If you’re still itching for your business to “go viral,” we don’t blame you.
Because brands rightfully want to get their names and content in front of as many people as possible.
In fact, raising brand awareness is number one among the top social media goals of marketers today.
This explains why so many businesses look toward viral marketing as an opportunity to catapult themselves into social media superstardom.
But does chasing trends and one-off moments really make sense these days? Shouldn’t brands be focusing on social media as part of a bigger marketing funnel instead?
Viral marketing is a style of promotion that relies on an audience to generate the message of a product or service.
What is viral marketing, anyway?
To kick things off, here’s a quick definition of viral marketing:
Marketing is considered “viral” when it reaches the point where it’s being shared by the public at large rather than just its target audience. If achieved, your message will be in nearly everyone’s social media feed.
How does viral marketing work, though?
Well, much of modern viral marketing on social media can be illustrated by the popularity of memes. Although not necessarily tied to a specific product, how memes spread goes hand in hand with the principles going viral.
Think about how seemingly random phenomena like Baby Yoda or “OK boomer” take over your social feeds out of nowhere. Memes get shared and promoted like crazy because they resonate with people, all the while outsiders involve themselves with meme trends via “likes” and shares.
The same rules apply to viral marketing in which followers and customers share a brand’s content because their message or ad is buzz-worthy.
Viral campaigns are sort of like “lighting in a bottle” for brands. Many will try, but few will actually manage to receive the sort of universal reach they’re looking for.
What are some notable viral marketing examples?
Good question! Let’s look at some real-world examples of viral marketing in action.
Arguably one of the best examples requires us to rewind to 2012 with Dollar Shave Club’s “Our Blades are F***ing Great” campaign.
Prior to being a $1 billion company, DSC was a relatively unknown up-and-comer in the then-untapped shaving subscription space.
This humorous and unconventional video ad eventually racked up tens of millions of views on YouTube and quickly made the rounds on the likes of Facebook and Twitter at the time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI
