Viral marketing is any form of advertising material that produces greater awareness of a brand, service or product, through the encouragement to carry forward the message conveyed in the material.
This dissemination action uses marketing techniques who resort to other means of communication that already exist, such as social networks and the internet in general, to achieve their main objective.
Typically, the viral marketing process starts when an individual relays information they've received to people they know. This information is able to encourage more people to pass this same information to other people, turning this process into a viral spread.
Initially, viral marketing consisted of the practice of various free email services in adding advertising to messages that go out from your users, to reach a potential user, who can resend the email to other people susceptible.
Currently, the concept of viral marketing is not associated with a computer threat and the term "viral" is related to information propagation speed.
Viral marketing can also be used to describe some types of marketing campaigns based on internet, including using blogs, websites, and various other ways to create buzz about a new product or service. The term viral advertising refers to the idea that people will pass and share fun content.
Often, the viral marketing technique is sponsored by a brand, which seeks to build awareness of a product or service, and for this they use various tools such as video clips, flash games, images, texts etc.
Some marketing and advertising experts claim that viral marketing is a marketing strategy. risk, because its outcome is often unpredictable, and causes a negative reaction from the public. Viral marketing only makes sense when it is part of the company's positioning strategy and culture.
Viral marketing is very similar to buzz marketing, both of which aim to get people's attention, getting them to talk to each other about the brand in question.
Viral Marketing Examples
Viral marketing can occur through various methods of transmission: word of mouth, through the web (where there are links to share information with friends) through e-mail, messenger programs like google talk and bluetooth. In addition, there are companies that offer rewards to people who can convince friends to share information.
When well prepared, it manages to conquer its target audience, making it share the brand/company initiative with others, in a "contagious" way. Creativity is a key word in the concept of viral marketing, which has been revolutionized with new technologies.