By LIz Kudwa
A: The term viral marketing has been around for a little while so I checked a variety of sources to get a good definition. I found everything from a simple definition: “A campaign that uses word-of-mouth or “tell a friend” mechanisms” (from www.multichannelmerchant.com) to more complex definitions such as: “The rapid adoption of a product or passing on of an offer to friends and family through word-of-mouth (or word-of-email) networks. Any advertising that propagates itself the way viruses do.” (from seopassionate.blogspot.com/2008/05/seo-glossary.html)
Essentially, viral marketing is a means for spreading the word, by word of mouth (either in person or via email), about your product/service, an idea or even a person (i.e. political candidates can be promoted via viral marketing). Seth Godin, a well-known business author, also has written extensively about viral marketing. He says “viral marketing is an idea that spreads – and an idea that while it is spreading, actually helps market your business or cause”.
This is the key component of what viral marketing does…it can promote your business or cause while it’s being spread. And this is what can be advantageous to the small business owner because this type of promotion generally doesn’t cost a dime. Godin also comments on this, saying the critical element of viral marketing is that “…it’s built in”. For example, the more people use Hotmail, the more people see it. The more people see Hotmail, the more they use it. The product or service is something that will improve once more people use it. But just because something is viral, doesn’t mean its viral marketing. Lots of people upload videos to YouTube every day and many of those spread like wildfire. But unless one of those videos is helping to promote a business or cause, it is not viral marketing.
Godin goes on to say that viral marketing works best when you build it in to your product/service; when you organize your offering to be spreadable, interesting and to work better for everyone involved when it spreads. If you don’t benefit from spreading it, then you have no reason to spread it. The viral element actually has to produce something of value.
Godin’s book, Unleashing the Idea Virus, is full of examples and how-to’s for viral marketing. You can download his book for free by visiting http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/files/2000Ideavirus.pdf. And actually, his book was, in a way, an experiment in viral marketing. He posted this pdf file and let readers download it for free and he made the file small enough to email to friends. This resulted in three thousand downloads on the first day it was posted and it was emailed around to hundreds of people so it quickly spread.
The Capital Area District Library also has two books in its collection that may provide additional insight into the world of viral marketing.
The New Rules Of Marketing And PR: How To Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing, & Online Media To Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott
Grapevine: The New Art Of Word-Of-Mouth Marketing by Dave Balter and John Butman
Elizabeth Kudwa is the Business Reference Librarian at the Capital Area District Library located at 401 S. Capitol Avenue in Lansing, MI. Contact her at 517-367-6301 or by e-mail at kudwae@cadl.org.
