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Viral Marketing Business Model
9 Success Criterias
When used properly, the viral marketing business model
is by far the best way
to promote your website, products and
services on the Internet.
- Viral
Marketing Success
- Viral
Marketing Business Model -
9 Success Criterias
- Make
an irresistible free offer
- Build
a viral product - don't just try to market a product virally
- Target
alpha users
- Be
creative and ahead of market trends
- Easy
transfer is prerequisite
- Use
Existing Social Networks
- Use
other's resources
- Allow
for Big Scale Traffic:
- Measure
and optimise parameters of Viral Marketing Success
- Viral
Marketing Resources
Viral
Marketing Success
Viral
marketing or viral advertising implies a virus-like fast
transfer of a marketing message.
See the in depth Definition of Viral Marketing
The Viral Marketing Business Model results in this successful snowballfactor
- An exponential increase in users of the free
viral products
- A free exponential increase in website
traffic, which in turn
- helps to improve the search engine rankings,
which in turn
- causes a free increase of web site traffic
and so on ....
Thus viral advertising opens a golden door to targeted
potential customers of other products, introduced subsequently.
To achieve success simply follow the Viral Marketing Business Model -
9 Success Criterias.
The
incentive: Once
you
make it, you make it big time.
Viral
Marketing Business Model -
9 Success Criterias
For the viral marketing business model to work successfully, as many
and ideally all of the following criterias should apply:
-
Make
an irresistible free offer
You need to provide Free Viral
Products
or services since "free" is the biggest customer magnet. "Free"
even attracts people who otherwise wouldn't be interested.
-
Build
a viral product - don't just try to market a product virally
Some discussions evolve around whether a product can be called viral if
it contains a few features that lend viral characteristics to it.
However just having a "Recommend to a friend" option on one of your web
pages doesn't make your website viral.
For the free viral product to be considered truly viral,
each user recommending the product should result in at least one new
user on average. Learn
the secrets of building viral
marketing products with inherently viral characteristics.
Untill you have created your own viral product
you can benefit
from this effective Free Viral Advertising!
-
Target
alpha users
The viral advertising message ought to
target individuals with a high Social Networking Potential, the so
called influencers, ideal for spreading it. This method is known as Influencer Marketing.
To establish the characteristics of these alpha users, one needs to
study and understand the market, trends and what moves certain people
enough to desire passing on a viral message.
Some general motivational factors are: The need to be loved (or fear of
rejection), the need to be successful (fear of failure). For example
consider which messages and free products would result in respect and
appreciation of the sender when received.
In other words: Important and effective online influentials,
influencers, take a serious approach and want to pass
on only useful viral messages, not silly videos, jokes or commercials
without purpose nor marketing results. They
want to be perceived responsible by the recipients; their network.
Studies
indicate that using a "Public Relations" approach is more suitable for
targeting and reaching the influencers. Public Relations cares about
the user end and the corresponding viral advertising approach is
to target the needs of the potential customer.
Suggestions as to what characterises influencers are diverse and
include:
-
A range of third parties who exert
influence over their organisation and potential customers.
-
A third party who significantly shapes the
customer's purchasing decision but may never be accountable for it.
-
A person who has a greater than average
reach or impact through word of mouth in a relevant market place.
-
With regards to the consumer market,
influencers are well connected, have impact, have active minds and are
trendsetters.
-
Be
creative and ahead of market trends
Learn to think like
the trendsetters or rather like an Internet entrepreneur. Think ahead
in order to provide what turns people on, in exactly the right moment
and right way.
These questions are worth answering:
- Do you have the capacity and
know-how to come up with an innovative product?
- Do you have expert
knowledge to share?
- Do you have ideas and a network of
associates to
inspire and motivate you?
To benefit successfully from the viral marketing business model you
should be able to draw on as well softer marketing skills as technical skills. If you are apt at both disciplines you
are well off.
Alternatively partner up with someone who complements your skills. Thus
if you are an expert in marketing but not technically minded, delegate
the technical tasks to someone who is.
-
Easy
transfer is prerequisite
The viral marketing message
should be short and easily transferred via one or several of the
following digital medias:
- Email
- website
- instant messaging
- graphic i.e. videos
- blogs
- software download
- social medias such as facebook, twitter or
youtube, kind of smart online applications that facilitate the
exchange of viral messages by automating the distribution processes.
- media sharing sites
The interaction between internet users is highly facilitated by
using Web 2.0,
a design standard, making viral marketing possible.
Examples of inherently viral Web 2.0 sites are MySpace, Facebook,
Youtube and Flickr. These sites are as well free viral
products to the user as they are viral advertising tools to
both
the companies and the users.
Learn about the best free viral marketing tools
and how the explosive viral power of Web 2.0 has now become available
to small internet business owners for a small price.
You might also want to try this Free Viral Advertising!
-
Use
Existing Social Networks
The distribution of the viral message takes place within
established social networks of
each individual that is first targeted. On average a person has around
10 persons within their closest circle, including family, friends and
associates.
Depending on the person's status and job, the broader network might
count
as many as thousands.
Affiliate programs make use of this fact when distributing. They often
inspire the affiliates to target their network.
Once an online influential with an extensive
network is reached, a snowball effect initiates, provided that the
viral product is useful and of high quality and the marketing message
catchy.
The
success of this snowball effect depends on the degree to which the
9 success criterias of the viral marketing business model are followed. See examples
of the utilization of social medias as viral Marketing tools.
-
Use
other's resources
Spread your viral marketing message by
placing articles on other websites (the medium) thereby reaching a much
larger group
of people than had you relied solely on your own web site. By getting
your message spread as news, you target many subscribers that might
decide to use your free article.
The same goes for free article directories where people might decide to
place your article with a link to your website link on their own web
site as a service
for their own visitors.
An
example of using other resources is the placement of Youtube videos on
different websites where interested visitors are given the easy option
to copy the video to their own site. This is an example of effective
viral marketing with rapid
replication. Alternative videos are offered in case the main one
doesn't make it.
Comparison Search Engines is another great
place to launch
your products since, if the quality is good they get
recommended,
which
strongly builds credibility and motivates interested visitors
further. See a list
of all the ways to use other's resources as viral Marketing Tools.
-
Allow
for Big Scale Traffic:
It is imperative that the resources for
handling all the traffic need to be quickly upscalable to avoid
overload and break down of the replication cycle of the viral marketing
campaign.
In order to handle the expected
high volume of users, the process needs to be completely automated. For
example
customers are emailed using sequential autoresponders.
-
Measure
and optimise parameters of Viral Marketing Success
To approximate the viral marketing business model and achieve true Viral Marketing Success, monitor the results
expressed by certain
parametres then test and optimise them.
Viral
Marketing Resources
Viral marketing is primarily connected
with the Internet and
its high speed digital transfer, as well as the construction of the
viral marketing products.
Thus true viral advertising happens online by
using free viral products. Youtube, Flickr and Facebook are viral
marketing examples.
See this extensive list of Viral
Marketing Tools that can accelerate your viral marketing
campaigns.
Learn about free viral marketing
products and why they play such an important role in your
viral marketing campaign.
See the in depth Definition of Viral Marketing and
an example of true viral marketing accomplished with the viral marketing business model.
See examples of important viral parameters to measure and how to
optimise them in order to achieve Viral Marketing Success.
Viral marketing is perfect for promoting your
business, products and services when the Viral Marketing
Business Model is properly followed.
Once you make
it you make it big time
Have some Great Experience with Viral Marketing?
Do you have a question or some interesting story about viral marketing? Feel free to share it!
Dino D., November 16. 2009
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