--- Getting Infected



Viral. The word alone has a negative connotation, bringing to mind images of disease and harmful microbes. Do not be fooled by the word for even though it carries a negative connotation in the physical world, it means exactly the opposite in cyberspace! Having this misconception could be disadvantageous to you because it could spell the difference between being a webpage lost in online obscurity to being the next new hot site that everyone's Googling.

Viral marketing is called such because it's ‘infectious.' Viral marketing has several advantages for you, and for good reasons, too. It uses one of the most effective and inexpensive marketing tools in history – the word of mouth. I bet you would think twice about thinking badly of viral marketing if you realize that the success of things like GoogleMail or GMail and multilevel marketing – MLM or sometimes called ‘pyramiding' – were brought about mostly by viral marketing. This example shows any webmaster that the success can be duplicated on the online market.

--- Ditch That Vaccine: Three Reasons why it Works:

It's free. It's like magic to anyone's ears. It's great especially for startup businesses because it can quickly generate interest for your product while minimizing marketing capital at the same time. All it takes is a little hype here and a good word there to get the chit chat ball rolling.

It works. It does so even on a massive scale. If you know your history, some major religions and a lot of minor ones were proliferated through word of mouth. This technique was especially useful then because any written evidence of the new religion meant death to whoever was holding it. This technique is useful now because any written advertisement for a new product means more costs for whoever's selling it.

The internet is perfect for it. With the advent of email, messenger clients and online community forums, contacting even your long-lost ex to request the return of your music CD is rarely more than several clicks away. This new age of fast and convenient communication is the best possible environment for a marketing technique as dependent on human interaction as viral marketing. Heck, people can talk to their friends even when they're not online.

--- Precautions on Going Viral:

Viral marketing is a great technique because it's very effective and extremely inexpensive. However, anyone attempting to do it has to proceed with caution. From the very word itself, going viral can easily make your company succumb to illness. Going viral is a double edged sword, they say. In the same way that positive words from peers could positively affect your market's perception of you and your product, a bad rep could bring everything toppling down. All it takes is one bad interaction or a single bad deal with a customer to spell an impending disaster for your company's reputation. In order to fully optimize viral marketing, you have to be sure that your customers really like your product and that they're happy with the way you or your company deals with them.