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VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT

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Saumya Singh | B.COM (HONORS) IIIRD YEAR | ROLL NO. 348 Under the supervision of Ms. Sonia Department of Commerce Shri Ram college of Commerce, University of Delhi Delhi- 110007

VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT

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UNDERTAKING
This is to certify that the project work entitled, VIRAL MARKETING :AN INSIGHT has been completed by me under the supervision of Ms. Sonia ,Shri Ram College of commerce, University of Delhi , is in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the paper number XXXVII for the award of the degree of B.Com.(H), University of Delhi, Delhi. I further certify that this project is an original work and has not been submitted anywhere else for the award of any other degree or diploma.

Saumya Singh B.Com. (H) III Year Roll No. 348

VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT

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INDEX
I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. ACKNOWLEDEMENT INTRODUCTION HISTORY OF VIRAL MARKETING 4 5-6 7-8

VIRAL MARKETING COMMUNICATION 9 GOALS AND TARGET GROUPS TYPES AND STRATERGIES VIRAL MARKETING MIX 10 11-15 16-17 18-19 20-22 23-28 29 30

VIII. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES IX. CONSUMERS RESPONSE X. CASE STUDY AND EXAMPLES XI. CONCLUSION XII. BIBLIOGRAPY

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I sincerely wish to express my deep sense of gratitude to my mentor Ms. Sonia, whose keen interest, valuable guidance; constructive comments and suggestions have enabled me to complete this project work. I would also like to thank my parents, friends and all others who have extended full cooperation and encouragement during the course of this project work.

(SAUMYA SINGH) B.Com (H) III Year Roll No. 348

VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT INTRODUCTION

2011

Internet marketing has evolved into a major marketing branch for many existing companies. Many new enterprises see the effectiveness and advantages of electronic business by not being limited by time and distance when engaging in business activity. The opportunities to do business worldwide with the click of mouse are enormous and enticing. The skyrocketing success of Hotmail.com has shaken the Internet marketing world encouraging entrepreneur to develop marketing concepts and to convince capital venture companies to finance them. In the current competitive business world, every business owners look different methods to promote their business, globally. One of the widely available, familiar and successful marketing strategies is Viral Marketing. Viral Marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands to millions. Viral marketing is practise by business organization who is engaged in e-commerce.

CONCEPT
1. The central idea is that people will pass on and share interesting and entertaining content forwarding it to their friends and colleagues; the content of which is often sponsored by a brand that is looking to build awareness of a product or service. 2. Viral marketing uses pre-existing social networks to produce exponential increases in awareness through self-replicating viral processes. Basically it is marketing that appears to work much the same as a cold virus, spreading from person to person explosively 3. Influencers are used to make peer-to-peer product recommendations. 4. It is a type of promotion based on circulation of ideas via word of mouth process Viral marketing has been the buzz word for businesses for the last ten years. Customers act as advertisers by promoting a product through word of mouth. The communication networks of the customers are used to transmit promotional material thereby drastically lowering the costs of customer acquisition. The reason for transfer of the communication is the human nature to share to share an interesting discovery with friends or colleagues? Those people that you shared your discovery with will share your discovery with his/her friends or colleagues. This process is called going viral. In other words, it is idea that spread and while spreading, it helps advertise your business. Viral marketing is popular because of

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the ease of executing the marketing campaign, relative low-cost, good targeting, and the high and rapid response rate. The main strength of viral marketing is its ability to obtain a large number of interested people at low cost. In unprecedented short time it expands network to mammoth figures.

Now take a look at the representation below: X XX XXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A FIGURE REPRESENTATING EXPANSION OF NETWORK AS A RESULT OF VIRAL COMMUNICATION. Thats how virus multiplies, doubling itself at every step. That is exactly the way viral marketing grows too. Viral marketing is seemed to be stimulated by the availability of large number of broadband users with internet connection

VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT HISTORY

2011

In 1984 Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet stated, contrary to principal theories about mass media communication of the 40s, that the mass media has limited effects in the process of mass persuasion. These authors questioned the validity of the bullet theory or the hypodermic-needle theory. This theory predicts that mass communication messages have a strong and universal effect on all the members of the audience who are exposed to them. They concluded that opinions and attitudes of individuals are rooted in the social spheres they belong, and mass media do not influence directly the audiences. In fact, they influence a reduced group of individuals (influencers or opinion leaders).They interpret the message of the mass media and spread it though their interpersonal relationships (two-step flow in the effect of mass media).

