International Journal of Engineering, Management, Humanities and Social Sciences Paradigms (IJEMHS) (Vol. 01, Issue 01, October 2013) ISSN: 2347 - 601X www.ijemhs.com

VVViralViral Marketing : A Revolutionary TToolool for SSSuccessfulSuccessful Marketing Campaigns

Anshu Grewal 1 and Vikas Chahar 2

1Assistant Professor, MRIM, Rohtak (Haryana) 2Associate Professor and Head VIMT, Rohtak (Haryana)

Abstract Viral Marketing is a process of creating attention- From the very beginning marketers are adopting various grabbing, appealing or informative messages, articles techniques to attract customers. Viral Marketing through or videos which are designed to be passed on by each networking technology is such a revolutionary tool which is recipient. It spreads like an epidemic or viral, often generating a powerful image for a lot of marketing by e-mail or SMSs. It uses influencers to generate campaigns. Viral Marketing assists the marketers to exploit peer-to-peer product recommendations or buzz with their potential by transferring of messages across million people of common tastes and preferences within a short the use of technology. The videos get spread by span of time. Traditional forms of advertising such as TV sharing and recommendations on sites. or newspaper ads have turned to alternate strategies of viral Word-of-Mouth communication is generally marketing which exploits existing social networks by performed in offline mode but viral marketing is the encouraging customers to share product and service combination of technology with WOM information with their friends. This paper throw lights on tactics. Persons with common interest and taste conceptual framework of viral marketing and presents it as normally share their positive and negative a revolutionary tool for many of the successful marketing experiences with each other and it generates a campaigns. In particular on how an old concept of word-of- multiplier effect in the transfer of a message. Each mouth has evolved with the influence of the internet into something we call viral marketing today. recipient of the message or video plays a role of Keywords: Viral marketing, word-of-mouth, social potential carrier in spreading it. Viral marketing is networking sites, marketing campaign. helping the marketers in achieving customer acquisition with reduced cost and higher profitability. Introduction Phelps et al. (2004) describes it as ‘the process of encouraging honest communication among consumer networks’. Another view coherent with these is that What makes some marketing campaigns so of De Bruyn and Lilien (2004) who assert that the immensely big and well known when they are ‘electronic referral marketing (ERM) is the use marketed through social media or with a viral consumer-to-consumer (or peer-to-peer) approach? We have witnessed a myriad of success communications. The key driver in effectiveness of stories where individuals achieved the kind of referral marketing is to create awareness, trigger exposure and success that was never dreamed of by interest and generate sales or adoption., to disseminate information about a product or a service, them. Many of the products and services became hence leading to its rapid and cost-effective market popular, a lot of persons got recognition in a single adoption.’ day just after uploading video and messages on The word viral stems from the word virus , youtube, facebook and twitter etc.. How the music symbolizing the manner in which the message video ‘Gangnam Style’ became so popular online? spreads, without the negative connotation of the What made ‘Kolaveri di’ the sensation it became and word. Various terms have been used to describe this lists the elements that make up an ideal viral form of communication including: ‹ viral marketing (Juvertson, 1997) marketing campaign as Kolaveri Buzz in India? ‹ word-of-mouse (Goldenberg et al.2001) There is one word which is getting familiarity and it ‹ buzz marketing (Thomas, 2004) is Viral Marketing. ‹ referral marketing (De Bruyn and Lilien, 2004) ‹ viral advertising (Porter and Golan, 2006)

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International Journal of Engineering, Management, Humanities and Social Sciences Paradigms (IJEMHS) (Vol. 01, Issue 01, October 2013) ISSN: 2347 - 601X www.ijemhs.com

