Mad 4 Blog

Your website may serve as a full-service e-commerce interface through which you sell products and services. Or it may simply be a place where people can learn more about your business. Either way, viral marketing can help you increase website traffic––and therefore brand awareness and sales––at a very low cost, with minimal effort.

What is Viral Marketing?
The phrase ‘viral marketing’ refers to almost any means of using word-of-mouth campaigning to pass along your message. Typically, marketers target individuals or groups who are likely to pass along or share a given campaign message. For example, a funny YouTube video is likely to be shared with friends and it is easily forwarded to colleagues; therefore, putting your business message in this format and getting it out to people who are likely to share it with others can create a big buzz for your brand with little effort. In many cases, key message sharers may even be given incentive for their efforts. Many contests which are hosted online offer extra entries or added prizes for fellow bloggers or website owners who use their own forum to promote the contest.

How Can Viral Marketing Promote My Website?
By making your website the centerpiece of your viral marketing campaign, all of your advertising efforts will have one single call to action: visit us online. Although it can be coupled with other media to really strengthen your campaign, online viral marketing is key for websites because viewers of your message will be able to click straight through to your web address once they’ve interacted with your ad. Once your audience is at your website, they can further engage with your brand or even complete transactions.

The best part is that even non-conversion visits can help you strengthen your website’s presence, because increased traffic to your page and more interaction with it will make it rank higher organically in a search engine, such as Google. When your rank rises, your website will be even easier to search and locate for people who are specifically interested in what you have to offer. This begins a cycle of increased traffic begetting increased traffic, which will ultimately impact your website’s success. Because such little cost is needed in the first place to initiate a viral marketing campaign (compared to other online marketing tactics such as a pay-per-click campaign) it’s easy to achieve high ROI.

What Comes Next?
Viral marketing campaigns may occur organically. Sometimes a website becomes an overnight sensation with very little work on the part of its owners. But that’s not something you can rely on when planning to put your business online. One of the best things about viral marketing is the fact that it’s completely accessible to everyone, and you don’t even need a ton of insider information to kick off your campaign. All you need to do is create an easy-to-use website, and then utilize social media tools that you probably already know, such as business-relevant discussion forums and Facebook.

However, to ensure that your efforts have a huge effect, you may want to consider a professional viral marketing team. These experts can help you come up with the unique creative needed for this kind of campaign to launch. Viral marketers are also familiar with a myriad of potential vantage points from which to target and approach your audience, to keep your message moving. This team of professionals can not only determine where your efforts will have the biggest impact, but they can also help you collect and analyze the results of your campaign. By tracking responsiveness and user data, you can sharpen and hone your viral marketing strategies. This will enable you to build even stronger platforms in the future.

Curious to learn more about viral marketing? Ask Mad 4 Marketing how we can help you create a buzz about your business without breaking the bank.

As we’re all aware, typing a keyword into Google not only displays the most relevant information in the organic search, it also displays the most relevant ads targeted towards those keywords.  We are so accustomed to getting exactly what we are seeking on the internet, thanks to Google.

Now Google is making online advertising even more targeted by using information from the web sites people visit.  They have launched something called “interest-based” advertising on their partner sites and on YouTube.  These ads are displayed based on categories of interest.  For example, if you visit web sites about fishing or hunting, then you may see ads displayed for fishing poles or hunting equipment.  Google also allows you to choose your categories of interest, or you can tell them which categories in which you do not want to see ads.  This helps advertisers reach people who are actively interested in their products or services.

This type of customized advertising does bring up the question, “Is big brother watching us?”  Some users first reaction includes a feeling of invasion of privacy.  However, Google provides three explanations that demonstrate their commitment to transparency and user choice:

• Transparency – Ads are clearly labeled that they are provided by Google.

• Choice – They built a tool called Ads Preferences Manager, which lets the user view, delete or add interest categories associated with the user’s browser.

• Control – Users can always opt out of the advertising cookie.

At Mad 4 Marketing, we feel this will be a successful new tool for users and advertisers alike.  It will enable users to view more relevant ads, which will help generate higher ROI for advertisers.