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Table of Contents- Why and How Viral Marketing Works
- What Works & What Doesn't
- The Many Facets of Viral Marketing
- Your Ebook is your Viral Salesman
- What an Ebook Can Do for You
- Ebooks and Affiliate Programs
- 3 Steps to Find "Freebies" to Add to Your Ebook
- Viral Marketing using Forums
- Viral Marketing Goes Mobile
- Using Videos in Viral Marketing
- Using Forums
- Using File Sharing
- Using E-Mail to Achieve Objectives
- Using Chat Rooms
- Viral Marketing Example: The Subservient Chicken
- Successful Forum Viral Marketing
- Start Viral Marketing Campaigns Using Ebooks
- Humor Turns E-Mail Viral
- How to Get and Use E-Mail Addresses for Viral Advertising
- Houston Museum of Natural Science Went Viral
- Getting a "Buzz" On
- Four Good Reasons to Use Viral Ebooks
- "Folksonomies" - a New Viral Marketing Tool
- B2B Marketers Do It, Too
- 6 Ideas for Viral Marketing
Well, viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence.
Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands and then to millions.Viral Marketing sounds like something bad but it is actually something very good.
It is a powerful way to generate lots of traffic to your website or sales page.
Think about how a virus spreads from on person to another. One person gets sick and just by sneezing they can give the virus to many more people…
... those people get sick and share their germs with everyone they know and the next thing anybody knows is that there is an epidemic.
That is the very concept of viral marketing. The idea is to get everyone to spread your marketing message around because they want to.
Public health nurses offer sage advice at flu season: stay away from people who cough, wash your hands often, and don't touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. Viruses only spread when they're easy to transmit.
Viral e-mail marketing works great on the Internet because instant communication has become so easy and inexpensive.Digital format make copying simple. From a marketing standpoint, you must simplify your marketing message so it can be transmitted easily and without degradation.
Short is better.
Remember the K.I.S.S. standard….Keep it Simple Stupid.
The shorter and easier to remember is always better than long and complicated.
Clever viral marketing plans take advantage of common human motivations. The desire to be cool and greed drives people. So does the hunger to be popular, loved, and understood.
The resulting urge to communicate produces millions of websites and billions of e-mail messages. Most people are social. Nerdy, basement-dwelling computer science grad students are the exception.
Social scientists tell us that each person has a network of 8 to 12 people in their close network of friends, family, and associates. People on the Internet develop networks of relationships, too.
They collect e-mail addresses and favorite website URLs. Affiliate programs exploit such networks, as do permission e-mail lists. Learn to place your message into existing communications between people, and you rapidly multiply its dispersion. If you can design a marketing strategy that builds on common motivations and behaviors for its transmission, you have a winner.
Trying to force or bribe people to forward your info to a friends or family in order to be rewarded or win looks skanky in today's ultra-permission-based world. Especially when you tell visitors nothing about their friend's or family’s privacy in the space directly next to the e-mail form.
A true viral campaign gets forwarded because consumers are compelled to do so by the glory of the content, not because you bribed them with points or something else.What absolutely will not work:
Suggesting that e-mail recipients forward your message to their friends and family will not work. Adding a line at the bottom of your e-mail that reads “Please feel free to forward this message to a friend” is more likely to get it deleted than forwarded.
What absolutely will work:Offering something worthy of sharing like a valuable discount, vital information or offering an incentive for sharing like additional entries into a sweepstakes or an added discount or premium service will work.
Relevant or timely information, research, or studies that are included in your e-mail might encourage the recipients to share with their family and friends.Interactive content like a quiz or test, especially if it’s fun, will inspire forwarding. Jokes and cartoons are almost always forwarded to everybody the recipient knows.
Why?
Because they are entertaining and entertainment is meant to be shared. A really cool multimedia experience is always going to achieve a lot of pass-along.
Rich media is new and the novelty and tech factors alone are often enough to make the e-mail recipient eager to share it.
Oops! Almost forgot one really important thing….
