Internet viral marketing is the modern form of “word of mouth” advertising via the Internet. This is the cost effective method for improving brand awareness and for increasing product sales as well.
This method involves giving away something of value to a targeted audience that is willing to pass along or distribute the free product service and/or information to others. In online viral advertising you include your targeted ad with the freebie.
If successful, the freebie spreads through the internet like a virus and draw potential customers to your website. A percentage of the recipients will read your ad and order paid products and services from you at some point in the future.
Overall, by using viral advertising strategies, you can reach out all over the Internet with much less effort.
Online Viral Marketing Elements
Viral advertising is very effective and extremely inexpensive. However, in order for a viral advertising campaign to be successful it has to have these elements:
1. Know your target audience
Learn about your customers and give them what they want. Using your knowledge about the customers you’ll be able to provide a free product or free trials service that suits their needs and wants.
2. Create a unique, valuable product
Make sure that your product is attractive enough for “authority sites” to promote and that your customers really like it. It has to be something they will want to pass on — with or without any other incentives.
3. Provide effortless transfer of information to others
No matter what the medium you use for your product or service make sure it is easy to share. Potential customers should find no difficulties in transferring the product to their family and friends.
4. Test and track the results
You need to experiment with different elements that can be tested in your project, test various combinations and measure the results.
Ideas for Internet Viral Marketing Campaigns
Here are examples of internet viral marketing strategies to follow:
1. Write articles
Writing articles and distributing them for reprint with a resource box is a good viral campaign.
Always include your website link in the byline and grant permission for others to publish as long as they keep the byline in tact. Your reprinted articles will speed the spread of information about your business.
2. Make video clips
Have you ever sent a funny video from YouTube to a friend or family member? Fact is people forward a video to others when they see something valuable or entertaining in it.
YouTube is a great viral marketing tool. Simply create a buzz about your product with YouTube and watch your traffic soar.
3. Share a free ebook
Write an ebook or rewrite a private label ebook and include links to your website. Share the ebook with your website visitors and tell them to share copies of the ebook with others. This will just continue to spread your ad all over the Internet.
4. Distribute free software
Provide your visitors with free or a trial version of useful software they need. Remember to include links to your website and tell recipients to share copies of the software with others.
For help creating software, hire a freelancer from Elance.com.
5. Offer free website templates
Create, or outsource, quality website or blog templates. Brand them and include your links on them and give them away as free downloads. Invite people to use them and grant permission for recipients to pass them along.
Now it’s your turn to kick start your own internet viral marketing campaigns. See what works best for your situations, and then repeat accordingly with new campaigns as often as needed.