1 – Alienating Your Audience

Alienating your audience is a common viral mistake. People want to get noticed and may cross the line with hopes that no one will take offense. Go too far, however, and your plan will backfire.

Let’s look at a fairly recent Motrin viral ad. The company’s intent was to demonstrate the fashionable trend of carrying one’s child is hard on a mother’s back, and that Motrin can be used to alleviate the pain. It sounds innocent enough, but an online community of mothers resented the suggestion that they were carrying their babies around as fashion accessories. What happened? The ad received tons of negative feedback and damaged the Motrin brand.

The lesson here is to keep the consumer in mind, no matter what. While this rule may seem elementary, it is violated time and time again by marketers new and old. Don’t be one of them.

2 – Failing to Associate your Brand with the Message

Measuring the success of a viral campaign is complicated. Traditional ROI models simply don’t apply. Goals of viral campaigns vary, but may include things like page views, comments, sign-ups, and trackbacks, none of which directly equate to dollars. At the same time, just because a message goes viral does not mean the campaign was a success.

Because of these factors, the main goal of any viral campaign is brand awareness, and the benefit of branding virally is the potential impact of reaching scores of people in a very short period…but you must do it right. This means making sure your viral content is in line with your brand equity.

There have been recent campaigns, like this one from Gatorade, that went viral but still failed because advertisers neglected to associate the content with the brand, and the brand gained little traction. Learn from Gatorade’s mistake and your chances of viral success dramatically improve.

3 – Making a TV Commercial, Not a Viral Video

Many beginners tend to believe any video can go viral, and in theory, this may be true. While there are commercials that have gone viral, if you try to go viral with your own, odds are it won’t work. This is because people don’t like commercials! Moreover, with the popularity of TiVo and DVR, audiences are used to skipping commercials entirely.

The lesson here? Make sure your video pulls the audience in and compels them to watch. You can create stakes with humor, shock, or a tug on the heart strings. This Dove commercial went viral because it tugged on the emotional chords of the viewers. No matter what you do, however, give your viral video an interesting angle or risk being simply ignored.

Creating a viral marketing campaign is not as easy as uploading a video on YouTube. Be

An advantage of using social networking sites for list building is that the word about a service or a product spread quickly, especially in Twitter where a trending topic is show at the home page. People who see such topic being discussed heavily on the net will most likely look for more information about it. Marketers who want to put their products and services among the trending topics on Twitter should be creative in doing so. If the message is typed like an offer leading to a site, people will most probably ignore it. Using it with a #term is a more effective approach.

The same thing applies for Facebook. A marketer can post a note or a picture and tag people along so that they can see it.

People spend their time more on social networking sites than on their email in-box. The companies can use the private messaging feature of these social networking sites instead. In addition, adding people to the list of the promoter’s ‘friends’ is easier done on social networking sites, especially on Twitter where one can follow the activities of the other person even without the latter approving the invitation. Private messaging will now be possible unless that person has turned off that particular feature.

It is fairly easy to build an opt-in mailing list if the web master understands why people use the web. If a person wants information, they will read a book. A person who wants to develop a skill will take a course. Most of the people who visit web sites are trying to solve problems. Promoting the opt-in mailing list as a source of problem solving solutions is one way to increase the chances of a person signing up.

The location of the sign up box is also important – the link bar is not a good place for a sign-up box. Placing the sign up box in a forum, or at the end of a free online course can improve the sign up rate. It is important to tell people what to do after they read an article. Readers who are not told where to go next or given something to do, will click the Google links and leave the web site. Instead of trying to sell a product at the end of a good article or in the forum, ask readers to sign up for the mailing list.

Beware of co-registration lists. This new SEO marketing tool lets web masters build a list in a short time, and the sign up reports look good, but the mailing list subscribers are not targeted to your niche or product. This dramatically lowers the web site’s ROI (Return On Investment). It is better to have a mailing list with 1000 targeted subscribers on it than one with 10 000 shared subscribers.

The one sure way of increasing a mailing list is to write an ebook. An ebook can be printed off and read when it is convenient. This has appeal to many readers.

