Got Word of Mouth? Triple Threat Online Strategies

What is online viral marketing? It is called a successful advertising campaign. The phrase was a creation of a business school graduate, popularized a media critic named Douglas Rushkoff. This refers to your ability to reach millions of people by starting out with only a few.

If you tell me something that I think is interesting, I will tell my friends about it. They will tell their friends as well if they like it. They probably know people that I do not know. So, the potential of growth is virtually limitless. In the old days, we called it word of mouth advertising.

The main difference between word of mouth advertising and online viral marketing has to do with the sheer potential number of people that someone can or does speak to daily. Using me as an example. In my personal life, I speak to my immediate family members daily. I may talk to my extended family members and my friends once a week.

Some of them I haven’t talked to in years, “live”. Through e-mail and social networking websites, I never fail to communicate with all of them, every day. If something really grabs me that I think my friends will love too, I will share it with at least 30 people.

Surveys say that the average person shares this kind of thing with only 12 people. So, I may be a little outside of the loop. The main feature is that the 30 people that I know will share with others. Effortless, this information ripples through this wave of people. Could the wave eventually crash?

If you have an effective online viral marketing strategy, you may be able to generate numerous waves; when one crashes, another forms. There are a number of different strategies, but all of the effective ones include one element. There is something “free” for people to share.

Often enough, it is simply a great commercial. Sony had one some time ago. It was posted on YouTube and people sent it around. Up to date, it has been viewed thousands of times. How many people made a purchase? Who knows?

Here is the point. In order to reach hundreds of thousands or millions of people in the past, you would have had to pay for television advertising. As well, you would have had to purchase space between the most popular shows, the costs would have been extremely expensive. With online viral marketing, you can reach that many people for next to nothing.