What is viral marketing?
Viral marketing is an extremely effective promotional tool. Its name comes from the rapid spread of advertising, which resembles the action of a virus. Content is passed from one recipient to another, reaching different communication channels. The goal of viral marketing is to increase brand awareness. The more people learn about your offer, the better. That is why the most common way to create a viral is to develop funny, unusual and surprising content that users will want to share with a wider audience.
The reach of viral marketing is much wider than in the case of traditional campaigns. It is also worth noting that a properly developed strategy provides impressive profits with relatively small outlays.
Want to learn more about the structure of this technique? Let's delve into its history. The term viral marketing first appeared in the late 1990s. At the time, it referred to a high-profile Hotmail advertising campaign that resulted in the opening of several million email boxes. What was its success? Under every message sent from a Hotmail account, information about the possibility of setting up a free email with a link to register appeared. The total cost of the campaign was estimated at just $500,000. For comparison, one of the company's competitors spent $20 million in the same period, achieving half the effect.
If you are up to date with the world of social media, you certainly know what viral is. For the record, I will only point out that it is content that has become extremely telemarketing and sms marketing popular in a short period of time and has reached a wide audience. Viral is therefore the best way to acquire new customers and expand brand awareness not only in the local market, but also among consumers in other industries.
Types of Viral Marketing
The division of viral marketing is primarily determined by the target group. Viral campaigns usually use social media. Why? This results from the specific characteristics of popular services - they are used by most Internet users, who are extremely engaged in the published content and willing to share it. Another advantage of social media is the ability to very precisely adapt the message to a specific group. But let's get to the specifics. What are the types of viral marketing?
Mobile viral marketing – a form of campaign focused on mobile devices, aimed at people using smartphones or tablets. Viral ads are then displayed in games or everyday applications, among others.
Viral marketing in social media – refers to campaigns carried out in social media. Thanks to popular services, you can reach many groups of recipients, dividing them by age, interests or shopping preferences. If your target group is the youngest, the best place will be TikTok. However, if you are targeting slightly older people, choose YouTube, Facebook or Instagram. If you want to reach specialists in a specific industry or business partners, choose LinkedIn. All you need to do is create an engaging campaign and attractive content that will automatically encourage users to share it with their friends.
What does effective viral marketing look like?
When creating a viral marketing campaign, you must be original above all. Replicating certain patterns or imitating other brands will certainly not bring the expected results. The key here is to consolidate the brand image in the minds of customers, so that they decide to use your offer at the next opportunity. So what should effective viral advertising look like?
Above all, take care of brilliance and memorable form. Your ad must arouse emotions. The most frequently chosen tools are humor or ambiguous messages, because amused users are most likely to pass on the offer to others. You have certainly noticed this when browsing social media. It is not uncommon for an entire Facebook wall to be filled with a single post. This is viral.
When creating a viral campaign on social media, remember to choose the right form. Videos are the most popular, followed by photos and graphic materials. However, this does not mean that plain text is no longer important, as confirmed by the examples provided later in the article.
Viral marketing was popularized by TikTok. This is where content spreads the fastest, not only within the platform, but also outside of it. However, viral ads cannot be identified solely with humor. Moving, controversial, and, above all, current event-related content can also become viral. If the campaign is well thought out and tailored to the target group, regardless of the nature of your offers, they have a chance to spread like a virus.
