Viral Marketing Tips for Founders
By: Jeff Roberti
Viral marketing can be an effective, low-cost way to market your product or service. More than half of the world is connected to social media. Viral marketing relies on users to spread their campaigns, often very rapidly.
Let’s look at some tips to ensure that your viral marketing campaign is a success:
Call to Action
Your campaign needs to have a call to action to be effective. This could be in the form of prompting users to like a post, share, sign up for a newsletter, or take similar actions. These will help you grow your engagement and boost the number of people who see your post.
Referrals & Incentives
Word-of-mouth is one of the oldest forms of viral marketing. Incentivize referrals by offering referral codes that benefit the user when their friends & family sign up. Offering a coupon for every person they refer is a common and effective strategy in which everyone wins.
Emotional & Inspiring Content
Create a campaign that people can connect to on an emotional level. Create a campaign with a strong message that inspires people to share with their social circles. When you evoke emotions, your brand becomes synonymous with the topic of discussion, often for months or years to come.
Influencers
Collaborating with reputable influencers is a great way to promote your brand outside of your market. Good influencers have tens of thousands of followers. Having them wear or review your product allows you to tap into their follower base. Marketing a giveaway through their channels is a great way to broaden your own follower base.
Non-Invasive
When an advertisement for a product interrupts a YouTube video, users are quick to skip the ad. Taking a non-invasive approach is a more effective means of getting your message across to the user. They are more likely to engage when they can do it on their terms.
Creatively Collaborate With a Cause
Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge in support of ALS? Support a cause by creating a challenge that is fun for users to take part in. Having them nominate others is a good way to garner attention for your brand, especially when tied to a cause. The Millennial and Gen-Z market also responds positively to brands that support a cause.
We are now in a digital age where everything moves incredibly fast. Viral marketing is a great way for brands to get a foot in the door quickly. Before you embark on a viral marketing campaign, ensure that your company can meet the potentially explosive demand.
Jeffrey Roberti is a world renowned marketing and networking expert. You can connect with him here.