Viral Advertising

By targeting its audience more precisely viral advertising attempts to perfect the segmentation strategy used in traditional marketing. It can be employed in a variety of ways: Anything from a provocative, high impact buzz bomb to a subtle subliminal boost of brand presence.

So, in essence viral advertising differs from conventional advertising methods in that rather than attempting to spread a message through a traditional saturation approach, such as pasting a brand on every billboard in the country or buying so much airtime an advert becomes unavoidable, it propagates itself through networks of friends and enthusiasts sharing a common interest.

How viral advertising works

Viral marketing and viral advertising utilise existing social networks to increase brand or product awareness, spreading through a peer group much as an organic or computer virus does. Like a virus, it spreads from person to person, one individual transmitting it to maybe one, maybe twenty others, with studies indicating that on average a satisfied consumer tells three people about something they like. Viral marketing attempts to capitalise on this instinctive behaviour to rapidly spread a message. The key is that the recipients must want to pass the message on.

A viral campaign usually consists of several components, some passive, others interactive. In addition to viral video, promotions may also include elements such as text messages, podcasts, video clips and sponsored games, music tracks or images.

To be considered effective, a viral campaign needs to fulfil two criteria: firstly, it needs to spread as widely as possible, secondly it needs to be met positively. One of the earliest illustrations of the power of viral advertising is Microsoft's Hotmail, simply by attaching a short promotional message to emails sent by users the company managed to recruit twelve million subscribers in just eighteen months, and this at a time when internet use was not nearly as widespread as today.

The key to viral advertising therefore lies in successfully targeting smaller numbers of influential individuals who have the status and connections to spread the message. Consequently, one of the great advantages of a viral campaign is that it does not require the same level of investment of capital in media buying as conventional methods.

The difference between viral ads and TV commercials

Viral video has proved to be the most popular viral marketing format, but putting a TV ad on the internet does not constitute a viral campaign. Although there have been some crossover successes, what works on TV often does not translate to the web.

Because people have to actively choose to view and share viral content it demands a different approach. For viral advertising to work it has to be remarkable and contagious. Unlike TV advertising, big companies can not just outbid their competitors to buy audience attention, it can only be captured by providing content people want to see.

Advantages of viral advertising

In the past, the most effective method of customer acquisition was to reach the largest audience possible. However, usage tracking, customer profiles and the growing popularity of niche content brought about by everything from blogs to social networking sites, provide advertisers with smaller but more defined audiences, leading to ads that are more relevant to viewers and more effective for advertisers.

A significant trend in advertising is the increasing use of niche or targeted ads that tap into 'the long tail' of diffused internet browsing, thereby allowing advertisers to reach specific audiences. It is clearly easier and more cost effective to only target those consumers who have an existing interest in a certain type of product.

Because views, response rates and ROI are much easier to track and measure with digital rather than traditional media, digital advertising offers a greater sense of accountability for advertisers. This is one of the reasons that the growth rate of internet marketing is outstripping all other media.

With internet advertising consumers are only ever a click away from advertisers' online shops and websites and they can learn about and purchase products 24 hours a day. Small business can save money due to the reduced need for a sales force, and because of the low production, distribution and residual costs of a viral campaign internet marketing can help a company expand from a local to international marketplace.

With the increasing popularity of broadband internet connections and the huge uptake in social networking sites, viral advertising taps into the power of Web 2.0 applications such as Youtube and Facebook and the flexibility of viral campaigns makes them a valuable and effective component of any marketing strategy.

Over the years people have developed an immunity to conventional methods of advertising, (and indeed, the new breed of personal video recorders such as TiVo and Sky+ can be programmed to omit commercials completely) but when they discover something themselves or are sent it by a friend they are less resistant despite knowing the purpose of the viral is to promote a brand.

I sources my information from here, 

http://lbug.co.uk/viral-advertising.html