viral marketing

Definition

Marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message.
Information

Viral marketing depends on a high pass-along rate from person to person. If a large percentage of recipients forward something to a large number of friends, the overall growth snowballs very quickly. If the pass-along numbers get too low, the overall growth quickly fizzles.

At the height of B2C it seemed as if every startup had a viral component to its strategy, or at least claimed to have one. However, relatively few marketing viruses achieve success on a scale similar to Hotmail, widely cited as the first example of viral marketing.
The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing

I admit it. The term "viral marketing" is offensive. Call yourself a Viral Marketer and people will take two steps back. I would. "Do they have a vaccine for that yet?" you wonder. A sinister thing, the simple virus is fraught with doom, not quite dead yet not fully alive, it exists in that nether genre somewhere between disaster movies and horror flicks.


But you have to admire the virus. He has a way of living in secrecy until he is so numerous that he wins by sheer weight of numbers. He piggybacks on other hosts and uses their resources to increase his tribe. And in the right environment, he grows exponentially. A virus don't even have to mate -- he just replicates, again and again with geometrically increasing power, doubling with each iteration:

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11
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The Classic Hotmail.com Example

The classic example of viral marketing is Hotmail.com, one of the first free Web-based e-mail services. The strategy is simple:

1. Give away free e-mail addresses and services,
2. Attach a simple tag at the bottom of every free message sent out: "Get your private, free 3.
3. email at http://www.hotmail.com" and,
4. Then stand back while people e-mail to their own network of friends and associates,
Who see the message,
5. Sign up for their own free e-mail service, and then
6. Propel the message still wider to their own ever-increasing circles of friends and associates.
Elements of a Viral Marketing Strategy

Accept this fact. Some viral marketing strategies work better than others, and few work as well as the simple Hotmail.com strategy. But below are the six basic elements you hope to include in your strategy. A viral marketing strategy need not contain ALL these elements, but the more elements it embraces, the more powerful the results are likely to be. An effective viral marketing strategy:

1. Gives away products or services
2. Provides for effortless transfer to others
3. Scales easily from small to very large
4. Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5. Utilizes existing communication networks
6. Takes advantage of others' resources

Mobile Phones Vs. iPhone How to Optimize Your Sites

Todd Follansbee, Usability ExpertWhile conducting usability testing with many people as they visit different websites, we hear lots of complaints about the use of Flash or JavaScript to cycle images and messages on homepages. We wonder: Is Flash truly a killer app? Or is it a sales killer?

I'm not talking about the Flash site introduction pages, which fortunately have nearly disappeared. I am talking about an increasing number of small sites which are cycling images, changing messages, and sending offers across the screen -- generally causing havoc among people trying to understand an often complex webpage.

This is not a tirade against Flash or JavaScript. It is an appeal for improved usability.
Problems with Scrolling Messages

Here are the problems caused by changing messages and scrolling offers:

1. Distraction. A large percentage of people, especially those with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), find them incredibly distracting. It is difficult to read -- let alone comprehend -- a webpage where dominant images continue to change and distract.

The first rule to get conversions is: Convey your value proposition. Make clear what business you are in and why it is of benefit to the reader. But Flash often distracts viewers from understanding this essential message.

Eyes are naturally attracted to motion and light. If your visitors don't finish reading a paragraph, they won't understand the value proposition. And unless they understand your value proposition, nothing will happen. Our user testing constantly reveals this pattern of distraction.

2. Disappearing messages. Some sites cycle images and messages a few times and then stop. However, once the cycling has stopped, it is impossible to go back and look at the messages. Visitors become frustrated when they can't review them.

3. Ineffectiveness. Flash does not seem to increase the effectiveness of messaging. Flash images alone convey little beyond an attractive look and feel, but these displays often consume 10% to 30% of valuable homepage real estate.

4. Transitoriness. When we allow test users 8 to 10 seconds to view a homepage -- and then hide the page -- they rarely remember the content of the Flash messages. Far more often they are able to remember simple static headlines.

5. Trained avoidance. Our testing indicates that Flash is becoming like banner ads that people have trained themselves to ignore.

A Better Solution -- User Control

Let others continue to run Flash and lose conversions, while our clients implement this simple and effective solution: On every instance of Flash on your site use the common video icon controls for play and pause (and mute, if you use audio). Start with your primary message and let people move through the display if they choose. Such controls allow users to:
# Run a display if they want to.
# Stop on any message they are interested in. (Hint: Hyperlink the image to take users to an appropriate landing page.)

With this approach you avoid annoying anyone. Flash can be an engaging, entertaining, and impactful tool if you simply yield control to the user and end the forced distraction.

If you watched users get frustrated day in and day out with cycling images and messages, you might lose patience -- as we often do -- with sites that don't spend the time to determine exactly the kind of impressions they generate. As you explore new and supposedly engaging website technologies, be sure to test them before fully implementing them on your site.

by Todd Follansbee, WebMarketingResources.net

Tips for avoiding PPC mistakes

An internet marketing expert has offered some top tips for companies looking to make the most of their online pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.

Writing for the internet marketing news website Marketing Pilgrim, Ann Stanley says companies often make fundamental mistakes when it comes to PPC as they lack basic online advertising knowledge.

These include lumping all their PPC key phrases into one ad group or campaign and setting their maximum cost per click too high or too low.

Making the first mistake could result in a low quality score and click through rate as the landing page may not match the many key phrases in the PPC add.

And making the second could mean that ads are only shown intermittently, which means it will be more difficult for internet users to find them.

Ms Stanley suggests that companies conduct some thorough research before opening their first PPC account as lack of knowledge and experience means they are more likely to make basic errors that will drain their internet marketing budgets.

Meanwhile a recent survey carried out by the Online Marketing and Media Show has revealed that over a third of companies plan to dedicate up to 25 per cent of their marketing budget to online marketing this year.



source=http://www.epiphanysolutions.co.uk

How does e-mail marketing fit in with social media?

Answer: E-mail marketing could not be better suited to enhance your social media efforts; in fact, it is the key ingredient in launching a successful social media marketing campaign. The rise of social media is pushing the evolution of e-mail marketing from blast campaigns to more personal, one-to-one engagements. So the short answer is e-mail is a perfect marriage with social media. Let’s review examples of how social media and e-mail are working together to create success for b-to-b marketers.
Consider an established social network or blog. These activities need a “push” element to keep followers or members updated. While RSS is still evolving, nine times out of 10 e-mail is the preferred messaging choice. People regularly receive messages from LinkedIn, Facebook or other social networking contacts about new business opportunities, promotions, industry trends or personal notes.

Perhaps most important is the use of e-mail to send social media (video, blogs, podcasts, etc.). Some of the most effective business case studies are being generated with social media embedded in e-mails.

Currently, no other form of communication is better tailored to fit our social lives on social networks than e-mail. As human behaviors continue to trend towards the online social environment, e-mail will be the main form of messaging fostering that change.

Story posted: EDT