The Web Uncovered

What is viral Marketing?

So often times marketing managers talk of making sure their product goes “viral,” yet lack any real definition of what this means. Whether a digital flu or a communicable advertisement, viral marketing is seen as an ambiguous internet term at best. Rather than being a new technology to learn, viral marketing is much closer to traditional marketing than many assume.

Before the grand days of the internet, cellphones, telegraphs, or even written language, information was disseminated in one way. Whether news, service, or product information, it all came by word of mouth. The credibility of the source was directly tied to the one providing it (Mcluhan anyone? read the previous post). Today, it is very difficult to determine credibility of an online source, which complicates the message, especially in the presence of so much content and so much noise. Viral marketing is word of mouth in the digital age.

Takeaway:
If you want to have an online presence, you have to imagine what will get people talking. A Youtube video of you explaining why your real estate services are the best in your county is not exactly newsworthy. Instead, you need to generate content that makes the viewer laugh, cry, vomit, or most importantly inspire them to talk to their friends. This could happen in a traditional conversation, or come as an Facebook link, email, twitter update, or instant message. Once again, and I will repeat myself on this: The quality, targeting, and placement of your marketing content is now important as ever to producing results.

Act accordingly.

Marshall Mccluhan maybe remember for his wonderful observations of how the media and society are inseparably intertwined.  However,  the vast changes in technology since his death in 1980 has astounding ramifications for those marketing in the digital age.

If the entity providing the message is the medium, they still may be tied to the message as long as the source is credible.   The appearance of credibility is so easy to create online that it becomes increasingly difficult for media consumers to differentiate between credible sources and well-performed shams.  However, if the medium is the internet, then the message is incoherent.  There is no message on the internet.

But this is not completely dreadful news.  In fact in means that the medium becomes so constant that the only thing left is the message, even if only in hot terms.  However, the issue is that many older marketing managers see the internet as the ready-made fix-all and fail to recognize that not only can content not be developed, but that it must be done in standard marketing terms; segmentation, value-added, and placement.

The Takeaway:

Large-scale web presence requires quality content.  The internet transcends McCluhan’s hot media/cold media labels, so pictures and videos can be followed with detailed descriptions of your product or services, in a multi-sensorial approach.  Technology is great, but the more technology-savvy your target audience is, the more clearly focused your message must be.  In short, online marketing is not a bandaid for a bad marketing plan.

A few years back, Myspace was seen as the best marketing tool available on the internet.  Marking the early stages of the web 2.0 era, many successful campaigns were executed on Myspace, including that of bands, products, non-profits, and politicians.  Not so anymore.

Myspace has became increasingly worthless for generating meaningful traffic to target websites.  Formally ranked the website with the most traffic, Myspace is now #9 on Alexa Top 500 rankings.  This however isn’t the real reason for it’s increasing irrelevancy.  The lack of protective measures by Newscorp’s management of Myspace has made it increasingly impotent to hacking software that allows spammers to abuse Myspace.  This relative increase in noise has led many to flee Myspace for more secure and interactive social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn, where not only were prof

The take-away: Not only has Myspace began driving away valuable customers, but it has driven away marketeers as the remaining traffic on Myspace appears to be bots, software ran profiles used to promoting useless things like Multi-Layered Marketing programs and Pyramid schemes.  The one HUGE exception of this rule is in music, where music industry leaders may in fact look at the Myspace profile of a band before even looking at their website, as play count and traffic give good insight for a artist’s fanbase.  In short, if you’re not rocking it out in a band, get yourself to a new social network.

This is a weekly 1-hour show hosted by Mildred Tasonne.While the front half of the show covers community issues, the later half of the show covers some social media basics. This week we spoke with Rick Rovegno about utilizing Linked In for networking, business and finding a job. Rick is an industry expert in the technology arena hosted a radio talk show called Computer Talk and a  Technical Analyst for PC Magazine. He has been successfully using LinkedIn to develop his consulting network. Listen now…

We had another very insightful BlogTalkRadio show tonight. I had a chance to speak again with my friend and fellow marketer Dave Meirowitch, the founder and president of Remarkable Search. We discussed a highly-effective marketing medium, public relations, and how to integrate it into your search engine marketing strategy. There are some real gems of information in this piece of audio. Be sure to read the deck that accompanies the show. Give it a listen…