Do you still believe in viral marketing?

22 replies
I mean .. for a product/service to get viral, it has to be revolutionary in a domain, it has to be new, etc.

The only things I saw lately that spread like hell over the internet were funny commercials, pictures, etc.

What's your opinion on this one?
#marketing #viral
  • Profile picture of the author FlightGuy
    Here's a thought:


    Offline internet marketing / Cash Cow Method / Offline Goldmine... etc.


    so yes, I do believe in viral marketing
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    "If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." - Jim Rohn
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  • Profile picture of the author timesaver22
    Hi a lot of viral marketing is done with products in the smaller niche.

    We all see the big marketing ones, but the reports and ebooks aimed at the niche get passed around for years not just until the next big thing comes along .

    so ye I still think it works very well.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tom B
      Banned
      Software is a great viral marketing tool.

      How many times have you seen people ask about a pdf software? Almost everyone tells them Open Office.

      How about Roboform?
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  • Profile picture of the author ArthurRose
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
      Viral marketing doesn't just refer to word-of-mouth referrals that either spread like wildfire, or don't. That's just a subset of it.

      It refers to the promotion of any product or service that automatically promotes itself in an ever-increasing way.

      So yes, that still exists, and always will.

      Cheers,

      Neil
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      Easy email marketing automation without moving your lists.

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      • Profile picture of the author zeurois
        Like "tell all your friends" offers, right?

        Originally Posted by Neil Morgan View Post

        Viral marketing doesn't just refer to word-of-mouth referrals that either spread like wildfire, or don't. That's just a subset of it.

        It refers to the promotion of any product or service that automatically promotes itself in an ever-increasing way.

        So yes, that still exists, and always will.

        Cheers,

        Neil
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  • Profile picture of the author FlightGuy
    Too many marketers try too hard to find ways to virally promote their product, and often end up falling hard.

    For viral marketing to work, people must remark about it... and therefore must be remarkable, just as Seth says.

    Think about Twitter... the more people you follow, the more followers you get. The more people that follow each other, the larger the site becomes and the more buzz it creates. Get someone like President Barak Obama on Twitter and it grows exponentially. Would you say this was on purpose?

    It was simply remarkable.
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    "If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." - Jim Rohn
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    • Profile picture of the author zeurois
      Originally Posted by FlightGuy View Post


      For viral marketing to work, people must remark about it... and therefore must be remarkable, just as Seth says.
      Just like I said. It has to have that something.

      Speaking of twitter ... what was so great about it when it started? Now it's obvious, everybody talks about it, everybody recommends it, you kinda have to go with it.. but when it started?
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      • Profile picture of the author ashleybaker
        Hell yeah, Just maybe not for IM!

        Look at the new cadburys advert to hit the UK: (i cant post links but the video code for youtube is 'gugIfOSs1-8')

        People are talking about it everywhere I go. You've just gotta get that one campaign that gets people talking, even if they dont buy the product their still raising brand awareness, which could proove successful in the future.

        Cheers
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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    The "remarkable" bit applies to word-of-mouth but there are other forms of viral marketing that do not rely on the product or service being "remarkable".

    Hotmail was one of the most successful viral marketing strategies of all time.

    Its success was not because of people commenting on it. It was because of the link they put at the bottom of all the outgoing emails. The more people sign up and use the service, the more links are sent out. And so it continues.

    Viral marketing encompasses various things, one of which is word-of-mouth marketing, another is ever-increasing backlinks.

    A product or service has to be good or it will likely fail, but it only has to be "remarkable" for word-of-mouth viral marketing.

    Cheers,

    Neil
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    Easy email marketing automation without moving your lists.

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  • Profile picture of the author freecashman
    Viral marketing is powerful. It's just matter of getting that 'thing' that is really going to go viral.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gimme4Free
    Viral marketing still works, I recently setup a viral site and within 2 weeks am getting 1000+ uniques to my site per day, also YouTube marketing still works well when your video goes viral.
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    • Profile picture of the author zeurois
      Originally Posted by Gimme4Free View Post

      Viral marketing still works, I recently setup a viral site and within 2 weeks am getting 1000+ uniques to my site per day, also YouTube marketing still works well when your video goes viral.

