What is Viral Marketing?  Viral Marketing describes any strategy that encourages the sharing of a marketing message with others, giving the opportunity for near exponential growth. Despite the term “viral” being used it is probably the most apt to describe the phenomenon.

What are the elements of Viral marketing?

Have you seen the KONY 2012 Video circulating? It has been impressive to watch it spread like wildfire. As of writing this it has over 75 MILLION views. Yes, you read that correctly. Accept this fact, your viral creations will probably not have that kind of reach, but here are some basic elements that make a video, post or image viral. A viral marketing strategy doesn’t need to contain ALL of these elements, but the more elements it embraces, the more powerful the results are likely to be. An effective viral marketing strategy:

1. Gives away products or services
2. Provides for effortless transfer to others
3. Scales easily from small to very large
4. Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5. Utilizes existing communication networks
6. Takes advantage of others resources