Discussion on the elements of "viral marketing" and its communication channels

Intermediary transaction SEO diagnosis Taobao guest Cloud host technology Hall

Recently looking for a job, during the interview process, the company is responsible for interviewing people often mention "viral marketing." On a cost-benefit standpoint, I don't think all services or products are suitable for viral marketing. So write this article about what I understand about "viral marketing" and the implementation essentials of such programs. I talents, the purpose of this article is intended to stimulate.

"Viral marketing", the word at first glance let popularity Wenseng. Basically make people mistakenly think like "rogue software" that way of running. In fact, viral marketing is like the spread of viruses as wide, wide, fast. The basis of this explosive transmission I think is "Six Degrees of separation theory." The six degree separation theory means that you and any stranger will be separated by no more than six people, that is to say, you can know any stranger by up to six people. This kind of marketing way outside the internet can be understood as word of mouth "word-of-mouth marketing", the difference is that with a strong personal feelings of "word-of-mouth marketing", the audience is more rational, which has a higher demand for the dissemination of content, that is, as far as possible in line with the needs and interests of the majority of people. But "viral marketing" spreads faster and far-reaching than "Word-of-mouth marketing". To sum up, "viral marketing" has the following characteristics:

The main features of viral marketing:

1. Active communication. The traditional dissemination is often the customer passively accepts the information, may simply call the jamming type dissemination. and "viral marketing" warm warmth, the audience passively accept information will be actively spread out.

2. Spread quickly and widely. Information spreads and spreads like a virus, and is transmitted to thousands and millions of audiences by means of rapid replication.

So how to judge a viral marketing strategy is good or bad? American E-commerce experts summed up the viral marketing six elements. Six elements of viral marketing:

1. Provide valuable products or services.

2. Provide the means to convey information to others without effort.

3. The range of information delivery can easily spread from small to large.

4. Use public initiative and behavior.

5. Use of existing communications networks.

6. Use other people's resources.

The above six elements are not necessarily inclusive, but the more elements involved, the better the marketing effect. Based on the above six factors, I think the first and fourth elements are the basic requirements for the dissemination of content and the basis of viral marketing. The other four elements I feel more inclined to the requirements of communication channels. So I think the best products or services that are best suited for viral marketing should have the following characteristics and requirements:

1. can provide free products or services.

Free things everyone likes, ancient and modern times are so, free is a very strong viral strategy. People who see free things can recommend to others without a psychological burden. Anyway, it is free, will not be considered to have taken what kickbacks or benefits to recommend. Such as: can provide free gifts or product Trial services.

2. Products or services that can be associated with warm, positive information.

Every independent person has the need to be loved, the desire to be understood, this is the most basic human psychological appeal, the warmth of the content is the public response to this psychological appeal, this positive positive behavior is public, and thus trigger the active dissemination of information content. The product or service embedded in this information, cleverly linked to the content of the dissemination of products, it will make people consciously and not objectionable to accept. But the dissemination of content should not be lengthy, concise and inductive content more convenient for people to read and more conducive to dissemination. Because of the development of science and technology and the acceleration of the pace of life, modern people entered such an era: the word boring, people lose patience, need to constantly stimulate the image of our eyes, stimulate our thirst for knowledge and touch our numb nerves. Concise text map can achieve the best results. If the transmission channel permits, I think the best way to caricature.

such as: A hand sanitizer can be their products with the recent "swine flu" event associated. Tips often wash hands to prevent the role of "swine flu."

The above is the viral marketing product characteristics that I have summed up, which is not the product or service for a particular group. This is not the case for a product with a narrower range of target audiences such as radiation protection suits for pregnant women.

It says I understand the first and fourth items of viral marketing, and how do the other four understand it? Or, more realistically, what kinds of external resources can be used to better exploit viral marketing advantages?

