Viral marketing sounds very avant-garde and you'd be forgiven for thinking that 'going viral' is for the latest teenage crazes, and doesn't apply to your business. But viral marketing existed long before Facebook YouTube and the internet, in fact, you could say pyramid selling is a form of viral marketing.
Viral marketing is any kind of marketing that encourages or induces people to pass on and communicate your marketing message to more people. Viral marketing effectively converts your audience into your own salesforce and team of brand advocates.
To go truly 'viral', each person should pass on your message to two or more people, therefore creating a coefficient of more than one and a reach that increases exponentially.
The key to viral marketing is incentivising your audience to become your brand advocate and share your message with their peers. This could be in the form of a competition, giveaway, discount/financial reward or if you're really smart, you'll get them to share your message because they want to be seen as aligned with, and loyal to your brand.
Competitions tend to run for a limited period of time, however, offering a giveaway, such as a gift or unlocking information or a service, when your audience has shared your message with four people or encouraged two people to sign up to your newsletter, will create a self-perpetuating loop. This we call a viral loop, and similar to evergreen content, it continues to spread your message, connect with new audiences and increase your reach.
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