The last word on building an opt-in mailing list is to guarantee privacy. Make sure that the sign up page is neat, free of ads, and has a promise that the information collected will not be shared with anyone not associated with the web site. I’ve seen some excellent sign up pages that include a quote from the company president claiming that the mailing list is for the benefit of the readers, and will not be sold or shared with other companies.

There are many strategies which one can employ to use the reach and popularity of twitter for one’s marketing purposes. The first method is simple yet gives really great results. Once the people have read your tweets and are interested, all you need to do is ask for their email address in return for more useful information from you about that topic. Some might take offense to this and even go as far as to call it blackmail, but it is technically nothing of the sort. You are providing them a service here, and are simply asking for contact details in return so that you may approach them later on to sell your products or services if they are interested. No one is forcing any issue here, and a good businessman will not listen to such mindless criticism for a second. Tweeting such invitations is a common thing these days, and everyone does it. What the company must keep in mind is the ultimate goal, and then it must employ the best possible route of getting there. As long as you are social in your tweets and not overtly marketing, there is no problem in employing such measures. Once that user has responded positively to your offer, you can then convert that user into a subscriber who will be added to your email list, and will become a responsive member in the future.

All the various tools and applications on twitter can be used as effective list building tools. Videos, posts, articles, links etc. all of these can be employed to let you tweet followers about your website, and try to attract them towards giving you their email addresses to strengthen your mailing list. Twitter is perhaps the most popular social networking site of all, and is a gold mine of potential customers and subscribers to your mailing list. All a company needs to do is build a credible profile for itself and figure out how to attract their target market of customers. Once this is done, the list building process will take care of itself, and the company is bound to prosper.

Why do I say that? Answer the following questions and what conclusion do? You draw.

Do you use the yellow pages?
Do you watch television commercials?
Do you listen to advertisements on the radio?
Do you read “junk mail” advertisements?
Do you read newspaper and magazine advertisements?
Did you, like most people, answer “No” to most, if not all, of those questions? If you did answer “No” then you should be reaching the same conclusion as I. If “No” is the answer; that raises the question of where are you and others going for your information and of course the primary answer is the Internet.

Why is traditional marketing/advertising dying?

Many people today either cannot find their Yellow Pages Directory or they threw it away when it arrived. Companies that track their leads have learned that the Yellow Pages are no longer producing the desired results. Yellow Pages are not the only media where companies are seeing diminishing returns: newspapers, magazines, and direct mail pieces have all been effected by the Internet. The Internet puts information close at hand and provides the viewer access to more details at the click of the mouse.

Today, customers and prospects either:

Use the Internet to find the services they want or need.
Ask family, friends, and even acquaintances for referrals and references.
Instead of watching television or listening to radio commercials people change the channel with their dial or remote controls or they have recorded the program and fast forward through the commercials. Viewers and listeners are looking to be entertained versus having products pitched to them; there is no tolerance for the hard sell tactics.

This begs the question: why do businesses even advertise in the yellow pages, on television, and the radio? To some extent the answer is: advertising using those media is expected. If customers and prospects do not hear or see these advertisements from the companies that have traditionally advertised in this manner; they will begin to question the staying power of the business. Conversely if the customers and prospects are not accustomed to seeing the business use the traditional advertising; they think nothing of it.

On the other hand customers and prospects do not want to be interrupted by the commercials. It is a dilemma that businesses must figure out.

The oldest form of marketing is Word of Mouth or relationship marketing. The effectiveness of these “advertisements” was typically successful because you were simultaneously receiving an endorsement.

As markets grew and as businesses expanded; new techniques were created to reach new prospects. With the advent of newspaper or print advertisements, television commercials, and direct mail to name a few; ways to spend your advertising dollars exploded.

Although businesses were successful in the goal of reaching more customers the effectiveness of the process declined drastically. Businesses were typically told that a return of 1/2 of 1% to 2% was a great response. When you consider how much time, effort, and cost was expended in attracting these new customers the return was truly very small.

With the advent of today’s new Internet technologies, commonly referred to as Web2.0* applications; technology has brought back the days and effectiveness of Word of Mouth and relationship marketing. Not only has it come back; the ability to have more control and manage it has improved dramatically. Businesses even have the ability to drive the effort. To be successful today’s businesses need to take advantage of this technology to make their products and services known and to be a viable competitor.

