There’s been a lot of talk in the media lately about computer virus pandemics. Users have been warned to take urgent action to protect themselves from a global cyber virus known as Gameover Zeus. This virus, which first appeared in September 2011, has stolen bank information and other confidential details from its victims. The FBI have blamed Gameover Zeus for the theft of more than US $100 million obtained by using the stolen bank data and then emptying the victims’ bank accounts and diverting the money to themselves.
Scary stuff! Not all viruses are bad news though.
When it comes to marketing, going viral focuses on spreading information and opinions about a product or service, person to person, especially through social media or e-mail.
The ultimate goal of viral marketing is to create viral messages that appeal to individuals with high social networking potential and that have a high probability of being presented and spread by these individuals in their communications with others in a short period of time.
Obviously at BNI the idea of viral marketing is appealing and may also remind some members of word-of-mouth marketing.
So how is viral marketing different to word-of-mouth marketing? While both rely on networks to spread messages, the main difference is that strong word-of-mouth is based on a compelling customer experience while viral marketing is engineered to specifically spread the word about a product.
Word-of-mouth marketing is much more about building up relationships in your network over the long-term based on the experience you are offering. People get to know your business and products and tell other people about them, slowly building your customer base. Viral marketing, on the other hand, is all about creating a buzz and quickly building numbers up often in relation to a single product or experience. It’s easier to engineer viral marketing into some environments than others. Communication platforms like Skype, for example, share viral characteristics. There is a strong incentive to tell other people to join the network, because it improves the value of your own experience.
The Internet and social networks are where viral marketing flourishes. A clever advertisement or humorous image gets liked, shared and retweeted hundreds to millions of times within a 24 hour period as the virus spreads.
For BNI members viral marketing should complement the advertising and word-of-mouth efforts you are already making. If you aren’t already connecting on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, make the effort to get online today. While you’re there like the BNI page on Facebook and start thinking about your own viral marketing campaigns – this is one virus you’ll be happy to spread.
