Keywords

8.1 Introduction

In the twenty-first century, marketing landscape was revolutionised by the introduction of the internet and modern technology. Technological developments are attributed to the introduction of the Internet in the first place. After the initial stages of its growth, which generated exuberant excitement and exaggerated expectations among companies as well as between consumers, it has grown into a large number of companies’ distribution and communication channels. As an important part of many advertising events, the Internet now plays a big part. As the majority of people’s lives is dominated by information technology. Our life has been very straightforward thanks to modern networking and Internet technology. For our everyday work or home like official, entertaining, educational or personal purposes, we use technology. Customers are well-trained today everyone likes to know about the products before going to the shop. This information can be obtained from the Internet or its social network. It’s also really easy to buy a product from anywhere online.

The digital marketers are facing a great challenge. In today’s online and product-saturated environment, they must find ways to make their product or service stand out. However, it is much simpler than done to start a viral marketing campaign. Viral ads are the most unforgettable. Viral marketing can be defined as a short time distributing or transferring information about a brand or product amongst mass media. It has done a great deal and led to the development of its company through thousands of marketers. And in today’s digital age, people are highly social media immune, making it quite convenient. What viral marketing sounds like is transmitted like a virus worldwide. This basic approach will lead to a lot of positive results in promotional products. It leads to enormous ads, exposure and traffic and to increased turnover. Viral marketing in all its types refers to word of mouth, while for consumers it is a big practice. In a book, Philip Kotler and Marketing Moves said markets shift more rapidly than marketing. The conventional marketing paradigm must be fitted for the future. Commercialisation must be redefined and expanded. Marketing would not succeed, unless it is only responsible for driving up current goods sales [1].

With the rapid development of the Internet and other communication networks, a new room for word-of-mouth (WoM) communication was opened [2]. Viral marketing is WOM, a word focused on which communication and dissemination can be viewed. The term viral describes a form of advertisement that contains a customer message that is sent like a rampant influenza virus from one consumer to the next [3].

A major problem in viral marketing is the lack of control of the company’s message: the more marketing tasks are delegated to customers the more control the company loses over its own camp designs and execution. This is a risky choice that could have unintended adverse effects. The goal of marketers engaged in successful viral marketing programs is to produce viral messages that are targeted at individuals that are very likely to be viewed and transmitted within a short time by these persons and their competitors in their communications.

Much research in the area of viral marketing is being carried out. Awareness, access to marketing strategies, interest and expertise that settle on their final decision are the big drivers behind viral marketing. The customer now has taken an observable phase; a product or service purchase or inventions sustained acceptance. One additional factor in this chain of viral marketing drivers is to check whether daily internet access substantially affects users in order to obtain an experience in viral marketing.

Viral marketing is a tactic that allows individuals to exchange marketing messages on the internet. It is referred to as viral marketing as it spreads like a virus. Messages about the product and its brands or services are sent over the Internet to a prospective customer. This potential purchaser transfers this information to another potential purchaser in a way that generates a wide network. What has a marketing virus to do? Any technique that encourages people to pass on a marketing communication to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in message visibility and impact, is characterised by viral marketing. Such techniques, like viruses, use the rapid replication to burst the message into the millions.

Viral marketing was founded in 1997 and Hotmail, a Free E-mail Service, was set up by Draper Fisher and Jurvetson. Hotmail was founded the year before by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith, offering a great product: free internet e-mail. Tim Draper has come up with a simple but compelling idea to find a cheap way to advertise the commodity. Hotmail has registered more than 12 million users in the first 1.5 years. However, from launch to 12 million subscribers, Hotmail spent less than 500,000 on advertisement, printing and promotion. Hotmail has expanded exponentially faster than ever before, on-line, online or in print, in world history than any other company. In order for viral marketing to succeed, the marketing professors Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein said the right message to be delivered to the right messengers in the appropriate environment. Viral marketing has seen immense development in many ways both off-line and on-line since the introduction of Hotmail. This special marketing strategy has been given many slightly different meanings [4].

