Viral marketing on the Internet. Viral advertising, or How to infect the target audience with your ideas? Stages of developing viral advertising on the Internet

, product or service. The technology is based on the desire of people to share information, as a result of which a marketing message, like a virus, is transmitted from one person to another, taking advantage of every opportunity.

History of origin

marketing (“Virus in marketing”). In it, he outlined six rules for creating and developing viral marketing, thereby laying the foundations for a new direction.

Rayport predicted that this innovation would soon become widespread. And already in 1999, this idea was first implemented on the Internet: on the Hotmail mail service, each user’s letter was automatically accompanied by an invitation from the company to open a mailbox on Hotmail.

A significant contribution to the popularization and development of viral marketing was made by a certain category of office employees, who are also known as “office plankton”.
The category of low-level office employees, who always have time during the working day to exchange entertaining or funny information with each other, have become a priority target audience for viral marketers.

Especially if we consider that these consumers of viral advertising are also a fairly solvent audience, this served as a compelling reason for the introduction of this type of advertising into the Internet community.

Types of viral content

Various communities can act as conductors of viral marketing, for example, trendsetters (from English to set trend “to establish, introduce a trend”) - specially trained and hired agents, as well as people with high purchasing power or a predisposition to purchase certain goods, which are often may be regular customers or discount card holders.

Viral marketing is especially effective if it is carried out on frequently visited pages on social networks, Internet pages with real bloggers who have a certain audience, history and authority on various resources (in this case, cooperation can also be carried out on a paid basis).

Stages of a viral campaign

A viral campaign consists of four key and equally significant stages:

Like any type of marketing communication, viral marketing has its advantages and disadvantages that must be taken into account when working with it. The advantages include:

1. Minimum Costs.
2. Information is transmitted from a “trusted” source, and is not imposed by mass advertising.

The disadvantages are the following:

1. It is difficult to organize control.
2. Information is often greatly distorted.

Conditions for a successful viral marketing campaign

In order for a viral message in a veiled form to be freely distributed among the maximum number of Internet users, you should take care of some preparatory nuances.
1) Suitable sites.

In order for a viral message to be seen and appreciated by its first users, you should choose a high-quality, highly visited website, popular online communities on social networks, thematic forums and other popular sites for posting it.
2) The speed and ease of spread of the virus.
Convenient conditions should be created for the exchange and dissemination of information between users:
- no registrations or access restrictions,
- access to the necessary information in a minimum of clicks.
- good usability of the site-platform.
3) The novelty of the viral idea.

You shouldn’t even try to copy someone else’s successful viral strategies or borrow other people’s ideas. In viral marketing, innovation and uniqueness are valued above all else.
4) A clear understanding of the target audience that the viral strategy will be aimed at.

Areas of application of viral marketing

According to the channels of influence and the methods used, viral marketing can be classified as follows:

Viral Marketing Offline

1) Buzz - the deliberate and planned spread of rumors for commercial purposes. Moreover, it is quite beneficial for advertisers if, as a result, information from the original source is distorted and overgrown with fictitious additional information. Such a marketing move requires extreme caution, because the vector of events can get out of control and then the “marketer’s weapon” can turn into a boomerang.
2) WOM - advertising by word of mouth. This is an extraordinary verbal advertising communication, the essence of which is that the distributors of information in WOM understand what they are doing, why and what material benefit they will have in the end.
In practice, the use of this technology looks something like this: specially hired people live their lives, work, go about their business, but in the process of communicating with other people do not forget to mention, on occasion, the name of a brand, brand or product and tell something about it in a positive way key.
3) Opinion Leaders - opinion leaders. Famous people (stars, actors, influential people) who have their own circle of fans or whose opinion is considered indisputable. Through these persons it is quite possible to influence the inclinations of consumers.
For each industry, market, region, opinion leaders are different, but in any case, the words of opinion leaders are believed more than advertising, because the opinion of a well-established person is more interesting for buyers than advertising.
Naturally, leaders voice their opinions, recommendations and thoughts about the promoted product or service not for free, but their words are heard by a wider circle of people, which means it is advisable to pay advertisers for this service.
4) Friend – communication that has many types of impact, but is based on the “refer a friend” mechanism and receive a discount, prize, bonus or other benefit for this.

