Viral marketing; What makes your content viral?

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• March 22, 2023
• digital marketing
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How the virus is transmitted from one person’s body to another’s body occurs quickly and causes the second person to get sick. In the case of public health, this is not something that anyone is interested in, but it is different in the marketing issue. A fast transfer is what people do in Viral marketing. They are looking for it. This type of marketing to which Viral Marketing (Viral Marketing) is also said that one of the most famous strategies for growing a brand or introducing a product or service to society is considered. In this article, we present viral marketing, its history, types, techniques, advantages, and disadvantages, and in the end, we have stated several famous examples of it. If you want more information about this popular strategy, miss reading this article.

What is viral marketing ?

Viral marketing It is also known that it occurs when a business’s marketing strategy is to encourage its audiences to market its products or services. Because in this way, the content is transferred from one person to another, similar to the spread of the virus in the surrounding environment. It is called a virus or a viral.

The basis of viral marketing is the dissemination of information orally, but due to the spread of technology, the Internet is used today to distribute viral content digitally. In the past, viral marketing was a difficult task, but today the use of social media has made it easier than ever. For example, you can create a funny video related to your business and promote your brand by broadcasting on social media and streaming it.

In many cases, viral marketing is a secret move because marketing campaigns are run so that many audiences need to realize that the product or service has been sold to them. Most audiences like to see a video or read a message related to an ad and send it to others, thus making it viral.

History of viral marketing

It needs to be clarified precisely where the term viral marketing first came from. In 1996, Jeffrey Report, a faculty member at Harvard Business School, used the term in an article he wrote for TAG1>Fast Company «.

That same year, a small startup company called «Hotline» advertised its new email service called «Hotmail»، It didn’t have enough budget, so it was looking for a low-cost way to promote its new service. So he added «Hotmail to his free email at www.hotmail.com» in all his emails. In this way, many people became acquainted with this service, and within a year, the number of users of the service «Hotmail» increased from 20,000 to more than 1 million.

Types of viral marketing

Emotional Viral Marketing

The emotional virus contains dynamic content that causes reactions such as laughter, anger, or crying in the audience. An essential feature of this type of viral marketing is that people can’t ignore your content because of the feeling they get from it، Share the content with others.

While positive emotions such as jokes and fun can stimulate the audience to share content, negative emotions such as guilt, anger, and sadness can also have such an effect.

One example is Emotional viral marketing، The #Like a Girl ( advertising campaign was like girls ) also won an Emmy Award. The campaign was created to repeat the famous insulting phrase « like girls » to attract public attention and make them angry about this social heat. Through this, they need to help themselves with this change.

Incentive Viral Marketing

One of the most popular types of viral marketing is the method of incentive or motivation. In this way, companies increase their customers and then grow their sales in exchange for introducing the company or its products، They consider a reward such as a discount or free shipping, and with the help of this reward, encourage customers to promote their brand. Many campaigns have used « to send and introduce to a friend » to promote their products or services.

Engineered Viral Marketing

Using the engineered viral marketing method, the content produced is not accidentally viral, but everything is planned, and the result will be months of effort. This method produces a range according to a precise strategy to provoke the audience’s reaction. Most successful marketing campaigns that have had a tremendous impact on the general public have used an engineered approach to streamlining their production content.

Viral Marketing Chance and Lucky

Most viral marketing campaigns require careful planning, but sometimes luck and luck help. The ad you designed may not work well at the time you want, but after a while, there are circumstances in which the ad is intended،. Get a lot of audience feedback and suddenly have a tremendous impact on your brand marketing.

Chain Viral Marketing

One of the most common types of viral marketing is its chain type. In this way, the user transmits the message to others, and those people share the news with other acquaintances. This creates a chain in which each user shares news and sends it to others. One of the communities that make the most of this method is religious communities.

Viral Marketing

When using the virus marketing method, noise, laxatives, and noise are created to attract the attention of most people in the community. Due to its widespread distribution in the community, some people may not have seen or read the ad but may be aware of its content.

For example, you may have seen some movies before the release، They deliberately spread rumors about the film itself or the actors to make a fuss and get public attention.

Importance and application of viral marketing

In viral marketing, creating content that interests people in sharing it with their friends is essential. You generate content and share it as much as possible, then wait for the content to be considered, and users start wirelessing it. Therefore, viral marketing is to create a desire to buy a product or service among people with the help of a message spread among different people.

Because viral marketing is different from traditional advertising, it can do well to attract the attention of people who don’t trust advertising messages. Because in such cases, the user only thinks he has shared content and is not promoting a brand.

Viral Marketing Strategies

In viral marketing, we are looking to produce content that people share. To do this, there are several strategies that you will learn about, including the most important and practical ones.