‹ viral stealth marketing (Swanepoel et marketers create and launch multiple viral initiatives al.2009) simultaneously thereby increasing the chance that at least one of them catches on and spreads like a virus Origins of Viral Marketing instead of relying on the content of just one campaign to generate the desired results.” The term Viral Marketing was coined by Rayport Danilo Cruz and Chris Fill (2008) who conducted a (1996) after that more work was done by Steve research on viral marketing evaluation state that the Juvertson and Tim Draper in 1997 to describe the approaches used to measure and evaluate the relative manner in which free e-mail service called hotmail success of viral marketing communications are many was promoted. Namely, the signature line of every e- and varied. Furthermore, they claim that these mail message sent through hotmail , the first online approaches range from changes in attitude and free e-mail agent, contained an invitation to create a behavior, including the number of new users or levels free hotmail.com account. This method of promotion of loyalty, to measures of reach, frequency, was understood to be viral in character as the penetration, speed of transmission and the content of message was being passed on by users themselves, conversations. Essentially, they assert that there is no thereby contaminating one another with this virus. single criterion that could be used as a measure of Wilson (2000) proposes a compromising view by success of a VM campaign – instead they propose stating that viral marketing is ‘any strategy that distinct goal setting at the beginning of the planning encourages individuals to pass on a marketing process which then serves as a success evaluation message to others, creating the potential for tool for the campaign. They propose a framework exponential growth in the message’s exposure and which starts with defining a viral marketing influence. According to Helm, Sabrina (2000), “Viral campaign’s goal as being either cognitive (reach, marketing can be understood as a communication and awareness, knowledge), behavioral (hits, downloads, distribution concept that relies on customers to dissemination rate) or financial (ROI, brand equity transmit digital products via electronic mail to other developments as a result of the campaign). potential customers in their social sphere and to Subsequent steps involve defining the target animate these contacts to also transmit the products. audience, deciding whether the message is Swanepoel et.al(2004) describes that ‘viral stealth commercial or non-commercial and finally choosing marketing is an electronic word-of-mouth the media to launch it from (e-mail, mobile phone, communication that is spread in an exponential and seeding website, blog) and the message format. contagious manner using the highly effective Larson (2009) argued that viral marketing through e- platform of the electronic medium…the people mails, SMSs, videos and social media is the new spreading these marketing messages are required not format of the traditional word-of-mouth marketing; to disclose the fact that they are being paid to only difference being that it is exponentially quicker. promote the product for the organization’. It enables the word-of-mouth to spread at the speed This view is in line with previously proposed of thought marketing is an ideal. explanation by Kaikati and Kaikati (2004) who consider viral marketing to be one type of six Importance of Viral Marketing different stealth marketing techniques (besides celebrity marketing, marketing in video games, 1. It harnesses the advantages of Internet and is marketing in pop and rap music, brand pushers and very effective in covering a large bait-and-tease marketing). Wilson (2005) described geographical area rapidly. viral marketing as “any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, 2. Viral marketing seeks to exploit pre-existing creating the potential for exponential growth in the social networks of an individual to produce message exposure and influence”. exponential increase in brand awareness. Another compromising view is that of Watts and Peretti (2007) who introduce the big-seed marketing 3. It is a very cost-effective way to reach large ‘which combines viral marketing tools with old- target audiences. fashioned mass media in a way that yields far more predictable results than ‘purely’ viral approaches like word-of-mouth marketing. They suggest that

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International Journal of Engineering, Management, Humanities and Social Sciences Paradigms (IJEMHS) (Vol. 01, Issue 01, October 2013) ISSN: 2347 - 601X www.ijemhs.com

4. Due to viral marketing there is no need of a Campaign Seeding professional tool to create a good viral message Seeding is the term used for planting the original campaign with the init ial group who will proceed in 5. There is a high possibility to attain high spreading the campaign to others. It refers to level of trust, value, position and brand techniques for launching a viral marketing campaign knowledge. via social media and the blogosphere. Successful viral marketing depends on appeali ng to the mindset 6. It is more powerful than other means of of the social media user. They will pass on content advertising because it conveys an implied that helps them build rapport with their online endorsement from a known person. friends. Seeding refers to the placement of content so that is gains traction with your target market. Users 7. Viral message will convert and retain a large are compelled to share it wit h their in number of recipients as new users, order to strengthen their relationships the following penetration, loyalty and frequency are steps can be implemented for a successful campaign . appropriate evaluative criteria.

Create a marketing message with content that engages the target audience by using attention - getting techniques such as humor to motivate .

Release the viral content to existing social media user groups on sites such as Linkedin and Facebook

Create own Facebook business page and post viral campaign on it

Cultivate relationships on social networking sites Encourage the person to tweet the viral campaign

Successful Campaigns garnered over 45 million views so far, it has proved with its success that viral mark eting ∑ Kolaveri Di :- Within three weeks of its works in India too. This case study explores release on YouTube, the Kolaveri Di video ∑ IKEA Facebook Showroom : – IKEA garnered 19 million views and was shared published photos of furnished rooms on their by 6.5 million Facebook users. It was facebook page and invited members to tag drawing more than 10,000 tweets daily by pieces of furniture with their own names the end of its first online week. Having thereby winning them. The tagging functioned on a first -come-first-served basis. IJEMHS www.ijemhs.com 3

International Journal of Engineering, Management, Humanities and Social Sciences Paradigms (IJEMHS) (Vol. 01, Issue 01, October 2013) ISSN: 2347 - 601X www.ijemhs.com