Viral Marketing Online

1) Viral Video – viral video. The essence is this: an entertaining, funny, exciting video with any plot that may be interesting is uploaded to a popular portal. Not necessarily about the advertised products. It’s even possible without censorship or from the “only for adults” category. In the context of the video, subtitles are launched with the website address or company name. And you can count on an impressive number of visitors.
2) Viral Game – a game with a viral mechanism. The bottom line is that the advertiser entertains his potential buyers. As a rule, it is impossible to do without exciting competitions, public events and valuable prizes. Naturally, this type of viral game marketing can only be afforded by large corporations that are preparing to promote a rather exclusive product to the market.
3) Blogging – influence by exploiting the interests of readers and visitors.

When traditional online promotion methods don't work, it's time to look for a different, more creative approach to the problem. This could be viral advertising on the Internet. Viral advertising is one of the most effective ways to promote a business. That is why such large brands as Samsung, Nintendo, Volkswagen and hundreds of others regularly use it in their advertising campaigns.

What is viral advertising and how does it work?

Viral advertising is any advertising on the network that is voluntarily distributed by users themselves. A sort of “word of mouth” of the 21st century. The fact is that trust in commercial advertising is now at a low level. Company promotion is not always led by a professional marketer. Therefore, the intrusiveness, irritability and uniformity of frankly bad advertising did their job - it became invisible to Internet users.

Viral advertising, unlike classic advertising, works on a different principle. Trust in it is due to the fact that it comes not from the company itself, but from acquaintances, friends, and relatives. Is there any reason for a person not to trust the opinions of loved ones? Definitely not. Everyone listens to the advice and reviews of real people much more than to empty advertising promises. Therefore, when using viral advertising, it can give impressive results. But only if you approach its creation correctly.

History of Viral Marketing

The history of viral marketing begins with a 1996 article written by the founder and chairman of the division of the largest strategic consulting company Marketspace LLC, Jeffrey Rayport. In his article, he also introduced such concepts as “psychological advertising”, “socio-organic advertising” and “self-valued advertising”.

According to the expert, the classic 20-30 second commercials between television programs are gradually becoming obsolete. Therefore, there is a need to organically fit advertising into the lives of consumers.

“Most marketers know that penetrating the consumer's mind is the most difficult task; the usual answer is to simply turn up the volume. Viruses are smarter: they find their way into consciousness under the guise of other, unrelated activities.” (excerpt from article)

In addition, Jeffrey Rayport has developed 6 rules for successful viral marketing. And, despite the fact that the article was written 20 years ago, these rules are still relevant.

Rules for successful viral marketing:

• Cunning is the essence of entering the market correctly.
• Give the client something for free - the profit will come later.
• Advertising must convey a message to the target audience.
• Advertising should look like an organism, not a virus.
• Harness the power of weak ties.
• Invest to reach the tipping point.

According to the expert, viral marketing can revolutionize the idea of ​​promotion. And, despite the fact that the effect is not immediately visible, the results can grow exponentially. Therefore, positive dynamics are a sure sign that viral marketing has worked.

Reasons for the popularity of viral marketing: pros and cons

There has been a lot of buzz around viral marketing lately. Some argue that this method of promotion fits perfectly with the modern consumer, while others, ardent supporters of traditional marketing, doubt its effectiveness. Therefore, you need to consider the pros and cons of viral advertising.

• Cheap distribution. The promotion of the commercial is carried out by the users themselves, so the costs of its distribution are significantly lower than classical promotion.
• Increased user confidence. Most often, viral advertising comes from people you know, which increases its credibility.
• Lack of intrusiveness. The user has the right to independently choose whether to open the link or not.
• Easy targeting. Channels for seeding are determined by the advertiser at its own discretion, taking into account the parameters of the target audience and the format of future advertising.
• No censorship. Using viral marketing, the advertiser receives complete freedom, or almost complete (videos of a pornographic, violent, etc. nature are prohibited).
• No time restrictions. If you compare viral videos with television advertising, there are no such restrictions as when using airtime.
• Large audience reach. When used correctly, advertising spreads like a virus, reaching audiences of millions.

• Difficulty in predicting the outcome. Viral advertising is unpredictable. You can hire a team of marketers and order a high-quality video that will only get a couple of thousand reposts. Then, an amateur video shot on a regular smartphone will easily cross the 1,000,000 mark.
• High cost of implementing the idea. The idea is the basis of viral marketing. And sometimes the budget for its implementation reaches six figures.
• Limited target audience. This type of marketing can only exist within the Internet space. It is impossible to implement it offline.

