A viral email, or viral effort, means it is something that resonates so effectively with readers that they share it with many others quickly, something like the way a virus spreads. Effective viral emails are non-sales –related as people would love to forward funny emails rather than emails with sales or marketing included.
if used correctly and offered at appropriate times in the relationship, viral elements will drive concrete responses, and therefore they deserve to be recognized as one of the key influencers of your email programs.
Tips for developing effective viral marketing...
Take off your corporate-marketing-speak hat: Speak in customer language. Refrain from the usual practice of carefully crafted copy that will immediately be identified as such and ignored. Think of how you would talk to a friend or family member versus an "end user" to whom you are marketing. Even more important than speaking directly is speaking honestly. Be up-front, or you'll create mistrust and potentially damage your brand.
Identify opinion leaders and make friends with them: For every category, there are people who have expertise and are influential in sharing their knowledge with others. These people have a wide circle of influence and can efficiently spread your word to huge numbers of interested parties. Find these influentials, and arm them with relevant information about your product or service.
Make it easy to spread the word: Do whatever possible to facilitate the diffusion of your message. From email, instant messaging, and Forward to a Friend buttons to text messages and events, employ tools that remove all barriers to facilitating dialogue.
Start with the Big Idea: Don't make the mistake of starting tactically, as in "We need an email viral campaign" or "What kind of video can we create that will get passed around?" Concentrate instead on your core marketing objectives, and focus on coming up with the Big Idea or core strategy that will resonate with your target. The best ideas are often the simplest and ideally incorporate a key piece of insight about the consumer.
Connect to your overall marketing strategy: Viral and word-of-mouth efforts can do wonders on their own, but they're far more effective (and you'll get greater efficiency) if they're tied to other elements in your marketing campaign.
Be responsive to the two-way dialogue: Because viral marketing is often "uncharted territory" for marketers, we can forget that we have a responsibility to listen and respond to consumers on their own terms. This means you are no longer responsible just for the messages you deliver but also for listening and appropriately responding to the messages from thousands of customers and prospects.
Measure it all: the good, the bad, and the ugly: In all cases, consumers will tell you what they're thinking. In fact, this is one of the primary reasons many marketers struggle with the idea of viral marketing in the first place. Every program must be carefully monitored to not only register the impact of a program but also to appropriately establish an effective two-way dialogue. From specific clicks to community discussion, effective measurement can make the difference in how useful your program becomes and the depth of impact it provides to your company.