Answer these questions:

Are you looking to build your business?
Do you want your marketing and promotional dollars and efforts to generate more results?
Did you or do you expect more from your website?
Do you want your customers speaking on your behalf and promoting your business?
Do you want to tap into the Social Networking phenomena to promote your business?
If you answered “yes” to these questions watch for my next article: What Is a Social Network Contact Worth.

*web2.0 applications are those that enable interaction between businesses, customers, and prospective customers. Specifically the applications are Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and business and personal blogs to name a few. In the past communication was one way, now with the opportunity for dialogue effectiveness increases dramatically. In fact in the web2.0 environment content is a collaborative process between you and your customers.

Starting a new blog is not a big deal at all. However, there are some key features and some important issues that must be taken into account before you begin with blogging. In this piece of writing, I would be disclosing some simple yet effective blogging tips and advices that will surely prove as necessary guidelines for the beginners.

1- The blogging platform should not be selected according to its popularity but instead, it will be selected according to your suitability and feasibility. If you are unable to do so then you will be out of the business in a very short period of time. The blogging platform should be easy to use and also have technical support feature that can help you in future while you try to maintain your blog.

2- You must select a template for your blog which doesn’t require lot of alterations and adjustments. There are lots of formats available in the market which are already setup and doesn’t need any change at all. You can select one out these so many available options. However, you must take care of one thing that you should not only consider the formatting and the appearance of the template but you must also consider the technical aspects because you are beginner and in the beginning, you would surely be unaware of the technical aspects which might be associated with the template of your choice.

3- Next simple yet effective blogging tip for the beginners is that you must keep a back up of your blog all the time. A back up will ensure that you are well prepared to cope up with some accidents and hard times that you might confront in your near future. This is one very common mistake committed by many beginners that they don’t keep a back of their data, I hope that after going through this advice you won’t be the one out of so many which are out there blogging these days.

4- Last but not the least important blogging tip for the beginner is related to the content which you would be posting on your blog. You must always make sure that the content which you would be posting on your blog is the core area of your blog and it is the thing which will decide your fate in the days to come. Always try to post something which is relevant to the nature of your business and keep the information precise but interesting at the same time as well.

Above mentioned were some simple yet effective blogging and advices for the beginners. If you want to begin with blogging then you must get a strong hold on the aspect which I discussed in this piece of writing in order to succeed with your blogging.

First of all, because you will be posting what you write on blogging websites, it can be easily accessed by a lot of people. This is the internet. With millions of people logging in each day, there is a great chance that someone will come across your blogs.

If you are seeking fame and be known as a great writer, then positing what you write on blogging websites is the cheapest way to do so. It is also one of the easiest ways to become famous in the internet.

To start writing blogs, you first need to create a blogging website. Today, there are quite a lot of websites that hosts blogging for free. Sign up with one of these websites and begin posting your blogs.

Basically, blogs are known to be journals. Think of it as writing your day to day activities and experiences and letting people know about it. However, you can absolutely write about anything in blogs. It can be facts or you can also write fictional short stories. Or, you can do a mix of both.

The great thing about blogging is that you absolutely have complete freedom on whatever you want to write about. However, you have to take care in avoiding offending someone. Racial discrimination and other hate messages is prohibited as well as pornographic content.

Now that you posted your very first blog, the next thing to do is sit back and wait for readers to come across your blog and begin reading it. You don’t actually need to advertise as the people who read it will be the ones that will advertise for you. If you are good enough, then they will leave a comment on what they think about your blogs and they will also recommend it to their family and friends as a good read.

The secret in becoming successful and famous in blogs is the content of what you write. It should be interesting and easy to read. Try catching people’s attention on the very first sentence. Once you catch their attention, they will become interested enough to read the entire blog.

This is the secret to becoming famous in blogging and gain a lot of loyal readers.