∑ The Blair Witch Project5: – the filmmakers the consensus, surprises the audience in some way, is created a website containing a false piece of really funny or is just outstanding in some other way. information about the film being a true story The idea has to be genuinely creative and the content and its makers disappearing during the should be relevant to the target audience. Certain production of the film. This sparked interest specific emotions were extremely common in highly in the public and resulted in the highest ROI viral content such as: in the film industry ever recorded. ∑ Campaign for Bull guard: - The 2004 ‹ Curiosity online viral campaign for Bullguard ‹ Amazement (www.bullguard.com/ pamelaspeak) proves ‹ Interest that you don’t need to be a big brand to ‹ Astonishment make viral marketing work. Bull guard ‹ Uncertainty makes anti-virus and firewall software and distributes their product only online. They 2. Create conversations : Campaign contains at least created a viral campaign using a home-video one element people would want to talk about. style clip and specialist viral site seeding. Creating conversations and topics to talk about is The campaign generated over 6 million clip what it's all about. Without a reason to talk, the views and over 30,000 post-view trial campaign won't spread and it will not generate value products download globally in less than to your brand. seven months. ∑ Zinedine Zidane Game :- In the final game of the 2006 FIFA Football World Cup, 3. Social value : Consider content that has social Zinedine Zidane, the captain of the French value to people. It can be an experiment to tie the team, head butted an opponent on the pitch campaign to a holiday, some event, or free-ride on a in front of millions of football enthusiasts. current issue. Starting a discussion about a topic is a The referee penalized Zidane and sent him great way to create conversations. off the pitch for his violent act against the Italian player in the 110 th minute of the 4. Branding : Demonstrate why people should like it game. Famously, Italy went on to win the instead of telling them why. Content that is too World Cup in a penalty shoot-out. In a commercial is often not passed on. Balance the matter of a few hours the Internet was taken branding element with the quality of the content. by storm by the ‘Zinedine Zidane Game’, Really good content can afford to have some more developed by Alberto Zanot, an Italian branding, and sometimes it even makes it better. graphic designer from Milan. The game encourages the computer user to head-butt 5. Length : Content should not be very long. The first the Italian player by way of mouse 5-10 seconds should really captivate the user. Avoid movements and mouse clicks. Zanot took long load times for games and applications. Try to less than an hour to develop the game using make the content interesting immediately, regardless Macromedia flash, Action Script language, if it is a video, a game or something else. In general, and TV shots of the football players the longer it takes to get through the content, the (Heffernan, 2006). He initially emailed the lower the chance that someone will see the brand game to friends, effectively initiating the connection and also pass it on. viral marketing campaign. On July 11th, in a matter of one single day, the game had been 6. Brand integration : Try to integrate the brand with viewed more than 1.5 million times the story, either directly or indirectly, and make sure (Heffernan, 2006). that users don't miss the connection between content and brand. The best virals often tie the brand, product How Any Business Can Create Successful or service very closely to the content, and are later Viral Content Marketing Campaigns known by their brand name. Then it is impossible for the user to forget who was behind the content. 1. Great content : For a campaign to truly go viral, content is everything. Make sure that Content breaks IJEMHS www.ijemhs.com 4

International Journal of Engineering, Management, Humanities and Social Sciences Paradigms (IJEMHS) (Vol. 01, Issue 01, October 2013) ISSN: 2347 - 601X www.ijemhs.com

7. Technical set-up : Make sure it is easy for people Strategy for a successful viral marketing spread the content. Try to optimize the viral spread campaign by providing formats that everyone can use. Do not use formats that aren't common and do not require special plug-ins or software upgrades. Instead, 1. Demographic and psychographic provide several different common formats, and segmentation : The marketer should have a maximize the number of possible ways to forward or sense of how to sow the seed of the idea or publish the content. product or service within its target customers. However most of the viral phenomenon start, not knowing that it will 8. Seeding : Without exposing the material to a lot of become viral. Somebody creates an users, only the very best material goes viral. To interesting ad, a funny e-mail or joke, a increase the chances, and create critical volume for video clip, a sketch, or an incident to amuse the campaign, seed properly. Do not seed only on friends or inform consumers, and sends it to well-known video sites, but try to geo-target by someone. focusing on local sites in your target territories and to 2. Social Media Marketing strategy : Many contextualize the seeding so that the content appears companies are employing today so as to be a on sites which focus on the subject of your campaign. part of a community, society, group and network of people on the internet. It is the 9. Media Plan : Don't start the campaign by placing process of driving customer traffic from the content everywhere at the same time with social networking sites such as Facebook, banners, buttons, pre-rolls etc. Rather, consider in Twitter, , LinkedIn, My Space, You which environments it is most relevant and likely to tube etc. The click on an ad on these sites get picked up voluntarily. Once the campaign goes directs the users to the company’s website. mainstream and is published in traditional media, it A social networking site is an online loses momentum among the most important users. platform that focuses on building and The novelty is lost. Plan the different phases of the strengthening of networks or relations campaign with this in mind, and start with the media among people who share ideas, interests, where the users themselves choose to pick it up. activities, tastes and preferences. 3. Branding strategies: People who are 10. Gather information : Make sure that tracking of satisfied with the product they often post the campaign is properly to get a lot of data/feedback. their comments through these social This way you know who has interacted with the networking, sites and influences other content and where. If you want even more prospects to buy the product. Large information, like e-mail addresses, names, etc, be corporate create a blogs in relation with the aware that gathering a lot of info raises the barriers to social network to give customer a wide area pass it on and can diminish the viral spread. But, it is to discuss about product and give reviews. possible to gather information without stopping the The feedback generated is generally used by spread. An excellent way to do this is by integrating corporate for product enhancement and the actual data in the content, so that it becomes introducing change in their products and better by providing more information. services.

