It has been some time since my last post here, over a year in fact. Well, a lot has change, especially in terms of viral marketing. Basic principles remained the same, but Facebook grew to an incredible size and importance, even beating almighty Google as No. 1 address over the entire Internet.

Facebook’s significance and critical mass of people that spend their time logged in every day, gave new and previously unthinkable possibilities for spreading your viral message. Facebook itself was originally built as a kind of viral platform because of its focus on people’s curiosity. Your status posts, photos or videos are shown in your friends’ news feeds, depending on security settings you are able to see some stuff your friend’s friend posted. Imagine how that multiplies exposure of your intentionally posted content.

Remember, basic principles remain the same, the content still has to be of a high value and of viral potential. Readers still have to like it in order to spread it, but Facebook makes it quicker at incredible speed. Let’s say you have liked and commented some video your friend posted, your comment is shown to your friends that do not necessary have to be friends with the original poster. So they also have a chance to click and see that video – message is spread. Before Facebook existed such situation was not possible. Visibility of one’s actions were very limited and getting people to visit your link was much harder.

The thing on Facebook these days is to have a product fan page, you know those pages that have “Like it” button next to product/page name. Each time a Facebook user clicks “Like it” at such page, it shows up in news feed of all of his friends, many of his friends will want to check it out themselves or even click to like the page without checking it out first if they are already familiar with the product or service or whatever is the subject of the page.

Also, you may have noticed that many of regular web pages and blogs have “Like it” button next to articles and posts. The button was introduced in April this year by Facebook and it brought big change to the way of providing backlinks. Many people surf the net while being logged at Facebook (in a different tab), so this button gives a reader immediate possibility to place link to that article, video or blog post into his wall and his friends’ news feed. It is not the same as “Share” button that was around for a long time, this is quicker and easier without much action for reader except a single click. If the web page or blog has a Facebook page, there’s also possibility to place Facebook widget and allow readers to click “Like it” right on the spot. There’s also “Recommend” button for sharing the weblink, which is in fact completely the same as “Share” button you can find at the end of this post too.

To conclude: I can’t wait to see what else is going to come out of Facebook’s kitchen of viral miracles. Facebook made viral marketing so much easier and it gave new and exciting possibilities to the marketing world in general.

Just turn on MTV or VH1 these days and you’ll witness Michael Jackson’s tribute videos. King of Pop died few days ago and left remarkable musical opus, even if you’re not a fan you have to admit: the man had a gift.

Being the largest pop star of our time Michael Jackson had big marketing machinery behind all his projects. Naturally marketing techniques used included viral marketing even long before this term was invented. Before Internet and social networks MTV was the place to concentrate your marketing efforts and successful musical videos made sure album is going to sell well and tour will be sold out. First of those videos was “Thriller”, zombies and good dancing produced great marketing wave and the album reached world sales record that nobody beat so far.

Michael Jackson did not use viral marketing for his music only, in 1985 together with Lionel Richie he wrote and recorded, along with all the popular musicians of the time, hit single “We Are The World”. The song and it’s video had purpose to bring world’s awareness to AIDS problem. The song was huge success and generated millions of dollars to help fight AIDS.

King of Pop left this Earth but his legacy stays for generations to be inspired by a great artist and a noble man. Michael always had a strong sense for charity and help many people in need.

Farewell Michael, we will listen to your songs and remember you for a long, long time.

Online use

Both conventional and viral marketing use audio and video online as broadband availibility made it possible.

Online multimedia advertising became quite usual so user attention can be captured and ads stand out from the crowd in an increasingly ad-cluttered online environment. It is true that video and audio formats cost more to serve than standard banners or text ads, and they involve a lot more production and implementation work. But they may well be worth the added expense if they achieve greater response rates.

Where to use online video and audio is what advertisers must carefully consider. Video to be used on the Internet should be information and communication focused while video to be used on television should be focused on entertainment.
Like everything else, there are good ways and bad ways to use video advertising. Right now most marketers are incorporating their audio-visual content into existing embedded ad formats like banners or over-content formats like pop-ups. Though this could reach a potentially large audience, viewers are likely to be less captivated and more annoyed by these disruptive and distracting placements.

