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What is viral marketing?

Word-of-mouth is the most successful kind of marketing. People listen to their friends' recommendations. Viral marketing is essentially an online recommendation passed from friend to friend by email. To spark off the chain of recommendations you need to create a clever or funny email (viral) which people will want to pass on.

What makes a good viral marketing campaign?

  • A short film or video content. This doesn't have to be professionally produced. Clever use of mobile phone video can be enough. Have a look at Friends of Earth's viral film called Sticky Question which they used to recruit new campaigners and Amnesty's Teleshop film.  
  • Photos. Eye-catching, funny, surprising.
  • Stories and jokes.
  • Questionnaires, interactive tests, multiple choice tests.
  • Games.

Try out the volunteer related virals TimeBank have produced for charities such as Help the Hospices, Year of the Volunteer and more. Try the Crime Concern viral game. 

To see the most popular virals being circulated via email and the web, have a look at the Lycos viral chart or The Guardian's weekly viral video chart. 

For further inspiration have a look at www.leeanddan.com or the virals blog www.bbdo.co.uk.  

Top tips to make your viral successful

  • Make sure the content of your viral email can be seen easily. Don't ask people to click on lots of links. They won't.
  • Give people a reason to send it on. People are most likely to forward on funny content.
  • The subject line of your email needs to lure people in. 
  • Make it easy to send on. Include a simple link in the email or an easy "Send to a friend" form.
  • Put in place a tracking system. Have some mechanism (a hotlink) attached to your viral for people to register their interest in your charity/ campaign.
  • Virals shouldn't be considered a standalone marketing tactic. It needs to be integrated into other media and marketing activities.
  • Be targeted. Choose your mailing lists carefully and upload your viral onto suitable websites such as YouTube, MySpace, Google Video etc. Find out more about purchasing mailing lists in the article, The A to Z of advertising.
  • Could your viral also work on mobile phones? There are nearly 70million mobiles in the UK. Find out more in The A to Z of advertising.

 

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