Viral Marketing

I browsed to this site because of what I think viral marketing can do for companies trying to get their product or message out there. I believe that viral marketing will eventually be just marketing because of the cost (free) and the use of employee resource (little). Viral marketing is marketing that camoflages itself as an online infomercial. You don't get what the point of it is until later when it has spread like wildfire. Then you think to yourself, hey they had a good idea. That is exactly what viral marketing is, something that takes people by storm before they even realize they are being targeting for a product or service. The article admits that many people see viral marketing as a tricky, sometimes deceitful tactic that people have to give props to. The six principles of viral marketing effectiveness that the article gives are that it gives away products or services, it provides for effortless transfer to others, it scales easily from small to very large, it exploits common motivations and behaviors, it utilizes existing communications networks, and it takes advantage of others' resources. Hotmail.com was one early example that the article offers that executed all of those principles to it's advantage. One of my favorite viral marketing campaigns was the Dove beauty YouTube video that made headlines within the past year that looks like a college student put it together in their dorm. It is a very interesting clip with an appropriate soundtrack and a simple message. Log onto YouTube and type in Dove commerical for a look at it. Anyways, viral marketing is the future for successful business and it will stay the course as long as the internet does.
--westonJ OUT
http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-principles.htm