You can craft a brilliant e-mail following all the rules, but if a consumer visits your site and has an experience less that what was promised, you are going to achieve viral marketing, alright…the bad kind.
So be certain that your product or service is ready and is as advertised.Since that long ago day, viral marketing has gone from a marketing strategy to an art form and there are many ways to accomplish the objective of creating a successful viral marketing campaign. Seven of those ways are:
1. E-mail: It was first but it is still around and still used. It is, however, getting a little harder to use as more and more government restrictions are placed on it. Still… it does work.
2. Newsletters: This is an extension of e-mail but it a very effective tool. If you include enough timely and valuable information, a good newsletter can drive up the number of visits to your website.
3. Blogging: Providing the tools on your website to enable bloggers to interact with one another is a terrific way to get the message about your product of service out there and being talked about. Bloggers have their ears to the ground for new products and services.
4. Chat Rooms: A chat room on your website can and does encourage interaction among your customers and that can’t be a bad thing. Also, you can use the chat room to schedule special events like having an expert available to answer questions on a given day at a given time.
5. Tell-a-friend Script: If you add this with a statement saying that e-mail addresses supplied will never be shared with third parties, you can increase your potential customer list greatly.
7. Flash Games: Although they are a little costly to start, they are an extremely effective tool to get your viral marketing campaign going. Once they are launched, they require nothing more from you.
The printed word on paper and bound into books used to be the only way information was given and received.
They were great, you could take them with you and put them on shelves and they do still exist and will continue to for the foreseeable future but the time of the Ebook has arrived.
A marketing Ebook is a slightly different animal from just an Ebook.Marketing Ebooks contain text, images, links to web pages and navigation controls. The marketing Ebook has become a very important part of marketing on the Internet.
With a marketing Ebook you can present your story in an effective way and include links to your web sales pages. Your Ebook can become your best salesman.
=> You can subscribe to my 4 day Ebook eCourse (don't worry, it's free) that teaches you how to get started with writing, creating and publishing your first Ebook on the Internet.
First, your Ebook needs to be interesting and informative. It always has links back to your web site and to your sales page.Next, be sure that you have a prominent section telling readers that they are free to give your Ebook away.
Let them know that they can post it on their site as a free download, that they can use it as a bonus, and that they can bundle it with other products.
This is the way to create viral marketing for your products or services. Remember those links back to your site contained in the Ebook?
Last but certainly not least before you send your Ebook out to the world, double check spelling and grammar and be sure that you have tested every link to verify that it goes where it is supposed to go.
Obvious errors will reflect badly on you and will not be of much value to you, it could even by damaging.Post your Ebook to some of the Ebook directories. Many let you post it for free, or will let you post a link on their site to your Ebook.
This method uses the multiplication effect to “explode” the distribution of your message by willing participants.
This is the basic principle that was used by Hotmail to get established.
When the two founders set up their free email system, all the messages that were sent by subscribers had a text message at the bottom which identified Hotmail as the origin.
People who sent emails to their friends advertised the free email site. Using viral Ebooks as a marketing method is cheap.
It doesn’t take long to set up and it’s even quicker if you use rebrandable Ebooks that have been written by others. Just use your favorite search engine and do a web search.
You will find many rebrandable Ebooks that are available on whatever subject you are interested in and that apply to your e-business.
One method of distributing the Ebook is to offer it to visitors in exchange for subscribing to your newsletter. If they pass it on to their friends and family it will promote your business for you.
Ebooks are capable of reaching a large audience and are limited only by the enthusiasm of the participants.
Ebooks are fairly easy to create. It’s possible to produce your own Ebooks by combining articles that you have written or have gotten from public domain sources, such as directories.
Using a portion of a larger work that you have prepared such as the first three chapters of a large Ebook could also be used as a viral Ebook.
This Ebook is a perfect example of a viral Ebook.
