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Word of mouth is a term in marketing for “spreading rumors” and may be one of the most effective marketing techniques. This is primarily because consumers rely more on informal and personal communication sources when purchase decisions are made than on traditional marketing. When a person likes a product it is not unusual that he or she recommend it to a friend, and this is how word of mouth works (Bansal & Voyer, 2000, p. 166).

Jurvetson (2000) defines viral marketing as a “network-enhanced word of mouth”. It was first used 1997 to promote the e-mail service Hotmail. The service grew from zero to 12 million users in 18 months. Bonello (2006, p. 38) have a similar definition and defines it as “a piece of content so good that people want to pass it on”. This means that a company expose its brand on the web to get consumers to voluntarily spread its message further.

Albinsson, Lörnell and Zetterlund (2009, p. 38-39) have produced a few success factors for a viral campaign:

• A campaign on the web must stand out to get the customers attention, and should include customer participation.
• It is important to have a good campaign idea, without a good idea it does not matter what marketing channel that is used. Also, the idea must be timely, which mean that the marketers must have a good understanding of the environment and do a lot of research before the campaign.
• Content is king. Without an interesting content the company will not have the customers participation. Though, it is important to not push the content to customers, the customers should be willingly to participate.
• It requires experience, feeling and knowledge to find the right marketing channels. Campaigns must take place where the audience is.
• To achieve maximal diffusion of a message a company could create ambassadors, and let them try the product before everybody else. These people should have a strong position in social networks and be the ones that “regular” people listens to, like an opinion leader.
• When campaigning on the web the company must accept a looser control and let the brand circulate freely. It is a risk, but necessary to success with a viral campaign.
• To succeed with a viral campaign the marketers must find incitements that motivates the consumer to participate and to spread the message to others.

It is no news that a satisfied customer is the best ambassador for the company and its products. A customer’s network could be huge and thanks to social media rumors are spread fast as lightning. Though, negative criticism is spread as quickly as positive which means that companies must respect the dissatisfied customers (Carlsson, 2009, p. 39).

References

Albinsson, S., Lörnell, J., & Zetterlund, D. (2009). Viral Marknadsföring – Att skapa en framgångsrik viral kampanj. Helsingborg: Lunds Universitet, Campus Helsingborg.

Bansal, H. S., & Voyer, P., A. (2000). Word-of-Mouth Processes Within a Services Purchase Decision Context. Journal of Service Research, 3(2), 166-178.

Bonello, D. (2006). Explore the online options. Marketing, 2006, 37-38.

Carlsson, L. (2009). Marknadsföring och Kommunikation i Sociala Medier. Göteborg: Kreafon.

Jurvetson, S. (2000, may 1). What is Viral Marketing? Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Fetched 2009-11-04, from http://www.dfj.com/news/article_25.shtml