There’s a good chance that marketing people – and perhaps more than a few “civilians” – have heard of the term. There’s even the likelihood that they have some vague inkling of what it actually means, of what defines it. Still, more and more people are starting to understand the concept of “viral” media. Most of the world also has a good grasp of marketing and the role it fulfills within a business plan. It is the combination of the two, it seems, that requires a bit more of an explanation.
The concept of viral marketing relies on the use of viral media over the Internet, with videos being the most popular. The term stems from its similarity to the behavior of viruses in real life. They start off somewhere and spread, “infecting” millions within a relatively quick span of time. Marketing firms can only dream of a traditional campaign reaching that many people in such a quick span of time. Viral marketing, more often than not, relies on the use of videos, with an aim to spread the video to as many people as possible and expose those viewers to the products.
However, there is one minor catch to all this: just because something is viral does not mean it can market. A video might get millions of hits within a short span of time, but if nothing about its content pushes the message of the campaign, then it isn’t doing any marketing. However, what exactly defines “marketing effort” in viral marketing is hard to determine. Sometimes, as with the now-famous poster of Barrack Obama, all it takes is a single visual component. In other instances, it could require a near-overwhelming presence of the product within the video.
Usually, the lifecycle of a viral marketing campaign follows a set pattern. The media is placed on the Internet somewhere accessible and, more importantly, is there for free. The next step is to make sure it isn’t just something worth spreading, but that it is easy to spread. From there, it becomes a matter of hoping people catch on and spread the word. How the business makes use of it if it does become viral is entirely up to the people in charge, though in some cases, it is possible to get people to pay money for a product that is available for free.
Viral marketing can seem easy and effective. The crucial part of it is to make sure that the viral media used actually does a good job marketing the product or service. If it doesn’t, then it proves useless.