*PERSONAL RESEARCH PROJECT_6th Artefact_Viral Marketing

As mentioned in an earlier post, I will be concentrating on Viral Marketing for the sixth and final artefact of the PRP module.

I have found some helpful guidelines as to what it takes to create a successful Viral Marketing campaign from some marketing companies. One I found on Web Marketing Today is that there are six elements of a successful Viral Marketing campaign. It is suggested that not ALL of these are necessary but the more that is included - the more sucessful the campaign:

1. Gives away products or services
2. Provides for effortless transfer to others
3. Scales easily from small to very large
4. Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5. Utilizes existing communication networks
6. Takes advantage of others' resources

I thought that this idea was slightly vague although Web Marketing Today do explain these in further detail. However, I didn't feel like I knew anything more about how to make a viral advertisement. I searched further and found a blog by a guy called Seth Godin who is an marketing author and he provided a similar set of guidelines but in simpler terms. His theory suggests that for an idea to spread, it needs to be sent and received;

No one "sends" an idea unless:
a. they understand it
b. they want it to spread
c. they believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their peace of mind
d. the effort necessary to send the idea is less than the benefits

Also, No one "gets" an idea unless:
a. the first impression demands further investigation
b. they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea
c. they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time

These guidelines look to give me more ideas about how to approach a Viral Marketing campaign. I am going to be creating a web format advertisement with a series of three videos about an Apple product. To make it viral, the focus is trying to grab the user's attention so that they want to know more about the product, but also try to give the user an incentive to circulate the message.