      Nice. Could you reveal some tricks? Details maybe? What you did etc
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  • Profile picture of the author Clark
    The Warrior Forum is a classic example of viral marketing. Think about how you came to know of its existence then the answer to the thread question will surface immediately.

    Any site that is popular today is due in part to two things, viral marketing and the user experience.

    FaceBook
    Twitter
    MySpace
    YouTube
    Google
    Yahoo!
    eBay
    etc... your site

    New sites can and do get massive spikes of traffic initially via paid promotions yet they will never be able to sustain their growth without viral marketing and also a strict focus on the user experience while on the site.
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  • Profile picture of the author lollieamp
    I believe it works very well
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh T.
    Clark said it right. I have encountered many
    viral marketing experiences which did not provide
    a relevant enough experience to merit me bugging
    my friends about it. The whole tell 3 of your friends
    to get more information thing is sometimes irritating.

    I mean, what if I like your stuff enough to check it out
    but not enough to tell my friends about it just yet? What
    happens then? Usually, I just move on. I think providing
    substantial value is the key to being viral.

    Alluding to the original post about funny videos, there's
    value in that...entertainment. With all the doom and gloom
    we face everyday on the news and in our lives, sometimes
    we just want to smile dang it.

    I would say that viral works and is here to stay, but you can't
    force it. The nature of being viral takes the control out of
    our hands.
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  • Profile picture of the author goldclubmember
    Nice. Could you reveal some tricks? Details maybe? What you did etc
    What i did and create lots of hits to my site is .

    Method 1
    Create a report related to your product, or you can grab a PLR ebook, brand your name and site URL in it and giveaway free. and this report will spread around like wild fire and create lots of hits to your site.

    Method 2
    If you have your own product, Create a high quality ebook or report which promotes your product or service

    2. Set up an affiliate program paying commission on sales. The easiet way to setup an affiliate program is thru CLICKBANK.

    3. Let your affiliates brand your ebook with their affiliate IDs and then give away or sell the ebook to others

    This simple but highly effective strategy has already been used countless times to generate massive sales for all sorts of products and services.

    The key to this highly successful strategy is to create a "brandable" ebook, which affiliates can easily brand with their own affiliate IDs or links.

    The second method will not only create hits, opt-in, and conversions. It will create lots of affiliates for you and affiliate traffic which some called it partner traffic is the top gurus secret weapon, the fastest way to sales your products.
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    • Profile picture of the author zeurois
      Right

      Few questions though ..

      1. "and this report will spread around like wild fire and create lots of hits to your site"
      >> Unless it's porn or funny stunts that's not going to happen. I had a free ebook which didn't really spread like fire, and it was quite good if you speak of quality

      2. "This simple but highly effective strategy has already been used countless times to generate massive sales for all sorts of products and services."

      >> You just missed an important point. You need to HAVE affiliates to start promoting it ...

      Cheers

      Originally Posted by goldclubmember View Post

      What i did and create lots of hits to my site is .

      Method 1
      Create a report related to your product, or you can grab a PLR ebook, brand your name and site URL in it and giveaway free. and this report will spread around like wild fire and create lots of hits to your site.

      Method 2
      If you have your own product, Create a high quality ebook or report which promotes your product or service

      2. Set up an affiliate program paying commission on sales. The easiet way to setup an affiliate program is thru CLICKBANK.

      3. Let your affiliates brand your ebook with their affiliate IDs and then give away or sell the ebook to others

      This simple but highly effective strategy has already been used countless times to generate massive sales for all sorts of products and services.

      The key to this highly successful strategy is to create a "brandable" ebook, which affiliates can easily brand with their own affiliate IDs or links.

      The second method will not only create hits, opt-in, and conversions. It will create lots of affiliates for you and affiliate traffic which some called it partner traffic is the top gurus secret weapon, the fastest way to sales your products.
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  • Profile picture of the author Franck Silvestre
    Viral marketing is word of mouth, always been there and not going anywhere.

    It works.

    Franck
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