Recently, a local radio station pulled off a prank that involved inviting an infamous beauty queen to join a DJ team to host programmes. The resulting backlash was amazing. The radio station’s facebook site was bombarded with listeners expressing their dissatisfaction with the controversial move by the radio station. On April Fool’s Day, it was revealed that the prank was sponsored by a fast-food chain to bring attention to the launch of their new burger. The fast-food chain followed up with a goodwill offer of the burger at a nominal price of just $1. Needless to say, this led to queues outside the fast-food chain’s outlets.
Looking at the storm that it created, the burger, which was based on the theme of anger, the publicity stunt was an overwhelming success. The stunt provides an appropriate backdrop to illustrate the key elements necessary for the success of a viral marketing campaign.
To integrate viral marketing in your online marketing strategy, you must be on the lookout for activities or stories that could interest the masses out there. Essentially, you would want to capitalise on the tendency of people to be fascinated by quirky things and the urge to share their discovery with others. For inspiration, you need not go far. Take a look at your local newspapers and observe the type of news and pictures that qualify for the human-interest columns. For a start, concepts that use humour, create controversy, or simply provide lists/rankings such as the top 5 Must-Have iPhone Apps and even Top 5 Restaurants among others, tend to capture attention.
Having garnered the attention of the few who may have come across your viral marketing campaign, the key challenge is to motivate them to spread the word or, in most cases, a video clip. This is where the offer of incentives could be useful. By providing prizes or by giving away premiums, your target audience would want to tell others about your campaign in anticipation of the reward that awaits them. You must also ensure that there is a site where the target audience could express their views. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter; video-sharing sites such as YouTube; and electronic gadgetry such as iPods and mobile phones make it all the more convenient for users to be wired to the world. Creating a site on flickr, tweeter or facebook are all avenues to encourage and monitor traffic about interest being generated about your viral marketing campaign.
Having looked at the success factors for an effective viral marketing campaign, let us look at how these elements have been incorporated in another local campaign. Matthew "Matt" Harding, an American video game designer shot to fame with his videos which showed him performing a dance with famous landmarks all over the world as his backdrops. What started as a unique way of keeping his friends updated about the countries he had visited turned into a lucrative advertising programme with Visa which embarked on a global marketing campaign. The numerous television appearances have also brought Matt much fame, which explains why he gets hits in the millions when he puts up a video. Recently, Singapore’s tourism board harnessed Matt’s fame in its YourSingapore campaign. The campaign was launched with a mass flash dance led by Matt Harding in New York, a city with a high concentration of international media. The viral effect kicks-in when the public capture their own dances during the launch on video and upload them on YouTube. The motivation comes in the form of an all-expenses-paid holiday for two to Singapore. Both the dancer and the voter have a chance to win a prize.
The power of the Internet is there to be seized. Marketers have in their grasp an inexpensive tool to create brand awareness by hitching on the urge of Internet users to inform their friends all over the world about something unique that they have chanced upon. So pervasive is the impact of viral marketing that Lycos has made available a Viral Chart at viral.lycos.co.uk that tracks the popularity of videos and clips that are currently doing the rounds. Viewers get to vote for their favourite video on it being the funniest, sexiest or other such categories. In this way, it is possible to track and monitor the viral marketing progress online. It provides an opportunity to learn from feedback and to create more innovative marketing themes.
So, marketers out there, why wait? Capture the imagination of the Internet generation and that will open the floodgates to effective viral marketing. A carefully choreographed viral marketing campaign delivers numbers that go beyond the target group by exploiting the culture of sharing which generates astonishing number of email traffic that transcends borders. As the numbers increase, so does brand awareness.
Article Contributed by Ms Maler Vilee , Senior Consultant with Training Edge International.
Email : maler @trainingedgeasia.com ,
Website : www.trainingedgeasia.com
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