2010年7月8日 星期四

So what are the disadvantages of using viral marketing?

Large-scale spam issues
Lose Control
Especially in Hong Kong, there is only few successful viral buzz.
Most of the buzz are created by net users instead of the marketer.
Some people in Hong Kong would like to re-write new lyrics for song
in the advertising, modify the photos or even make a “new version”
of the video. The traditional example is BaWang shampoo.





and the latest case is Lion Toothbrush (Andy Hui)






Brand Dilution
Nobody care about your product (except you)
It is because people only care about themselves and the ways
to solve their problems. Also people like to be entertained
and to share in something remarkable.

Avoid making purely financial-based offer
If we use money as an incentive to encourage people to make
the campaign viral, it will result 2 outcomes.
1) People will spam the offer across the web and the cost
of the campaign will be increased
2) People will perceive the offer as “too good to be true”
and no one will trust the information

Association with unknown groups
It is because viral marketing has the potential to spread
exponentially from person to person.
There are so many social media on the internet, so marketers
are not easy to know what people passed the message. So the
only thing can do is to ahead of time define and limit what
information we make available for our viral marketing.


Source: 1, 2: Text book -The new rules of marketing and PR





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Any advantages of viral marketing?

There are 4 pros of viral marketing.

Cheap and low cost (there's no printing involved!)
The cost is very low and even free!!!
It is because viral marketing make uses of digital media.
No printed material will be involved. Marketers just register
 a free account, then you can promote their campaign.

High efficiency
Scales easily from small to very large
When people watch a funny video, they can simply click the
share button. Then the whole video will appear on their site
instantly. It is because the Information Technology increases
the speed of circulation.

High credibility
It is because the funny thing is shared by their friend,
so the receiver may reduce the resistance of reading.
They will not associate that is an advertisement. Most
people trust their friends rather than marketers.

Extensive reach
When someone pass the information over his friends and
their friends pass it again. Many people will get the
information. People will not concern the receiver’s
nature or personal preference. They just want to share the fun.
So Viral Marketing can be the extend the reach of campaign even
an fail campaign.

Source: 1, 2







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2009-2010 Viral Markeing Case - Microsoft Windows 7

Viral Marketing Case in 2009

Microsoft Windows 7

Windows 7 is the latest Operating System for home and office use.
Microsoft has expected the sales of Windows 7 are better than Windows Vista.
So they have implemented many marketing campaign. One of the campaign is viral marketing.

First of all, they have organized a “Windows 7 Party” campaign.



Interest people can register in http://www.houseparty.com/splash/windows7usa
(the link is expired because the campaign is over) and you can see the registered
user’s video in http://www.houseparty.com/sites/explore/q:windows+7 .

Due to the bad user experiences of Windows Vista users, this time Microsoft
have use another method to promote Windows 7, that is Video Share. In the houseparty page,
you can see a share button on the right hand side of the side. If the audiences feel the video
is funny, they can click the share button. Also viral marketing method can reduce the
spam complaints because people pass over the content voluntary.

Here is another viral video
Microsoft Store - Breaks Out into Song



This video use the 1st point of viral marking formula that I have mentioned in
Viral Marketing? What is this term?The employees at the Microsoft Store are dancing in the shop.
This video attracted more than 800,000 people to watch it.

Useful Link:
How to sell windows 7? (in chinese)






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