Once in a while, a video, blog post or news story will spread online like wildfire with unstoppable speed. At times it’s information that’s pretty pointless (a YouTube video of someone dancing or singing), or it could be a “news” story reported by some bystander through a Tweet (the landing of the plane in the Hudson River). Often we have no way of knowing how or why something is so big, but to get your information to spread viral is huge. Although hitting it big can be chance, there are still great marketing tactics you can use to induce a viral attack!

1. E-mail Signatures

You have huge power at your finger tips in your own e-mail client! Use your e-mail signature effectively to spread your message. Have a conference coming up you want people to sign up for? Add a link to a website with more information. Want people to know about a new product? Perhaps add an image or photo to the bottom. A well constructed signature can spread the word. Each e-mail you send will keep the marketing word flowing. Get on an e-mail thread that includes many recipients, even better!

2. Newsletters

It’s your newsletter, it’s your news! Add information that helps you market in the right way. Get people to sign up through your website, offering something in return. Perhaps a useful article that is free to those who register? Use case studies, white papers and fun contests to get people to read it, including info about your products throughout.

3. Twitter

Although this one might be fairly obvious, many companies have avoided ‘tweeting’ for fear of the unknown. Use this medium to generate new relationships and nurture and grow current ones. Although having a decent number of followers means a lot of immediate readers, it’s those well written tweets that are likely to be retweeted by your followers, which is were taking it viral happens! Consider someone on topic, funny or thought provoking for maximum impact.

4. Facebook

Similar to Twitter, the more friends you have the better. BUT, a carefully thought out status, or post can help generate interest. You can also use Facebook to upload photos and videos along with your posts. Consider a photo album full of product screenshots, or a launch party you just had. Everyone loves an image of people having a great time, what better marketing angle than that?

5. LinkedIn

Sometimes the forgotten younger sister of Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn can be just as powerful. It’s viewed as perhaps the more professional networking site of the three but can still be used to add posts, comments and feedback to others. Use all three together and feed your tweets and Facebook updates directly into your LinkedIn profile. Makes your marketing plan easier to execute when you can minimize your work efforts.

6. You Tube

If you have a product or service you are trying to market, many buyers feel happier making a commitment to buy if they can see the end result, rather than read a press release just ‘telling’ them all about it. Film other clients giving testimonials, go out and do a survey on the streets, or film a demonstration. Anything that will show you and your company in the best and quickest way. Again, combine this with numbers 2-4 and link back to the video from those avenues.

7. Social Bookmarking

There are many sites out there that allow you to repost or ’bookmark’ your articles and information you have posted online. Using tools like Share This on your blog will enable your readers to simply click and send the content to sites like Digg, Stumble Upon and Reddit. This is a very quick way for a blog post to go viral. As always, unique, genuine and well written content will be the first to find its way to those sites!

8. Affiliate Programs

An Affiliate Program allows people to sign up and earn rewards if they can refer visitors from their own website, back to your site, and the end result be that a purchase was made by the visitor. This is a legitimate way to have others help spread your word and generate interest in your product. Companies like GoDaddy and Amazon have affiliate programs which a pretty popular, you just need to come up with what reward you will bestow on those that help you in your quest for helping with your marketing!

9. Groups and Forums

Being the member of an online group (think Yahoo, LinkedIn, Industry related groups) can bring a lot of value to your company. Having the opportunity to build and grow relationships is the primary reason. Building relationships builds trust. Trust can equal a sale. Although going in there spamming the message boards will get you kicked out fast, you can use the signature of your profile to link back to marketing information. Also, if your product is relevant to the discussions going on, share the info with the rest of the group.

10. Microsoft Tags

This last way is pretty new, and you can read more information about it in a previous blog post, but adding a tag to your product brochures, cards and website can be a fun new way to spread the news!

Can you think of any more? Feel free to share so we can all learn more!

Share With Others