After the popular Burger King, Hotmail and Procter and Gambler viral marketing campaign, several companies jumped on the bandwagon. Instantaneous movement can be created by viral campaigns and effectively promote brands, products and service [5]. Social networking growth made a major contribution to viral marketing’s performance [6]. Since 2009, at least two-thirds of the world’s population on the Internet visit a social networking or blog website every week. Over 1 billion active users are on Facebook alone. Time spent on social media platforms in 2009 started to overrun e-mail. A 2010 study showed 52 of people who look at news online via social networks, e-mails or posts [7].

Viral marketing is one of the most important strategies businesses must concentrate on when selling their products and services. Viral marketing is important to maintain a consistency of its goods and services in times of crisis and viral marketing depends on the strength of the organisation’s social relationships with clients [8]. The higher the public’s confidence in the organisation, the better it succeeds in viral marketing.

Unlike conventional marketing that is limited to particular markets and that the marketer manages and promotes, the viral marketing is consumer-driven marketing. Viral Marketing is the marketer’s initiative to involuntarily make you the advertiser. The customer will become more like an advertising agency or a creative agency that is experienced in creating and transmitting marketing messages through the Internet and, if so, an agent of the virus, and you will have the motivating qualities to enable the receiver to transmit his message [9].

Many elements are critical and can become viral for a successful marketing campaign. First and foremost, products or services should be ’free’ and readily accessible to all. This helps the marketing team achieve broad user awareness around the globe. The second element is the message’s interesting and smart positioning. The user has to be able to accept the message. If your message or product is endorsed by a well-known person, on their website, social media and network pages, it may become viral. The next big aspect is the transfer function, so it is simple to transfer or exchange the message through e-mail, WhatsApp, networking websites, etc. The message should be both short and easy to understand.

The most famous video clips reach millions of viewers with funny pet videos or other YouTube clips. Other viral techniques include e-books, social networking apps such as fun but zap productivity games on Facebook, and some minor features including signing e-mails. Anything you can do to get a post and merge it to make it ‘viral’, as it is often demonstrated by viral marketing examples. The content can help the company brand or simply generate the desired excitement of its customers. The Internet makes this approach easier, but still, fierce rivalry. In certain organisations, viral marketing models alone are used. Email provider Hotmail could give the best example, including other ideas to help you develop your own viral marketing model. In today’s global e-commerce society, where everyone wants to know more quickly and to connect with others through technological means such as mobile phones, Internet, e-mails, sms services or other formats, the incorporation of technology into the marketing arena is crucial.

Although electronic processes have long been used by businesses, the Internet and other emerging technology have created a flood of new and exciting ways to provide consumers with more value and better. With a view to business growth, marketers should be mindful that technologies can quickly create new consumers as well as new means to serve these markets. In addition to providing new avenues for information delivery markets, advanced technology has made it possible for customers to disseminate information digitally or through other digital channels that challenge conventional marketing practice since marketers want as many people as possible to get their names and content.

At the same time, customers have become more smart with the use of the Internet; they understand that more knowledge is placing them in a substantially better buying position: “Buyers are today in a matter of seconds able to compare prices and product characteristics [10]. They are just a few clicks from comparing the prices of rivals and can even specify the price they want to pay for their hotel room, plane tickets or mortgages to see if a voluntary provider is answerable. According to Statistica, there are 2.5 billion users worldwide on social media, and an article in Forbes by Robert Wynne estimates that about 5 billion content is published on Facebook and over 500 thousand tweets are sent daily. Three specific types of messengers are needed, business mavens, social hubs and sellers, in order to turn the ordinary message into a viral message. Business mavens are individuals who are on a pulse all the time. They are also among those who announce the message and send it to an immediate social network. Social centres are people whose social networks are incredibly complex, many know hundreds and may function as ties or bridges through different sub-cultures. Vending personnel should expect the message from the maven market, reinforced and reassured and distributed to the social hub to be disseminated further. Market mavens cannot be particularly convincing when transmitting details [11].

8.2 Traditional Versus Viral Marketing

Marketing is an integral aspect of any organisation that cannot be overlooked. Business owners often ask themselves this burning question – what forms of marketing can I use to drive my customers and sales? This is the exact point for most business owners where the battle against traditional forms of marketing and Viral marketing begins. Traditional marketing means any form of promotion, advertisement or campaign which has been in use for years by businesses and which has an established rate of success. Traditional marketing is the traditional strategies used since the idea of advertising or marketing was implemented. Traditional marketing is a very large variety of commercials and marketing. Newspaper, posters, radio, television, advertisement by roads and highways as well as magazine advertisements may be the most common methods of traditional marketing.

