Planning a successful viral marketing campaign

Viral marketing, as its name implies, aims to reach the widest possible number of people (among which any brand's target market lies). Campaigns kick-start buzz generation and viral spread - then it's up to consumers, who become brand advocates and free media channels as they pass the buzz talk and viral agent on, providing valuable peer-to-peer endorsement.

However, the ultimate point of a viral marketing campaign is not only to 'go viral' (though this is still important while CPM-type (cost per Thousand views) spread remains a major gauge of campaign success), but also to deliver tangible, ongoing benefits to the brand.As Budweiser discovered,21 getting eyeballs is no guarantee of subsequent market share and sales success.To be a significant part of the marketing communications mix, viral marketing needs to be doing more than just generating low-cost brand awareness; it needs to deliver measurable response. Viral marketing is being used for two main purposes:

1. To maintain or boost a cost-effective level of brand awareness during mainstream media spend 'downtime', usually by releasing Webexclusive viral material that retains brand and campaign themes.

2. To kick-start consumer-driven interest in new marketing communications activity - which often means pre-launching a mainstream ad virally (perhaps using a Web-exclusive edit) before it hits TV, in order to create buzz and exploit exclusivity.

Other purposes and benefits specific to each campaign may include:

■ Reach well beyond a business's core target market.

■ Create buzz around products and brands that have no compelling 'wow' factor (so the agent itself must have the 'wow' factor).

■ Accelerate and amplify natural buzz and viral ability for products that do have a 'wow' factor.

■ Reinforce existing advertising and branding messages.

■ Extend other marketing communications activities.

■ Provide accountability when tracked, thereby measuring and proving ROI.

■ Help add to the bottom line in terms of response and/or increasing recommendation rates.

The planning stage of a viral marketing campaign should involve setting out feasible objectives, developing the campaign strategy, coming up with a viral idea, story, theme, or angle that can generate buzz, and developing the creative brief. Planning activity may also include helping the brand to integrate and amortize media, PR and creative development activity if the viral campaign is part of a wider marketing initiative.

There are then three core components to any viral marketing campaign:

■ Creative material: developing and producing the viral agent that carries the message you want to spread in a digital format.

■ Seeding: distributing the buzz story and viral agent online in places and with people that provide the greatest potential influence and spread.

■ Tracking: measuring the results of the campaign to provide accountability and prove success.

One important point about seeding: a big mistake that many ad agencies and brands make is thinking that viral marketing is simply about creating entertaining material and finding some websites specializing in viral content on which to promote it.They miss the point that viral marketing needs to create conversations, not simply spread the viral agent. The seeding process for a viral marketing campaign is not the same as the process of online media buying; it's more like a PR process. Seeding is not just about knowing the 'where', i.e. finding appropriate places to locate the viral agent; it's also about knowing the 'how' and 'who' -determining how the campaign can best be advocated and by who, and communicating the buzz story in the most appropriate way to each source route. Just as the results of a viral marketing campaign have to be about more than the number of people who see the viral agent, so the seeding needs to include telling a buzzworthy story that engages the right people with the brand in a way that maximizes the likelihood of meeting the campaign objectives.

In conclusion, three key factors will increase the likelihood of a successful online viral marketing campaign:

1. Specialist strategic planning to ensure that viral marketing is used to deliver tangible, measurable, ongoing brand benefits.

2. Appropriate 'wow'-factor material that users want to seek out, talk about and pass on of their own freewill.

3. Appropriate specialist seeding of the buzz story and the viral agent to places where viral and brand influencers already gather.

Continue reading here: Branded promotional games

Was this article helpful?