When you opened this Ebook, you may have noticed that I allow you to brand my Ebook with your own affiliate link if you become a member of my Info Products Vault membership site (this is free to do)…
Now, when you join my membership site, you get instant access to the branding kit for this Ebook, and you can insert your own money generating affiliate link in it.
When you spread your branded copy around, and someone signs up for a free membership via your affiliate link, and purchases the One Time Offer they see after subscribing, you make a nice Clickbank commission.
And here’s how the viral marketing power technique kicks in…By doing this I encourage people to sell this Ebook (or give it away) all over the Internet, and at the same time I make backend sales and sign up new members to my membership site.
But that’s not all...… the really great thing is that new members will also distribute their own branded copy of this Ebook (to get a commission on the OTO), and automatically promote my membership site over and over again.
This is how easy, but deadly effective, viral Ebook marketing can be.Interested in getting your own branded copy? You can still join by clicking here
When the affiliate receives some extra benefit from promoting the viral message, like being able to brand your Ebook with his affiliate links, the affiliate makes a sale when a reader buys through a branded link.
You benefit from increased traffic to your website because the affiliate is willing to promote the Ebooks for you.Be absolutely certain that your message includes a clear call to action. There shouldn’t be any doubt whatsoever about what you intend recipients to do.
Make sure that the instructions are perfectly clear so that recipients know HOW to act.
The action that you require should be simple and obvious as well. Don’t make things complicated or it will confuse the reader, such as by adding numerous links.
Remember the K.I.S.S. principle Keep It Simple Stupid!
The incentive should be clear to those you want to take an action. Readers will look at your offering for about seven seconds before they move on.
If it takes longer than that for them to figure out what it is you want them to do, they will move on. Don’t make your message vague or difficult to comprehend.
If you do, chances are you will lose them. You must respect your readers enough to express your message clearly.
Once you are sure you have an Ebook that will be of value to an affiliate program, approach them with your idea and be able to show that it will be mutually beneficial.
Viral Marketing using Ebooks is one of many techniques that all together have a cumulative effect in attracting customers and subscribers to your business and in attracting targeted visitors to your website.
You will very soon find out that this is an excellent way of increasing sales, subscribers and referrals.How could you collect, select and offer free gifts, which will be valued as much as the original merchandise that is being purchased, put these gifts together and add them to your Ebook?
There are just three steps to do that:1. Identify your key words in each chapter of your Ebook.
Now, type those words into your favorite search engine.
You are looking for free Ebooks on the same subject in more depth, by a greater expert than you are, or by someone who gives a new and fresh angle to the topic. Add a link to the free Ebook in each chapter of your Ebook.
2. Research the Internet for related free gifts.Now you are looking for things that you could give as free gifts in your Ebook that will make it more appealing and give it more pass-along appeal to your readers.
For example: If you are selling gardening supplies, find a planting guide on the web that can be downloaded and include that as a gift in your Ebook.
3. Download the freebies.
Visit the freebies pages on those web sites. Most sites have freebies and encourage you to distribute them.
Other key words I searched for are freebies, free Ebooks, and free reports and then gave the key word that I wanted the free stuff for. Like… “freebies for gardeners”.
Give your reader the vest that you can offer. Give them your book, additional reading material and free gifts to boot. Everybody loves a bargain!
There are different types of forums, beyond the obvious topical types, of “marketing” or “special interest”, etc. “Marketing” and “special interest” are two types of what are commonly referred to as “open forums”.
There are, however, business and professional forums, which do not operate under the same rules and, more often than not, disallow any and all types of advertising or self-promotion.
Forums that have been created to support the membership of a particular program are especially adamant on this topic and often demand that all members refrain from all types if advertising on their sites.
Still, even with all these hurdles, it is possible to successfully advertise in forums. In all cases a pre-requisite for success is developing a good reputation and a good relationship and maintaining both.
So, while it is true that this a form of free advertising, it does require a certain amount of investment as far as time and energy are concerned, not to mention subtly and finesse.
To successfully market on any forum, the first requirement is to take a personal interest in the main topic of the forum.That means visiting it on a regular basis and developing a good relationship with the members and the moderators.
