Viral marketing facts for kids
Viral marketing is a way of advertising where a product or idea spreads quickly from person to person, just like a virus. Instead of a company paying for lots of ads, they create something so interesting, funny, or cool that people want to share it with their friends on social media. This can happen through word-of-mouth or online through the Internet and phones.
This type of marketing is personal. Even though a company starts it, they don't pay for people to share it. People share it because they want to. Viral marketing can be anything from video clips and online games to images, ebooks, or even text messages. The goal is to create a message that people with many friends and followers will want to spread quickly.
Contents
History of Viral Marketing
The idea that things can "go viral" became popular in the 1990s. People realized that ideas could spread like germs from one person to another. Marketing experts started using this concept to help sell products.
One of the earliest examples was for an Australian pop singer named Marcus Montana in 1989. Thousands of posters saying "Marcus is Coming" appeared all over Sydney. People and the media became very curious about who Marcus was. While the campaign got a lot of attention, the singer's career was not successful.
A famous early example on the internet was Hotmail. In 1997, Hotmail added a simple line to the bottom of every email sent from their service: "Get your free e-mail at Hotmail". This small trick encouraged millions of people to sign up, helping Hotmail grow incredibly fast.
What Makes Things Go Viral?
Marketing expert Jonah Berger came up with six key things that help content go viral. He uses the acronym STEPPS to describe them:
- Social Currency – People share things that make them look cool, smart, or in-the-know.
- Triggers – If something is already on your mind, you're more likely to talk about it. For example, a commercial for a cold drink might go viral during a heatwave.
- Emotion – When we care, we share. Content that causes strong feelings like happiness, surprise, or excitement is shared more often.
- Public – When we see other people doing something, we are more likely to do it too. It's why popular trends grow so fast.
- Practical Value – People love sharing useful tips or information that can help others, like a clever life hack or a helpful tutorial.
- Stories – A good story is easy to remember and fun to tell. Companies often wrap their message inside an interesting story.
The Psychology Behind Sharing
Marketers often use psychology to help their content go viral. They know that people are more likely to share something if it makes them feel a strong, positive emotion like happiness or excitement.
When we see that many people have liked or shared something, it makes us feel safer to join in. This is called social proof. It's the feeling that if everyone else is doing it, it must be okay.
Sharing content can also be a way to show others what we care about or what we think is cool. This is a type of social currency, where sharing something makes you look good to your friends.
How Viral Marketing Works
For viral marketing to be successful, three things are usually needed:
- The Right Messengers: This includes different types of people. Some are experts who are the first to know about new things. Others are "social hubs" who know hundreds of people. Finally, some are good at convincing others to check something out.
- A Great Message: The message has to be memorable and interesting enough that people want to pass it on. It needs a "you have to see this!" quality that makes it unique.
- The Right Environment: The timing has to be perfect. Releasing the message at the right moment and in the right place can make a huge difference in whether it goes viral or not.
Influencers and Viral Marketing
An influencer is someone with a large online following who can "influence" what their followers buy or think. Companies work with influencers because a recommendation from a person often feels more trustworthy than a regular ad. Social media stars on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are popular influencers.
Benefits of Using Influencers
Using influencers can be a win-win-win situation.
- For Companies: It helps them reach a lot of people without spending a lot on ads. It also builds trust in their brand.
- For Influencers: They can earn money by promoting products they like.
- For Consumers: Followers often trust an influencer's recommendation, which can help them decide what to buy.
Risks of Using Influencers
There are also risks. A company might pick the wrong influencer for their product. For example, the company Blendtec made videos showing their blender could blend anything. The videos went viral, but mostly with teenage boys who thought it was funny to watch things get destroyed. These viewers were not the people who would actually buy a blender.
Once something is online, the company can't control who sees it or how they react. A campaign can fail if the influencer doesn't pass on the message, or if it becomes popular in a country where the product isn't even sold.
Famous Examples of Viral Marketing
Dollar Shave Club Video
In 2012, Dollar Shave Club released a funny video on YouTube to launch their company. The video cost only $4,500 to make but got 12,000 people to sign up for the service in just two days. It was a huge success and showed how a clever video could launch a brand.
Oreo's Super Bowl Tweet
During the 2013 Super Bowl, the stadium lights went out. Oreo quickly tweeted a picture of an Oreo in the dark with the caption, "You can still dunk in the dark." The tweet was simple, clever, and perfectly timed. It was retweeted thousands of times and became a classic example of quick-thinking viral marketing.
Spotify Wrapped
Every year since 2016, Spotify Wrapped lets users see data about their listening habits, like their top songs and artists. Spotify creates colorful, shareable graphics that millions of users post on social media. It's a fun way for people to share their taste in music, and it creates a huge amount of buzz for Spotify each year.
McDonald's Grimace Shake
In June 2023, McDonald's released a purple milkshake called the Grimace Shake. A strange trend started on social media where people would film themselves drinking the shake and then pretend something bad had happened to them. McDonald's didn't start the trend, but they acknowledged it online. The viral trend made the shake incredibly popular and boosted sales for the company.
Ghostface Sells a House
In 2019, a real estate agent in Michigan wanted to do something fun for Halloween to sell a house. He had a photographer take pictures of someone in the Ghostface costume from the Scream movies doing everyday things around the house, like raking leaves and carving a pumpkin. The funny and spooky pictures went viral, and the house listing got millions of views. The house sold in just four days.
See also
- Advertising campaign
- Clickbait
- Content marketing
- Growth hacking
- Guerrilla marketing
- Internet marketing
- K-factor (marketing)
- Mainstream media
- Mobile marketing
- Reply marketing
- Social media marketing
- Social video marketing
- Spotify Wrapped
- Viral phenomenon
- Visual marketing