The purpose of the viral marketing campaign is not just to post daily advertising online, as opposed to conventional Marketing. The aim is to construct an informative message that references your product even if it doesn’t. This message is so interesting that the viewer will be forced to share it with their friends and to spread the word about your product [12].

The biggest difference is definitely how communication takes place. There is no doubt the world is now a highly digital. We conduct many of our daily practises, not just digital magazines, but banking, shopping and online networking. Investing in the digital marketing campaign also seems to be a rational thought because of the rise of the digital age. While conventional marketing still retains a role, it steadily declines in society today. Instead of taking a page in an ordinary document to discuss your business, it is necessary for the businesses of today to have a website and to use the Internet for contact with customers.

The difference between a viral campaign and a traditional marketing campaign is in particular, how the message is delivered. A traditional marketing strategy aims to figure out the target audience, ensuring their advertisements are shown there. Examples are fairly straightforward: a nearby lawn mowing service at the neighbourhood store with a flyer, Make up ads in fashion magazines etc.

Viral marketers also argue that the viral ads are primarily for branding and that their content needs to be drastically different from traditional ones. However, this distinction is becoming less and less apparent with the variety of approaches that traditional marketing provides. As several TV ads have been shown by YouTube hits, conventionally-designed marketing can be just as shareable as viral marketing. Furthermore, what becomes viral is very difficult to predict, making it risky to make an advertiser the only target in a specific campaign becoming viral[13].

Viral marketing is important to keep up to date in today’s world. Contrary to a conventional marketing massage, viral commercialization allows the consumer to buy what you sell on-site just following a viral massage. This is achieved by simply placing an online shopping link with your viral massage somewhere. In traditional marketing this is never that easy.

The biggest difference is definitely how communication takes place. There is no doubt the world is now a highly digital. We conduct many of our daily practises, not just digital magazines, but banking, shopping and online networking. Investing in the digital marketing campaign also seems to be a rational thought because of the rise of the digital age. While conventional marketing still retains a role, it steadily declines in society today. Instead of taking a page in an ordinary document to discuss your business, it is necessary for the businesses of today to have a website and to use the Internet for contact with customers.

The difference between a viral campaign and a traditional marketing campaign is in particular, how the message is delivered. A traditional marketing strategy aims to figure out the target audience, ensuring their advertisements are shown there. Examples are fairly straightforward: a nearby lawn mowing service at the neighbourhood store with a flyer, Make up ads in fashion magazines etc.

Viral marketers also argue that the viral ads are primarily for branding and that their content needs to be drastically different from traditional ones. However, this distinction is becoming less and less apparent with the variety of approaches that traditional marketing provides. As several TV ads have been shown by YouTube hits, conventionally-designed marketing can be just as shareable as viral marketing. Furthermore, what becomes viral is very difficult to predict, making it risky to make an advertiser the only target in a specific campaign becoming viral.

Viral marketing is important to keep up to date in today’s world. Contrary to a conventional marketing massage, viral commercialization allows the consumer to buy what you sell on-site just following a viral massage. This is achieved by simply placing an online shopping link with your viral massage somewhere. In traditional marketing this is never that easy. Traditional marketing and viral marketing have both their own benefits and drawbacks still viral marketing takes over traditional marketing strategies.

8.3 The Viral Marketing Strategy: Word of Mouth

Viral marketing is considered a significant electronic leeway of WoM communication, involving the idea that news, information or entertainment is passed on or referred to another user. This approach is in line with recent customer behaviour trends. Indeed, customers now tend to trust the words of their peers rather than the business. They are no longer convinced by the company’s traditional, one-straight promotional campaign: they seek guidance, analysis, comment and ranking from their peers before taking the purchase decision. In this process, blogs, forums, review pages and social networks are critical and the key recipient for knowledge and confidence.

