Types Of Viral Marketing -- And How Does It Work?

Did you notice that every day, there is a new dance on Tiktok, or a challenge, or a song, or even a meme that almost everyone is raving about? It isn't even something that's just popular because everybody watches it; rather, it spreads like wildfire because everybody does it! Why do you think it's called viral marketing in the first place? It's because it proliferates like a virus! Imagine someone catching a cold. Later on, everyone in the room already has it. That is essentially what viral marketing is all about. The goal is to spread your ad campaigns or posts like a virus! 

Obviously, viral marketing is a business strategy that helps in promoting your products or services. The concept is realized when an ad is disseminated online via various channels like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, or other social media platforms and transmitted from one person to another. The word "viral" is somehow the trend now, and it is what exactly every advertiser wants to hear about their campaigns. The more exposure it gets from people, it will surely arrive at its target audience and result in a skyrocket in sales. However, making content go viral isn't a walk in the park. It took lots of serious brainstorming to reach into what can be a virally plausible idea. That is why read further into this article to know some simple tips and tricks on viral marketing, its types, and some examples.

What is Viral Marketing?

Any ad, article, or campaign that creates enough buzz to be extensively shared over the internet and inspire interest in a brand, organization, or product is considered viral marketing. Usually, this attention frequently results in an increase in sales and consumers. The term “viral” alludes to the notion that the material is transferred from amongst everybody, much like a virus.

Viral advertising is frequently a covert type of marketing. People can be influenced to purchase a product or avail service unconsciously through the guise of viral marketing. It is because they can relate to the content of the video and photo, the message it is trying to send, or whatever else related to the ad. Most often, viral content is shared by one person but snowballs to everyone, thus making the campaign progress.

It's conceivable that you've heard the phrase "viral" without really having enough awareness of what lies beyond it. Every day, something goes viral, whether it's a video of a famous celebrity doing some challenges that trended on Tiktok or a powerful ad during a pandemic. Do you think viral campaigns happen by chance? Are you convinced that they all happen randomly? Perhaps, yes, but little did you know, many of the things that become viral are the result of well-planned viral marketing strategies.

Viral marketing used to be a difficult and time-consuming process, but now that social media isn’t going anywhere, it becomes simpler for people to share content that provokes or inspires them. You may discover amusing and unusual videos and other stuff on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and other social media platforms. But the challenge with viral marketing is the fight for attention. Viral ad campaigns may sometimes be dangerous. They may appear to be straightforward to publish, yet there is a risk of being misunderstood. If this occurs, the campaign's efforts to go viral may boomerang to you. Nonetheless, if your viral marketing campaign worked in your favor, the reward is also worth it.

Types of Viral Marketing

There is a massive amount of information that can be seen online, and people do not just share everything; rather, they only share the content that resonates with them. This is the reason why marketers should be aware of the various viral marketing types in order to attract more people and improve brand image.

Emotional Marketing

Users find it tough to ignore viral ads that elicit powerful emotions. Thus, it is important to take note that a viral commercial which can appeal to people's feelings of happiness, nostalgia, melancholy, or even pride can influence people to partake in your cause. Shared waves of laughter, smiles, or even tears can be a good indicator that consumers are emotionally connected with your ad. Your effective appeal to emotions may compel your audiences to share your material with others who would benefit from it. 

Buzz Marketing

Viral advertising of this type must generate noise in order to get the attention of consumers, as it can be a good point of discussion between two people who have seen it. In effect, the topic created from your viral ad will be shared with everyone, even those who have not really seen your campaign, and it is because of the buzz.

Incentivized Marketing

An incentive campaign reinforces people to share your content with the people they know. Many businesses, for example, employ refer-a-friend programs that reward the original client a commission when they bring in a new customer. You may even provide the new client a discount if they utilize their friend's referral link to make a purchase.

Engineered Marketing

Several viral marketing initiatives are the result of sophisticated strategies and months of meticulous planning. Although there have been a handful of campaigns that need not these types of investments and are considered to have gone viral randomly, the numbers aren’t significant. In general, the most effective ads have been intentionally designed to become viral.

Lucky/Chance Marketing

While viral marketing is typically well-planned and engineered, sometimes there is still a segment of luck or chance involved as well. Marketers cannot always foresee how events will evolve, as an advertisement may strike a chord with an unexpected audience, or it may pique the curiosity of a previously unanticipated audience in a blink. Although every campaign aims to reach as many people as possible, some commercials become viral for reasons other than reaching a large number of people.

How Does Viral Marketing Work?

In principle, viral marketing initiatives are easy to implement. A marketer develops a film, an image, or any other form of content to appeal to a certain target demographic. The marketer next posts the material to the internet and advertises it to existing clients. At that moment, the fuse has been ignited, and all that remains is for users to share the content and for it to be disseminated.

There are occasions when virality occurs more by chance. A private user may post a video of themself doing the most random things and still raise buzz on the internet because it was amusing. These chance/luck marketing, on the other hand, are less prevalent among marketers. Effective marketing utilizes well-planned strategies to guarantee that the content they provide resonates with the crowd.

There are two major methods for disseminating content for businesses and brands: displayed and concealed. In the displayed method, the user is immediately aware that what they are seeing is a video material about a specific brand or company. Meanwhile, in the concealed method, the audience does not realize that the brand is behind the ad content until later, as the marketers are trying to prompt you with the brand. Both mentioned methods are effective. However, viral marketing techniques demonstrate that employing a concealed method must be done prudently so that the user does not feel tricked or fooled in any manner. In any case, it's critical that the material is never imposing. The message from the promoted brand must be carefully phrased and exactly timed for content to pique enough attention to be shared.

Thanks for reading!
Kristy Yoder here, the founder and CEO of Smart VAs, a Filipino based in the United States. Visit us on Facebook or hang out with us on Instagram to stay up-to-date on what’s in store for you! And don’t forget to Download our FREE E-book on Delegation.