What is Viral Marketing? How Does it Work? The Secrets to Viral Marketing.

Anu Malra
3 min readSep 2, 2022

--

Viral Marketing Campaigns by Zomato and Burger King

Viral marketing uses social media to spread a product, message, or idea. It’s a way to spread the word about your business and build awareness.

In this article, I’ll cover everything you need to know about viral marketing to start experiencing its benefits for yourself!

Viral marketing works by having a message or product that appeals to people who already know you and like your brand. Then you sprinkle in some viral elements — like cute videos, funny tweets, or other cool things people will want to share with their friends.

For example, if you’re selling coffee and want to promote that you offer free coffee at all of your locations, you might create a video showing how much fun it is. If it’s funny and shows how good the coffee tastes, good people will share it with their friends!

If you sell shoes, you might create a Facebook ad letting people know about this event (which may not be true). Then in the ad, you write something like, “Our new shoes are so comfortable — we had them custom made just for you!” And then, at the end of the ad, there’s an option for someone to share it on their wall (or send it directly to their friend) and tag them in the post.

The Best Viral Marketing Campaigns of all time are:

  • Nike: “Just Do It”
  • Apple: “Get a Mac”
  • Iphone: “Shot on Iphone”
  • Pepsi: “Is Pepsi OK?”
  • IHOP: “IHOb”
  • Absolut Vodka: “The Bottle”
  • Red Bull: “Stratos”
  • Marlboro: “The Marlboro Man”
  • Dos Equis: “The Most Interesting Man in the World”
Iphone created the campaign Shot on Iphone

How does viral marketing work?

Viral marketing is a form of advertising that relies on the power of word of mouth, social media, and other forms of online marketing. It is often used to promote an event or product but can also be used to generate awareness for a brand.

While viral marketing is not always effective in driving sales or increasing brand awareness, it has proven to be very popular in recent years because of its potential for getting users involved with products quickly and easily.

According to Business Insider, three key elements make up a successful viral video:

1) Appeal to Emotion

2) Create Interaction

3) Trust and Reliability.

Viral content consists of videos people share because they’re funny, interesting, or just plain engaging. The best way to create viral content is by appealing to an emotional response from your audience.

Creating an emotional connection will help you reach more people and make them want to share your video with their friends and family members. This means that you’ll have more people interested in what you have to say and how they can interact with it. It also means that they’ll trust your brand much more than if they didn’t have some connection with it.

The Secrets of Viral Marketing:

Viral marketing happens when you take a message, idea, or product and spread it rapidly through social media platforms. It’s the process by which your brand can spread its message to thousands of new people in a short amount of time. The best way to achieve this is to ensure that you have the right content at the right time and place.

Viral marketing bonus tips:

  • Capitalize on controversy and shock value.
  • Set yourself apart from fake news.
  • Be a problem-solver.
  • Tap into trends.
  • Narrow your target.
  • Don’t get discouraged.

--

--

Anu Malra

I am a Growth Hacker, I have been involved with start-ups for the past 8+ years, helping them to identify and develop growth channel to drive ROI.