Modern Insights of Online Viral Marketing Methods
The viral marketing business model was first described by Tim Draper and popularized in 1997 to describe Hotmail’s practice of adding advertising to the outgoing mail of their users. In different terms, viral marketing has been around for as long as people have had items to sell. In so many words, it is word-of-mouth advertising.
It is in a human's nature to “tell their friends”. The reference or terminology is the only thing that has changed. Surveys tell us that the average person has at least six close friends that they speak to fairly often. If they have a great experience with a product they will on average, tell six people.
Surveys also tell us that when an internet user finds something valuable, informative, funny, interesting or free on the internet, they will share that with 12 other people online. Thus the internet is the stage for most viral marketing business models that are successful.
Marketing pros insist that in order to sell something, you need to give something away for free. I recently read a free e-book about dieting. It made a lot of sense. It was written by the head of a supplement manufacturing company. He suggested that you share the book with everyone. His goal, of course, was to sell supplements.
He may have sold the book. It contained just as much information as some of the diet books out on the market, but he realized the value of giving something away, what he would get in return would be far greater. Not only do people love give aways, they have a tendency to put trust in people or companies that give them something of perceived value with no strings attached.
You will see numerous software programs on the web that offer a free version and a “pro” version. This is another example of a viral marketing business model. When one person sees this free software program, they will tell at least 12 of their friends online about it.
Social networking is becoming increasingly popular. People on MySpace literally have hundreds of "friends" and they talk to them quite often. If you can provide something that they want to share with others, then you may have hit the target.
There are other elements of a successful viral marketing business model. But, coming up with something free that people can share with others is the most important element.
Tags: buzz marketing, Internet Marketing, referral marketing, viral marketing, viral marketing business model, word of mouth marketing