Try to update your blogging website on a daily basis. If you really don’t have something to write about and you have a normal, routine life, try adding a little spice to it. You don’t actually need to lie but you can always bend the truth behind your so called escapades. Exaggerate a little and also add a little humor. You have to remember that readers don’t really want to know about your day to day activities. They want excitement. You don’t actually need to tell the readers details about your daily life, but what you need to do is get them to use their imagination. These are some of the tips that you might want to remember when writing blogs. With these tips, you can be sure that your blogging website will bring you fame.

eBooks are the future and the future is now. The printed word on paper and bound into books used to be the only way information was given and received. They were great, you could take them with you and put them on shelves and they do still exist and will continue to for the foreseeable future but the time of the eBook has arrived.

The marketing eBook is a slightly different animal from just an eBook. Marketing eBooks contain text, images, links to web pages and navigation controls. The marketing eBook has become a very important part of marketing on the Internet.

With a marketing eBook you can present your story in an effective way and include links to your web sales pages. Your eBook can become your best salesman.

First, your eBook needs to be interesting and informative. It always has links back to your web site and to your sales page.

Next, be sure that you have a prominent section telling readers that they are free to give your eBook away. Let them know that they can post it on their site as a free download, that they can use it as a bonus, and that they can bundle it with other products. This is the way to create viral marketing for your products or services. Remember those links back to your site contained in the eBook?

Last but certainly not least before you send your eBook out to the world, double check spelling and grammar and be sure that you have tested every link to verify that it goes where it is supposed to go. Obvious errors will reflect badly on you and will not be of much value to you, it could even by damaging.

Post your eBook to some of the eBook directories. Many let you post it for free, or will let you post a link on their site to your eBook.

What does a virus have to do with marketing? Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands and then to millions.

Public health nurses offer sage advice at flu season: stay away from people who cough, wash your hands often, and don’t touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. Viruses only spread when they’re easy to transmit. Viral e-mail marketing works great on the Internet because instant communication has become so easy and inexpensive. Digital format make copying simple. From a marketing standpoint, you must simplify your marketing message so it can be transmitted easily and without degradation. Short is better. Remember the K.I.S.S. standard….Keep it Simple Stupid. The shorter and easier to remember is always better than long and complicated.

Clever viral marketing plans take advantage of common human motivations. The desire to be cool and greed drives people. So does the hunger to be popular, loved, and understood. The resulting urge to communicate produces millions of websites and billions of e-mail messages.

Most people are social. Nerdy, basement-dwelling computer science grad students are the exception. Social scientists tell us that each person has a network of 8 to 12 people in their close network of friends, family, and associates. People on the Internet develop networks of relationships, too. They collect e-mail addresses and favorite website URLs. Affiliate programs exploit such networks, as do permission e-mail lists. Learn to place your message into existing communications between people, and you rapidly multiply its dispersion. If you can design a marketing strategy that builds on common motivations and behaviors for its transmission, you have a winner.

Stop with the enforced e-mail forwards already! Trying to force or bribe people to forward your info to a friends or family in order to be rewarded or win looks skanky in today’s ultra-permission-based world. Especially when you tell visitors nothing about their friend’s or family’s privacy in the space directly next to the e-mail form.

A true viral campaign gets forwarded because consumers are compelled to do so by the glory of the content, not because you bribed them with points or something else.

What absolutely will not work:

Suggesting that e-mail recipients forward your message to their friends and family will not work. Adding a line at the bottom of your e-mail that reads “Please feel free to forward this message to a friend” is more likely to get it deleted than forwarded.

What absolutely will work:

Offering something worthy of sharing like a valuable discount, vital information or offering an incentive for sharing like additional entries into a sweepstakes or an added discount or premium service will work.

Relevant or timely information, research, or studies that are included in your e-mail might encourage the recipients to share with their family and friends. Interactive content like a quiz or test, especially if it’s fun, will inspire forwarding.

Jokes and cartoons are almost always forwarded to everybody the recipient knows. Why? Because they are entertaining and entertainment is meant to be shared.

A really cool multimedia experience is always going to achieve a lot of pass-along. Rich media is new and the novelty and tech factors alone are often enough to make the e-mail recipient eager to share it. Oops! Almost forgot one really important thing….You can craft a brilliant e-mail following all the rules, but if a consumer visits your site and has an experience less that what was promised, you are going to achieve viral marketing, alright…the bad kind. So be certain that your product or service is ready and is as advertised.