Home » SEM » Strategies » Are viral strategies really useful?

Viral strategies include both marketing and advertising techniques that facilitate and encourage people to pass along a message to others, augmenting the potential and exponential growth of the targeted websites, brand, ideas or products.

There are various types of viral strategies, which can be applied to promote websites. Some of them are: pass-along message, rewards for passing a message, undercover advertising, using users’ database and existing resources, and providing free services for users. Let’s do a quick check to see if these viral strategies are actually useful in promoting websites; and if yes, then in what way:

Pass-along message: As per this strategy, users will automatically be encouraged to pass the message to others. Chain letters, where a message at the bottom of the email encourages the readers to send to others, is an example of this strategy. The number of people reached in this way will be greater than the number who viewed the original ad.

Rewards for passing a message: Incentives and rewards offered for passing-on a message or for providing someone else’s address can generate more visitors to your websites. This will increase the referrals. An online contest is an instance of this type of campaigning for promoting websites.

Undercover advertising: In undercover advertising, a message is presented but not apparently as an advertisement. It will be an unusual page or activity or piece of news without obvious links or pass-along for the users. Clever viral strategy here uses various techniques to exploit common motivations and behaviors of users.

Users’ database and existing resources: Users manage a list of their contacts with the help of a database provided by one of the online service providers. This strategy also works in an automatic fashion. Through their contacts, the user creates a viral and self-propagating chain of connections thereby promoting the website of the service provider.

Free services: Effective viral strategies can involve giving away free services. Free information, e-mail services, music and software can attract the attention of users. This will help promote your websites. You can also link your sites to authors or news wires which provide free news, articles and other materials.

For an effective campaign, you must leverage the latest technologies in order to create friendly message formats, message transmissions and linking. You should ensure that the users are able to access and understand the message effortlessly. Also, do not link with any blacklisted websites in the campaign to promote your websites. This way, the viral strategies will work wonders in promoting your websites.

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