They expect the company to sell its product in a desperate attempt. They want to hear however the ‘real’ side of the storey from people like them who already have the service/product and who are able to give an unbiased opinion. One should trust the knowledgeable consumer, for he obviously has relevant information and his information is most definitely personalised and pertinent. WoM references are now more effective and common than ever, which contribute to a reduced risk of incorrect purchasing decisions and the likelihood of saving time and money.

WoM only means that informal and ad hoc contact between people in the field of goods and services is often regarded as the dominant force on the market where information is filtered out and shared with friends and families treated as free, unbiased sources of counsel. In a seminal systematic study, Katz and Lazars Feld found WoM to be the key source of effect on the purchase of household goods. It is seven times more profitable than journals and magazines, four times more effective than personal sales and two times more successful than radio advertising for evolving consumer products [14].

A single suggestion can have a much more significant effect today in the hyper-connected world—contributing to WoM marketing or WoM advertisement campaigns to take advantage of this potential. Many best practices and marketing strategies promote natural words, but campaigns, especially in social media, can specifically seek to foster the social exposure of an online company. Nielsen states that 92% of people trust some other kind of marketing suggestions made by friends and families. The effectiveness of even academic research on WOM has been proved.

8.4 Characteristics of Viral Marketing Headings

In addition, different characteristics of viral marketing can be extracted from the essential factors that contributed to the success of Hotmail. First of all, it is obvious that viral marketing is closely related to conventional references. The innovation, however, is that information is spread primarily by e-mail and the Internet and not face to face. The unbelievable speed and the number of users, potentially obtained via viral marketing, often called the ’word of the mouth. This not only demonstrates the correctness of the long-running marketing statement of ‘content is king’ but also people have an authentic cause to express the message because they themselves will benefit from an expanding user base.

Innovative, creative concepts and unique ways of introducing a business or product to the customer are some of the main characteristics of viral messages. Modern messages in marketing must be entertaining, amusing, provocative, even surprising to get customers to share them. As examples of effective viral campaigns show, viral messages must have some difference and quite contentious that increases consumers’ level of contact.

There are three common things in all viral marketing examples—intentional or unintended— the message, the message and the environment. In order to generate an effective viral marketing campaign, every part should be exploited. Any size of organisation may build viral marketing campaigns and they may stand up alone or participate in a larger conventional campaign. The campaigns themselves may use a variety of resources, such as videos, games, photographs, email, text messaging, free products, which appeal to users’ or viewers’ emotions, raise awareness and encourage consumption, sharing and sharing of such products, ideas and media. Viral marketing also depends on the assistance of an influence with a wide network of followers.

8.5 Benefits and Risk of Viral Marketing

Some of the reasons why viral marketing is a really powerful tool (some of them are inexpensive, fast and self-sufficient) and are pushing it to the top preferred marketing strategies currently in use by most businesses [5]. In addition, web-based viral marketing is made even better by increasing its effects. Currently, a message can be spread more reliably and more rapidly on the Internet than ever before. At this time, both companies and the audience are very excited about this strategy. It has its dark side, however. Many of the threats involved and possible harm caused by a viral marketing campaign.

Each internet marketer dreams of go viral’ and finds the sweet spot that causes the internet population to repeatedly hit the share button. But it’s not especially easy and while many of you think it’s predictable with preparation and a formulation, this only holds true up to a certain extent. The types of content that are likely to go viral can be created and some online outlets are very good at it but the collective imagination is never guaranteed. Although marketers should ask themselves why they want to become viral and why the content they create with the aim is compatible with business goals before they start creating posts. They can also take 100,000 views on YouTube, but without any share and without any form of strategy that will not make the contents of their audience relate to brand, all of which generate content very well that makes public enjoyable and fun.

The advantages of such marketing can seem obvious. You can easily and at a reasonably low cost meet a large number of people. Instead of being something you have to handle and sell themselves, much of the interaction is done by clicks and share of the audience. In a way that is very rarely seen with any other marketing process, a viral promotion actually starts may lead to rapid success. Even if you do not instantly see results, this form of marketing is worth investigating the amount of visibility you can gain compared to the cost. In general, if you hear a product or service from people nearby you will usually get through the stuff. You will end up using the product or service to add more people and get used to it to the list of valuable customers. Company should concentrate on the right platforms and balance the content to increase the popularity of brands and penetrate your target market.