Cached or streaming video and audio on a specific destination site offers the best chance of interesting consumers in brand messages, but it is not likely to reach a large audience unless it generates a viral outcome.
Whatever you come up with, don’t forget to make it easy to open and distribute. File size is important, as is the media format. If your viral video has been created for a particular type of software that not many people use, how will you get people to spread it like wildfire?

Also, if you’ve made a video the impact will be better if you send the clip as an attachment rather than stream it. It’s cheaper and, if you’re not hosting it, it’s more viral, too.

Submit your clip

Luckily there are sites like Youtube, perfect for placing your viral video. As already explained humor is the key essence, but catchy title is also very important for your viral clip. Youtube videos are usually very well ranked on Google, so if your video points to your website, it’ as effective as high page rank itself.

Besides video submiting sites there are also audio submiting sites. That’s good to know if you have some audio material that you want to spread, but it’s always better to get some images and transform it into a video clip; as video is much more popular than just audio clip. Nowdays audio is strictly used as welcome message or interview material on some web pages. Video is a must if you’re serious about viral marketing campaign.

Well, Here is a Controversial Statement for You!

There are probably ten million people online, looking for downloads at any given time. Of course, a lot of them could be looking for pornography or free software but still, reaching a minimum on a million people on any given day does offer some rather intriguing possibilities.

People like using file services to download music for two simple reasons, they’re free, and there is an incredible selection. The fact is Pandora’s Box has been opened. In Napster’s wake, other quasi-legal services quickly emerged… a lot of them. Even if they are closed, others will succeed them.

Major record companies would like to think otherwise, but they are never going to stop file sharing. Net users are file sharers…plain and simple. Long before the Internet came into being, people made cassette tapes of their favorite music for their friends…cd burners are so much easier and faster.

So how can you use this to help your viral marketing campaign along?

Think about this. Once someone downloads content through file sharing sites it gets spread further by the system itself. Isn’t it the first rule of viral marketing? Of course it is, you just use new, different and unusual channel. Sure, not all content offered via file sharing is music; so why don’t you offer everything that you offer through regular media anyway: free e-books, e-zines and guides. You shouldn’t care how material is spread as long as it gets spread.

In this new paradigm, you aren’t hawking a product, you are offering free content via a medium that lets you be directly connected with your audience.

In the beginning, e-mail was the way that viral marketing started. Since that day, viral marketing has gone from a marketing strategy to an art form and there are many ways to accomplish the objective of creating a successful viral marketing campaign. Seven of those ways are:

1.    E-mail: It was first but it is still around and still used. It is, however, getting a little harder to use as more and more government restrictions are placed on it. Still… it does work.

2.    Newsletters: This is an extension of e-mail but it a very effective tool. If you include enough valuable information, a good newsletter can drive up the number of visits to your website.

3.    Blogging: Providing the tools on your website to enable bloggers to interact with one another is a terrific way to get the message about your product of service out there and being talked about. Bloggers have their ears to the ground for new products and services.

4.    Chat Rooms: A chat room on your website can and does encourage interaction among your customers and that can’t be a bad thing. Also, you can use the chat room to schedule special events like having an expert available to answer questions on a given day at a given time.

5.    Tell-a-friend Script: If you add this with a statement saying that e-mail addresses supplied will never be shared with third parties, you can increase your potential customer list greatly.

6.    Video Clips: Including cool video clips on your website will keep the interest up and increase traffic.

7.    Flash Games: Although they are a little costly to start, they are an extremely effective tool to get your viral marketing campaign going. Once they are launched, they require nothing more from you.

It is a well known and widely accepted fact, that E-books, FREE E-books, are one of the best weapons in a viral marketing campaign arsenal.  Here are three good reasons why this is true today and will continue to be true for the foreseeable future:

1.    E-books are capable of reaching a large audience.  The only limiting factor is the enthusiasm or the participants.  Therefore, it is absolutely vital that your E-book contain something that people will want to share like timely information or humor.  Remember that people like to know something that the rest of the world needs to know. They will pass along something that makes them look like they are in-the-know. If your E-book contains material that people will want to share with their friends and family, they will pass it along to them… they will pass it along to others…and you will make money.