Lazarsfeld and Katz (1955) investigated the role of the personal influence in the daily household purchase decisions. They found that members of interpersonal communication networks (family, friends and colleagues) were the most important source of influence in the purchase of household goods and food products. They concluded that personal influence, which was called later word of mouth by Ditcher (1966) and Merton (1968), was seven times as effective as newspapers and magazines, four times as effective as personal selling, and twice as effective as radio advertising in influencing consumers to switch brands. Merton (1968) was one of the first authors who coined the term word of mouth communication. He defined this concept as a process of personal influence, in which interpersonal communications between a sender and a receiver can change the receivers behavior or attitudes. The influence of personal sources as friends, relatives or colleagues plays a fundamental role in affecting perceptions and attitudes. Since the 1960s several studies have documented the importance and determinant influence of word of mouth on consumer behavior. Customers pay 7

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more attention to word of mouth because it is perceived as a reliable source of information. The senders of the message (friends, relatives, colleagues, etc.) are seen by the consumer as having no self-interest in promoting a product or a brand.Viral Marketing is a term which is used to describe how companies use the technologies of the Information Age like internet and World Wide Web to create an intense expansion of the older concept of Word-of-mouth marketing. As a Result there has been need to distinguish between word of mouth and viral marketing. BASIS DEFINATION VIRAL MARKETING Viral marketing is the promotion of a company or its products and services through a persuasive message designed to spread, typically online, from person to person. WORD OF MOUTH Word of Mouth is the promotion of a company or its products and services through an initiative conceived and designed to get people talking positively about that company, product or service Make people talk positively about product or brand in order to change or reinforce consumers attitudes and behaviours. All interpersonal communications in which is included the Internet;

FOCUS

How the company message is spread to the audience

MODE

Critical electronic extension of WOM-uses online forums.

VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT

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The roots of the term viral marketing and its popularization have been debated, but it is believed to have been coined by Harvard Business School faculty member Jeffrey Rayport and Harvard Business School graduate Tim Draper. Media critic Douglas Rushkoff was one of the first to write about online viral marketing in his in his 1994 book Media Virus: Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture. The term was used by Jeffrey Rayport when he wrote his December 1996 Fast Company article The Virus of Marketing. The name Viral Marketing was probably first used by venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson in 1997 while describing Hotmail's (he was the venture capitalist behind Hotmail, before it was sold to MSN) email practice of attaching their own advertisements with outgoing mail from their users

Viral Marketing Communication

In Boase and Wellman (2001), it is stated that there are several similarities between biological virus and viral marketing. In both cases the diffusion depends on networks rather than growing in situation. They concluded that the spread of virus and viral marketing are shaped by the nature of interpersonal relationships and the structure and composition of the interpersonal networks. Viral marketing as virus can be spread according to two archetypes: densely knit groups and ramified networks (Boase and Wellman 2001). Viral Communication Model

In densely knit groups, most members know each other, are in frequent contact with each other, but they have little contact with outsiders. On the other hand, in ramified networks few members are in contact with each other and a large portion of interactions are with outsiders. Viral marketing messages can be spread across a

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small group of people, in which members are closely bounded, or several groups of people which maintain weak ties.

GOALS OF VIRAL MARKETING

The marketing concept of every business is to first define the primary goals, for viral marketing it is to reach as many potential customers as quickly as possible and at the lowest possible cost. This goal can be reached by using the unique concept of word of mouth. The exponential spreading of the viral message is achieved with little or no cost to the marketer. This way, future customers can be reached locally, nationally and internationally. A key element responsible for the wide spread recognition of the product is the personal recommendation of the word of mouth contact. The conviction that the product has value increases the desire to communicate and to spread the viral message. The tipping point, when the virus becomes an epidemic, which is essential for viral marketing can be attained. The most important goal of viral marketing is to make contact with as many customers as possible with which businesses can connect. Fritz differentiates between two goals, the economic goals and non-economic goals, although the noneconomic goals play a more dominant role at the beginning of a marketing campaign .Non-economic goals are Customer acquisition, Customer satisfaction, Customer loyalty, Degree of popularity

