July 2008

Viral marketing is one of the tools of Web 2.0 that was the advertising field to stay. Its low cost and high efficiency are the virtues of this new way of thinking the Web

To understand the characteristics of the virus is essential to understand before new forms of web, this marketers called the 2.0

The term Web 2.0 was coined by Tim O'Reilly in 2004 to refer to a second generation of Web based communities of users and a special range of services, like social networks, blogs, wikis and folksonomies that encourage collaboration and the flexible exchange of information between users.

To understand you better

One of the best ways of understanding is through examples. We can compare Web services that clearly mark the evolution towards Web 2.0 with a new way of doing things:

Web 1.0> Web 2.0
DoubleClick -> Google AdSense (Public Services)
Ofoto -> Flickr (Photo Communities)
Akamai -> BitTorrent (content distribution)
mp3.com -> Napster (Music Downloads)
Britannica Online -> Wikipedia (Encyclopedias)
personal sites -> Blogs (Personal Pages)
Speculation with Domains -> Search Engine Optimization CEO
Page views -> cost per click
CMSs -> Wikis
Categories / Directories -> Tags

Viral marketing is one of the tools Web 2.0 advertising that came into the field to stay. Its low cost and high efficiency are the virtues of non-stop success.

And now the viral

http://www.eneldiadelamigo.com

Many of you have received this mail personalized on 20 July. This is a viral prepared by Quilmes to further its brand positioning. How was certainly very good you sent it to your friends. Yes, that simple things work.

These techniques Marketers who try to exploit existing social networks to produce exponential increases in "brand awareness ( Brand Awareness), by self-replicating viral processes similar to the expansion of a computer virus. Is usually based on word of mouth through electronic means, using the effect of " network" created by Internet and modern mobile services to reach a large number of people.

The advantages

One of the advantages of the virus is its low cost compared to direct mail campaigns. Another is the proper segmentation of audiences, as the video goes to those who want to go and up by way of a friend you trust. That is, it prevents spam.

types, methods and barriers

Helping the Wikipedia find these definitions that may help when putting together a viral.

viral campaign Types

Pass: A message which encourages the user to pass it on to others. The crudest form of the protocol are chain letters, including a request the user to forward the message. They are most effective with short video clips humorous content, which people spontaneously forward. Many of them begin their lives as TV commercials, internet and circulated by word of mouth . The number of people receiving the message in this way is usually much greater than that of people who saw the ad in its original form.

Viral encouraged: it offers a rewards for forwarding the message or by e-mail to someone. It's a way to increase possible shipping addresses dramatically. However, it is much more effective when the offer requires that a third party to do something. Most online contests offer more chances of winning in each direction to be provided by a third party, but when the third party is required to participate for the first to get that extra chance of winning, the probability of occurrence of such participation is much higher . Marketing
: A viral message presented as a page, activity or attractive or unusual news, no references clear to put a link or pass . In undercover marketing is not immediately apparent that it is conducting a marketing campaign. It takes a special effort to make it appear that the discovery is spontaneous and informal, to encourage natural memetic behavior. "Tracks" in the real world, such as graffiti appearing in cities with key viral words, are used frequently to encourage people to investigate the "mystery" displayed. This may be the form of viral marketing more difficult to identify as such, due to the large amount of unusual and interesting content that exists on the internet, especially as companies try imitate the style and content of amateur websites and authentic underground movements.

Marketing rumor: is understood as advertisements, news and messages that touch the limits of propriety or good taste. The discussion of the ensuing controversy generates publicity in the form of rumors and word of mouth. For example, prior to marketing a movie some movie stars get married, get divorced, are arrested or are involved in a controversy that draws attention to them.

database maintained by the user : Users create and manage their own lists of contacts using a database provided by an online service. To invite other members to participate in their community, users are creating a network of contacts and self-replicating virus that grows naturally and encourages others to register.

transmission methods

Transmission of viral marketing can occur in several ways:

Web mouth: writing in a form based web that turns information into an e-mail sent to the intended recipients. For example, is common in the websites of newspapers and news agencies to be included in each article a link to send to a friend automatically. This will make all information in the article in an e-mail.

Email to face: A very common is spontaneous forwarding emails, and jokes, quizzes and photos "committed."

Word of Mouth

Perhaps the mode of transmission with a higher growth rate, is sending instant demensajería hyperlinks through programs. This method is popular with many young people, and is more likely to rely on a link sent by a message from a friend that if the same friend emailed.

references Reward: Sometimes marketing companies offer rewards for users to send addresses, favoring either of the methods discussed above.

Use Extended Bluetooth phones with support (allowing free communication between them) can be transmitted between terminals virally all types of content, including promotional videos.

Barriers to viral marketing

Size: If viral content is a video clip or a fragment video, may be too large for the recipient receives. However, new technologies are eliminating this problem, as internet connections become faster and email may contain more and more data.

Format: A viral marketing campaign will not succeed if the message is in a format that most people can not use.

email attachments : Many people receive viral marketing while in office, and the company's software can intercept them and prevent them from receiving.

For a viral campaign to succeed, it must be simple to use. For example, if the promotion is some sort of game or competition, asking you to enter an e-mail from a third party should be an option at the end of play, not a precondition to do so.

Sabotage: The discovery of the commodity nature of a popular campaign can make that social networks used to pass information to the commercial intent of the people, promoting a formal or informal boycott against the company or product in question, especially for undercover marketing campaigns.

To conclude this post will leave you with one of the most famous examples of viral recent times.