About SEM

Online Business Development > Viral Marketing

Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can often be word-of-mouth delivered and enhanced online; it can harness the network effect of the Internet and can be very useful in reaching a large number of people rapidly.

Elements of a Viral Marketing Strategy

1) Gives away products or services
2) Provides for effortless transfer to others
3) Scales easily from small to very large
4) Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5) Utilizes existing communication networks
6) Takes advantage of others' resources

Tips for Optimizing Viral Marketing Campaigns

Offer an incentive. Viral marketing works best when a valuable and tangible incentive is offered, encouraging individuals to forward an email message to their friends. However, marketers should cap the incentive to a specific quantity to avoid spam-like distribution of the message -- for example, offering an incentive of 20 percent off referrers' next purchase if they forward the message to five friends. Open-ended incentives, such as offering a $5 credit for every five friends referred, can end up causing a marketer customer service, financial, and privacy-related problems.

Don't consider the referral an opt-in. When a customer refers a friend, the referral should not be considered an opt-in. A name and email address volunteered by a person's friend does not constitute an opt-in by the individual, so the data should be deleted immediately after the referral email is sent. Verbiage should be included in the referral email asking if the individual would like to receive future mailings, allowing her to opt in if she wishes.

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