The initial audience of viral marketing is the key to the dissemination of information content, to prevent the first segment of the chain need to choose appropriate channels of transmission. In other words, to find "influential people, they pass information, and the cycle can create a target consumer group." There are several external resources that I think are worthy of our consideration:

1. e-Mail channels

e-mail channels should be divided into online mailboxes and enterprise internal mailboxes. Most of the online mailboxes are privately owned, and the applications of private online mailboxes are mostly related to business dealings in the country. Most of the enterprise internal mailbox is used for enterprise internal notices, work communication, and emotional contact between colleagues, I worked in Shenzhen million x group is so. All notices and activities of the Organization are carried out by mail. Therefore, we should be in the "virus marketing" according to the content of the dissemination of choice.

2. Instant Messaging Software

The current mainstream Instant messaging tools are most widely used in non-Tencent QQ and Microsoft MSN, right? Have friends say Skype? Yes, Skype also has a large user base. But most of the foreign trade industry users. In the past, Tencent QQ user group is considered to be mainly young people, the theme is play. Microsoft MSN by business people constitute a majority, the theme is business communication. But to this day, who can say it! A more than 60-year-old Taiwanese man I know is also using QQ,QQ friends on a number of elderly netizens. But Microsoft's MSN in the domestic user main crowd or business person majority. Some Hong Kong, Macao and European and American enterprises are not allowed to use QQ, can only use MSN, but also some instant communication tools can not be used, can only use the enterprise mailbox. In addition, QQ Group is also a lot of underestimate the channel. It can be said that it is a specific theme of "Network Relationship island." "Viral marketing" transmission channel selection is worth focusing on.

3. SNS Community

The recent "stealing food fever," everybody ears? My girlfriend must steal the "dish" to sleep before she goes to bed every day, I have no words. I'm sorry to pull it off! Back to the topic, "stealing vegetables" initially in the network, net, such as some SNS community networks "crazy" line, and then Tencent also followed the launch of "QQ Farm." A SNS community triggered by the national "steal" the wind prevails how can there be such a big magic? What is SNS community? The full name of SNS "Social receptacle Site", namely "social networking site" or "social network". SNS is based on the previous "Six Degrees of separation" of this theory, the creation of social networks for the Internet services, through the "acquaintance of acquaintances" to network social development. But "acquaintances" are just a way of socializing, not the whole of social development. Therefore, now generally called SNS, its meaning has been far more than "acquaintances of acquaintances" this level. For example, according to the same topic of cohesion (such as stick), according to the Hobby of cohesion (such as fexion nets), based on learning experience to cohesion (such as Facebook), according to the same place on the weekend to gather and so on, are included in the "SNS" category. Others according to expand the way to divide it into the following two kinds:

The first: 51, school mixi.jp, linked in

51 and the atmosphere of the school is basically a "bubble and be bubble". This is with the same year NetEase chat room, or QQ to find the same city with the opposite sex Q, the user in the motives without any difference. This SNS has the advantage, is very easy to get high flow of PV, and do not need to have how good product, or how powerful marketing ability, user initiative to produce content, no matter how rubbish.

The second type: Facebook, Twitter, happy net, watercress

Bring your personal network to the Internet, want to play better, you should invite friends. Then friends invite friends again, cycle down. Is it like "MLM" or "Word-of-mouth marketing", the viral mode of transmission? The information you provide can be as informative as you want it to be. This kind of community key work is the dissemination content topic, the content composition, the manifestation and the friend circle creation. The suggestion may use the event marketing or the holiday marketing to play.

The common features of the above three kinds of network applications are the small circle of people or their interpersonal relationships. These small circles are provided by third parties (external resources) with a convenient and fast way of disseminating information. (In fact, the purpose of this kind of platform). After the information is spread within the circle, there is a greater chance of spreading spread to the entire internet. As the channels of communication are provided by third parties, third parties will continue to improve their existing modes of communication for their own benefit, thus making more use of information dissemination. Consistent with the communication strategy of "providing the means to deliver information without effort" and "the range of information transmission can easily spread from small to wide". In addition, the third party also undertakes the transmission cost for the enterprise, the enterprise may the Energy information dissemination after the customer data establishment and the consummation. These are my "viral marketing" of the obvious understanding. Of course, viral marketing is not limited to the above my understanding. The purpose of this article is to give you a thought, but also hope to use this article to know more peer friends. My e-mail is raysky2000@gmail.com QQ is: 123123759, welcome to contact me.

