What viral marketing is not

     Viral marketing is a popular buzzword out there but is misunderstood by many. It’s also gotten a bad rap in some quarters. Why? Because there are a cadre of viral marketing “experts” who will happily take (large amounts of) your money to create a viral marketing “campaign” for you. However, these old-line agency approaches typically depend on some gimmicky game or contest that just feels forced and advertisement-like. Typically, advertising agency-developed viral campaigns involve buying access in the same old ways, such as purchasing an email list to spam people or launching the campaign with a pricey print or TV ad. Often these viral ideas dreamed up by agencies have absolutely nothing to do with your company or its products. Sure, an email subject line “Get Your Free iPod!” will drive viral buzz, because people want to take a chance on a free iPod. But unless your company has something to do with iPods, this bait-and-switch game is unlikely to educate people about your organization or drive sales.

     Worse, some companies (urged on by their unscrupulous agencies) set up fake viral campaigns where people who are employed or in some way compensated by the agency write about a product or create a video purported to be from a customer. The Web is hyper-efficient at collective investigative reporting and smoking out trickery, so these campaigns rarely succeed. And, in the worst case, your organizational reputation may suffer great harm.

     You must ignore the old rules. Viral marketing is not about coercion, and it is not about buying access.

     Don’t get sucked into gimmicks.

     In the old days, you either had to buy expensive advertising or beg the media to tell your story. Sadly, many organizations create viral marketing campaigns based on the old rules.

     The best word-of-mouse efforts promote your organization and its products and services by delivering great online content (video, an e-book, a great blog post, an interesting photo or graphic) that is directly tied to your products, services, and ideas. Successful viral marketing campaigns sell your ideas in a creative way that people want to share with their friends, colleagues, and family members.

     This isn’t the same old marketing and PR you’ve tried before:

• Don’t obsess about being “on message.”
• Don’t break the bank with expensive advertising.
• Don’t beg mainstream media to write about you.
• Do tell your story directly to an interested market.
• Do make it easy for people to share your content with their friends, colleagues, and family members.

     Source: The New Rules of Viral Marketing (David Meerman Scott) e-book