The following blog post is an edited version of an email I sent to a client a couple of months ago explaining the basic concepts behind viral marketing. The client was asking if they could use such a campaign for their particular project, which was going to be an online magazine.  I have removed all project and person specific references and retained the content that talks about what viral marketing is, and some of the basics on how to start a low-budget viral campaign. I thought it would be a good way of starting this blog off and would make a fitting first post. I hope some one, some where out there finds it useful!

Viral marketing (in an online context) in essence is the diffusion of content via online web 2.0 properties and social networks etc, in the hope that your concept,brand or product spreads like a virus across the Internet. The reason why it is so effective is because if you can create something that “goes viral” people will share it with their friends and talk about it, effectively marketing and endorsing your brand for you. The difficulty is often trying to align your thoughts with the pulse of your target market and determine what would be “popular” or “viral” with them. As a result, often the best viral marketing campaigns can happen completely by accident.

It’s very difficult to say; “I am going to do a viral marketing campaign” and then make it work. A lot of big companies when doing something “viral” will spend six figures on making it work. However, small businesses can still use viral marketing to incredible effect if they do it correctly.

For a company with no clear USP or unique ideas on viral marketing our approach would be a content-lead viral marketing strategy. What I mean by this is; you would create lots of online content that your target audience would be interested in. You syndicate that content across the web as much as you can and try and get as much as attention as you can.  The more content you create, the stronger your message, brand and position in the search engines. If people respond to and like your content, then you may well have an effective viral campaign on your hands.

You could also use social network properties like twitter and facebook to get your message out there (in fact not only could you, you most certainly should do). The more content and online contact points your project maintains on the web, the better the chance of attracting a decent size audience.