Viral Marketing Ideas and the Bloggers that Shared Them

I have been searching the blog-sphere for great ideas to become more viral and I have to tell you that good ideas are actually pretty scarce. However, I found a great definition, the elements of, and seven ways to create a viral response.

WHAT IS VIRAL MARKETING?
By George Torok:

Viral marketing is apply named because, when done right, it spreads like a virus. The term viral marketing might be too graphic for some because it brings to mind the viral spread of disease such as the bubonic plague, typhoid, and AIDS.None of those viral diseases are nice things. But a virus in your marketing is powerful and can be hugely profitable.Viral marketing is about spreading your message through networks. Some networks are more efficient than others. Meetings, family gatherings, community groups, religion, phone calls, peer pressure, media, email and blogs. Viral marketing is by persistence, passion and purpose.The growth of almost every religion was the result of viral marketing. Every social change is the result of viral marketing.
http://georgetorok.blogspot.com/2007/07/viral-marketing.html

ELEMENTS OF A VIRAL STRATEGY
By Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

Accept this fact. Some viral marketing strategies work better than others, and few work as well as the simple Hotmail.com strategy. But below are the six basic elements you hope to include in your strategy. A viral marketing strategy need not contain ALL these elements, but the more elements it embraces, the more powerful the results are likely to be. An effective viral marketing strategy:

• Gives away products of services


• Provides for effortless transfer to others


• Scales easily from small to very large


• Exploits common motivations and behaviors


• Utilizes existing communication networks


• Takes advantage of others' resources

http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-principles.htm

SEVEN STEPS TO VIRAL MARKETING
By Dean Hunt
http://www.deanhunt.com/

Trick 1: A Global Appeal

Trick 2: The Negativity Slant

Trick 3: The Killer Headline

VIRAL GOLD HEADLINE: “10 Step Guide to Thinking Like a Loser”

Trick 4: 10 Steps to Viral Heaven
Anything in list format is a surefire winner with the Digg and blogger crowds.

Trick 5: Stand out from the crowd
If you are struggling to think of ways to be creative with your
content, then grab a pen and paper and just start writing as many wacky ideas as
possible. Be creative, controversial, edgy, wacky, unique… try it all.

Trick 6: Curiosity Killed The Cat
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but with buzz
marketing it is a killer technique.

Trick 7: Image Is Everything
This is one of the easiest tricks. All you have to do is simply add an interesting
photo/image to your story. It is that simple!

http://fadtastic.net/2007/07/13/buzz-marketing-exposed-a-step-by-step-guide/


TAGS: Dean Hunt, Front Page of Digg, Viral Marketing, Viral Buzz, Viral Techniques, definition of viral marketing, Dr. Wilson, George Torok, viral ideas