TARGET GROUP OF VIRAL MARKETING

A marketing campaign will not bring the desired results if the attempt is made to reach every possible customer in the Internet. In the early stages it is important to clearly define who the most potential customers of the product to be marketed will be. Before a product or service is put on the market with the use of viral marketing it is important to determine which segment of the population will profit the most from the marketing campaign. Bruhn defines target groups as people for whom the marketing message is planned. Not only is the singular potential buyer of interest but also the reference group with whom the buyer identifies. Individuals who have great influence on the customer such as opinion leaders and social contacts are part of the target group. The target group should not be evaluated after only one criterion. Their socioeconomic and demographic traits must be considered. The magic word for any customer is free and nothing can motivate a Web user more. With e-mails, Websites, graphic and software download the spreading of the message is easy and cheap. For the message to spread quickly without falling into a hole, backup mail servers have to be provided for.

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VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT TYPES OF VIRAL MARKETING

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There are basically two types of viral marketing which are followed in different situations keeping the product or service in mind. 1. Active viral marketing Active viral marketing is more direct and typically, more successful. With active viral marketing, you not only suggest that users perform a certain action, but you empower them to do it. If you want them to tell a friend, you give them a simple tell friends button on your site. If you want them to bookmark a particular product or page on your site, you add easy social bookmarking buttons to make the process more convenient. It is called active viral marketing because the advertisement which you have seen has a promote button and when you press that the advertisement shows to the recipient that you have promoted a particular topic where the person will show interest to see it. 2.

Frictionless Viral Marketing

Frictionless viral marketing, in contrast to active viral marketing, does not require active participation of the customer to advertise or spread information about a product. The product automatically transmits the promotion message to the recipient. The most well known example for this type of viral marketing is Hotmail. With every Hotmail message that is sent the advertising for Hotmail spreads automatically.

EXAMPLE OF ACTIVE VIRAL MARKETING

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VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT VIRAL MARKETING STRATREGIES

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Start-up companies see viral marketing as the opportunity to get the most coverage with the least amount of capital. Initiating a viral marketing campaign requires insight into the mechanics of viral marketing and well planned strategies. In order for a marketing concept to be viral it must fulfill certain criteria. Foremost, it must be initiated by the customer on his own free will. The idea is not to have a customer do the advertising against payment and more than that, to do something which he would normally not do. Viral marketing was the Internet buzz word in the year 1998. It is the most frequently used marketing concept in the Internet. A mouse click sends a message world-wide, but there is also a negative side to it. It is practically uncontrollable and an unhappy customer will pass along negative propaganda more quickly than positive. In general, viral marketing strategies can be divided into two groups depending on the degree of involvement of the customer in the marketing process. Low Integration Strategy In this strategy the customer is involved only minimally. The e-mail is used to spread the mouth-to-mouth propaganda to a probable user with a mouse click. An example for this type of recommendation is the send a friend button on news articles. Hotmail uses a similar strategy. At the bottom of every sent e-mail is the invitation Get your free e-mail at Hotmail. The user acts as advertiser every time he sends an email. This strategy is also referred to as frictionless viral marketing.

High Integration Strategy

Here the difference lies in the direct involvement of the customer in targeting new users. This active viral marketing requires the user to convince another user of the quality of the product or service. Here we can take the example of any social networking site where it asks the permission to invite the friends.

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Viral marketing used to rely heavily on email but it has grown substantially in recent years to take in many other forms and strategies. A successful viral marketing campaign can be created in many different ways including:

E-mail
The most traditional and simple method of viral marketing was email and it is still a viable method today. There can be restrictions on email and filters can sometimes get the low reputation, but the results can still be outstanding often resulting in viral emails being sent all over the world with little being done by a company.

Blogging
Possibly the most powerful of all methods in recent years, blogging allows website visitors to interact with the marketers site and with other bloggers. So cross promoting is easy and effective. Blogging also allows easy customer feedback through comments, leading to increased word of mouth sales.

Chat rooms
Having a chat room on site means customers can chat to each other and hopefully recommend products. One can conduct tele-seminars which can attract prospective buyers. Chat rooms are a great way to build up a relationship with customers and something they can tell their friends about and spread the word about site.

Tell a friend scripts

As long as the person includes a privacy policy, tell-a-friend scripts are a powerful way for people to quickly and easily pass on information to their friends as a recommendation for your products or services. It can be used on a website. Depending upon the market, it may be found out that offering an incentive to tell a friend or two will encourage more traffic. Incentives can be free information that is delivered directly after the tell-a-friend script has been executed.

