VIRAL MARKETING 
FOR BUSINESS GROWTH

Ingredients of a Viral Campaign

Virality is unpredictable. There is no organic way to infuse or forecast vitality of a campaign. Viral Marketing campaigns are the unicorns of marketing. 

 

• Audience Reliance

Throwing money at a campaign does not make it go viral. Viral marketing depends heavily on customers naturally spreading a brand’s message with little or no push from the brand. The only thing a brand can do is to ensure that the communication appeals to their main audience, their interests and emotions in the hope that it goes viral.  

 

• Timing 

Some of the best organic and natural viral campaigns are ones that are timely (case in point - Oreo’s “Dunking in the Dark” tweet). Understanding trends and even highjacking (viraljacking) trends using popular memes, pop culture references, etc. can help create virality for your campaign or your brand. 

 

• Risk

Brands that are afraid to take a risk, most often never see any of their campaigns go viral. The bolder and more timely the campaign, the bigger the risk and better the chance of it going viral. 

 

• Context

Campaigns that shock; incorporate a sense of cultural nuance and context, tend to attract attention. However this is not enough for the campaign to go viral. It also requires building a level of context so that the true message of the brand is clear, easy to understand and emotional enough for the viewer to share.

 

• Patience

Industry categories have patterns, so does your brand; having patience and trying different techniques and methods to see what works and what doesn’t for your audience will help you to eventually uncover a pattern that works for your brand and hopefully achieve virality. 

 

• Social Landscape

Understanding which media platform your audience predominately uses is also another key ingredient. Brands that create and publish content on social channels where most of their customers are available have a greater likelihood of brands’ content going viral.

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Benefits of Viral Campaigns

Viral Marketing is low cost because brands don’t have to spend money to promote the content yet achieve vast reach that can significantly deliver growth and brand awareness in a relatively short period of time. Because Viral Marketing is bold and timely it tends to get picked up by mainstream media that in turn contributes to lead generation and helps build brand awareness. 

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A Pitfall of Viral Campaigns 

As people share the campaign, the original message sometimes gets distorted during the sharing process. This can result in misinterpretation of the original message or it becoming a parody. Either way, it can work against the brand. Campaigns that trick or cheat or deceive or spam audiences are not viral campaigns but rather unethical marketing practices. Viral Campaigns are short-lived and, if poorly executed, can offend people.