11. Evaluate and improve: Evaluate the campaign: Conclusion What worked? What didn't work? How could content be better made? How could barriers to pass-on be Viral marketing may take the form of Video clips, lowered? How could we improve reach in our target Interactive Flash games, Adver games, EBooks, audience? Make sure to use every learning from this Brand able software, Images, Text messages. Viral campaign and use it for the next one. marketing is a credible marketing tactic that can deliver positive ROI when properly executed as a component of overarching strategies. Viral marketing is helping in generating brand awareness and brand equity. Marketers need to recognize that customers are an additional sales channel, a lead-generating IJEMHS www.ijemhs.com 5

International Journal of Engineering, Management, Humanities and Social Sciences Paradigms (IJEMHS) (Vol. 01, Issue 01, October 2013) ISSN: 2347 - 601X www.ijemhs.com

channel, and an awareness-generating channel. Viral to the new era of marketing” Volume 1, No. 3, marketing is a powerful way to enlist customers in a December 2012. marketing strategy, and when applied correctly, can [2] Allsop, D. T., Bassett, R. B and Hoskins, J. A. boost sales for the right product and speed the (2007), “Word-of-Mouth Research: Principles transition from the stage of early adoption to and Applications,” Journal of Advertising widespread use. Viral marketing appears to be an Research, 47 (4), 388–411. open invitation for marketers to make some quick [3] Anandakrishnan, B and Dasari, S. (2010) ,A money by using friendship to sell their goods and study on the Influence of Attributes of Web services to customers. portals and Incentives Offered on User The following characteristics are true of all Registrations, IUP Journal of Marketing successful viral marketing campaigns: Management, Vol IX, Nos 1 & 2, 2010 [4] Berger, J and Milkman, K.L. (2012), what I. Understand the target audience craft makes online content viral? Journal of Marketing and test the message, and target Research, Vol. XLIX, pg. 192 –205 influentials in the relevant [5] Cruz, D. and Fill C. (2008), “Evaluating viral communities to implement the marketing: isolating the key criteria”, Emerald campaign. Insight, Marketing intelligence and planning, II. Motivate people to pass along the Vol. 26, No. 7, 2008, pp. 743-758 marketing message, but not so much [6] Datta, P., Chowdhury, D., & Chakraborty, B. that encourages spamming. (2005), “Viral marketing: New form of word of III. Make it easy for people to mouth through internet [Electronic version]”. participate in the marketing The Business Review, Cambridge, 3(2), 69-75. campaign. [7] Ferguson, R. (2008), ,"Word of mouth and viral IV. Most of customers worry about marketing: taking the temperature of the hottest companies selling their personal trends in marketing ‟, Journal of Consumer information to others. To remove Marketing, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 179-82, ISSN this privacy security assurity should 0736-3761. be provided [8] Helm, S. (2000), “Viral marketing: establishing V. Let people know their e-mail customer relationship by word-of-mouse”, address or personal information will Electronic Markets, Vol. 10, No.3, pp.158-61 not be used without their [9] Jacob, H. (2010), “How Often Is the Times permission. Tweeted,” New York Times Open Blog, (April VI. Offer a product or service that is 15), [available at http: //open. worthy of conversation. blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/how-often-is-the- VII. Have on-line and off-line times-tweeted/]. components in the viral marketing [10] Jonah Peretti (2007), “Viral Marketing for the campaign. Real World, ”Harvard Business Review, 85(5), VIII. Make sure the campaign is 22–23. integrated with the larger marketing [11] Leskovec, J. and Adamic, L.A. (2007), “The strategy and not a one-time incident. Dynamics of Viral Marketing”, ACM IX. Track and analyze the results of the Transactions on the Web, 1, 1 (May 2007). campaign. [12] Maxwell, J. R. (2002), “IS VIRAL X. Don't "rely on incentivizing in the MARKETING ETHICAL”, MMA Fall long-term, but build customer Educators’ Conference, 55-56 loyalty through good value, [13] Teena Bagga and Abhishek Singh (2012), “A excellent service, entertainment, or Study Of Viral Marketing Phenomenon: Special an emotional attachment." Reference To Videos And E-Mails, Volume 3, Issue 5, ISSN 2229-6883. References

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