2.    E-books are a way to sell other products other than the one you originally targeted.  For example; if you are selling garden products, your customers could also be interesting in E-books about lawns, trees landscaping, etc.

3.    E-books are effective in building your reputation. It is an implied recommendation if you give a quality E-book and users willing pass on to others.

Should I create an e-book?

E-books should be used in a viral marketing campaign as much as possible, because it’s not that hard to create an e-book any more. These days there are lot of free pdf tools that ease the process and make it literary just few mouse clicks. Any previously written material combined and put in a single document, little work with contents page, page numbers and links (affiliate links even better), cover page and introduction, and you have your e-book ready in no time. The process also applies for new material; write it from scratch and the rest is as previously described.

E-book software

Although there are pretty cool and easy commercial software products out there that are priced up to 100 dollars, all you need to create nice looking e-book is a word processor and pdf virtual printer such as Cute pdf. The latest version of Open Office even has pdf feature implemented right away, so it’s only a matter of an extra click. We’re discussing viral e-books which do not need to be password protected or with disabled print option, so any of those advanced options are not necessary. You should make your e-book accessible, not restricted in any way. Of course if you plan to produce commercial e-books on regular basis and viral ones are to be produced from time to time, it might be a good idea to purchase professional e-book software. It makes your product look better and gives credibility to price you asking for.

How “packed” your e-book should be?

I have seen number of e-books that are packed with links; affiliate links, links to author’s sells page etc. This is done to the point that e-book doesn’t even look as regular book, but as series of links that are put there just to make you click on any of those links so the author makes sale or commission if you buy any of the products featured. Besides the fact that it looks lame and pathetic, I can’t imagine a person that will buy a single product offered in such way. It’s better to make a short report if you don’t have enough material and present valuable information, than pack an e-book with anything just to make it longer. Besides all viral materials should be produced as valuable information product that drives reader’s attention to author’s other products through web page link or resource box discreetly put on the bottom of each page. Do not underestimate readers’ intelligence, people will find your page if they like material, do not make your e-book in form of series of traps for people to click on your link.

How come e-books are that popular?

Well, the answer is kind of obvious: it has package form. It is a product, very convenient to be sent, given, forwarded or sold (resell rights). People respect books as source of knowledge and information that is rarely questioned. It’s a clever product. Needless to say that its form as a single file and pdf as multiplatform format gives an e-book unbeaten advantage. E-books are now even readable on netbook computers, handhelds and lately on cell phones.

Viral Media

Let’s explore type of “virus carriers” you can use to spread your message. E-books, white papers, reports, posted articles or email (newsletter) are classical written e-paper media.

Video or audio clip is another type of media, sponsored software or web service offered to anyone for free, but with “the message” displayed, can also be quite accurate.

Content

OK, we covered media part, but what about content? You have to have some valuable material posted, written, or recorded; in order for it to be spread (forwarded) around. Let’s say you have produced a funny clip or document full of jokes that has your web link or watermark in it. Everyone who watches it or reads it gets to see your link or watermark, few of those even click on it (if it’s clickable of course) or google it because if material is good enough it will bring that curiosity in people. You should provoke some kind of reaction, ideally excitement or laughter, which will for sure make people spread your material further.

Making it easy for readers to spread your material

It’s not a big deal for your readers to forward your newsletter or send the link of your page to a friend, but why not make it even easier with few extra tools such as “Tell a friend” script and “Digg” or “Stumbleupon” button on your page. Domain name also should be easy to remember, definitely containing key words or at least word of two combining the subject you cover.

Viral marketing – great push to your promotion

Same as any marketing technique viral marketing should promote and bring clicks to your page/product, but it’s designed in a way it wouldn’t do that so obvious as mainstream marketing does; it is more done in a “by the way” manner.

Viral marketing should be used along with other marketing techniques as an addition, although I am sure there are few examples out there proving it successful as the only approach.