Examples of viral online advertising

To fully understand the essence of this marketing tool, you need to analyze it using specific examples. There are thousands of them on the Internet, in particular on the popular video hosting site YouTube. Moreover, among them there are both brilliant ideas and not so great ones.

• Photo.
• Video.
• By text.
• Application.

As examples, we need to consider all 4 types of viral advertising, which worked equally well.

• Viral photo from Nikon.

According to the marketing planners, it is immediately clear that the advertising is aimed primarily at a male audience. Moreover, the brand saved a lot on the advertising campaign budget without compromising the effectiveness of the viral photo.

• Viral video from the John Lewis chain of foreign department stores

The number of views of this video is simply off the charts - 26,630,934. Viral promotion of the video on YouTube also turned out to be very productive - almost 2 million reposts. His secret is simple - the video made the audience laugh sincerely. Of course, judging by the quality of the video, a lot of money was spent on implementing the author’s idea, but the result clearly paid for all the costs.

• Viral article on the Huffington Post website

• Promoting the Lipton brand through a viral application

The “Favorite Farm” application is widely known among users of the social networks vkontakte.ru, odnoklassniki.ru and mail.ru. The company, having integrated its brand into this application, attracted 1.3 million new users within one month.

There are many successful examples of successful viral marketing. But in order to launch the desired advertising format, you must first analyze the target audience and then determine distribution channels. Since the advertising format mainly depends on the platform where it is placed.

How to make viral advertising?

Having been inspired by the examples, you can start planning an advertising campaign for your own business. But the question immediately arises - where to start? And you need to start with the basics of viral advertising on the Internet.

Today there is no special technology for success in creating viral advertising. But according to the observations of marketers, there are standard techniques that increase the likelihood of its rapid spread. Users are most loyal to advertising that contains:

• Children.
• Animals.
• Stunts and special effects.
• Girls of model appearance (only for male audience).

But sometimes the psychology of viral advertising turns out to be much more complex. And materials that seem guaranteed to bring success remain unnoticed. In this case, one can only hope that the next attempt will be more successful.

Viral advertising on VKontakte

Social networks are an excellent platform for spreading viral advertising. Users of social networks, in particular VKontakte, without any coercion, like, comment on posts, and repost content that interests them.

When viral advertising is ready for seeding, you need to immediately determine the channels for its promotion. If, at first glance, it seems that it is enough to throw it on your VK page and then it will promote itself, then this is not so. To spread a virus across a social network you need to:

• Select groups where the largest number of target audiences are concentrated.
• Agree with the owner about publication.
• Track all events related to the advertising campaign.
• Prepare an escape route if viral advertising has the opposite effect.

It is worth noting that viral advertising does not always work as it should. Sometimes a provocative video becomes a reason for condemnation and a lot of negativity towards the company. To preserve the brand’s reputation, you need to immediately think of an option that could smooth out this situation.

An example is a video advertising the game Word of Tanks. There, Vadim Galygin, in the role of a father, locks his supposed son in a closet and nails him with boards in order to play the above-mentioned game. This story caused a lot of negativity and reproaches. The company was also accused of child abuse. Therefore, the company representative had to declare that this video was not an official advertisement produced by their company.

Viral advertising on Instagram

Viral advertising on Instagram is most often presented in photo format. Text is not suitable, since users often do not read what is written under the photo. And YouTube is intended for viral video promotion; Instagram is used only as an additional channel for seeding.

• Unobtrusiveness. The words “Promotion”, “Sale”, “New” and other advertising cliches should not be mentioned in the photo and in the description below it.
• Humor or cuteness. Funny and touching photos are best promoted on Instagram. And there is a reason for this. According to statistics, the majority of the active audience on this social network are girls between 20 and 30 years old.
• Relevance. The message that the photo carries must correspond to current trends. In order not to make a mistake, you should conduct an analysis and study the interests of the target audience before creating advertising.
• Discussions. It’s good when advertising not only evokes positive emotions, but also provokes users to enter into a discussion. Therefore, the idea of ​​​​the plot must be controversial so that a person has a desire to express his point of view.
• Advertising message. In all circumstances, one must not forget to establish a connection with the brand. This could be a barely noticeable logo or the use of a unique product in the story, the sight of which makes it immediately clear who it belongs to. For example, black pumps with red soles are immediately associated with the famous Christian Louboutin brand.

