Friday, July 15, 2011

Definition of Viral Marketing



Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands, to millions.

Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques, using pre-existing social networks to produce brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses or computer viruses. It can be delivered by word-of-mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or text messages.

Viral marketing can be defined online viral marketing, or buzz marketing, is a form of electronic word-of-mouth marketing. Brands and promotions are discussed and awareness of them transmitted in two main forms, either as passalong e-mail or discussion in a social network.

References:
2.    Textbooks: Chaffey, Ellis-Chadwick, Mayer and Johnston. (2009). Internet Marketing – Strategy, Implementation, and Practice, 4th edition, Prentice Hall, P. 556.

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