Video clips
Posting videos on sites like YouTube or even on product site can get the viral machine pumping. People love video as they can digest information easier. If a good video is created, it is likely that people will pass this on to others interested in the same topic.

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VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT

Flash games

2011

Flash games get passed around through email and if the marketer can include a small unobtrusive message in the game about the product or service, it can literally get thousands of visitors the flash games can be submitted to big game sites or social sites like Face book where they can be accessed by millions of people.

Internet Press Release

An Internet Press Release can be incorporated to draw in the readers. This is a method that can have far reaching effects when done with creativity and panache. Bring readers to products page and send them out with a video or eBook to share with their friends.

Under Cover Marketing

An air of mystery is created around the product. There are questions, mystique, a potential for danger and people keep coming back for more. It becomes fun and interesting. The readers keep coming back for more and sending their friends to figure out the mystery.

Social networking sites

Social networks are websites which allows people to connect with other online users/friends through communication and interaction. MySpace are the most popular social networks and Face book has created a new era in marketing by developing Face book advertisements using Fan pages. These advertisements let the business to spread their message to the target market after filtering using their basic information and users are allowed to like the advertisement which appears in the hope page of their friends which motivate friends to have a look at that content.

Buzz marketing
Buzz marketing is creating a 'buzz' about a particular subject, video, website or writing. Buzz marketing is a viral marketing technique that attempts to make each encounter with a consumer appear to be a unique, spontaneous personal exchange of information instead of a calculated marketing pitch choreographed by a professional advertiser. Viral marketing has so many possible methods and implementations that it is impossible to ever run out of ideas. By combining several methods together, marketing campaign is sure to bring results.

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METHODS OF VIRAL MARKETING

EMAIL, BLOGS, CHAT ROOMS, UNDERCOVER MARKETING

TELL A FRIEND SCRIPTS, VIDEO CLIPS, FLASH GAMES

SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES, BUZZ MARKETING

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VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT TYPES OF VIRAL MESSAGES

Pass-along:

2011

A message which encourages the user to send the message to others is passing along massages. The crudest form of this is chain letters where a message at the bottom of the e-mail prompts the reader to forward the message. More effective are short, funny clips of video which people spontaneously forward

Incentivized viral:
Offering rewards for providing someone's email address or by sending that particular message. However, this is most effective when the offer requires another person to take action. This is mostly in the games where contests offer more chances of winning for each referral given, but when the referral must also participate in order for the first person to obtain that extra chance of winning, the chance that the referral participates is much greater.

Edgy Gossip/Buzz marketing

Advertisements or messages that create controversy by challenging the borders of taste or appropriateness are one of tools. Discussion of the resulting controversy can be considered to generate buzz and word of mouth advertising. Prior to releasing a movie some Hollywood movie stars get married, get divorced, or get arrested, or become involved in some controversy that directs conversational attention

VIRAL MARKETING MIX

Viral marketing campaigns require planning all marketing measures. The Viral marketing mix also focuses on 4 Ps namely

Product
Products to be distributed over the Internet fall into specific categories. Goods not suitable for e-commerce are cars, houses, office machines and furniture which need to be personally inspected. Food is also not sold over the Internet. Certain products are better suited for viral marketing than others such as books, CDs, trips from travel agencies and computer products. Computer software is usually selfexplanatory and can be easily downloaded

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Price
To catch the attention of customers viral marketing programs give away products or services. Customers react positively if a product is less expensive or on an item is on sale, however, free attracts eyeballs. The Internet marketers catch the eyeballs of possible customers by offering a product free of charge. This strategy of giving something away is described as Follow the Free-Pricing. There are two steps involved in this first step free software can be downloaded which in turn encourages the customer to pass the news on to others and the second step involves generating revenue with complementary service such as updates or premium products.

