What is Viral Marketing? Meaning, Types, Examples, Techniques, and Advantages

What is Viral Marketing? Meaning, Types, Examples, Techniques, and Advantages

Viral marketing is a relatively new term that may seem to have come out of nowhere and took the marketing world by storm. However, viral marketing has been around for a long time and is in fact a part of the wider field of word-of-mouth marketing.

What is Viral Marketing? Meaning, Types, Examples, Techniques, and Advantages

Viral marketing is often spread by word-of-mouth, or through mobile and social networks. One example of viral marketing is brandable software, ebooks, flash games, emails, text messages and web pages.

In order to be successful, you need to create a viral message with high appeal and social networking potential.

What is Viral marketing?

Viral marketing is any type of publicity activity that gives a boost to word-of-mouth publicity. It is aimed at reaching new audiences, giving them an instant awareness of the product.

It is more than just a buzz word, it has become a popular business strategy for people as they take advantage of how quickly it can spread to others. One of the best features is that you can use various tools to spread the idea.

A good viral strategy is the driver of a good viral campaign, and preparation and creativity are just as important as luck. You can easily carry out this type of campaign.

Marketing your content involves creating something catchy and interesting, then distributing it on Copymatic's own channels. Once users are hooked, Copymatic's web crawlers will share it and make it go viral.

Techniques in Making Viral Campaign

If an organization wants to use viral marketing, or create a message about their product/service that is interesting and engaging, they must ensure it will garner conversations.

Viral marketing begins with crafting a message that is worth talking about. This takes an enticing and engaging message with products and services being marketed.

Useful tips to help you when leveraging viral marketing

1.Social media

With the rise of social media, companies need to keep a close eye on how their message spreads. Social media has made it possible for the reach of messages to be global and instantaneous.

2. Videos

A video is a visual representation of the product, where customers can experience it on screen. When you add in emotional triggers such as humor or shock, your video becomes more likely to go viral.

3. Giveaways

The opportunity to give presents leads people to have conversations and talk of the company's brand. Such an opportunity helps with viral marketing campaigns as people constantly glorify their present online.

4. Reinforcement

Keep your customer engaged with engaging advertising campaigns. Don't simply have one-time messages; instead, have a series of them.

5. Emotional appeal

Emotional appeal is important for viral content in order to grab the attention of its users.

6. Unpredictable

Going against the norms will force users to watch and share the message.

7. Enable downloading and sharing

If a reader can access the content easily and without obstacles, it will be more likely to be shared by others.

8. Social outreach

Influential people can reach audiences quickly. As a result, their social outreach is immense and can help spread the word about a product.

Viral marketing, often a simple message that spreads quickly and rapidly across the web, is seen in an example like India's defeat in the semi-final of the world cup.

Burger King has gained tons of attention with its viral marketing campaigns. One of the most famous was Subservient Chicken, which aired 2004-2007.

Components of viral marketing

There are three main components have been described below

1. Message

Not every message that marketers create with the intention of making it go viral actually does. Only those messages that are interesting, unique, engaging and have the potential to spurt "a phenomenon" are widely shared.

2. Environment

Timing can greatly affect how people react to the environment. People are sensitive to this and this is proven by context being a critical component when it comes to how they react.

3. Messenger

Different types of messengers which transform a simple message to that which is viral. These include personalized messages, announcements and tactical analysis.

- Market maves are so knowledgeable about the business world, they often hear about new information before anyone else does. Market Mavens share information about what they know with their communities on social media networks.

- Some people are referred to as "social hubs" because they have huge social connections, and they can act as a bridge between different cultures.

Salespeople broadcast information to many different people in a variety of industries. Salespeople are responsible for presenting the messages they recieve.

