Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message.
Wikipedia defines viral marketing as marketing techniques that use preexisting social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses.
Viral marketing can be delivered by word of mouth or some media like internet can act as catalyst to enhance the effect.
This kind of advertising or marketing and encourages people to pass along the message voluntarily. We often receive many funny emails which are passsed from one person to many and many in turn pass that to even more people. That is one example of viral marketing.
Besides emails the material that can be used to get viral effect is
- Video clips
- Interactive
- Flash games
- Ebooks
- Brandable software
- Images
- Text messages
- Screen Savers
Viral marketing has a strong scientific basis. The research shows if a customer is satisfied, he would tell at least three people about the product.
Similarly if somebody does not like a thing he would tell an average of eleven people. Viral marketing is based upon simple human behavior.
Viral marketing had always existed but internet has magnified the effect.
A viral message that is liked by people and easy to pass along is a prerequisite of a viral marketing. One needs to create viral messages that appeal to a segment of the population and have a high probability of being passed along.
The term was coined by Jeffrey F. Rayport,a Harvard Business School professor. The term was popularized by phenomenal success of Hotmail who used viral marketing to get popular.
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