Getting Results With Viral Marketing
Have you ever heard the expression "fail fast, fail often"? That's because there's a lot of money in failure. And if you want to join this class of self-proclaimed entrepreneurs, then viral marketing is key. It's not just about generating massive amounts of traffic through social media or creating slick viral ads with your logo in the corner. It's about creating something, then getting in front of people and seeing what sticks. Viral marketing is all about trying, failing, and testing different ideas—you know, the classic process of entrepreneurship.
There are a lot of traditional forms of marketing that involve a great deal of spending money or time to get results. Most DIY marketers look down on viral marketing because it's based on paying for traffic. And the funny thing is that there really isn't much difference between spending time and money. Spending a little on advertising or some other form of promotion is about as much as you need for your business to begin spreading like wildfire! That's especially true if your idea has mass appeal, like a new product or service you have to offer.
Most people tend to be skeptical of new ideas—and with good reason. However, there is a market for anything if it's a quality product and you're willing to work hard to promote it. If you can create a buzz around your new product, service, or idea and get people excited about it, then spreading like wildfire is the next step.
With that in mind, here are four ways you can use viral marketing to build your business:
1. Create an Infographic and Spread It Like Wildfire ______________________________________________________________
Infographics are an amazing way to condense information into something that your target audience can absorb in just a couple of minutes. If the information is well done, it can be viewed thousands of times and shared on social media sites like Facebook and Pinterest. Infographics are a great way to get new visitors to your website, so it's worth your while to take the time to create one.
If you don't have the design chops to craft a beautiful infographic, then don't worry! You can hire a designer on websites like Freelancer.com or use one of the free templates available at Piktochart .com.
In fact, I've created a bunch of infographics that cover pretty much every business topic, and you can see all of them at ViralInfographic.com . I'm getting paid to write these articles and make the infographics, but you don't have to do any work at all if you don't want to.
When you're ready to share your infographic on social media, use sites like Facebook and Pinterest to get a lot of shares—it's that simple! Take note that sharing an infographic does not guarantee traffic (although it will definitely help promote your business and give people reasons to visit your website!), so be sure to follow up with articles or videos that promote the information in the infographic.
2. Re-purpose Your Best Videos for Viral Sharing ______________________________________________________________
If you have any high-quality videos that you're proud of, then do your best to share them on social media. The key to success here is not just sharing the videos on your own profile, but finding ways to share them with other people in your niche or industry. One way you can do this is by sharing the links to relevant groups on Facebook and Twitter. For example, if you have a cooking or diet blog then you might want to find some related Facebook groups full of other people who are into these topics. All it takes is one like from someone in the group for your video to spread like wildfire!
3. Create High-Quality Videos and Get Them Shared ______________________________________________________________
Videos are a great way to get in front of a lot of people. They're usually viewed without sound and last for about five to ten minutes. This means you can cram a ton of information into one video, which is perfect for the purpose of viral marketing. In fact, it's better than infographics because you can put more effort into the video and make it much more engaging.
The great thing about videos is that they're really easy to create using tools like iMovie (mac users) and MotionTrip (PC users). If you have a good camera or even just a smartphone, you should have no trouble putting together videos that people will enjoy, especially if you have the right music in the background.
With all of these options, there's little excuse for not starting a viral marketing campaign today. In the end, it's all about getting your audience excited and giving them reasons to share it with their friends. If they like what you're making, they'll want to spread the word!
4. Create an eBook You Can Market Like Wildfire _______________________________________________________________
Ebooks are one of the most obvious ways to spread like wildfire because it just takes one person to share it for thousands of people to see it. If you're planning on writing an ebook, then you might want to invest in a program like Scrivener that can help you craft the content into something people will want to read. _______________________________________________________________
The goal is to create an ebook that includes your best content and then put it on a platform like Amazon or iTunes. If you're using Amazon, then be sure to follow the guidelines they have for publishing an ebook if your goal is "going viral."
Ebooks are an excellent way to promote your business because they're usually something worth reading, regardless of what niche you're in. For example, if your blog is about cooking, then your ebook should be full of recipes. If you're writing a diet ebook, then the focus should be on the value of portion control and weight loss. _______________________________________________________________
Other ideas for ebooks include ones that offer guides on how to create marketing campaigns for social media or how to become a successful entrepreneur in the 21st century . Whatever you choose, keep in mind that people won't share ebooks if they don't feel like it's worth it. Make sure you give them lots of value with an amazing presentation and they'll spread like wildfire!
Getting started with viral marketing can seem a bit overwhelming at first.
Conclusion
But after reading this article, you should know enough to make a few changes in your business that will pay off big time. There's nothing guaranteed about viral marketing, but it doesn't have to be difficult either. Just take a look at the case study about Red Bull and you'll see that it can be done.
Even if you don't hit viral status, the growth and exposure gains you get from even a very small campaign are invaluable. So do some research, follow the advice in this article and give it a shot—you'll be glad you did!
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