/Viral marketing         Viral marketing is a term used for marketing which propagates itself, and so is named after for following the same pattern as a human virus. Once it has been passed to one person, they will pass it on to people they know, who in turn will pass it on to people that they know. Viral marketing is not related to computer viruses which infect computers automatically and cause problems; instead the point of viral marketing is that computer users who are exposed to it choose to pass it on. In some ways, viral marketing can be thought of as the online equivalent of word-of-mouth. There are many different ways to use viral marketing, all involve people receiving it to pass it on, and the most common are: Automatically adding content to your emails – sites like Hotmail.com and Yahoo.com add a footer line to all emails sent out which promotes their service, so the more people that use the service, the more advertising and marketing that is created Giving away free specialised content – some sites offer e-books or other documents for free which cover an area that the business specialise in. Creating multimedia content – companies create a game or image, which may be Running an affiliate scheme – users are rewarded for the more people they can invite to sign up for a website, or buy through a website Advantages of viral marketing The main advantages are to do with the fact that after an initial push, the marketing is propagating itself, either by being entertaining to the recipient enough to pass it on, or to give them a reason (e.g. an affiliate scheme) to pass it on. Using the web, budgets can be low, as most of the marketing is done through email, or an existing website, and the costs to send the initial The nature of viral marketing means that for a successful campaign, the number of people who see it increases exponentially People who receive the messages are performing much of the marketing themselves and the marketing will continue itself after your initial step People receiving messages from their friends and colleagues respond more favourably than being targeted directly by a business Viral marketing can be an effective way to inform people about your company and drive up the numbers to your opt-in mailing list Challenges of viral marketing Finding the first group of people to send your content to can be challenging, as most people pass on messages they have been sent from one group of friends As with all marketing, you are pushing the brand of your company, and getting it wrong may tarnish your brand and your reputation You must provide compelling content which people want to forward on for your campaign to grow You lose control of your marketing, as you rely on what happens with other people promoting your company Without a reason to send on your message, a viral marketing campaign will die quickly It is difficult to define what triggers people to forward an email, it is not an exact science If you would like to know more about online marketing, please telephone: 0131 454 3311 or use our   Enquiry Form.