We’ve talked about viral marketing and its use in some nonprofits’ fundraising efforts in the past. The following July 6 New York Times article offers a bit more to think about.
The idea behind viral marketing is irresistible: plant your message in the right place, then sit back and watch people spread it through social networks, e-mail and word-of-mouth.
It really should work. After all, the viruses that lead to diseases and computer breakdowns spread all too easily — even when we desperately try to stop them. But trying to infuse some positive and constructive energy into metaphorical viruses turns out to be very hard. According to a report by JupiterResearch, “24 percent of marketers have run a viral marketing campaign, but many struggle to get the expected buzz.”
Marketers aren’t giving up the fight. They plan to continue their viral efforts on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace through such tools as fan pages and special videos. But marketers still need to deploy complementary efforts like traditional advertising, Jupiter says. Otherwise, they face a society that is all too quick to develop natural immunities to their efforts.
So the message here is “integrated marketing”? I think the reason many non-profits aim for viral marketing is that they think it will cost less than normal marketing. We see videos and ads “go viral” all the time. However, many times these are assisted by other marketing – billboards, magazine ads, TV spots, etc.
Viral marketing’s just like other marketing – It takes effort, and usually money… unless you get very lucky.
A popular posting is one that circulates rapidly on social media and goes much beyond the number of participants you currently have. The majority of posts have a short lifespan because they do not receive a high number of likes right away, and so do not reach a huge number of people. Postings that immediately attract the attention of followers and produce a large number of likes and shares in a short period of time, on the other hand, are highly likely to become viral!