Introduction and Background
Viral marketing is the holy grail of marketing. The goal of any successful marketing campaign is to generate buzz and awareness about the product or service being offered. If done correctly, the campaign will generate expansive reach, strong brand-building, strong sales, all at a relatively low production and distribution cost.
Viral marketing can occur through many mediums, but the Internet is currently the reigning champion. Cheap resources (always-on internet access), efficiency in building contact networks (email, messengers, blogs, websites, etc.), and an abundance of new content (think Youtube.com) means that there is always something interesting and easy to share. Videos and websites are probably the most effective internet platforms for internet viral marketing.
The caveat of viral marketing is that since you are leveraging other people’s resources (their time and effort, their email lists, etc.), they will be on the lookout for signs of commercialism. A person will not spread a company’s message because there is no benefit for him. He actually suffers because he is losing credibility among...