Viral marketing is a powerful strategy that leverages the power of social media and word-of-mouth to spread your message and grow your audience. But how do you create a viral marketing campaign that works? And what are the benefits of working with a growth partner like Viralify to help you achieve your goals?
In this blog post, we will answer these questions and more. We will explain what viral marketing is, how it works, and what makes it effective. We will also show you how Viralify can help you create and manage viral referral marketing campaigns that boost your brand awareness, customer loyalty, and sales.
What is Viral Marketing?
Viral marketing is a style of promotion that relies on an audience to organically generate and push the message of a product or service. On social media, marketing is considered “viral” when it’s being shared rapidly by the public at large (with a compounding effect) rather than just its target audience.
The goal of viral marketing is to inspire individuals to share a marketing message with friends, family, and other individuals to create exponential growth in the number of its recipients. Viral marketing can take many forms, such as videos, memes, hashtags, challenges, quizzes, contests, and more.
Some examples of viral marketing campaigns include:
- The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which raised over $115 million for ALS research by challenging people to dump a bucket of ice water on their heads and nominate others to do the same.
- The Old Spice “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign, which featured a humorous video of actor Isaiah Mustafa addressing women while promoting the brand’s products. The video generated over 50 million views on YouTube and increased sales by 107%.
- The Dollar Shave Club “Our Blades Are F***ing Great” campaign, which used a witty and irreverent video to introduce the brand’s subscription service for razors. The video went viral and attracted over 12,000 customers in the first 48 hours.
How Does Viral Marketing Work?
Viral marketing works by tapping into the psychology of social sharing and influence. People share content for various reasons, such as:
- To express themselves and their identity
- To connect with others and build relationships
- To entertain and inform others
- To support causes and brands they care about
- To gain social currency and status
When people share content that resonates with them, they also influence others to do the same. This creates a snowball effect that amplifies the reach and impact of the content. According to a study by Nielsen, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other form of advertising.
However, not all content is equally shareable. Some factors that make content more likely to go viral include:
- Emotion: Content that evokes strong positive or negative emotions (such as awe, joy, anger, or sadness) is more likely to be shared than content that is neutral or mildly emotional.
- Novelty: Content that is new, surprising, or unexpected is more likely to catch people’s attention and curiosity than content that is familiar or predictable.
- Relevance: Content that is relevant to the audience’s interests, needs, or problems is more likely to be shared than content that is irrelevant or generic.
- Value: Content that provides value to the audience (such as information, entertainment, education, or inspiration) is more likely to be shared than content that is self-promotional or spammy.
- Social proof: Content that has already been shared by many people or by influential people is more likely to be shared by others than content that has low or no social proof.
What are the Benefits of Working with a Growth Partner?
Growth partnerships can offer many benefits for businesses of all sizes and industries. Some of the main benefits include:
- Holistic approach: A growth partner takes a holistic approach to your business, not just focusing on one aspect or channel of marketing. A growth partner helps you define your target audience, value proposition, business model, and growth strategy and aligns them with your vision and goals.
- Customized solutions: A growth partner offers customized solutions that suit your specific needs and challenges. A growth partner does not use a one-size-fits-all approach but rather creates bespoke campaigns and programs that fit your brand and market.
- Shared risk and reward: A growth partner shares the risk and reward of your growth journey. A growth partner does not charge you based on time or ad spend, but rather based on the results and outcomes they deliver. A growth partner is invested in your success and growth, not just their own.
- Long-term partnership: A growth partner builds a long-term partnership with you, not just a transactional relationship. A growth partner supports you throughout your growth journey, from launch to scale, and helps you overcome any obstacles or challenges along the way.
- Cutting-edge expertise: A growth partner brings cutting-edge expertise and experience to your business. A growth partner stays on top of the latest trends, technologies, and best practices in the market, and helps you leverage them to your advantage.
- Data-driven decisions: A growth partner makes data-driven decisions for your business. A growth partner uses data and analytics to measure and optimize your performance and provides you with actionable insights and recommendations to improve your results.
- Innovation and experimentation: A growth partner fosters a culture of innovation and experimentation in your business. A growth partner helps you test and validate new ideas, products, or markets and helps you learn from failures and successes.
How Can Viralify Help You with Viral Marketing?
Viralify is a viral marketing growth partner that helps you create and manage viral referral marketing campaigns. Unlike other platforms that offer generic templates or tools, Viralify offers customized solutions that suit your specific goals and needs.
Viralify works with you to:
- Define your target audience and value proposition
- Design your referral program and reward system
- Create your landing page and viral loop
- Launch your campaign and track its performance
- Optimize your campaign and scale your growth
With Viralify, you can:
- Increase your word-of-mouth referrals
- Grow your email list and social media followers
- Boost your website traffic and sales
- Build trust and credibility with your customers
- Stand out from your competitors
Conclusion
Viral marketing is a powerful strategy that can help you grow your business exponentially. However, creating a viral campaign is not easy. It requires creativity, strategy, and execution.
That’s why working with a growth partner like Viralify can make all the difference. Viralify can help you create and manage viral referral marketing campaigns that are tailored to your specific goals and needs.
If you want to learn more about how Viralify can help you boost your business with viral marketing, visit their website at https://viralify.us/ or contact them today.
FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions about viral marketing:
What are some examples of viral referral marketing campaigns?
Some examples of viral referral marketing campaigns are:
- Dropbox: Dropbox offered extra storage space for users who referred their friends to sign up for the service. This helped them grow from 100k users to 4 million users in 15 months.
- Airbnb: Airbnb offered travel credits for users who invited their friends to join the platform or book their first trip. This helped them increase their bookings by 25% in some markets.
- Uber: Uber offered free rides for users who referred their friends to use the app. This helped them expand their user base rapidly in new cities.
What are some best practices for creating a viral referral marketing campaign?
Some best practices for creating a viral referral marketing campaign are:
- Know your audience: Understand who your ideal customers are, what they want, and what motivates them to share.
- Offer value: Provide something valuable for both the referrer and the referee (such as discounts, freebies, or exclusive access).
- Make it easy: Simplify the referral process as much as possible (such as using one-click buttons or pre-written messages).
- Make it fun: Add some gamification elements or social proof features (such as leaderboards or badges) to make the referral experience more enjoyable and rewarding.
- Test and optimize: Experiment with different variables (such as headlines, images, copy, rewards) to see what works best for your campaign.
How do I measure the success of my viral referral marketing campaign?
Some metrics that you can use to measure the success of your viral referral marketing campaign are:
- Referral rate: The percentage of users who refer others to your product or service.
- Viral coefficient: The average number of new users generated by each existing user.
- Viral cycle time: The average time it takes for one user to refer another user.
- Customer acquisition cost: The average cost of acquiring one new customer through referrals.
- Customer lifetime value: The average revenue generated by one customer over their lifetime.
