It is not surprising that we hear about viral marketing every day even if we don't know what it is exactly or how the content of certain people or companies goes viral. That is why we often ask ourselves, how did it go viral? Was there some kind of strategy behind it or is it just luck and chance?
When talking about traditional marketing vs digital marketing, it is important to emphasize that virality is only possible at a digital level. And the truth is that viral content is usually created with that intention, however, no one can control virality, although it is partly due to factors such as creativity, preparation and luck.
Next, we will see what viral marketing is exactly, how it works, what its advantages are, examples, strategies and how you can adapt it to your business.
What is viral marketing?
Viral marketing refers to the type of content that spreads quickly and organically like a virus, as people share it with their friends and through their own social networks.
Although this content may start out as paid advertising, the basis of virality is that it is the users themselves who choose to share the content and this is how it grows organically.
Normally this type of marketing is native to social media due to its ease of sharing. Generally, the format that causes the most virality is videos because they can have an emotional, fun and surprising connotation.
Keep in mind that going viral can be very beneficial, but it also has its risks. For example, when a message goes viral, you lose control of it and its content can be parodied or misinterpreted.
Who can implement viral marketing?
Viral marketing can be implemented by anyone or any company, regardless of size. You don't need to have millions of followers or a long track record for your content to go viral. Remember that it's largely a matter of creativity and luck.
Viral marketing on social networks for companies is a tool that can be used on its own or be the complement to a campaign with different types of marketing . Remember that viral marketing is usually used with other marketing methods to enhance the entire campaign.
How does a viral marketing campaign work?
A viral marketing campaign starts like any other campaign and creating it is simple. Create a video or other form of content that captures attention and is attractive to your target audience, upload it to the internet and promote it.
Keep in mind that there is no magic formula to make your content go viral. From the moment you publish your content, anything can happen. What you should do is wait and see if the sharing pattern increases or not.
In most cases, virality happens by accident and the only thing you can control is whether or not you show branding on your content.
This is known as the dispersion strategy, so you can choose between making the user aware from the first moment that they are seeing advertising or branded content. Or you can do it in a hidden way, that is, uploading that content without the brand's participation and only revealing it when it goes viral.
Keep in mind that if you apply covert marketing techniques you must be careful that the user does not feel deceived later, because if that is the case, viral marketing can turn against you.
What is the difference between Buzz Marketing and word of mouth?
Word of mouth
When we talk about word of mouth, we are talking about organic reach through referrals from one person to another. What word of mouth marketing achieves is that a consumer's interest in a product or service is reflected in daily conversations.
You can recognize it better when we talk about an example that applies to your daily life.
For example, have you ever been out with friends and started talking about a product or service that they love without any ulterior motive? And then, once you've received that information, you pass it on to other friends and family. This is known as word of mouth and it's what most businesses aim for.
But it doesn't necessarily have to happen in a person-to-person environment. Now the Internet has made it much easier for word of mouth to happen on social media, with people increasingly able to leave reviews, testimonials, and talk about their experiences with a certain product or service.
Word of mouth marketing among friends
Buzz Marketing
Buzz marketing takes word of mouth to the next level and involves encouraging people to talk about your business, products or services. In other words, through buzz marketing you don't wait for people to suggest your business, but rather you encourage them to do so.
Buzz marketing works with any type of marketing, such as content marketing or social media marketing, and is a great way to highlight your business during short-term, high-impact moments.
Viral marketing
Viral marketing is like the combination of word of mouth and buzz marketing on digital platforms. The difference is that here only users have the power to make the content go viral or not in relation to the quality/creativity/emotionality of the content.
What are the advantages of viral marketing?
Low cost
The main characteristic of viral marketing is that users do all the work by massively sharing your content, so the costs of dispersion drop dramatically without diminishing the potential for great reach.
Minimally invasive
When users themselves share your content, it instantly becomes less invasive. This is because users on social networks are the ones who make the free decision to participate and share the content. Otherwise, if the brand's efforts were the same, it would not have the same reach or impact.
Great connection
Through this type of marketing you will create a great connection with your audience and this is a very powerful tool when it comes to brand awareness.
What are the strategies of viral marketing?
The principle of viral marketing is that people should talk about you and share your content, and for this to happen you need to give them something to be excited about talking about. When you start creating a viral marketing strategy it is very likely that some techniques will work better than others depending on your line of business.
Remember that a good viral marketing strategy does not need to have all of these elements, but the more elements it adopts, the more powerful the results will be.
Target market
In order to develop a successful viral marketing campaign , you need to know who your target market is and which digital media they use the most. Remember that nothing goes viral on its own; you need to know who you are talking to and how to send them the right messages.
In the same way, the channel is extremely important because if you publish your content on the wrong channel, you will not be able to reach your target audience and it is very likely that you will not be able to make your content go viral because people will not be interested enough.
Metrics
A great strategy is to analyze your metrics to see what type of content performs best and is most likely to go viral. You can pay special attention to the following:
Engagement rate
Trending Topics
Hashtag Traffic
Clicks and reach
Demographics
Social Media Metrics
Position
Keep in mind that not everything you do is for everyone, you must take a stand and know very well who you are speaking to. It is very unlikely that light content will go viral, you must inspire strong emotions and evoke action.
Remember that when you communicate with a clear posture, you will spark conversations, thoughts and feelings in other people and this is what they will want to share.
Be unexpected
Many times you can get stuck creating content that has been done for years in your industry or you have been doing it yourself. Realize that if that content has not gone viral it is because you need to do something different. Yes, it is very normal that you want to imitate the leaders of the industry but you are missing the opportunity to be different.
So think about your audience, your competition, and think of something out of the norm, something that has never been done before but can be eye-catching and provide a lot of value to your target audience. People will be grateful because you are giving them something new to experience and it is a great
Budget
Keep in mind that the main thing about viral content is creativity and how well you appeal to people's emotions. Forget the idea that you need the best content creators, the best photographers, or the best videographers to make your content go viral. You don't need to invest a ton of money to make your content go viral.
On the other hand, you should keep in mind that while quality is important, argentina mobile phone numbers database an extraordinary investment is not necessary. You can do it with what you have.
Make it shareable
The idea behind viral marketing is that your content spreads like wildfire all over the internet, and if your content can't be shared easily then it's very unlikely to go viral.
Remember that the more work you save your audience to share content, the better. If you put obstacles or many steps in order to share it, the better they won't do it. Ideally, you should give your audience several ways to share your content, such as the following:
Provides different paths by which content can be shared.
Use calls to action.
Don't restrict your content.
Get the most out of your content across all platforms.
Use hashtags that are useful
Don’t be afraid to tell people to share your content (you can do this through a call to action). For example, share it with someone you love, share it with someone who needs to hear this today, share it now.
It causes sensations