Popular public pages or accounts of opinion leaders are selected for distribution. The last option is the most effective. Because Instagram users watch the lives and publications of their idols with great interest.

How to create viral advertising in Odnoklassniki?

Odnoklassniki is a social network for a more mature generation of users. The main advantage of this social network is that “class” is both a like and a repost. Therefore, it is enough to make a post that users will simply like.

Most often, viral posts on Odnoklassniki are those with the caption “Do you remember this?”, “Have you had this happen too?” And so on. Therefore, when creating advertising in Odnoklassniki, it is best to “press” on nostalgia. The 40+ generation remembers their early years with pleasure.

To distribute viral advertising, as in other cases, you should choose groups with a large number of target audiences. Promotion in Odnoklassniki occurs much faster than in other social networks. Because, by putting “class”, the user, without realizing it, promotes viral advertising among his friends.

Calculating the success of viral advertising

A sad fact that all marketers know is that the success of viral advertising cannot be calculated in advance. Therefore, no one can guarantee a positive result of an advertising campaign. If a “specialist” promises quick creation and distribution of a video, you should not order or trust him with business promotion. Conscious concealment of possible risks is not professional behavior of a marketer.

The success of viral advertising can be determined after 3 days from the date of its launch. This period marks the peak of its distribution after sowing. As research by Unruly Media shows, if an advertisement has not gained popularity within this period, we can consider that the advertising campaign has failed. Although in some cases the life cycle of viral advertising can reach 3 years.

Examples of viral advertising

Not really

Hello all readers!

All means are good for promoting goods and services. Enterprising advertisers will stop at nothing to increase sales.

Aggressive and productive viral marketing allows you to achieve your goal using the audience that is most involved in sales.

How does viral marketing work?

Some share their impressions and recommend a product or service consciously, others - under the influence of the crowd. Not only products, but also ideas can be promoted.

The partisan way of spreading the “virus” allows the target audience to believe that this is their own choice. For example, videos and links to groups where information is presented as a joke, entertainment, or prank are very popular on social networks.

Human psychology is such that when watching a commercial on TV, a person is skeptical about the simulated grimaces of famous (and unknown) actors, realizing that behind a beautiful picture there may be a dummy hidden.

The viral marketing strategy is based on recommendations from familiar people, ordinary users who, in theory, do not need to popularize anything. And if a friend sends an interesting video, recommends a product, company, service, then there is no reason not to trust him.

Most people, before making any purchase or seeking services from a company or company, look for reviews about them on the Internet. And if an ordinary pensioner from Tver or a neighbor from the house opposite writes with spelling errors about the high quality of the product, then you want to believe him, he is the same as us, there is no reason for him to lie.

And the fact that a review can be written by anyone, paid for or exchanged is understandable. The main thing is that the idea works!

Why is viral advertising beneficial?

In order to launch a commercial on TV, a considerable investment will be required: advertising time is not cheap, and then there are also the costs of filming and editing. On the Internet, the distribution of viral advertising material is economically justified.

Vulgar and funny - these are the two pillars on which the speed of distribution of the video is based.

The time for displaying an advertising block on TV is limited, it is aimed at a specific audience. And on the Internet, the video “walks” unhindered, saved as a working link, disturbing the Network again and again. Even if the video is beaten to bits, sooner or later there is a user who has not seen it and is in a hurry to show off his find.

Distributing advertising on social networks does not require compliance with search engine requirements; on the contrary, it works bypassing the general rules. Non-search promotion pays off when working with a live online audience. In the same way, you can influence minds on forums, blogs, and conferences, especially thematic ones, where fans of your business gather.

Viral Marketing- influence on the target audience, promotion of goods and services at the expense and efforts of the target audience itself, voluntarily (consciously or unconsciously) participating in the dissemination of information about the subject of marketing.

The term itself viral marketing” means spread from person to person within the target group, which forms the basis of the whole idea of ​​​​a “viral” process. Original information, an idea in the form of a ready-made marketing message (video, text), is virally transmitted to each other in the form of “jokes”, recommended information and links for viewing; As a result, information is associated with benefit and (or) entertainment rather than with an imposed advertising message.