• Social networks

Of the strongest Viral Marketing Strategies، Is the use of social networks. Today, users use many social networks, such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, which is why these media are good viral marketing platforms. When content, whether photo or video, is shared on these social networks, it is likely to be viral if it is attractive to audiences.

• Video

Using video to create content is one of the most effective viral marketing strategies. Unlike text or photos, the video can promptly introduce the desired product or service and familiarize the audience with it. Typically, videos are more popular and more appealing to the audience than photos and text. It is better to make the footage uniquely fun to engage the audience’s feelings and make them interested in sharing the video with their friends and acquaintances.

https://youtu.be/litXW91UauE

• Prize and competition

Presenting a special prize or holding a contest called Your Brand Name can be one of the best strategies for Viral Marketing. People interested in participating in the competition, in winning the competition award، Share the content you produce and thus make your brand or new product will. If the contest lasts a long time, the content will be shared.

• Serial content

Serial content will engage the user more with your campaign. So instead of using one-time content, it’s best to use a series of content produced and distributed serially to see more impact.

• Making content mixed with humor

Humorous content usually gets more attention from the audience. That’s why paying attention to this strategy can be very effective. For example, a funny and creative promotional video can get much sharing and put your brand awareness at a level where other ads won’t be able to

Viral marketing techniques

Because the way the customer is absorbed in a virus has different forms and the viruses are classified differently، Viral marketing includes a variety of techniques that you will learn about below.

• Value (Value)

Some viruses fall into the category of value. Using this technique, the company introduces high-quality and high-value products, making the audience interested in using them. The most important feature of this method is the quality of the product; if the produced product is good quality, the audience’s motivation to promote it will be recovered. This technique is very similar to oral marketing.

• Spiral (Spiral)

This technique is based on customer feedback based on your product or service experience. In this way, the customer must have a complete understanding of using your product or service to publish his information and advertise in this way. To use this technique, it is better to adopt specific policies to increase its effectiveness.

• Cunning (Incentive)

Using this technique, the person receives a reward or expense from the business in exchange for introducing the product to the people. If the quality of the product is not acceptable, this technique will not be justified and fair. Because this method requires funding, it can also be considered a risk. For example, when an influencer promotes a product or service to introduce the product and make its followers interested in using it ، The trick of viral marketing is used.

• Unpleasant (Vile)

This technique is one of the deterrent techniques, in which a person prevents others from making the wrong choices by introducing a product. In this way, the person acts as a warning, thereby increasing the value of the shared outcome. It also destroys worthless products.

Content transfer methods in viral marketing

If you can succeed in Viral Marketing, learn ways to transfer content in this strategy. So you need to know how viruses multiply better and how they become more widespread. In the following, you will learn about the methods of transferring content in viral marketing.

• Web word method (WOW)

In the word-to-web method, which is also shown with the term WOW, from websites that send your information to the recipients’ emails، You use it to promote your brand.

• Word method to email

In the word method, you send emails, jokes, and images to different people via email, and in this way, you advertise. This method is considered old, and today people do not use it to transfer ads.

• Mouth-to-mouth method

The most effective way to transfer content in viral marketing is to realize. In this way, you advertise your desired product through news and rumors, and by sharing this news orally, you can promote your product.

• Return method

Some brands consider benefits and rewards for returning customers and buying again, showing their brand to the public.

• Advertising evaluation method

In the advertising evaluation method, the ads made on Google and social networks are examined, and thus the community’s needs are identified. The information obtained best in viral marketing can then be used.

What makes your content viral?

• Focus on Trend Topics (Trend)

To streamline content, it’s essential to focus on choosing the topic. One of the things that helps a lot in publishing content is the use of controversial issues and the day’s trend. For example, if you are at the time of a significant cultural event، Content production In this regard, it can help to virtualize your content.

Knowing you can use the Google Trends site to check for topics is good. Just type your case on this site. If the chart is displayed, it ascends, meaning your subject is more trendy, and interest increases.

• Recognize the audience

To streamline the content produced, it is essential to know the audience. You need to know the audience you want to influence so that you can make the best possible content. For example, suppose your audience is very interested in using Instagram, and most are active on this social network. In that case, it is necessary, according to the type of content on this social network، Produce your content.

• Write a viral title

When your content is shared on any social network, including Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., the first thing the audience encounters is the title. No matter how valuable and practical your production content is, it will only attract the audience if it has a good title. So paying attention to writing a viral and attractive title is essential to keep the content warm.

