Did you know that when one person has a good online experience, he or she will turn around and tell 12 more people? By the same token, if that person has a bad experience, 12 others will also know about it.

Opinion Research Corporation International (ORCI) found that users told an average of 12 other people about an online shopping experience. This is the dynamic that powers viral marketing.

Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message. In other words, it's "word of mouth" marketing. A classic example is Hotmail.com, one of the first free Web-based e-mail services. Their simple viral strategy was to give away free email addresses and at the bottom of every message sent was a tag that said "get your own free, private email message at hotmail.com". In April 2000, MSN Hotmail became the world's largest free Web-based e-mail service provider, with more than 60 million subscribers.

Viral marketing can trigger a snowball effect. A carefully designed viral marketing strategy can gain speed and size driving traffic to your site; but no matter how good the viral marketing program, you can drive traffic from it if your products or service or site are inadequate.

• Exploring various variations of Viral Marketing:
  
  - People share quality experiences with others.
  Joe tries product X and finds it to be very good. He then tells Jane to try it.
  
  - People try to "sell" to others in exchange for incentives.
  Joe tries to convince Jane to try product X because Joe may receive a reward if Jane tries it.
  
  - People want to share experiences with others, which requires certain products.
  Joe wants to share experience Y with Jane, and Jane needs product X to do so.
  
  - People want to share funny, dirty, and/or interesting experiences with others.
  Joe wants to share experience Y with Jane because Joe thinks that Jane will also find it funny, dirty, and/or interesting.
  
  - People warn others of negative experiences.
  Joe tries product X and finds it very bad. He then tells Jane to avoid it.

• Spread the word techniques:
  While there are many different ways of leveraging your site on viral marketing, there are basic, easy to implement techniques that can start your ball rolling such as offering your visitors the possibility of sending an e-card or offering a free download that carries your marketing message.

At Blade, we believe that developing solid programs, whether simple or sophisticated that carry a strong viral marketing component can drive traffic to your site. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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