Virality
In digital marketing, virality is the term used to describe something that went viral.
Contents
The key elements of virality
The basics of virality (viral marketing) lie in spreading information by word-of-mouth. Nowadays, modern technology allows the viral effect to spread the word through various networks besides word of mouth, such as:
- Social networking (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)
- Video sharing platforms
- Marketing platforms
- Social media platforms (news websites and forums) - Reddit, Quora
- Forums
Viral marketing advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
Going viral has some great advantages:
- Low cost
One of the most significant advantages of using viral marketing is the low cost. It only costs a little to create viral content that Internet users want to share.
Virality isn't an expensive tool, making it accessible to everyone.
Keep in mind to never complicate things - it’s the simplest ideas that achieve product virality.
If you’re doing it right, it can give you great conversion rates and ROI.
- Reach
If your content causes virality, it contributes to spreading your message, reaching your audience, and raising awareness among existing users on your social platforms.
Disadvantages
Although viral marketing campaigns are relatively inexpensive and can bring tremendous results regarding recognition and awareness, you need to know that they can dilute your brand. They can also build negative buzz around your products and your brand.
What is viral marketing?
Viral marketing is a strategy marketers, brands, and companies use to promote products and services through social networks. More precisely, it refers to how users/consumers spread the word about services and products with other Internet users in their online social circles as a virus spreads from one person to another.
Typically, viral marketing provides Internet users with something valuable, totally free. Virality occurs through viral content - such as a game or an amusing, catchy song. No matter the viral content, it’s necessary to determine people to share it on their social media platforms so that many people receive the content’s message - and this is how virality occurs.
There are no fixed virality strategies, as this type of marketing is not an exact science.
When you want to create a viral marketing campaign, you start by planning it (what type of virality suits your brand). Then, remember that this viral marketing is a powerful tool, no matter how you want to implement it: as a stand-alone tool or as a part of a big campaign that includes multiple digital marketing strategies and tools.
Being a cheap way of promoting your brand, it’s a great alternative to traditional marketing strategies, especially for small companies.
How viral marketing campaigns work
Planning a marketing campaign using virality means creating engaging, inspiring content and inviting other people to share it with their friends.
You may have lots of questions, such as What type of products go viral?, How can I implement virality in my marketing campaigns?, What type of virality is suitable for my products? Viral content is online content that obtains rapid viral growth and gets a high level of awareness thanks to shares and exposure on social media apps, search engines, email newsletters, and news websites: it can be a video, a tweet, a blog post, reel, or a TikTok. Here's what you can do:
- Planning the campaign
- Producing the content
- Think of ways to make it as shareable as possible
- Share the content, hoping it will spread via word of mouth.
The ultimate guide for an excellent viral marketing campaign
We start by saying there isn't a virality formula you can simply learn. And while calculating viral campaigns may not be possible, but there are some steps you can learn to build virality. Most of the time, effective marketing campaigns that make products viral have:
- Planning
- Audience involvement
- Entertainment and press-worthiness
- A worthwhile cause
- A good incentive
- Exclusivity
- Celebrity star power
- Low barrier to entry
- Urgency
- Humor and something catchy