For example, one of the things that can help with this is the use of brackets in the article’s title. According to HubSpot, if the frame is used in the article’s title, it will be possible to click on it. For example, when using [2023] at the end of the title, it indicates that the article is up to date, which is why the audience will be more interested in reading it.

• Use hooks

Talk about something other than your business at the beginning of your content, whether as an article or a video. Most users only read the beginning of the article or only watch the video for the first few seconds, so it is necessary to use hooks at the beginning of the content produced. For example, at the beginning of the content, you can use an exaggerated sentence to encourage the audience to read or see the content continue.

• Use a unique design

If you want to create a video to generate your content, it is best to use attractive covers to get the audience’s attention at the beginning of the video. A unique design can significantly impact the virtualization of content. Also, using a photo with an exciting design next to the text will make the content more visible.

• Use of influencers

It is important to use popular influencers for viral content; sometimes, content virality only occurs with influencers.
TikTok has rapidly become one of the most popular social media platforms, with millions of users worldwide. One of the reasons for its popularity is the virality of content on the platform. TikTok’s algorithm is designed to promote content that resonates with its users, and as a result, videos can go viral almost instantly.

Advantages and disadvantages of viral marketing

Benefits of viral marketing

• Reduce costs

Viral marketing is affordable and partially reduces your marketing costs. This way, potential customers will spread your marketing message, so you won’t have to pay much to promote and virtualize your content.

• Not advertising

At Viral Marketing, the user on social media decides to share content and see your brand، Therefore, this method will significantly reduce the likelihood that your brand name will be advertised.

• Business growth

With viral marketing, you can get traffic in a short time. This way, you can expand your business faster than what happens in traditional marketing.

• Increase brand reputation

Because in this type of marketing, users are interested in sharing content produced with those around them, many users make personal connections with your brand. In this way, the brand’s reputation will increase among the audience.

• Attract the younger generation

It isn’t easy to attract the younger generation using traditional marketing methods. For this reason, you can use Viral Marketing to attract young people who spend much time on the Internet to their business services.

Disadvantages of viral marketing

• Restrictions on control

When content becomes viral, it is out of your control, and if this virtualization results in a negative result instead of a positive one، You can’t do much to prevent further damage. In this case, viral marketing can be dangerous for the brand.

• Restrictions on audience definition

Extensive access to a large range of audiences makes the audience range indistinguishable, so a large portion of them may not like your content. As a result, you may damage your brand.

• The virus campaign is not repetitive

Some advertising campaigns can be repeated over a long period, but the viral campaign cannot be repeated. Of course, a reconstructed version may be used, but duplication is problematic and rejected by the audience.

Successful examples of Viral Marketing

The best way to learn viral marketing is to look at successful examples, so let’s look at some of the most successful examples of Viral Marketing.

• Ice Bucket Challenge (The Ice Bucket Challenge )

In 2014, a challenge on social media was called the Ice Bucket Challenge, during which volunteers had to put their feet in ice water and a bucket of ice water on it. They emptied their heads. This challenge aimed to increase awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as leukemia (ALS ). The feeling of coldness during this challenge and numbness of the limbs was very similar to those of people with the disease. This challenge was met by many celebrities and became one of the most viral challenges on the Internet.

• TTT (TNT)

In 2012, the TV network TT designed a large thermosetting button to introduce itself, placed it on one of the secluded streets of Belgium, and wrote next to it: « If you want to see an exciting scene, press the button.» By pressing the button, an interesting scene was shown. The video was so compelling that it got over 23 million views in less than a week.

• KFC Chicken Crisis

During a crisis there was a famous chicken crisis in London that closed 900 KFC branches. The company openly acknowledged the shortage and apologized to its customers. The ad was well received by restaurant fans, which led to a negative outlook on the brand.

• Alexa by Amazon

Alexa’s audio assistant released Amazon Wawisi, which was an influential piece and was able to bring in 47 million views. This was one of the most successful examples of viral marketing, and few people have ever encountered it.

• Now I’m the moon

In Iran, too, this marketing method has been used extensively. Using a simple animosities ad and just one simple sentence, «I’m the moon now,» Bebek could stay in the audience’s mind for many years.

You can learn more about viral marketing by reading the following book description:

Contagious

Conclusion

Viral marketing can help your business grow a lot. In this type of marketing, everything depends on the audience; despite that, this strategy can succeed. Viral Marketing has moved away from traditional marketing methods and will help attract young people who spend much time surfing the Internet.

This type of marketing consists of different types and has various techniques that can be used to make your brand more famous according to the type of business. In addition to its promising benefits, Viral Marting also has its disadvantages that it can digitally Threaten you. As a result, before starting this strategy, you need to look at everything well and take advantage of this type of marketing, given your brand’s potential.