What is Viral Marketing?
The essence of viral marketing is creating easily shareable content or campaigns that multiply brand visibility at minimal expenditure and spread through users’ networks. It activates emotional response systems (humor, surprise, community challenges) and often requires user participation or offers rewards to start the sharing process. While viral hits can generate massive brand awareness, the impact tends to be fleeting, devoid of ongoing efforts. Marketers blend viral strategies with broader content agendas or paid media to sustain momentum and maximize ROI.
Examples of viral marketing include launching audiovisual emblem initiatives that prompt users to post their own response videos, issuing cartoon shorts meant for social sharing that go viral, and designing easily shareable quizzes that are invitation-based.
Related Terms: word-of-mouth marketing, shareable content, user-generated content, social sharing.