What is viral marketing? How does one achieve success?

1. Ruth Alvarez

2. The word viral means, “an image, video,
advertisement, etc., that is circulated
rapidly on the Internet.”
 Marketing by definition is, “the action or
business of promoting and selling
products or services, including market
research and advertising.”


3. 1. a direct marketing technique in which
a company persuades internet users to
forward its publicity material in e-mails
(usually by including jokes, games, video
clips, etc)
 2. a marketing strategy in which
conventional media are eschewed in
favour of various techniques designed to
generate word-of-mouth publicity, in the
hope of creating a fad or craze


4. Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith, creators of
Hotmail.com, needed a cheap and
efficient way to market their email service
website. Attached at the end of every
email sent from a Hotmail account would
be the words, “Want a Free Email
Account? Sign up with Hotmail Today!”
Every person that received the email could
easily click on the hyperlink and open their
very own account.

5. After its first month of enticing customers
with the promise of a completely free
email service, they had 20,000 new
registered users.
Hotmail is the very first company to have
viral success and therefore are widely
considered the creators of viral Marketing.

6. How can you make a successful viral
video?
There is no right or wrong way to make a
video. Sometimes it‟s just luck and timing
and other times it‟s a carefully thought out
process. Most videos that go viral consist of
six or seven elements that help in making
them viral.

7. 1. Emotion
A successful video needs to trigger some
sort of emotion in the viewer. You must
decide what kind of emotional reaction
you would like from your viewer. Is your
video supposed to trigger happiness,
laughter, sadness, anger or thoughtprovoking?


8. 2. Do the Unexpected
Even though your main reason should be
to promote your item, company or self, it
should be subtly introduced in the ad.
For example, the “Will it Blend?” ads were
promoting a blender, but instead of talking
about the blender they‟d capture your
attention by blending something
unexpected, like an iPad.


9. 3. Create a Story
Nobody wants to watch a commercial of
self promotion. People want to watch two
minutes stories.
Allow your item or company to be part of
a larger story, not the center of it.


10. 4. Don‟t believe the Sequel Curse
Making a movie sequel usually ends in
failure, but that is not the case in viral
marketing. Take advantage of the
attention your first video receives. Don‟t let
the curse discourage you. A great video
will always leave the viewers with a desire
for more.


11. 5. Click here to share
Most websites like YouTube, Facebook and
Twitter have some sort of SHARE button.
Promote your viewers to share the video on
their personal websites, blogs, Facebook
and YouTube accounts. Remember, they
have friends and family that haven‟t seen
your video just yet.


12. 6. Be Interactive
Allow yourself to be accessible. The more
people feel like they can relate to you, the
more they‟ll keep watching. People love
feeling heard. Make a contest, answer
some questions and if possible, mention
the word FREE. Who can resist free things?


13. 
1. Unilever
“Dove Real Beauty Sketches”

14. 
2. Old Man Spice
“The man your man could smell like”

15. 
3. Poo-Pourri

16. 
4. Anything Geico
“15 minutes could save you 15% on car
insurance.”

17. 
5. Volkwagon
“Darth Vader”

18. 1. Offensive
Yes, you want to trigger an emotion from the
viewer but you never want to offend a viewer.
2. Length
Lets be honest, short and sweet works every
time.
3. What was your point?
You want to be subtle in what your promoting,
but you don‟t want to leave your viewers
confused.

19. YouTube
Probably the biggest video-based
platform. Companies are now creating
their own channel and launching
marketing campaigns specifically for the
web.


20. Facebook
You get to „like‟ your favorite brands and
companies. Keeps you updated on new
products and services. Allows for
interaction between consumer and
supplier. The share button is the greatest
weapon for viral marketing.
 Twitter
Great way for self promotion. Ex.
#wearewinter


21. Although, viral marketing has become the
quickest, cheapest and most efficient way
for huge companies to reach a mass
audience in a short amount of time, there
is no doubt that anyone can do it.
YouTube is a great example of how a
simple video can garner a great amount
of views. Don‟t be shy. Give it a try!