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Thread: Viral Marketing - Does it Work?

  1. #1
    Registered Member incka's Avatar
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    Viral Marketing - Does it Work?

    Does Viral Marketing work?

    An example of a viral marketing program

    I read somewhere that JoeCartoon.com used Viral Marketing and thats what made them so popular.

  2. #2
    Administrator Chris's Avatar
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    Canned viral marketing I put in the same boat as submitting to 200 search engines.

    Viral marketing works, it works great, but it isn't something you can apply to every site, it isn't something that some site can sell you.

    In most cases viral marketing is something that happens, not something you plan.

    Any site/service that promises you traffic is best avoided.
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  3. #3
    Junior Registered
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    Hi Incka,

    I totally agree with Chris, this type of viral tools brings you untargeted traffic, which will end up giving you a very lousy conversion rate.

    I use another type of viral marketing, which is giving away a free ebook from my website, and letting others give it away on their website. This takes more time of course but it is worth it in the long run.

    My two cents!

  4. #4
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    Making your website "viral" does work though.

    I've found "tell a friend" programs to work well on my site. Not only do they give good, targeted traffic, but they also make your website more sticky and are a good revenue generator.

    I'm currently using TAFmaster.

  5. #5
    Giant Steps lo0ol's Avatar
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    Viral marketing works especially well for those types of sites that have a general appeal. The humor links and stupid little flash games you get in your email from friends are examples of this. I've read on some sites that their site might go from 0 to tens of thousands of visitors in as little time as a week. But I don't think all sites have this option, or at least to this degree.
    I run good-tutorials.com.

    It's how I roll.

  6. #6
    Registered Member incka's Avatar
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    Originally posted by lo0ol
    stupid little flash games

    That's my site in 4 words


    I signed up to a tell a friend thing that pays... I'll see if it works

  7. #7
    Giant Steps lo0ol's Avatar
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    Nothing wrong with stupid flash games. You could see good results with this. Let us know.
    I run good-tutorials.com.

    It's how I roll.

  8. #8
    Registered Member incka's Avatar
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    I'm using opt-media insted of the one you mentioned...

  9. #9
    Junior Registered
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    I agree, targeted viral marketing makes sense.

    I use e-cards on my site, http://www.gemsinisrael.com/ecards/carddesk.html which sometimes works better than Tell A Friend, although that is also good.

    I do also offer a free e-book.
    Israel e-books
    Gems in Israel
    Spotlighting Israel's Lesser Known Tourist Attractions and Travel Sites, the Gems
    http://www.GemsinIsrael.com/ebooks.html

  10. #10
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    Viral Marketing

    I agree with most of the posters here. viral Marketing works well for sites that have some mass appeal, or which capture the fancy of a large audience. Some viral techniques can be used to promote any Web site, although these probably should be supplemented with paid advertising, etc.
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  11. #11
    Junior Registered
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    While we're on the suject of viral marketing, is there anyone out there devloping viral games that would be willing to barter services?
    Israel e-books
    Gems in Israel
    Spotlighting Israel's Lesser Known Tourist Attractions and Travel Sites, the Gems
    http://www.GemsinIsrael.com/ebooks.html

  12. #12
    Registered Mike's Avatar
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    Isn't there a member here doing it? Sure someone posted about this a bit ago.
    Don't you just love free internet games ?

  13. #13
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    I think it is important to not confuse viral marketing with a simple word of mouth refferal of a product or service.

    Viral marketing is the almost out of control marketing virus that spreads quickly and spreads far. In most cases it is a heavily planned unique creative execusion that allows for this to occur. Sometimes it just happens without the marketers intention. Viral Bank http://www.viralbank.com or Viral Planet http://www.viralplanet.com or Viralmeister http://www.viralmeister.com are always decent places to start to see what people have done previously to create a viral effect.

    Word of mouth or unrewarded refferal marketing is more the development of such a good product or service experience that people tell their friends about it or implmenting easy to refer systems that allow people to refer the given product/service without much effort.

    I now it seems like a fine line but when you split the two up you can come up with seperate strategies and hopefully gain more customers.

  14. #14
    Senior Member chromate's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Mike
    Isn't there a member here doing it? Sure someone posted about this a bit ago.
    Yeah, the guy doing the game for dyson.

  15. #15
    Registered Member incka's Avatar
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    A car did one I think, I saw a tv program about it, over 3/4 of the people on the net at the time so the creative thing...

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