Place
Viral marketing takes place in the Internet and the place where contacts and trade take place is the virtual marketplace. The electronic marketplace is an open marketplace where anybody and everybody has access to it and can take part in it. Transaction costs are none or minimal which makes the virtual market place an attractive place for supplier and demander

Promotion
In viral marketing the customer plays a leading role in promoting a product or service and at the same time winning new customers for the product or service. The promoting is done by offering something the user finds useful such as software for communication in viral marketing the customer takes over the role of the middle man and is at the same time also the distributor of the product

VIRAL MARKETING MIX

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ADVANTAGES OF VIRAL MARKETING

It caters to larger audience through World Wide Web and emails. Viral marketing practices which use internet as the communication media can be accessed by large amount of people worldwide and it can be seen as an advantage over traditional advertising media such as TV and radio advertisements. It uses existing communication among friends and other associations to spread the message. As an example if a product message is spread in Twitter using retweets it uses the existing followers of the retwitter to spread the message. It is considered to be a cost effective advertising method when compared to traditional advertising modes. Posting a blog post or sending emails potential customers does not cost as much cost of advertising in Television. It works as a faster mode of reaching the customer. Helps to build the reputation of the firm fast through increased sales and online promotions. It caters to the exact target market of the product as filtering is possible when using online means. As an example, if a company wishes to introduce a product for teenagers living in New York wishes to advertise on Face book, it is possible for the firm to access basic information of the user and filter the target market. Tools used in viral marketing can be set up with less effort. Composing an email message or a blog post does not require much of effort when compared to making a TV commercial or bill board campaign. Customizing the message based on user preference and local interest is also possible in viral marketing through data mining techniques.

COST EFFICIENT EASY AVAILAIBIL ITY OF RESOURCES ADVANTAGE S OF VIRAL MARKETING FASTER MODE OF ADVERTISI NG WIDE SPREAD REACH MASS CUSTOMISATI ON CATERS TO EXACT TARGET MARKET

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VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT DISADVANTAGES OF VIRAL MARKETING

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Issue of SPAMS- Viral marketing uses means such as emails and commenting on blogs and forums. When the viral marketing in done in a large scale it becomes annoying for the email receiver to receive large amount of emails in their inbox and they are made filtered as spam messages. Viral marketing talks about only spreading the message to potential consumers through online means but spreading the message is not does not benefit the firm. Sale has occurred at the end for the firm to benefit but the amount of actual sales made apart from promotions is questionable under viral marketing. Results directly attributable to viral marketing is unquantifiable as companies use other marketing techniques and purchase motivation of the consumer depends on the consumer black box, not based on viral marketing. It very hard to make the people to spread the message by emails and other means as people are more concentrated about their personal work rather than doing marketing for business organizations. Continuous effort in viral marketing can cause the product message reaching out of target audience which will result in brand dilution by sales occurring at non-targeted users. Viral marketing focuses more on short term success rather than building differentiation to gain long term advantages. It can be easily imitated by competitors as anyone on internet can launch marketing campaigns easily. Negative publicity is possible at the same speed of positive publicity or even higher speed than that. There is no control as to whom the viral message is sent. Communicators can modify the message during the process of transmission. This manipulation influences the perception of company brand identity by the receivers of the sent message. Customer recommendation is the key to viral spreading and usually reflects the degree of customer satisfaction
BRAND DILUTION Association with unknown groups DISADVANTAGES OF VIRAL MARKETING MANIPULAT ION OF MESSAGE LOSS OF CONTROL SPAM THREAT

HATE SITES

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Viral marketing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Viral marketing requires two things for success, a message that is useful and a high pass-along rate. Otherwise it is doomed for failure. Its not enough to have a wellcrafted message but equally critical to ensure it is interesting and outrageous. Viral marketing can take many shapes from a simple email forward to people recommending videos to their friends. SMEs should especially consider viral marketing as it is low cost, low risk and has the potential to produce quick results. Viral marketing is a powerful tool to SMEs that can help, deliver, and offers to your market or target group and help you build a database and give your brand visibility. Anyway while an SME is going viral then there are few questions to be reminded Is your audience on the web? Will it have broadband to enjoy the message or video or flash game? Does it have the time to watch the advertisement What kind of message strikes your audience and will that message encourage your customer to forward the URL as a recommendation to others? Does your audience trust your brand to rely on its message, despite the odd comments that can be made against the video online?

The Key Elements of a Viral Marketing Strategy

Viral marketing is not made, it happens, provided the virus carries the traits necessary to make it viral. Successful viral marketing strategies are built around the following characteristics: Identification of a viral product: 1. The product must have a true value to the sender as well as the receiver. Uninteresting information is not passed on.45 The value of the product can be a service, a game, entertainment, greeting cards, monetary incentive, sweepstake etc. 2. The service or product is free 3. The product is easily reproducible 4. The product or service is exclusively distributed over the Internet Additional Strategic Framework conditions: 5. The target group is in the introduction phase of the product oblivious to competitors.

