📠Digital Media and Public Relations Unit 8 – Viral Marketing: Creating Buzz Online

What's Viral Marketing?

• Viral marketing leverages existing social networks to promote a product or idea
• Encourages individuals to share a marketing message to their contacts, creating potential for exponential growth in message's exposure and influence
• Viral content spreads like a virus, passed from person to person rapidly
• Goal is to create content that's highly shareable and can gain massive popularity in a short time
• Requires understanding of target audience's preferences, behaviors, and motivations for sharing content
• Viral campaigns often have an element of unexpectedness, humor, or strong emotional appeal
• Successful viral marketing can lead to increased brand awareness, website traffic, and sales

Key Elements of Viral Campaigns

• Compelling content that evokes strong positive emotions (joy, laughter, inspiration)
• Easy sharing mechanisms built into the content (social media share buttons, email forwarding)
• Timing the launch of the campaign to maximize initial exposure
  • Aligning with current events or trends can boost relevance and shareability
• Encouraging user participation and content creation (contests, challenges)
• Partnering with influencers to amplify reach to target audiences
• Clear and concise messaging that's easily understood and remembered
• Including a strong call-to-action to guide user behavior after viewing the content (visit website, make a purchase, share)

Psychology Behind Sharing

• People share content that reflects positively on their own identity and values
• Sharing is a way to build and maintain social connections by providing value to one's network
• Emotional arousal increases likelihood of sharing, particularly high-arousal positive emotions (awe, excitement, amusement)
• Social currency drives sharing of content that makes the sharer appear in-the-know or ahead of trends
• Triggering feelings of nostalgia or shared experiences promotes sharing within specific groups
• Practical value, like useful information or special offers, encourages sharing to help others
• Storytelling and narrative content is more engaging and memorable than purely factual information

Platforms and Tools for Viral Content

• Social media platforms are primary channels for viral content distribution (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok)
  • Each platform has unique features, audiences, and best practices to consider
• Video hosting platforms like YouTube allow for easy embedding and sharing of video content
• Email remains a powerful tool for forwarding and sharing to personal contacts
• Messaging apps (WhatsApp, Snapchat) enable private sharing and can create intimate, localized viral effects
• Blogs and online publications can feature and link to viral content, exposing it to new audiences
• Social media management tools (Hootsuite, Sprout Social) help schedule and monitor viral campaigns across multiple platforms
• Analytics tools measure the reach, engagement, and virality of content (Google Analytics, platform-specific analytics)

Case Studies: Viral Hits and Misses

• The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (2014) raised $115 million by encouraging user-generated videos and nominations
• Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" (2010) boosted sales by 107% through humorous, shareable videos
• Dove's "Real Beauty Sketches" (2013) celebrated body positivity and authenticity, earning 114 million views in a month
• Blendtec's "Will It Blend?" series demonstrated product durability through surprising and entertaining videos
• Pepsi's Kendall Jenner ad (2017) aimed to tap into social justice themes but was criticized as tone-deaf and insensitive
• The US Department of State's "Think Before You Post" campaign intended to combat terrorism but was mocked and parodied for poor execution
• Lessons: understand audience deeply, be authentic and sensitive, have clear goals, be prepared for potential backlash

Creating Shareable Content

• Begin with a clear understanding of the target audience and what they value
• Develop a strong, central message or theme that aligns with brand identity
• Use storytelling techniques to create an emotional connection and narrative arc
  • Introduce relatable characters, challenges, and resolution
• Incorporate visuals, especially video, to increase engagement and shareability
  • Optimize videos for viewing without sound, as many users watch on mute
• Write compelling headlines and descriptions to grab attention and encourage clicks
• Keep content concise and easily digestible, as attention spans are short online
• Include humor, surprise, or novel elements to stand out in a crowded media landscape
• Close with a clear call-to-action and make sharing seamless with built-in social buttons

Measuring Viral Success

• Track views, shares, likes, comments to gauge overall reach and engagement
  • Use platform-specific metrics (retweets, repins, etc.) for deeper insights
• Monitor referral traffic to see which sites or platforms are driving the most views
• Measure earned media value by tracking mentions and coverage by third-party sites
• Analyze audience demographics to see if the content reached the intended target
• Calculate the viral coefficient: the number of new viewers generated by each existing viewer
  • A coefficient above 1 indicates exponential growth; below 1 means growth will eventually flatten
• Assess impact on key business metrics like website traffic, lead generation, and sales
• Gather qualitative feedback through social listening and sentiment analysis to understand audience reception

Ethical Considerations in Viral Marketing

• Avoid deceptive or misleading content that could damage brand trust
• Be transparent about any paid partnerships or sponsored content
  • Disclose influencer relationships to maintain authenticity
• Respect intellectual property rights and obtain necessary permissions for any third-party content
• Protect user privacy and data in any interactive campaigns or user-generated content initiatives
• Be sensitive to social and cultural issues, and avoid content that could be perceived as offensive or exploitative
• Monitor and moderate user-generated content and comments to prevent abuse or inappropriate behavior
• Have a crisis communication plan in place to address any negative backlash or unintended consequences
• Consider the potential impact on any individuals featured in the content, especially if the content goes unexpectedly viral