This presentation explains what is viral marketing, methods for it, its advantages and disadvantages and the motivators which forces people to share it with others. This presentation also contains two very recent viral campaign examples.

1. VIRAL MARKETING
By Subham Acharya
DMS, Pondicherry University

2. What is viral marketing
 A method of marketing whereby consumers are encouraged to share information about a company's goods or
services via the Internet.
 Viral marketing (or viral advertising) is a marketing technique that uses pre-existing social networking
services and other technologies to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing
objectives (such as product sales or marketing buzz) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the
spread of viruses or computer viruses. It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network
effects of the Internet and mobile networks.
 Viral ads are online promotional campaigns that spread like a virus, “one minute nobody’s heard of it, next
minute it’s everywhere”.

3. Techniques used in viral marketing
 Giveaways:
These offer something exciting or fun. People love to talk about what they got for free and will tell others how to
get it for themselves.
 Videos:
A video can offer a viewer a chance to engage in the product and experience it. It can be very fun and entertaining.
The more memorable, funny, or shocking your video is, the more likely it is to go viral.
 Social media:
It's pretty much impossible to engage in broad-scale viral marketing without using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or
any other sources. These media allow people to easily share your message and greatly increase the likelihood that
it will go viral.
 Reinforcement:
A one-time viral message can be quickly forgotten. However, having a series of viral messages will strengthen the
effectiveness of your campaign. The familiarity of the campaign keeps the
Message in consumer’s mind.

4. Why viral marketing
 Because consumers growing tired with advertising.
– It's the same reason why product placements in movies, TV and
videogames are so hot right now.
– It's a way to put your brand in a context that consumers feel good
about. (Instead of an ad they want to zap.)
 Standing out in a cluttered world
– Uniqueness catches the eye
– Position your product in an original, creative way
 The possibility of outrageous reach
– If your campaign is a viral hit, you'll reach far more people than you
ever dreamed possible.
– Campaign can "go viral" ... exploding to hundreds of thousand of viewers.

5. Viral Marketing > Human Motivators
Successful viral ad promos appeal to any one (or all three) of these
basic human motivators:
 Entertainment
– Fun, humour, games, quizzes, videos, songs... anything to pass the
time not working.
 Greed
– Sweeps entries and other free offers.
– "Limited free stock" vs rest of catalogue for sale.
 Charity (and/or fear)
– You can help save the world. Ask all your friends to sign this online
petition/buy this item/visit this Web page daily... Etc.

6. Main reasons for viral marketing
 Socializing and networking has now made very closer to the people. So relatives and friends are
simply accessible over the net.
 Viral marketing is one of the cost-free methods for promoting a business transaction.
 The time and resources are easily available. In this type of marketing, one person contacting their
friends or relatives. They contacted more and more people and the chain goes on. It generates
revenue from advertisement.

7. Advantages of viral marketing
 High credibility
 Low costs
 Great reach
 High efficiency
 The opportunity to continuous promotion adjustment
Disadvantages of viral marketing
 Association with unknown groups – The strength of viral marketing depends on the transfer
of messages from person to person. During this process, it may reach someone you would
rather not be associated with.
 Spam threats – If made badly, viral marketing can guide to significant spam issues.
 Keep away from making merely financial-based offer
 Brand dilution

8. Examples of viral marketing
2013
DOVE REAL BEAUTY SKETCHES
 Dove challenged our perceptions of beauty. With Dove Real Beauty Sketches, the brand invited a
group of women to sit down with a sketch artist and describe themselves to him. The brand then
asked strangers to describe the same women. The artist then showed the pictures side by side
showing the negative perception many women have about their own looks.
 The brand wasn’t pushing a specific product. It was making a statement and a powerful one at that.
What I most love about this campaign is that it shows if you make a fantastic piece of content,
people will do the viral marketing for you.

9. VOLVO – TRUCKS
 This is a great example of B2B viral marketing that was very creative about trucks. Despite being
targeted at an audience, truck drivers, who did not care about the level of entertainment the campaign
was very successful because they were not limited to that audience. It was the launch of a new line of
trucks and it did with a series of videos of live test, showing different technical aspects of the new
Volvo trucks. One of them got 72,138,398 views and has become one of the most successful car
release videos ever made.
 But all this would not have been possible without a powerful public relations team that produced
tailored press information and made sure that it was distributed online to the media. This made it
easier for the media and bloggers to share the story. In this way, Volvo Trucks was improving his
reputation thanks to these peculiar and creative videos that told stories about the innovations of the
product.