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Viral Marketing

What we once called “word of mouth” has given rise to something known as “viral marketing.” Viral marketing is more than simply hoping your most ardent supporters will mention your site as they go about their lives. Viral marketing is a marketing message that is attached to or part of the normal use of your site (or more generally, your product) by its readers.

This happens when you insert a marketing message in pages or outputs of your site that users can share with friends. For example, if you provide a button on your site that allows your readers to print out a nicely formatted version of an article, consider appending a message to the top of that page that says "This article was printed from YOUR SITE'S NAME. For a free trial account, go to http://www.j-learning.com/freetrial1/."

Here are some examples of viral marketing:

• Hotmail includes a small tag line at the bottom of its users’ e-mails. Each person sending mail is also automatically promoting the Hotmail service.

• Verizon offers an in-plan rate that lets you make free phone calls to other people using Verizon. This naturally encourages each plan member to solicit to their friends to join Verizon.

• Social networking services (LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr) are by their very nature viral — they work best if you bring your own social circle into them.

If there's a popular service on your site, consider ways you can include a marketing message with the service.

Do note that viral marketing is not the same as branding. For example, wearing a Polo shirt with the Polo logo isn't viral marketing, and neither is driving a certain car. Sending a marketing message is more than simply displaying your logo or your product.

An interesting almost-there case of viral marketing is seen with Apple products. If you buy an Apple computer or an iPod, the package comes with two Apple stickers. They show up in some interesting places, such as on a car's back window or on the underside of a skateboard, because customers find them cool and stylish. The stickers serve no valid purpose to the functioning of your computer, but neither are they an overt request for you to "tell two friends" about the product. They do their work virally — but they don't successfully communicate a complete marketing message.

Think about the power of viral marketing when you are developing new sections. Ones that can be used to help develop traffic to your site should take priority.

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