Author: Maria Kelly, R2integrated
The question of how companies use viral marketing to capture market share is a hot-topic right now. If you’re new to viral marketing, the first thing you should know is a basic definition of it, so here goes:
Viral Marketing – creating a promotional campaign that is inherently fun and/or engaging and has the effect of spreading quickly throughout a company’s target market.
Examples of how companies use viral marketing can be seen all around if you’re looking. One of the easiest ways to do this is the combination of YouTube and interesting video. Also, contests—particularly digital contests—that are backed by inspired viral thinking are very successful.
But the inspired thinking is the most important part of a viral campaign. Before understanding how companies use viral marketing, it’s important to understand where the inspiration for the most successful viral campaigns comes from.
Inspiration surrounds us every day. As a writer, my ideas come from a multitude of people, places and experiences. In fact, my daily routine breeds ideas….they live in books I’ve read, conversations with family, friends and colleagues, my hopes and dreams for the future….my imagination. The world is my muse, brimming with thoughts ready to be captured and transformed from the obvious into the awesome.
I was recently challenged with creating a viral campaign to spread the word about a global biotechnology conference. My approach was to take inspiration from my surroundings. Inspiration that eventually led me to a simple item. A name badge (those stickers that say “hello, my name is”). This idea then developed into an even brighter idea…so bright, it would engage the user and get our client excited.
This name badge was then transformed into a community-building widget allowing conference attendees to refer friends, show their support and browse others attending the convention.
What does any of this have to do with inspiration? It’s simple: you can find inspiration in the simplest of things, the most routine places. Recognizing those items or moments are key to understanding how companies use viral marketing…by transforming inspiration into something awesome is ultimate success. So my curious mind wonders…. where do you find inspiration?