Viral marketing is not something that is easily guessable. It just happens.
Social media is abuzz with this new word. Marketers want to know on how they can market their products in a way that catches people's attention and they begin to share your stuffs. Well, to begin with, even if most people associate viral marketing with video marketing or YouTube marketing, it's not exactly the same.
Viral marketing, unlike video marketing, can be both online and off-line. The biggest example of off-line viral marketing I have come across is the Dark Knight marketing campaign. More can be read in the Wikipedia Page. Fans were excited and so were marketers. However, if you are excited to be a part of the viral marketing bandwagon, then you need to understand the end user habits and these four words -
Anything.Can.Go.Viral.
The best way to establish a viral marketing campaign for your business is through the world's second largest search engine - YouTube. Here's a brief explanation of what YouTube has on offer for you -
Now, before you can feel excited about creating your YouTube profile, here is a brief sketch of the things that you need to focus on BEFORE you can launch a viral marketing campaign -
One of the very first things that you need to focus on is to be sure about the kind of scope that viral marketing has for business. It falls under the high risk areas. Most of the viral marketing campaigns fall face first and yet those which succeed go a big way to reap huge rewards!
Get the notion out of your head that those viewing your advertisement will be interested in your product and will be in your service zone. They are not. The moment you are able to get this notion out of your head, you have a high chance of getting an awesome video that people are excited to share with their friends and family.
Sincerity played a big role in SmartWater's viral video. Advertiser was successful in creating a gimmick. It rode on every other viral videos. Pretty smart move there!
Create a strong symbol that people can associate with the video. This has worked a lot for Jeffrey Harmon, head of marketing for Orabrush. They wanted to market their tongue cleaner and ended up creating a giant Tongue for their video!
However, it will be wiser to refrain from viral video marketing for one simple reason - it can be a double edged sword. On one hand it can bring in tremendous exposure. However, on the other hand, first timers may not stick to your brand and existing customers may be offended. A nice way would be to head Coca Cola's way in this regard. This is a viral video. Yet, it is fully under "control".
If you are thinking about getting the best out of your marketing campaign, then you need to take your creative team onboard and have them see hours of YouTube video to grab an idea on the things that they will go viral.
Cheers!
