what is viral marketing? 5 questions to ask yourself before getting started
TRANSCRIPT
WHAT IS VIRAL MARKETING? 5 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF BEFORE GETTING STARTED
BY TRAVIS STEFFEN
FOUNDER, UPSHARE.CO
"The only sustainable growth is viral growth."
- Peter Thiel, Zero to One
So, what is viral marketing, anyway?
When somebody asks "what is viral marketing" your first thought is likely the latest and greatest thing you hear
that's "going viral”…
…whether it's the newest hilarious cat video that or the newest Kardashian
ridiculousness.
In this post, we're going to touch on three key areas:
1) WHAT makes this "viral" thing happen?
2) WHY does it happen?
3) And most importantly - what is viral marketing, and how can I
create it for MY site?.
If you've got a website, app or business you're working on, chances are you've
had this thought:
If only I could create something for
MY site that spreads virally...
First off - this is EXACTLY what Viral Hero has been created to help you achieve.
Secondly, we'd better clear up a common misconception right now…
…which is that the word "viral" simply describes a piece of content that
spreads like wildfire - like the latest funny video on Youtube.
This is false.
While this content is an important part of
viral marketing, in this case it's actually
YOUTUBE that's experiencing viral growth,
not the video itself.
The video is just the "viral media”,or what's actually being sharedto spread the site or app itself.
(I'll dig a lot deeper into the mechanics of viral media in a later post).
What's actually happening
So what is viral marketing? This should sum it up:
When you see the latest Epic Mealtime video on Youtube, or a clip of some D-list celeb getting in a brawl at the club - and then
you send it to a few friends…
…Youtube is what grows virally.
As this Youtube video spreads, more and more people are exposed or re-exposed to Youtube's video player.
They then get more users to their site, return dormant traffic, and likely suck
you in via various "recommended for you" features to get you watching even
more videos.
It's not the content or media being shared that spreads virally - it's the application
that houses it.
This media being displayed in Youtube's player is just a tool to help their
application spread, and it's just a single piece of a much larger viral puzzle.
On a user generated content site like Youtube, the content creator can see some added benefit themselves from taking a ride on Youtube's "viral loop"
However, usually the content creator issimply using Youtube as a medium of marketing more akin to PR and is not experiencing viral growth themselves.
(NOTE: Youtube is more unique these days as their user generated content model allows for "channels", so content creators actually MAY see user growth in the form of channel subscribers, although this is still
a feature on Youtube itself.)
Think you can answer the question "what is viral marketing" yet with certainty?
Hey now - don't get cocky. Keep reading...
Why "viral" marketing?
Viral marketing gets its name from the spread of disease.
If one person is infected, the people they touch are very likely to get infected as well.
Those people then infect others, who then infect others, and so on.
Before you know it, there's an epidemic.
Sometimes on the web, content spreadsin a similar way - so marketers adopted
the same term.
So let's try this again...what is viral marketing?
Viral marketing is the act of leveraging your own audience to pass on your
website or app to their friends.
In a nutshell, viral marketing is a form of direct response marketing where your
users are the ones who pass your message on.
As you get more and more users, you have more and more people
simultaneously spreading your product or application - so the exposure of
others to your message may - in some cases - be exponential.
This is why "going viral" is such a big deal.
To increase the viral nature of your website or app, ask yourself the following 5
questions:
1.WHY would my users share?
In other words, what inherent valueam I providing my users to share my
content with others?
Is there some sort of intrinsic value of sharing?
Will they be seen as some sort of expert, somebody in-the-know,
or somebody really funny?
2.What do my users GET for sharing?
Are there any extrinsic rewards that I'm
offering in exchange?
Will they earn elevated status on my site? Will they get special
privileges? Will they get some sort of discount, deal, or free gift?
(such as the Sharing Rewards you can create in 30 seconds on Upshare.co…)
3.What WAYS do I want them to
share?
Is the transmission of this content more applicable to a blanket wall
post on social media, a 1-to-1 personal email invite, an address
book invite - or something different?
4.WHERE do I make the ask?
Are you providing calls to action right when a user would realize the value of passing on your content?
5.How QUICK and EASY does this
"referral" or "invite" process occur?
If a user follows your instructions, how quickly can others come to the
site, become users, and start inviting others?
We'll get into all of these and more in depth as we go, but this should
hopefully set the record straight and get you thinking about viral marketing in a
more clear and productive way as it pertains to your site or app.
What's next?
Next - we talk about three very important words, go, viral, and more...but not in the order you might think.
It's important to realize that very few sites can really "go viral" from an
exponential standpoint - but you can make ANY website MORE viral, which can
be incredible for business growth.
Visit Chapter 2 of Viral Hero at www.upshare.co/
viralhero/viral-marketing-basics
and let's dive in.
If a user follows your instructions, how quickly can others come to the site, become users, and start inviting others?