Viral marketing to promote your business

Viral marketing has become a clear tool for spreading a message online and helping position a business. It is the classic word of mouth adapted to the internet, which means that with the right planning a business can reach a mass audience in very little time.

What makes viral marketing such a good promotional tool is precisely its virality. A good campaign can reach millions of people who use the internet daily to stay informed, to be entertained or to look for things they care about. The limits are effectively infinite, and no other medium currently offers that reach. Once a campaign goes viral it becomes impossible to stop, which makes the impact enormous.

It has to be planned, not hoped for

Like any other promotional tool, a viral campaign has to be carefully thought through if it is going to lift the business, product or promotion, and deliver revenue rather than just attention.

What makes something spread

People share things that make them look good to the people they share with: something genuinely useful, something surprising, something funny, or something that says what they already believe. Sharing is an act of self-presentation, not a favour to the advertiser.

The risk nobody mentions

Attention is not the same as revenue. Campaigns that reach millions and sell nothing are common, usually because the thing that spread had no real connection to the product. Tie the idea to what you sell, or you are buying applause rather than customers.