Successful Viral Marketing Campaigns

A true viral campaign gets forwarded because consumers are compelled to do so by the quality and appeal of the content, not because you enticed them with points or something else.

Stop trying to force or bribe people to forward your info to friends or family, especially when you tell visitors nothing about their friend's or family�s privacy in the space directly next to the e-mail form. Suggesting that e-mail recipients forward your message to their friends and family will not work. Adding a line at the bottom of your e-mail that reads �Please feel free to forward this message to a friend� is more likely to get it deleted than forwarded.

Offering something worthy of sharing like a valuable discount, vital information or offering an incentive for sharing like additional entries into a sweepstakes or an added discount or premium service will work. Relevant or timely information, research, or studies that are included in your e-mail might encourage the recipients to share with their family and friends. Interactive content like a quiz or test, especially if it�s fun, will inspire forwarding.

Jokes and cartoons are almost always forwarded to everybody the recipient knows, because they are entertaining and entertainment is meant to be shared. A really cool multimedia experience is always going to achieve a lot of pass-along. Rich media is new and the novelty and tech factors alone are often enough to make the e-mail recipient eager to share it.

In the beginning, e-mail was the one way that viral marketing was started. Since then viral marketing has gone from a marketing strategy to an art form and there are many ways to accomplish the objective of creating a successful viral marketing campaign.

E-mail was first but it is still around and still used. It is, however, getting a little harder to use as more and more government restrictions are placed on it. Still� it does work. Newsletters are an extension of e-mail but it a very effective tool. If you include enough timely and valuable information, a good newsletter can drive up the number of visits to your website.

Blogging can provide the tools on your website that enable bloggers to interact with one another, which is a terrific way to get the message about your product of service out there and being talked about. Bloggers have their ears to the ground for new products and services. A chat room on your website can and does encourage interaction among your customers and that can be a good thing. Also, you can use the chat room to schedule special events like having an expert available to answer questions on a given day at a given time.

Utilize tell-a-friend script; but it is greatly emphasized to include a privacy policy statement saying that e-mail addresses supplied will never be shared with third parties, perhaps then you can increase the potential of adding prospective customers to your list. Adding cool video clips on your website will keep the interest up and increase traffic. Although flash games are a little costly, they are an extremely effective tool to get your viral marketing campaign going. Once they are launched, they require nothing more from you.

Oops!  Almost forgot one really important thing. You can craft a brilliant e-mail following all the rules, but if a consumer visits your site and has an experience less than what was promised, you are going to achieve the bad kind viral marketing for your product or service.  So be certain that your product or service is ready to pass the appeal test and is offered as advertised.
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