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6. The primary focus of the user is directed to the site where the product or service is solely available. 7. The first carrier or carriers of the virus need to be carefully selected. 8. Care must be taken to concentrate on the target group and avoid being posted on undesirable Websites Not all of the above mentioned elements are necessary to make a viral marketing campaign successful. However, the probability of a successful campaign increases when more of the elements are fulfilled.

Consumers responses to viral marketing messages

Viral marketing, as all the marketing communications tools, has pros and cons in order to influence the consumers responses towards the brands. The results of the research indicate that viral marketing efforts are extremely effective to build brand awareness. These results are based on the consumers responses to three successful viral marketing campaigns: Drumming Gorilla (Cadbury), Walk in Fridge (Heineken) and Ronaldinho Touch of Gold (Nike).

The findings of this study are supported by other researches. Dobele, Toleman and Beverland (2005) and Ferguson (2008) analyzed, through case study research of some of the most successful viral marketing campaigns, the consumers responses to 21

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viral marketing stimuli in terms of brand awareness and attitudes and motivations regarding the brand. Ferguson (2008) explored consumers responses to eight real life campaigns of wellknown multinational companies such as Lego, Dell, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts and Procter and Gamble. He interviewed the marketing directors of these companies and the head managers of the online advertising agencies which conducted the viral marketing campaigns. The conclusions of this study are as follows:

Viral marketing strategies are extremely useful to build brand awareness (e.g.: Burger Kings subservient Chicken was seen by 20 million people). Viral marketing campaigns encourage word of mouth which, consequently, leads to trial and acquisition. Viral marketing strategies can be used to build effectively consumer loyalty. Viral marketing campaigns may be used to promote loyalty programs.

Dobele and her colleagues (2005) analyzed seven viral marketing campaigns released by international companies as Honda, Pepsi, Sony and Procter and Gamble. They attempted to identify the strategies behind the success of these campaigns and their effects on consumer behavior. These researchers concluded that viral marketing campaigns have a significant influence in changing the consumers brand image and positioning and increasing trial. They explained this influence by the voluntary nature of forwarding messages which is perceived favorably by the receivers and, consequently, it leads to positive attitudes towards the brand.

World famous examples of Viral Marketing

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Hotmail promotion campaign Gmail promotion campaign Microsofts Origami Project campaign Tupperware popularization Popularization of text massaging Popularization of chat BMWs Mini Cooper campaign Ford Motors Evil Twin campaign 22

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CASE STUDY|VIRAL MARKETING |SAMSUNGS NOTE PC

Digital technology leader, SAMSUNG unveiled an online marketing campaign for the promotion of its trendy lifestyle focused NOTE PC'S.VIRAL MARKETING PROGRAM was the key concept that worked wonders for Samsung by creating cross connections between the online community. The objective of the campaign was to multiply the brand interactions by making users participate in the online contestant making users refer the contest to their friends. Mass portals like MSN, YAHOO and REDIFF were used in the online promotion using innovative banners taking users to a demo test and contest. The participant had To answer simple questions in order to win a Samsung Note-PC.It turned out to be a grand success with over 50000participants taking part in the contest enthusiastically. BRAND: Samsung CAMPAIGN: Online marketing campaigns to promote 'X' series of Note PC's MEDIUM: Internet TARGET AUDIENCE: Internet Users between the age group of 25-45 CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVE: To promote the Samsung Note PC's by running the viral marketing program along with the online contest. The focus was not only for the generation of sales enquiries but also reaching potential customer through the online campaign CAMPAIGN PERIOD: Ongoing campaign launched on April 11 CAMPAIGN IDEATION: The campaign used the viral marketing concept for the promotion of Samsung Note PC's by referring the micro site to three friends who could further refer it to their three friends, thus creating a mesh of networks. The campaign also used creative across portals to engage the net-savvy audience in the contest to win a Samsung Note PC, by giving answers to some simple questions CAMPAIGN EXECUTION: The online marketing campaign used DHTML banners across mass portals to unfold the micro site to the users. Along with the banner ads, Rediffs e-mail signatures also carried Samsung banner's to take the audience through a demo test and the contest. A unique brand gallery was created which included interactive demos, features and product info. CAMPAIGN PERFORMANCE:Total visitors to demon: 1.42 laky Total no of friends referred: 76% Total visitors referred who came back to play: 42% Total interactivity-1.25 Mn 23 Total unique reach:5 Mn

VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT

BRAND VALUE:

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The engaging creatives generated an appeal for the lifestyle-focused product from Samsung, with over 50,000 users taking part in a contest and then referring to one or more of their friends. The campaign execution highlights were: To highlight the thin and light feature of Samsung Note PC's the product was creatively shown as if its floating in the air on the banner ads Sections like WHY SAMSUNG" and "WHY THIN AND LIGHT" provided brand information and product benefit Some of the differentiating features of the product like Super Bright Screen TFT Display, The fingerprint recognizing software and Instant AVS were communicated interactively ADVERTISER'S VIEW As per Ramanjeet Singh, Country Product Manager, Note PC, Samsung India, The campaign's objective was to launch the new series of Samsung Note PC's and involve users with the product imagery and features purely in terms of reaching to our customers and brand interactions we were able to reach out to far large number of audience due to the Word of Mouth Marketing and the excitement that was created among complete campaign"

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OTHER SUCCESS STORIES OF VIRAL MARKETING ALL OVER THE GLOBE

1. The Hotmail Project
The venture capitalist company, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) financed the first free e-mail service Hotmail (www.hotmail.com). Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith of Java Soft Incorporation approached DFJ with the idea and Tim Draper suggested adding an advertising message at the bottom of each outgoing Hotmail. Each sent free Hotmail message spurred the receiver of such a message to also get the free email provider and in turn passed it on to relatives and friends. In 1997 Hotmail reached ten million users. Microsoft bought Hotmail for $400 million that same year. The advertising message Get your free e-mail at Hotmail, at the bottom of every sent E-mail, was not constrained locally since the users connected with other Web users outside their hometown. Hotmail spread at first nationwide, then worldwide making Hotmail the single most frequently used e-mail provider in Sweden and India. The advertising budget of Hotmail was a mere $50,000. Within 18 months 12 million users became subscribers, an unheard of record. The innovators of Hotmail were equally surprised with the rapid spread. The success can be linked to the free e-mail advertisement sent out and to the indirect personal endorsement of the sender

2. Ford Motor Companys Ford Fiesta Project

Ford Fiesta Movement that involved selecting 100 socially vibrant individuals who were provided with the European version of the Ford Fiesta 18 months prior to it being manufactured and released in the USA. These socially media aware fanatics were encouraged to share their experience with the Ford Fiesta over the 6 months on their Blogs, Twitter, Face book, Flicker and YouTube channels. The Numbers 11 million Social Networking impressions 5 million engagements on social networks (people sharing and receiving) 11,000 videos posted 15,000 tweets.. not including retweets 13,000 photos

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50,000 hand raisers who have seen the product in person or on a video who said that they want to know more about it when it comes out and 97% of those dont currently drive a Ford vehicle 38% awareness by Gen Y about the product, without spending a dollar on traditional advertising (Fords model Fusion doesnt have that awareness after 2 years of being out in production and yet it has received hundreds of millions of dollars in traditional marketing spend).

3. General Motors Chevy Competition

Eight teams of social media embark on a combination road trip/scavenger hunt competition from their hometowns to Austin behind the wheel of some of Chevys newest products. Along the way theyll need to complete 50 challenges in order to determine the winner. The winning team will be the one that not only has completed the most challenges, but has done the most interacting with their community on Twitter and their own sites. The Numbers 61.1 Million social web impressions from March 8 to 21 (with overwhelmingly well above 98% of those being positive, as far as the reports and measurements that I saw) with 15,924 online mentions including 13,440 Tweets (this is more than double the number of tweets about Chevy in JanFeb) 1,216 blog posts 1,268 other posts (including comments, photos and videos) 33,500 page views through Face book and ChevySXSW.com More than 300 pieces of positive user-generated content posted to ChevySXSW.com (including 250+ videos) Chevrolet added 8,764 fans to its Face book page (up 12.7% in 3 weeks); @Chevrolet Twitter followers were up +68% in the month of our SXSW activation

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4. Obamas Presidential Election

2011

The Program -To be elected as President using the web and social media channels The Numbers Over 3 million individual donors were mobilized through social media Motivated over 2 million social networking participants Created and promoted more than 200,000 offline events across the country Total of 6.5 million donations online $500 million in donations online More than 13 million people provided their email addresses to the campaign website over the course of the campaign, aides sent more than 7,000 types of messages In total, more than 2 billion e-mails landed in inboxes The campaign website helped create over 2 million user profiles There were over 400,000 blog entries People spent more than 14 million hours watching over 1,000 Obama campaignrelated videos on YouTube There were more than 50 million views of Obama Campaign YouTube Videos 1.2 billion minutes of YouTube view time.

