Viral vs. Web 2.0

Many seem to assume that, because their company or CEO has now embraced the wonders of “Web 2.0” in some form of social networking site or online community, they now have a viral marketing campaign. This is a dangerous assumption.

What makes viral marketing “viral” is that it spreads…and people spread it. Simply launching a blog, creating a facebook page, or setting up a LinkedIn profile does not a viral marketing campaign make. If not pushed (and with no one pulling it), they are simply 21st century versions of the same old static website. So 1999. Just because you build it, it doesn’t mean that “they” will come.

The most effective viral campaigns combine some form of Web 2.0 sensibilities with good-ole’-fashioned guerilla marketing — then throw in a “dash” of buzz marketing. The key is to empower a core group of constituents and have them do your bidding for you. You must compel someone to want to forward a video to their address books, tell a friend at the water cooler, or be the first to inform their friends at a cocktail party. With any luck, the phenomenon spreads…like a…hey, like a virus! This draws eyeballs and clicks to your company/cause and website. And that is how you capture your business.

To read more about a viral marketing campaign executed flawlessly and with great success, take a few minutes to read about the viral campaign for the upcoming release of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Here you will learn some great tips and and get a superb viral education…ideas that can be applied across virtually any business segment.