Archive for 'viral marketing'
Social Media in Plain English
July 17th, 2008 by John Herman, under client communication, internet marketing, viral marketing. No Comments
Another Great Common Craft Video that really explains what Social Media/Social Networking is and how it works.
5 Keys to Using Facebook
April 22nd, 2008 by John Herman, under facebook, products, viral marketing. No Comments
Facebook has released a guide to using Facebook Pages. You may have received a copy from them already if you are using Facebook Pages. Here are their 5 Keys to Using Facebook. (via TechCrunch)
Keys to Using Facebook
1) Make business personal
People primarily use Facebook to share personal information with friends. The more you showcase the human element of your business, your products, and your people, the stronger of an effect it will have on everyone who views it.
2) Update your Facebook Page frequently
Facebook is geared to highlight new information and recent changes. The more often you add new content, the more often people will come back to your Facebook Page. You can also send Updates to your fans to announce in-store events, special promotions, new products, concerts, screenings, or other news.
3) Harness the power of News Feed
The News Feed on users’ home pages tells them what their friends are doing. When users become your fan, News Feed tells their friends and invites them to become fans as well. In turn, this can lead to the friends of their friends finding out about your business through their News Feeds, and so on in a virtuous cycle. News Feed is the key to spreading your message virally on Facebook.
4) Choose the applications that are best for your business
Facebook and its outside developers have built thousands of free applications for businesses, bands, and every other type of organization. Your Page comes with the basics pre-installed, but you can easily add whichever other applications are right for your business. For instance, a restaurant may choose to add an application for online ordering or reservations, while a film may add a cinema-locator so the user can find the nearest screening without ever leaving Facebook. You can even build your own applications. The more useful your applications are to your customers, the faster your fan base will grow.
5) Promote your Page through Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads allow you to reach exactly the audience you want and bring them to your Page. You can choose your audience based on age, gender, geography, educational status, relationship status, and precise interests or keywords. Your ads can be socialized so that users’ interactions are reflected in the ads their friends see, increasingly the virality of your Page. You can run ads both in traditional “banner” locations and in the News Feed. As with your Page itself, the key to success with Facebook Ads is to experiment and iterate on your work.
John’s Note: Of course they are going to recommend doing this. 
I question their ability to target the ads with such a huge ad inventory though. Click here for some evidence.
Facebook experts are all around you: in your family, on your staff, amongst your customers, at your competitors. Don’t hesitate to ask them for advice and to follow their lead when you see a successful strategy at work.
Here is a copy of the full insider’s guide:
Facebook Insider’s Guide to Viral Marketing - Get more documents
When Fake Becomes Real
March 30th, 2008 by John Herman, under branding, internet marketing, viral marketing. No Comments
Idiocracy … a great Mike Judge dark comedy marketing, commercialism, and cultural anti-intellectualism, has just spawned a real product. (I am still holding back my belief a bit.)
The fake energy drink from the movie appears to be a real product now with real campus tours. Here are some fun spots they created:
Next step … the Daily Show creating real candidates.
Viral Marketing- This IS Something You Want to Catch
December 11th, 2006 by John Herman, under marketing, viral marketing. No Comments
Viral marketing is when customers promote a product or service by recommending or sending it to friends, family and co-workers. It spreads like a virus. It’s a wonderfully inexpensive marketing tool for many small businesses and it requires very little effort.
A successful viral campaign requires a few basic elements. David Cotriss does a good job of explaining these elements in his article Viral Marketing. A good viral marketing campaign, according to Cotriss:
- Spreads itself. You only put out a small initial effort. Attach your marketing message to a product or a service, and if customers like your product, they’ll pass it, and your message, on. Viral marketing relies on good experiences. If a company doesn’t satisfy customers, they won’t recommend its product or service.
- Sells through existing communication networks. This can take the form of articles or press releases to get your message displayed on others’ Web pages or e-zines. Or you can place your message into existing relationships between people. Many online greeting card companies exploit communication networks by providing electronic cards people can e-mail to friends and family. Recipients are then invited to send their own cards.
Attach a short marketing message to a free product or service to encourage effortless transfer of information between customers. E-mail, graphics, and software downloads are ideal examples. Hotmail struck gold with this strategy by including a brief note in every e-mail message that read: “Get your private, free e-mail at http://www.hotmail.com.” Scads of people forwarded the message to their friends as a recommendation for a free e-mail account. Read the entire article at http://www.inc.com/articles/2001/01/21879.html.
To discover ways to use viral marketing in your business, stay tuned to our blog. Future entries will examine viral marketing in greater detail including how write press releases and articles and how to use them in your own viral campaigns. Taking steps to incorporate viral marketing into your overall business strategy will increase your chances of succeeding.
These are your first customers …
June 23rd, 2006 by John Herman, under marketing, products, viral marketing. No Comments
You want them in the beginning, but your product will fail if it doesn’t catch on beyond them.
Japanese researchers diagnose neophilia, the unhealthy love of the new, so says Media Life Magazine.