Another advantage is that mass media attention is increasingly possible. Even if this is not necessary for a growing business, the impact this can have is undeniable. Media outlets build brand awareness that always gives the brand credibility. If you are interested in reporting on-trend topics you can also benefit from ads without having to pay. The prospects of growth in viral marketing are faster and fulfilled in minimum time. Companies need time to evolve and create, and if this technology is widely used then the sky is at its limit. Viral marketing ideas are also used in modern times. Companies will put the brand on a competition podium by incorporating strategies and a fantastic content for viral marketing. For other things, anything with positive effects always has an adverse impact. When it comes to viral marketing, it’s not only rainbows and butterflies. It’s hard for certain brands to go viral. It’s not always possible for the marketing team to anticipate and avoid a viral trend for all the wrong reasons. This refers in particular to smaller firms that cannot afford to take away harm caused by negative ads.

All of us saw poor reviews that took off the social media and the uproar they could cause. Internet users’ rage may seem overwhelming when they come down to a person or business they do not like. The disassociation behind keys means that people are more hostile and are less able, even though they have no direct experience with this issue. They are more likely than others to express their disagreement. More crucial is how negative press is handled. This can add to an already complicated situation if it is done poorly. This aspect is therefore important to be taken into account as early as possible in order for any future harm to be adequately minimised and controlled.

8.6 Planning for Viral Marketing

As the world is filled with more campaigns vying for exposure, advertisers are finding it increasingly difficult to achieve a hit. Careful preparation means that when the campaign begins, you are set. Careful preparation also ensures that you have the highest chance of success with the campaign.

A video created by your department and seen by millions of people across the Internet is undoubtedly a very appealing concept, but it’s nice, yet pointless if it doesn’t add anything to your business objectives. Will this channel fulfil your target market? Find out if your campaign aims at brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, increasingly forecasting a new product, creating SEO relations or ensuring that customers purchase a product immediately. Whether or not it is one of the main purposes of the campaign, you should always be interested in viral promotions. Much is happening on the Internet. In order to send a campaign forward, it must be separated from the clutter. Make something scarce, educational, very usual, interesting and unusual.

The simpler a message is the more likely it is to be transferred. Viral marketers may use current social media as a hosting and networking environment to convey their message. For instance, using a common video hosting website like YouTube makes it easy for users to put the video on their own pages for a viral video. People want to be viewed as resourceful, compassionate by their friends and colleagues, and the content you produce should be related to them. Your content will have even better results if you tailor for your target market. Track customer experiences with your brand to see development and reaction. Make sure you know the various ways users will communicate about you. If the campaign expands, but the message is not as planned, some changes may be needed. Careful preparation and excellent content can all contribute to a good campaign with an appealing motivation. For a campaign to fly a little luck is typically required.

8.7 Who Is Carrying Out Viral Campaigns for Marketing?

Viral marketing is useful either as an individual marketing tactic or in a broader campaign using different marketing forms. Smaller businesses or companies find this particularly appealing because viral marketing may offer a cheaper alternative to conventional marketing activities. For example, a new energy drinking company can produce an Internet video featuring a person who drinks the energy before attempting an almost impossible bike leap. It might inspire people to share the video with others if the video is made to look genuine. The business will disclose its real intent after it receives enough views, persuading its viewers to look for more drink information without any usual ads.

In tandem with other types of marketing, such as the Blair Witch Project, viral marketing is commonly used. Long before advertisements, trailers, posters and other types of conventional marketing were released, the viral element of the campaign created excitement. This prompted many to speak about the film before it was released officially. To be viral, the contents must not be covert. Political campaigns also make videos that show a candidate’s sound clips, claiming that something is offensive to people. Politicians hope the video will be viral and cause others to grow a negative attitude towards the targeted opponents by pointing out an outrageous comment.

8.8 Implementing Viral Marketing

A common misconception is that the credibility of something well known is the foundation of viral marketing. In reality, it depends more on an effective viral marketing campaign to connect with this demographic through useful information. Viral marketing is a personalised strategy that allows marketers to review and evaluate population data to identify and value a product’s demographic target. After an organisation understands what its purpose is and how it interacts, it continues to build content that people want to share. Viral marketing is an interactive and ongoing operation. A organisation running a viral campaign needs not simply let its path go unchanged. It has effectively gained interest in the product, like most viral campaigns.