It, also, means taking an active roll in the conversations and being willing to help others. Of course, it goes without saying that it means abiding by any and all rules that exist.
In this way, one can develop a reputation, and business will just naturally develop because humans tend to work with people they trust.Since the main purpose of a forum is the exchange of information and/or ideas, marketers must respect that objective and abide by it.
Marketing forums, where everyone there has something to advertise and sell, usually have even more stringent rules.
However, we have become experts at filtering everything, our air and water, our e-mail and pop-ups, and our mobile devices as well. We are good at filtering.
The very idea of unwanted advertising streaming through our Blackberries is abhorrent. Mobile devices are the ultimate opt-in medium and, therefore, a great way for marketers to connect with users…if that’s what the users want. “WANT” is the key word here. How should marketers approach the medium?
There are three main ways to achieve this. They are:
1. Offer exclusive content. Anyone can offer ring tones. It’s the unique content, such as exclusive mobile images of new brand concepts, that drives interest and calls them out in other media like e-mail campaigns, newsletters, websites, etc. So a wireless campaign is most effective when it offers exclusive content for wireless devices.
2. Make it useful and timely. Think about what would be handy and helpful to have on a mobile device. Last year, for example, Food Network enabled Sprint customers to download shopping lists for their Thanksgiving dinners. There was a lot of “Sprint-envy” going around among non-sprint customers.
3. Clearly define objectives. Usually, one of two business objectives drives successful mobile experiences: incremental revenue of brand intimacy.On the intimacy factor, a text message usually takes priority over almost any other form of communication.
Why? Because we haven’t yet been saturated with mobile spam, and this is what causes us to prioritize wireless messaging over voice.
Mobile marketing has been out there for a while but we marketers have new territory to explore.
Video offers fantastic opportunities for engagement. Consumers already bypass their filters for highly useful or entertaining content and will do so for rich exclusive, compelling content.
Online video advertising is really taking off.
Users’ attention can be captured and ads stand out from the crowd in an increasingly ad-cluttered online environment.
It is true that video formats cost five to ten times more to serve than standard banners and they involve a lot more production and implementation work but they may well be worth all of that if they achieve greater response rates.
Where to use online video if wishing to maximize its effect, is what advertisers must carefully consider. Video to be used on the Internet should be information and communication focused while video to be used on television should be focused on entertainment.
Like everything else, there are good ways and bad ways to use video advertising.Right now most marketers are incorporating their audio-visual content into existing embedded ad formats like banners or over-content formats like pop-ups.
Though this could reach a potentially large audience, viewers are likely to be less captivated and more annoyed by these disruptive and distracting placements.
Cached or streaming video on a specific destination site offers the best chance of interesting consumers in brand messages, but it is not likely to reach a large audience unless it generates a viral outcome.
Whatever you come up with, don't forget to make it easy to open and distribute. File size is important, as is the media format.If your viral video has been created for a particular type of software that not many people use, how will you get people to spread it like wildfire?
Also, if you've made a video the impact will be better if you send the clip as an attachment rather than stream it. It's cheaper and, if you're not hosting it, it's more viral, too.
But because so many marketers go into forums purely with the intention of marketing products or services, their actions and attitude unwittingly causes the exact opposite of the desired effect.
Forums aren’t marketplaces but when used as such, the marketers’ actions become offensive and will only inspire the wrath of fellow members and marketers, not to mention moderators who can ban them from the site with the click of their mouse.
In order to be effective, this kind of marketing carries a certain degree of commitment, responsibility and respect.The first requirement is to take a personal interest in the main topic of the forum. Not only does that mean visiting it regularly, but it also means developing a good relationship with both other members and the moderators, as well as taking an active interest in helping others.
Of course, it also means abiding by and all rules that exist. By doing this, one can develop a reputation and, since it is human nature to work with a trusted colleague, business will naturally develop from this.
This type of marketing has already suffered some abuse and b
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