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VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT CONCLUSION

2011

The viral marketing concept has repeatedly proven itself as the key to many successful businesses. The opportunities for e-commerce are enormous and very appealing to companies starting up in business. Not all viral marketing strategies are applicable to every viral marketing campaign. The type of product to be marketed influences the manner in which the tools are implemented, it does not, however, change the ultimate goal, namely to reach the critical mass. Marketers need to recognize that customers are an additional sales channel, a lead-generating channel, and an awareness-generating channel. Viral marketing is a powerful way to enlist customers in a marketing strategy, and when applied correctly, can boost sales for the right product into the stratosphere and speed the transition from the stage of early adoption to widespread use. The question businesses must pose is not whether to engage in e-commerce, but how best to use the digital technology for marketing purposes. There is a future in e-commerce. Internet marketing has not nearly been exploited to its fullest potential and competition to gain consumers attention will become more difficult and challenging. The balance of power in marketing has shifted to the consumer who can access the Internet at any time of day or night and all year round. The customer is no longer the passive receiver of advertisements. Push mediums such as banner ads, pop-up messages and SPAM are not consciously registered by the consumer. Internet security software allows the user to block unsolicited messages. Businesses will have to adjust their marketing strategies to the new environment. It is up to business to use viral marketing strategies to raise brand awareness and develop customer relationships .obviously; many unanswered questions exist regarding viral marketing. It is a grave misconception to think that viral marketing is the key to quick riches. Viral marketing looks easy but the contrary is true. There are always exceptions to the rule such as the free e-mail provider, but generally, careful planning is a prerequisite. Product analysis, market research and marketing strategies have to be considered before initiating a viral marketing campaign. There is a misconception that viral marketing is easy. The key to an effective viral spreading is motivation; however, the doses of motivation must be carefully calculated. Too much can create chaos and dishonesty while too little motivation will not impress anybody. The product itself must arouse the interest and stimulate the desire to pass it on .It is an effective tool when peoples desire to communicate can be used to pass on information in the Internet. They actively participate in the verbal (e-mail) exchange of experiences and impressions. The Web provides the perfect medium for such an exchange and can have an unprecedented snowball effect as can be seen with Hotmail .Having Internet customers spread information more or less free of charge, is the ultimate goal of viral marketing. The advertiser thus uses third parties to carry his message either through viral marketing, affiliate programs or marketing programs. Viral marketing has the opportunity to reach thousands of potential customers at minimal expenditure. The instruments or tools for spreading viral marketing campaigns in the Internet are the people who visit the Web. Their desire

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2011

to communicate with others is an asset for marketers, the message spreads exponentially but only if the service or product contains certain qualities The following characteristics are true of all successful viral marketing campaigns:

Understand the target audience craft and test the message, and target influential in the relevant communities to implement the campaign. Motivate people to pass along the marketing message, but not so much that encourages spamming. Make it easy for people to participate in the marketing campaign. Let people know their e-mail address or personal information will not be used without their permission. Offer a product or service that is worthy of conversation. Have on-line and off-line components in the viral marketing campaign. Make sure the campaign is integrated with the larger marketing strategy and not a one-time incident. Track and analyze the results of the campaign. Don't "rely on incentivizing in the long-term, but build customer loyalty through good value, excellent service, entertainment, or an emotional attachment."

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VIRAL MARKETING:AN INSIGHT BIBLIOGRAPY

I. www.antiessays.com/free-essays/103167.

2011

II.

Ferguson, R., 2008. Word of mouth and viral marketing: taking the temperature of the hottest trends in marketing. Journal of Consumer Marketing. 25(3), pp. 179-182

III.

Jurvetson, S., and Draper, T., 1997. Viral Marketing. [Online] Available from: http://www.dfj.com/news/article_26.shtml (accessed on 19 DEC 2011)

IV.

http://www.witiger.com/ecommerce/viralmarketing.htm

V.

Jurvetson, S., 2000. From the ground floor: What exactly is viral marketing? Red Herring Communications. May, pp. 110-111

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