8.9 Ways to Improve Your Chances of Going Viral

  1. 1.

    It is important to keep your target audience in mind before doing something. Get it as generic as you can. It is important to monitor demographics in order to know your audience. You should remember your audience age, sex, location and preferences before creating any content.

  2. 2.

    When marketing in social media, some brands make a mistake by not creating high-quality content and concentrate only on promotional campaigns. While successful brands definitely have great marketing campaigns, but they also provide quality content frequently to ensure consumers are engaged.

  3. 3.

    Some people eat when they’re down. Some people watch a sports film and go to the gym. The emotions after seeing, hearing or reading something affecting your actions. Integrating different emotions into your content will make your message more powerful. Scarecrow campaign from Chipotle is an excellent example of fuel emotion.

  4. 4.

    It is a fantastic way to take advantage of a current momentum to submit a tweet or create a blog post at the perfect moment. The date and the time you post your content should be considered. Marketers take advantage of big holidays. In order to make your content viral, it is crucial that you post when more people will likely reach your content.

  5. 5.

    Be assured that you will only be able to make your content with the right type of social media platform. Every platform differs and varies the type of content it contains. Depending on the audience and content, you can choose the platform.

  6. 6.

    If you have clearly identified your target audience desires and social media activity, you can use it to partner with other brands and influences to improve your chances of going viral. Your post is viral if your business has been supported by more influencing friends and close associates. This enhances your credibility. Work with people not only in your work sector but also outside your business.

8.10 Examples of Viral Marketing

Viral content typically has a viral plan well-designed but virility is often due in part to good luck, imagination and planning. Social media really has evolved as a marketing medium into its maturity. The way people connect, share and engage with brands is currently dominating socially. Social is the first thing people do online and social media are the most significant platform for inspiring purchases, according to the PwC survey of 22,000 customers. Viral marketing is like coronavirus, you assume it’s just the little flu, but it spreads across the world before long.

The only difference is people would love viral marketing, not like COVID-19. A few carefully selected examples are covered in this section to help explain why and how a viral marketing initiative can be a double-edged and profitable spur.

Max Lanman created an ad in November 2017 to announce the 1996 Honda Accord by his mate. The announcement showed Lanman’s girlfriend drinking coffee and keeping her cat in the vehicle while driving included some really nice witty printing like ‘Cat and Coffee Pot Not included’ and ‘0% APR for eBay-qualified buyers in good standing’. The sales price of 499dollar was caused by the video, but before the site was pulled, the eBay car auction rapidly increased to up to 150,000 dollars. Later, Car Max created a commercial for the Honda, which the couple embraced, offering the couple US$ 20,000. The video of Car Max itself has over 400,000 views, making it more effective than all of its other posts.

TikTok is the biggest question for many marketers, particularly when they try to reach Gen Z users. In particular, they made a trail for this campaign and developed a hashtag that allows users to upload videos of their own eyes, lips and faces. With over 2.8 million users created videos, the viral campaign became the most popular TikTok campaign ever.

In 2012, Australia’s metro trains decided to find a way to promote people to safer around trains. McCann Australia wanted to bring levity to Metro Train advertisements as an alternative to the traditional approach to terrifying and off-talk ads and to provide us with the instant hit Dumb Ways to Die. The video went around the world and was impressed in the media in 2013 with more than 60 million. Most notably, however, the video’s message has made people more conscious and safer around trains, which decreases rail injuries by 20%.

Dietz Nuts—the first meat nut ever in the Super Bowl 2019—was introduced by Deli Brand Dietz and Watson. The Office actor, Craig Robinson, shared the Zingers of the latest product in the marketing campaign to support this launch. The video was shared on digital and social media by Dietz and Watson instead of investing in the high price tag of a Super Bowl TV commercial. It resulted in a campaign that played in the Super Bowl hysteria, but which also engaged users in social networking.

However, the movement did not stop socially. Dietz and Watson created pop-up shops, in-store products and goods to help the video virality. For example, a new energy drink company might create an internet video that would show anyone who uses the drink before they jump, which seems to be unavoidable. If you make the video look real, you are inspired to share it. The business would reveal its true intention to convince viewers to pursue more Drink Details without any traditional ads after the video obtained ample views.

