if handled properly.

Forms of Viral Marketing

There are many forms of Viral Marketing, mainly by e-mail forwarding or social network:

- E-mail forwarding is a common online activity. Passalong or forwarding has worked well for video clips, either they are attached to the e-mail or the e-mail contains a link to download the clip.

- Web-facilitated viral(e-mail prompt) is that the e-mail contains a link/graphic to a web page with "e-mail a friend".

- Incentivised viral offers some reward such as prize draw for providing someone else's address to increase referrals.

- Web-linked viral with links in discussion group postings or blogs which are from an individual are also popularly used.

- Social network-related viral marketing uses social networks such as Facebook to enable consumers to interact with or promote a brand as to influence perceptions about brands or products.

Either way, it is important when seeding the campaign to try to get as many targeted online and offline mentions of the viral agent as you can.