The Purpose Of A Viral Marketing Campaign

You may be familiar with the expression ‘viral’ when it comes to marketing content, but what does it actually mean? It’s not just a buzzword, and it’s not just about the success of a marketing campaign; a viral marketing campaign is a strategic effort designed to generate buzz and interest around a product or service, and ultimately drive sales. A viral marketing campaign is any marketing campaign that is intended to go ‘viral’ – spreading rapidly across the social media platforms.

Viral marketing campaigns can be used for many purposes. Sometimes, a business may want to see which of their products are the most popular. This could be to find out which products consumers are most interested in, or to determine what new products or improvements should be made to existing products. A viral marketing campaign may also be used to gain social media followers and to increase engagement within social media platforms. Finally, viral marketing campaigns are used to establish credibility and to build interest in a brand or product, making it more likely that someone will want to purchase the product or service once they’ve had the chance to get to know it better.

How And Why Should You Consider A Viral Marketing Campaign?

If you’re looking to gain some interest or credibility within the online marketing community, or if you’re looking to make your blog or website more interesting to potential readers, then why not give it a try? There’s a lot of benefits to a viral marketing campaign, as you’ll see below.

The Variety Of Potential Consumers That Might Be Interested In Your Product Or Service

Anyone, anywhere can become a potential customer or lead for your business. A viral marketing campaign allows you to target your potential consumers wherever they are on the internet, encouraging them to click on your content and to make a purchase later on.

Though social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook were originally created for consumers to share their thoughts and feelings with each other, businesses can take advantage of this by creating accounts and starting to use those accounts to connect with potential customers. When a business has multiple outlets for communication (such as email and social media), it ensures that their message will be spread and that they’ll have the opportunity to engage with prospective customers, growing their reach and establishing credibility.

The Potential For International Growth

Though most businesses start in one place and then branch out to other regions or countries, a viral marketing campaign allows for international growth. Because your target audience is online-based and uses social media platforms to communicate, customers from all over the world can take part in the conversation, providing you with the opportunity to gain more leads and grow your business.

Boosting Product Awareness And Pre-Sale Conversions

One of the main goals of a viral marketing campaign is to get the interested consumer to do something – in this case, make a purchase. When someone consumes your content during one of the several steps in the buyer’s journey – before, during, or after their purchase – this is considered a ‘pre-sale conversion’.

Some businesses and websites use conversion rate optimisation (CRO) software to track how many ‘pre-sale conversions’ each piece of content performs. The greater the number, the greater the success of the campaign.

Product awareness begins when a consumer has heard of your product or service, but doesn’t necessarily know much about it. Having a series of articles or a blog post that promotes your product or service and builds up your credibility as an expert in the field will increase the likelihood of someone being interested in what you have to say or offer.

The Ability To Test The Waters

You won’t know whether or not your product or service will appeal to the public until you try. If you’ve never done so before, why not give it a go during the early stages of your product’s life cycle? You can start with a small group of people and see how they respond, or you can post your product online and watch the responses come in. You can even run a little experiment and see which of your product’s attributes or qualities is most appealing to the public – there’s no risk and no harm in trying out a new product, service, or mode of operation!

The important thing to keep in mind is that you’re not guaranteed results from any marketing experiment. You can’t know what will happen until you try something new – it’s all about what works best for you and your business.

The Growth Potential Thanks To The Digital World

Though some businesses still rely solely on traditional marketing methods, such as TV commercials or billboards, to gain awareness and interest, the digital sphere has changed the game. What was once considered ‘traditional’ marketing, such as radio commercials, now takes the form of podcasts or videos that are specifically designed to be heard or viewed by as many people as possible – often resulting in thousands, if not millions of downloads or views on YouTube alone.

A great example of this is podcast merch. Though some entrepreneurs started by selling t-shirts and bandanas adorned with their favourite podcasts, these days you’ll more commonly see products such as phone cases and fridge magnets featuring their business’ name and unique podcast avatar. Who knows – maybe you’ll even find a recipe for cookies that are shaped like the heads of various creatures from your favourite podcasts!

Generating Buzz

Buzz is one of the mainstays of a great marketing campaign. When a potential customer or lead discovers your product or service and shares that information with others, it is considered ‘buzz’.

For example, if you run a fitness blog and post about a new diet that promises to make people lose weight, you’ll have generated a small amount of buzz when you posted about it – the people that you reached will certainly know what you’re talking about and will more than likely want to give it a try.

Buzz can be a wonderful tool for generating interest and awareness, and many businesses take advantage of this. When someone discovers your product or service and shares that information with others, it is considered ‘buzz’.

A business can also put out content frequently and consistently to keep their audience interested – think of all the podcasts that were launched last year, for example. Though many of these were initially successful simply because they were ‘must-listens’ for anyone that listens to podcasts, businesses can grow and gain credibility through interesting content that is both informative and engaging – something that would make even the most experienced consumer interested in what they have to say.

Boosting Your Company’s Social Media Presence

A powerful, yet underutilised tool in the digital sphere is social media. Though it was initially designed for consumers to connect and share information with one another, businesses and brands can take advantage of this by creating accounts on the various platforms – such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram – and using those accounts to communicate with potential customers and existing customers. (more…)

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UX Design and Human-Computer Interaction For Marketers

What Is It?

User Experience (UX) design and human-computer interaction (HCI) are both areas of study within the field of computer science, and their aim is to make interactions between humans and technology as simple and intuitive as possible.

A UX designer’s role is to understand the cognitive limitations of humans and machines, and to design digital products and services that take advantage of these limitations. They aim to make interactions with technology as easy and enjoyable as possible, focusing on the user’s needs and wants rather than the machine’s capabilities.

An HCI expert’s role is to study and understand human behaviour and to create systems that take advantage of this knowledge.

Why Is It Important?

It’s important to keep in mind that brand awareness and customer satisfaction are not necessarily the same thing. A user experience designer or HCI expert should be able to design products and services that are both pleasing to the eye and functional, and should be able to conduct research to optimise these products and services — including your company’s advertising and marketing initiatives — to gain the greatest possible return on investment.

A poorly designed product or service can still perform perfectly well, but it will almost certainly not leave a good impression on anyone that uses it. A UX designer or HCI expert’s role is to create products and services that are both functional and appealing, taking advantage of new technology and the latest marketing trends while still being relevant and helpful to people that use them.

It’s also worth noting that, though the terms UX design and HCI are often used together, they each have a separate definition.