Viral marketing the easy way
Viral marketing is a powerful method of getting your message
around. You start a self replicating mesage and launch it into
cyberspace. Then it and the carriers that it "infects" does all
the work for you.
A viral message has two parts, first it gets the receiver to
carry out some action such as subscribe to your newsletter, or
buy a product.
The second part of a viral message is to get the receiver to
pass the message on. This is the self replicating bit, and the
bit that makes viral marketing so special.
Great in theory, but it doesn't always work in practice.
Why do some viral marketing efforts fail to spread as their
originators intend, while others thrive?
Harvey Segal, an internet marketing expert, has spent some time
figuring this out. He has identified that the problem lies in
the self-replicating bit. Getting enough of your receiver to
complete this process is the weakest link where many viral
campaign fail. This is hardly rocket science...but let's look at
it carefully.
A popular method of viral marketing is to use rebrandable
ebooks. You send out an ebook with some useful information in
it. It contains some links which are of value to you, say to a
product you are selling on your own account or as an affiliate.
To make the book viral you encourage the recipient to REBRAND
the ebook with his or her own links and send it on. This is the
incentive part of process. Your need to ensure that all
recipients have the tools, the skills and the incentive to pass
the message on.
The problem is that rebranding the book is a bit clumsy,
typically you have to download and unzip a file, then run an
executable file to put your own links into it. Maybe you need to
sign up for a few affiliate programs and enter your ID's. None
of this is especially difficut but it can be a drag, even with
detailed instructions. Harvey reckons this is where you get a
lot of drop outs. If you get too many your program will grow
very slowly,or even just die out.
As I said, none of this is rocket science, but what Harvey does
to solve the problem of drop outs is very smart.
Instead of all of your recipients, and their recipients, having
to go through the rebranding process Harvey has set up a method
of doing it on the fly. So the weakest suddenly becomes very
strong.
But that's not all you need. A viral program needs powerful
tools to teach recipients how to distribute the message further.
Not all recipients will know how to use autoresponders, opt-in
lists and forums. The message has to be packaged up with the
means for its own replication.
Once you have set up your first viral ebook you will be full of
ideas for more. Your experience will help you do it quicker and
better next time around.