What is viral marketing? According to the Wikipedia, the viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product, which refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people in their social networks, much in the same way that a virus spreads from one person to another.It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet and mobile networks.
This strategy reminds me of a very typical brand, that is Disney. What will you think of when we talk about Disney? Mickey Mouse?Disney Princess? Marvel? Or Disneyland Park? Disney is a very successful viral marketing, which fully demonstrates the charm of WOM. In the 6 Stepps for Success Applied for Email Marketing mentioned by Jonah Berger, Disney do well at every step, of course, the most deep things which moving people is their stories.
Disney from a common animation brand, to a variety of derivatives, the establishment of Disneyland Park, this step-by-step success fully use the strategy of viral marketing. Whether it’s related social networking site or membership system, as a unique brand, it makes people love and talk about spontaneously, thus becoming a social currency. It may be the first theme park featuring animation, and its brand is deeply rooted in people through animation and movies. After being brainwashed by various propaganda, it will be natural for us to remeber the brand of Disney when see the various princesses, which is a kind of triggers. In addition, their slogan mentions, ‘Where magic gets real’, which makes it easy for people to feel that their dreams are guarded, so both adults and children will be excited when they close to the brand.
Of course, Disney’s success may be its ability to tell the stories. I believe many people have seen this Disney advertisement. At first, people thought it was an animated short film of Disney, but it is incredible that at the end of the story, this is a propaganda for Disneyland Park. Through dynamic short videos, it’s easy to catch people’s hearts and evoke the desires they want to visit there. This is where Disney is successful.
There are still many brands that have successfully established credibility through the WOM method, such as Apple, McDonald’s, Volkswagen, etc., which let customers spontaneously claim for them, so that more and more people understand they.
Of course, everything has two sides. Such a marketing strategy can make a truly valuable brand better and better, but sometimes the viral marketing spread somethings worthless. When business use it, they may produce some negative news to attract people. For example, the gossip of celebrities, or the insertion of an advertisement.
So, what you think about the viral marketing? What is the strengths and weaknesses of that, and how the brand should make better use of this marketing model? Welcome everyone to give me the comment. Thank you.:)
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hi Tina, I really like your Disney example, they are truly a storyteller therefor they can attract so many consumers. Viral marketing can popularize a product ASAP and reach more consumers online. That can be a good method to kick-start a campaign, which based on choosing a right method like social currency, trigger and emotions. But people are more likely to talk about something they don’t like with their friends, family members, and co-workers than to share something positive. So the key of Viral Marketing is choose the right method and spreaders to do it.
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Thank for your opinion! I am very glad that you can agree with me! As you said, the viral marketing approach needs to focus on choosing the right way and promoter to achieve the brand’s purpose. But I don’t really agree with people that they will discuss things they don’t like. I think that both good and bad things will attract people to discuss.
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Hi, Tina. The example of Disney is really interesting. Disney is a very successful viral marketing, which fully demonstrates the charm of WOM. When it comes to its disadvantage, it can be easily imitated by competitors as anyone on internet can launch marketing campaigns easily. Negative publicity is possible at the same speed of positive publicity or even higher speed than that.So the way they make use of viral marketing should be considered carefully.
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Hi Emma, I really agree with you. For viral marketing, good branding and bad negative news will be spread in this way, so how to avoid the spread of negative news is also an important question for company to consider!
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Hi Tina! I think Disney is doing an amazing job in marketing. It is now more than just princesses and aminals. Disney also acquired companies such as Marvel and 20th Century Fox that have their own big IP and a lot of online discussion. They all make Disney more popular online since Disney is now not just a company that produce fairy tales for little girls, but also a company that produces many kind of movies and characters that can resonate people of all ages, genders and races. Disney has always maintained its own market image well and severely cracked down on any infringement. I think Disney is a positive example of viral marketing.
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Hi Lou, I am very glad that you can agree with me! Yes, I also think that Disney is an active viral marketing example, and through these years of hard work, it is getting better and better! But sometimes some negative news will be transmitted through the network, right?
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Hi Tina! I think the example of Disney is very good, which is outstanding in viral marketing. Disney is good at driving people’s emotions. Both adults and children have a fairy tale heart that belongs to Disney. Disney used their ability to tell stories, weaving Disney dreams and letting them spread the stories one by one. Of course, things have two sides, and there is no way to avoid them. Therefore, we must also think about when the use of this viral marketing, is the content we are spreading really good?
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Hi SHI, I am very glad that you can agree with me! Yes, I also think that Disney is an active viral marketing example, and we should aviod the bad news spread by this way.
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Hi Tina, Disney has certainly done a fantastic job in terms of viral marketing, resulting in “Disney” jumping up to our minds whenever talking about animation. Unlike some industries membership-based products or services are less likely to be promoted with distribution, Disney’s fastpass system has been successful in creating word-of-mouth because not only the parents or guardians compliment on the benefits of the system, but most importantly their target customers, children, also talk about how good it is. My opinion on viral marketing is that they have to be implemented well without exaggeration to prevent customers dissatisfaction, thus avoiding negative word-of-mouth.
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Hi Joyce, Thank you for your comment. Yes, I agree with you. For a brand, how to prevent the spread of negative information is also very important, and may even exceed the propaganda for itself, because there are many examples of brands because some bad news has begun to plummet.
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