Key elements of a viral marketing campaign

A viral marketing campaign should include most of below elements:

  • Urgency
  • Unique/strange/distinct
  • Exclusive content
  • Excellent planning
  • Inspirational
  • Never seen before content
  • Good incentive
  • Low barrier to entry
  • Humor or liking ability
  • Satires/spoofs
  • Warnings
  • Controversial material
  • Audience involvement
  • Celebrity involvement(optional)
  • Worthy cause

Types of viral marketing

There are several kinds viral marketing such as

1. Emotional

Social media content with a strong emotional response is known as an emotional viral and can be difficult to avoid due to the high emotional response. Copymatic has created high quality emotional virals that span different mediums to support your digital marketing goals rather than competition.

A positive outlook is contagious and people are more likely to share mood-boosting content. Negative emotions like anger, sadness, and guilt also affect our mindset and lead us to derive more value from quality marketing.

2. Incentivized

Companies use customer referral programs to increase the number of customers they have. When a customer refers someone to the company, he is rewarded for his recommendation.

3. Engineered

Viral content is not a random occurrence as it is now a perfectly engineered campaign. Although not all viral content occurs randomly, most of them don't. It is now purposely created in order to be successful.

4. Lucky

Viral marketing isn't always dependant on luck. Sometimes, your market appears as a response to an unforeseen opportunity and then creates new customers for everyone involved in it.

5. Pass-along

Sharing messages on chain is the most common form of viral marketing. It involves a user forwarding it to another person and the chain continues. Religious communities have effectively used this method in order to convert followers.

6. Buzz viral marketing

In buzz marketing, a message is forwarded in such a way that it becomes a topic of conversation and spreads quickly. Controversial messages or ads can generate buzz and gain attention.

Advantages of a Viral Marketing Campaign

A Viral Marketing Campaign may have many advantages such as:

1. Low cost

Viral marketing is undervalued, but the cost of content may be more expensive. However, it is cheaper in the long term.

2. Not invasive

There is a choice between accepting or rejecting the message, and it is not invasive either way.

3. High impact

When you see a message from a familiar source, it will have more of an impact on your thought process.

4. Faster growth

Social media platforms have been helpful in expanding a business' reach which makes it faster as well. Consistent and steady growth will help a business succeed too.

5. Reach young people

One of the biggest drawbacks with traditional marketing is that it has difficulty attracting the younger generation. However, viral marketing has found a solid foundation as people who are interested in anything that they see on their phone or computer find it interesting and want to share it with others.

6. Mainstream media exposure

Mainstream media can help provide awesome exposure and is an important avenue for marketing.

7. Increased credibility

When a company goes viral, it gets instant credibility and more sales which in turn increases revenues.

8. Global audience

Viral marketing is not limited to a regional audience. It's accessible online and through social media platforms.

Disadvantages of a Viral Marketing Campaign

Beside, a Viral Marketing Campaign can bring some disadvantages for a marketer:

1. Tough to create

Current campaigns are risky and not very effective. The viral campaign must be original to get the maximum attention of the customers.

2. Uncontrollable

Viral campaigns are uncontrollable by nature and can be a detriment to a company. They are controlled by the masses rather than the company.

3. Hard to measure

The difficulty in measuring the ROI of a viral campaign is challenging. It's hard to measure how many views a video has received, how your original post got copied or where your message spread out to.

4. Is not repetitive

Promotional campaigns can be repeated as long as they are varied, but not viral marketing. It can be remixed or followed up, but it won't work if it's repetitive because the audience will reject it.

5. Association with the unknown group

The messages are transmitted from one individual or group to another, and it can reach someone who could harm you with its association.

6. Exposure to the internet

Exposure to the internet has increased access for a global clientele, but with it, brands are vulnerable to dilution, unwanted advertisements, and spam.

7. Nuisance factor

The companies have a tendency to cross limits through their marketing if the means to drive traffic and prove it to be a nuisance for consumers.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

A marketing technique that uses social media and other platforms to spread messages and create buzz.
The types include video-based, image-based, game-based, and social media-based.
Examples include the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, Dove's Real Beauty Sketches, and Blendtec's Will It Blend? videos.
Techniques include creating shareable content, leveraging influencers, and using humor or emotion.
Advantages include increased brand awareness, higher engagement rates, and the potential for cost-effective advertising.