Viral marketing, just like any type of online marketing campaign, aims to drive as much traffic to a site as possible. It actually leverages on the numbers game: the more traffic that ends up at your site, the higher the possible number of conversions.
Of course a viral marketing campaign has to work hand-in-hand with other aspects of the page in order to convert visitors. Read more about that here.
But what actually is viral marketing and how can you formulate a campaign yourself to help drive traffic to your store?
Even a problem free shopping cart web store powered by a reliable yet simple shopping cart needs help in the marketing department. It takes a bit of effort to let people out there know that your store exists (and is worth visiting).
Online Marketing
Online marketing has a lot to do with content. And so it has been said that content is king. But the content has to fit the medium in which it’s used and it has to capture viewers’ interest in order to be of any value. The subject of an online marketing campaign does not necessarily have to be a product or service or something that is already being sought-after. It is possible for ad campaigns to create interest about new products as well as improve brand awareness for existing ones. The good news is that an online marketing campaign need not cost you an arm and a leg. Which brings us to …
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing is not a difficult concept just as long as you know what you are doing. Viral marketing makes extensive use of existing resources on the Internet. This potentially include micro-blogging sites like Twitter, social networking sites like Facebook, video sharing sites like YouTube, and of course e-mail to get the word across. All these resources can get “interesting or worthy” news out fast at an exponential rate. Take the viral marketing campaign for the movie Cloverfield for instance. The marketing team opted for an indirect approach by producing teasers and micro sites instead of just a traditional movie trailer. That created such a buzz that the marketing practically took care of itself after just a few weeks. Mind you, the campaign was spread out over a year. Every few months bits of information were released, rumors were spread and theories suggested for the sole purpose of raising awareness and keeping people hooked. Obviously, the strategy proved to be a success.
However, this road may not be for everyone. You need to know your target market and what would appeal to them.
What Makes News Or Updates Worthy Of Being Repeated?
Traditionally, people like free stuff and they also like heavy discounts. Needless to say, these free or discounted items should have a high perceived value among the masses for your campaign to garner any interest at all. Let’s say you want to announce a mid-year sale for your online ladies shoe store. You need to remember that many other stores might be doing the same thing as you. You could use the resources mentioned above to promote your sale, while always making sure your titles and descriptions are SEO-friendly. Now, women love shoes. And I would guess that they love free shoes even more. Why not come up with a contest that challenges people to guess the size or weight of a certain pair of shoes. The first 10 correct entries will be given gift vouchers worth $100 each and the next 50 correct entries will be rewarded with a 50% discount coupon. Done correctly, word of mouth about your store and its offer can spread quickly to more and more potential customers.
Another good example is a recent viral marketing campaign by an online camera store that is offering 2 very desirable cameras for free to participants at random. The catch: in order to be eligible for consideration, participants must first Retweet or publish on a blog the ad line containing a link to the store. A sneaky way to get links as well as get the word across, isn’t it?
Cost
You don’t have to create a teaser video like the one for Cloverfield to spread the word. Many artists and companies on a shoestring budget have produced successful viral marketing videos of varying degrees of quality. For example, The Blair Witch Project (whatever you may think of the actual movie) was a small-budget movie with one impressive viral marketing campaign. The bottom line is that if your marketing materials are compelling enough and you have fully utilized the channels we mentioned earlier, then you can look forward to a bombardment of visits in a relatively short period of time.
Viral marketing is great for marketing a new web store. Just make sure you have all your bases covered first. Ensure you’ve first signed up for a worry free shopping cart store software solution. A feature-rich, easy-to-use simple shopping cart like the one from InstanteStore is a good bet. Once you’ve got all your basics done and you have your store set up and tested, you’re ready to let the world know you’re in business. Good luck!
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