Viral Marketing: Sure way to increase website traffic

Viral marketing is one of the best ways to advertise an online business. It is the online version of the word-of mouth strategy for creating awareness about a product. Viral marketing is nothing but a marketing plan that enables people to convey a message, related to a product, to others in their group, for free. This results in an exponential growth in the exposure and circle of influence of the message similar to the multiplication of a virus, hence the term viral marketing.

The premise of viral marketing is that people will willingly pass on the games and messages, they enjoy to others in their social group and they in turn, will do the same. So as a marketer you don’t waste time creating new groups. The marketing can start with a single individual who passes on the message and increases the traffic to your website manifold. It may involve a large group, resulting in a readymade target group of customers for your product or service. Sharing free games, gifts, screensavers, images, and video clips advertising the product through emails are some of the tools of viral marketing.

Now, coming to the principles of viral marketing. If you follow these simple six steps you will experience tremendous success in viral marketing. Firstly, always give something free to the user, as it is the greatest motivator for attracting the customer’s attention. Include the communication in free software; web hosting sites, fonts, cursors and wallpapers. People will visit your website for the freebies and definitely end up buying some of the other products on the website.

Secondly, make the message short and to the point as people tend to skip long messages. Keep it simple for easy distribution among your target group. Third, take advantage of the curiosity and behavioral patterns of the average individual in the viral marketing strategy. A person always wants to be the first to know and the first to spread the message among others. Therefore make people feel they are missing something by not using your product.

Fourthly, utilize technology and available resources like networks within networks to spread the message among the largest group of people in the shortest possible time. Make use of chat rooms and blogs to spread your message quickly. Fifth, keep the message in a format that permits increasing the scale in a very short time. Lastly use other people’s existing resources to spread your marketing message. Post your website link or a short, message advertising your product at the end of articles, in affiliate programs, in ebooks, and reports. Spread awareness of the product through strategically placed press releases on important and related websites.

The best example of a successful viral marketing campaign is the one adopted by Hotmail.com during its launch. Its simple message gave a free email account to everyone, who felt convinced enough to pass on this huge benefit to everyone in his group. Hence, the trick of viral marketing therefore lies in creating so much excitement around your product that people are forced to spread the message to others in their group, thus increasing traffic to your website.

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