What followed will still remain one of the most popular examples of viral marketing. Oreo’s fast thinking and wit allowed them to steal the game momentarily and concentrate on the brand. Oreo tweeting ‘Dunk in the Dark’ in the 2013 Super Bowl. While it is difficult to prepare content such as this, this tweet is so renowned and so often quoted by quick thinking and witnesses from marketers.

Another example Burger King has developed a website for the promotion of its new Tender crisp sandwich that allows users to send commands to the ‘subservient chicken’. During the time most are leaving websites within 8 s of their visit, several of the first 15 million visitors to Burger King’s subordinate chicken page spent 6 min or more in the area.

In April 2013, Unilever wrote a campaign to inspire women to see what they are like, along with its Ogilvy and Mather Brazil advertising agency. Dove ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ was a campaign showing a woman’s viral video walking through a revolving door and saying ‘average’ or ‘beautiful’. The Dove research has shown that most women do not find themselves beautiful and the campaign is planned to prove that they are beautiful. The advertisement was viral because it could emotionally communicate with the audience.

The Ice Bucket Challenge going viral is as fantastic for non-profit organisations as conventional brands. With his Ice Bucket Challenge video ad campaign, the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) association illustrated this. Participants were encouraged to take a video to pour ice water over their head and then challenge three people to do the same thing and donate. This raised 115 million dollars for the non-profit. More than 2,5 million people, including celebrities including Tim Cook, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Nadal Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey, engaged alone in the United States.

BlendTec’s ‘Will It Blend’ campaign is another example of viral marketing. The mixer enterprise was very aware of the brand in 2006 and has produced a range of videos showing the CEO of the company putting random items in one if its mixers. Its mixer has damaged things including an iPhone, a rake bag, a video game and credit cards. The videos had over 6 million views, and within 5 d of being released on YouTube, BlendTec became world-famous as an obscure brand. Furthermore, after the start of the campaign, their sales rose eight times.

The creativeness and campaigns companies deliver lie at the core of every digital brand today, no matter how large or small, and brands are beginning this year. Some of the most creative and inspiring social media initiatives by 2020 have been seen. Because of the pandemic, Netflix has opted to use social media for more direct contact with its audience. The initiative led to many live sessions at Instagram, where users can directly ask questions and talk to mental health experts. Netflix has seen more interest of more than 100,000 users on their Instagram live.

In March 2020, Zoom launched a monthly virtual background contest, in which remote workers can share their images and videos using the virtual background features of the app. This is an ongoing contest and three entrants will receive exclusive awards per month. It would seem that this competition has accomplished both of the above objectives. More than 50,000 people signed up for the free trial only to participate

8.11 Conclusion

Viral marketing is a powerful tool because, without undue marketing efforts, it is able to increase brand recognition on a large scale in a very short period of time. The trick for a viral message is that the audience needs to be drawn and involved in exceptional and imperative in nature. As the right content is exposed to the right target audience, the customer does the remainder. Through your family, friends and colleagues, you can share and propose helpful ideas in your social networks. In other words, they become marketers and outlets for sale. When done correctly, viral marketing will create a high level of interest in your company and goods among customers. If you make amazing content or at least put a name in the mind of people who have to buy things you sell, you like it to your customers. You will provide people with the tools to create a strong WoM digitally.

In today’s world where people are linked to the latest technology more than ever on the Internet, traditional one-way communication technologies seem anachronistic and viral marketing, a two-way mechanism is very fits in very well. The modern customer enjoys talking to his colleagues on brands and goods, writing notes, reviews and engaging in ratings and reviewing platforms. Most significantly, though, he values the words of others rather than corporations, since he sees them as more honest and dissatisfied as they do not consider commercial or publicity motives. Viral marketing can also lead to incredibly positive results that can be seen in the form of an increased exposure to products, recognition and ultimate sales.

Since viral marketing is unpredictable and means its own very existence. Marketers should not be fascinated by this tool’s amazing powers and advantages but should bear in mind that this does not carry negligible risks and could hurt the company. Viral marketing can therefore be considered to be a double-edged sword and should be used with great caution.