Finally attached to a viral marketing case that I think is more practical, I think that the Business-to-consumer can now "cottage" it. The following are the case contents:

Last month, the US came up with a special online marketing case in a small pizza place in the state of Edward, called "flying pie", who thought the name was cool, like the internet generation of new pizzas? No, it's official website here (flyingpie.com), go in and see , is a shabby site, the site is full of information, large and small color font, dazzling, completely do not know how to use. This is the official website of a small pizzeria that may have been a standard for more than a decade, and from this site, it can be seen that they do not have the ability to perform any "internet marketing" at all, and probably will not be able to launch any successful "online campaign"!

At this time, when we say, so bad website, so little network resources, unexpectedly ... Can also launch a very interesting "online marketing program", do you believe it?

Moreover, has been quietly implemented for several years, so that everyone in the city silently know, you believe it?

Flying Pie, the highly successful online marketing program called it's Your day", does not have to do much of the content of the site, but uses the Internet to achieve the effect of transmission.

Flying Pie's idea is that every day, flying pie will shout out a "name", such as yesterday February 16 is "ross",2 month 19th is "joey",2 month 20th is " tamarra", they invite five lucky people named this name, let them in the afternoon 2~4 point or evening 8~10 point these two pizza shop more free time, came to their vast kitchen, make their own free 10-inch pizza, also take a picture po online! Come, Of course, remember to bring your ID card to prove that you really called this name.

Next, flying Pie on their website, published the new week's name every week, please often come back to see this list. If you see your friend's name, please tell him and ask him to come over!

The website below visited a lucky customer who had come to join, the customer called "kendra". How did Kendra know that her name appeared on Flying Pie's website? The website is so bad, few people will know?

Kendra unexpectedly said, her boss every week check this site once, one day tell her, "kendra day" Come, go quickly! "

So, why does the boss come back every week?

Kendra said that is because the boss likes to see those "people make pizza" photos, some very funny.

The story is not finished, interestingly, the new name and how to choose? is flying pie a random choice? No, flying Pie said they would ask everyone who came to the party to give their names and vote, and they would take the votes as a reference to decide the next week's lucky name. The idea is to ask the participants to think about which friends they will come to, and even let the participants "repay" the person who had introduced him to the site. In other words flying pie is playing "two-stage" forced Word-of-mouth marketing (word of mouth marketing). The first paragraph is a colleague or friend who tells you that your name is on it and you come over. General Word-of-mouth Marketing, which may be interrupted? But then, you tell him what your friend may be called, and they know you will come back to this site, and come back to see the name of your friend to find this friend, so that the group will continue to link outward, continue to the external link. If within a year flying Pie relies on this marketing technique to get 10,000 new customers, the new customers are strung together like meat dumplings, one at a time.

More interestingly, the "practical ecommerce" columnist in the United States has also investigated the case on the spot. The author, who had known from his friend Flying Pie Pizzeria, first received a letter informing him that the pizzeria would be "armando days in a few months ' time, and that the author's name was"armando". The author was very surprised at the existence of the pizzeria and called his friend, the friend said that she had eaten the pizza, and that it was OK, and that she would check every day for new names, and every day her name would remind her of a few of the names, and every day she had a habit of sending letters to these friends, Tell them "flying pie mentions your name! 」

Flying pie in the city of Edward, I do not know how many such "business personnel" to help them send their friends daily publicity!

The columnist also said that he asked so many people that he could not find a man who really got the free pizza. In other words, it seems that flying pie only five people to participate in free pizza activities every day, in fact, we are busy, really not much, even if these people do not come, in fact, and not without prejudice to these people around to help spread "flying pie in Armando Day" News! "