The popularity of viral marketing has been growing noticeably lately: fast Internet channels allow users to easily exchange video clips, photos and music files; The growing popularity of various online communities and blogs contributes to the spread of viral marketing. Almost every third person who receives an interesting message forwards it to a friend. As you know, in order to force a person to buy a product, it is necessary to create a need for this product. People forward links that they find interesting, those that subconsciously touch upon their areas of interest and needs. Thus, a well-made viral product actualizes the problem that the product is designed to solve.

Benefits of Viral Marketing:

The absence of censorship, restrictions, and self-restraints is one of the incentives for the development of viral marketing. The main interest of the general public is directed towards materials of a sexual or scandalous nature, which do not always find a place on television, just like the use of images of children or health workers in advertising. In addition, there are advertisers who do not have the opportunity to broadcast in the media, according to the advertising law. These are producers of alcohol, tobacco and a number of other “forbidden” products, for which viral advertising seems to be the most promising area of ​​promotion.

If we talk about the lifespan of viral marketing, then it is worth noting that on TV a video is shown at a strictly defined time, which is carefully selected to catch the target audience. On the Internet, information is distributed at a time convenient for the user. A video saved as a link can be viewed at any convenient time and any number of times. As a result, according to experts, the period of vital activity of viral advertising is at least three years.

Regular advertising on the Internet does not provide the desired conversion? No wonder. Internet users are so tired of annoying advertising messages, videos, banners and other things that on a subconscious level they try to avoid them. What to do in this case? Stop advertising? Of course not! It is possible and necessary to advertise a product and/or company, it just needs to be done more competently, unobtrusively, interestingly, and originally. Content must be presented in such a way that users themselves want to not only perceive, but also disseminate information. We are talking, as you understand, about viral advertising.

Viral advertising got its name because it literally “infects” the audience with its idea and spreads like a real virus. Thanks to its originality, it is well remembered and quickly transferred from user to user. But such success is possible provided that advertising helps solve consumer problems and can reach the maximum audience. Viral advertising is most easily spread through social networks, forums, email, i.e., through the Internet.

Advantages of viral advertising

• Benefit. Creating and distributing a “virus” is much cheaper than launching a traditional advertising campaign, since in this case you only spend money on creating the video, and distributing it is completely free, while you have to pay for each impression of traditional advertising.
• Scale. If viral advertising is successful, the reach of the target audience will be simply enormous and the cost of 1 contact with a consumer will be minimal.
• Freedom from censorship. Of course, everything should be adequate. However, viral advertising is not subject to advertising law.

So, we come to the most important questions. How to create viral advertising? What viral marketing methods exist? We have to disappoint you: there is no universal algorithm of actions or uniform recommendations. Each company, each product has its own individual characteristics, its own target audience, so viral advertising should be different, unique, aimed specifically at the interests and needs of potential customers. However, we will highlight the key points used when creating any viral advertising.

Stages of developing viral advertising on the Internet

1. Unobtrusiveness. Advertising should not be intrusive; the key message should be clear, but not “shout” to the viewer: “Buy me!”
2. Humor . Note that the most popular viral videos are usually humorous. Although this is not a panacea. Your idea may not be compatible with laughter and evoke completely different emotions.
3. Relevance . It is important that your idea corresponds to current events in the world, people's mentalities, and pressing problems of society.
4. Positive emotions. We talked about how viral advertising should evoke emotions. Disgust, anger, contempt are also emotions, but you should not evoke negative feelings in people, otherwise they will be associated with your product/service and the company as a whole.
5. Novelty. The idea must be unique, one that no one has used before.
6. Discussions. Your advertising should provoke people to discuss and express their opinions. Only then will they begin to broadcast this on their pages on social networks and forums.
7. Advertising message. In pursuit of originality and creativity, do not forget about the message you want to convey to your target audience.

Thus, in the first 3 days after the launch of a viral advertising campaign, you can immediately determine its success in the future.

Examples of cool viral advertising for inspiration

Disney Characters Surprise Shoppers video - shared 3,757,909 times.

Video Love Has No Labels - shared 2,741,138 times.

Budweiser USA video: #BestBuds - shared 2,511,546 times.

Video “The first day of your new life” - 1,919,525 views.

Video “You have something to be proud of” - 8,235,902 views.

The animated video “Stupid Ways to Die” has received more than 30 million views.

Video “The end of the world during an interview.”

Check out these examples of viral marketing and get inspired! And also stay tuned for updates to our articles and learn new useful information to develop your business and increase your sales.