What Is Viral Marketing

Wikipedia Describes Viral Marketing As Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viralprocesses, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.  Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily.   Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, , ebooks, brandable software, images, text messages, or even full blown AIDS. It is claimed that a satisfied customer tells an average of three people about a product or service he/she likes, and eleven people about a product or service which he/she did not like.   Viral marketing is based on this natural human behavior. The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to identify individuals with high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create Viral Messages that appeal to this segment of the population and have a high probability of being passed along. The term "viral marketing" is also sometimes used pejorativelyto refer to stealth marketing campaigns--the use of varied kinds of astroturfing both online and offline  to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm.

So What Does This Have To Do With Internet Marketing?

Viral marketing doesn't sound very appealing because people relate it to the root word virus...and noone wants to catch a virus!  However in marketing the virus is a good thing. 
It is a powerful way to generate traffic to your website and your affiliate products.
Just like a virus spreads from one person to another, the idea behind viral marketing is to spread your "message" from one person to another.  Your message is your product or your website or your affiliate products...and the faster the message spreads the more traffic you get and the more sales you make. 

The basis of viral marketing has been around for a long time.  The idea is that you incite your customers to pass on something about your business to their network of customers and friends.  Those that are passing on your information are receiving something in return.  A true viral marketing campaign gets forwarded because consumers are compelled to do so by the content of the message.  Every successful marketer implements viral marketing in their campaigns in one way or another. 

If you've ever used a Hotmail or G-mail account, then you have been involved in viral marketing (most likely without even knowing it).  At the bottom of every e-mail you send out is a discreet little advertisement inviting your e-mail receivers to get their own free Hotmail or G-mail account.   Hotmail induced one of the most incredibly viral campaigns ever generated. 

Viral marketing works because people are more likely to trust information that is passed on to them from their peers and friends.  Viral marketing depends on a high pass-along rate from person to person.  If a large percentage of the recipients forward your messages on the overall growth of the message will snowball very quickly.  Using e-mail makes it incredibly easy to pass information on to others, especially if it involves sending something for free. 

For the "message" or idea to spread you need to have the following elements in the "message":
You can see that viral marketing works best when a valuable and tangible incentive is offered which encourages the recipients to forward the message or information on to their friends and customers.