<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Viral-Marketing.jpg" alt="Viral Marketing" width="384" height="180" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-9331" />If you’re not familiar with viral marketing, this guide will help you understand it as a beginner. If you aren’t familiar with the terms “viral,” “shared,” or “interviewed,” you’ll get familiar with them as you start work on your website and social media marketing campaigns. These terms are a concept you’ll start to understand and implement as you become a viral marketing expert. Here is a look at what exactly this means, why it’s important, and great examples of those successful with it. 

<h2>What is viral marketing exactly?</h2>

This form of marketing is another name for advertising done by “word of mouth.” Since people don’t typically advertise through their actual face-to-face, word of mouth interactions, the new word of mouth refers to someone’s online interactions and communication. Now that social media is such a huge part of everyone’s daily lives, that has become the modern way of sharing something through word of mouth. 

It’s a great way for individuals to reach one another, online communities to form, and companies of any size to reach their potential audience. Viral marketing is meant to be a strong digital message to be passed through internet channels, spreading just like a regular advertising message through word-of-mouth, and once spread is to be voluntarily passed along to more and more individuals in a short time. Those that share your message become like a brand ambassador since they are now a free source of building our reputation. 

<h2>Why is it important?</h2>

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Social-Media.jpg" alt="Social Media" width="248" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-9330" />Viral marketing is so important because just like you would like to share something unique and interesting to your friends and family, you want others to do the same with your campaigns. Your success will depend on how much you can excite people and get them to want to engage with others about it. Viral marketing has become serious business because it can promote goodwill, creates tons of leads, drives a good reputation, and offers a massive ROI. 

A viral marketing campaign should offer a problem that customers need solved, be promotable, be super easy to share, have a huge benefit to audiences, and should appeal to a large mass of people. 

<h2>Who has seen success with this form of marketing?</h2>

Brands like Heinz, Threshers, and Blendtec have already proven that this is the way to go. Viral marketing is often found on YouTube because of how popular it is as a video platform, and is proven through the massively shared Gangnam style video a few years ago. 

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Guide-to-Viral-Marketing.jpg" alt="Guide to Viral Marketing" width="321" height="157" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-9329" />Blendtec got people talking about blenders by starting a viral marketing campaign called “Will it Blend?” with videos of the company’s blenders destroying items that wouldn’t normally go in a blender. This hilarious campaign got people talking about the brand, proved that their blenders were no joke, and were hilarious to share with others. 

Another brand that succeeded with viral marketing is Threshers, a wine chain that ran a viral marketing campaign by sending 40% off wine and champagne electronic vouchers on accident to a select number of customers. While they told everyone it was an accident and intended for suppliers only, it made them an overnight success. Heinz, the popular bean product company, did a viral marketing campaign on Facebook called “Which Bean are you?” to get fans to take their quiz. Those that shared the quiz got a goodie bag and the interaction with fans made Heinz a huge success. 

<h2>How to do it</h2>

You can create your own campaign by making a video, creating content, targeting current events or trends, and incorporating visual content. These are the best ways to see success on social media with your own viral marketing campaign. 

That is a beginner’s guide to viral marketing, white it’s so important, and how it’s giving brands huge success.  
