I’m obsessed with the solo entrepreneurs who are successful leveraging social media to launch a business. They start with a simple idea – like pay me and I’ll wear your t-shirt around LA. They put up a blog, take pictures and video of themselves wearing your shirts and promote it on their social networking sites. That’s the beginning of IWearYourShirt.com
The idea caught on and now there are 2 guys (it should be WeWearYourShirt.com).
Then comes a new spin on the idea – at SheWearsYourTee. I really like this one because a model will wear your tee. That means you get some killer product shots you can use on your site.
Another element is how the pricing works to encourage people to act fast and not wait. January 1st the price is $1 and the price goes up every day. It’s the same concept with another one of my favorite businesses using this model called LoveJingles.com.
Entrepreneur, social marketing, Social Media, Viral Marketing
On the 97th Floor SEO Blog where I post about viral campaigns every Friday, I got asked this questions about what good viral campaigns do, if they sell no product? Its a fair question to the un-learned (maybe not by the type of person that asked it – proclaimed SEO) I guess. The problem with this question is, the person asking it, is completely missing the point of why people like me are running viral campaigns. There are many other amazing places for stories to go viral, but for the sake of this post – I am going to focus on Digg.
The Digg Effect?
If you get a FP on Digg, and it gets you so much traffic it takes your server down because of 40-100k plus uniques to your site (from what I have seen) you are bound to get noticed by someone. So looking at your sales, and seeing none should not be alarming. You can get crazy traffic from Digg even if your story does not make it popular. But if it does …
Viral Marketing
digg, seo blog, viral campagin case study, viral campaign
The other day I was talking with a friend about common methods used to create a good viral campaign via written or rich media. We started talking about some of our favorite videos on YouTube, etc. and ended up spending an hour watching all kinds of funny, inspirational viral media. This got me thinking about what goes into making a good viral piece. Below I will share some steps I think you can take, but at the bottom I’ll share the key.
Steps
- Formulate your messaging — determine exactly what you want to convey about your product or service. You want to convey the benefits of your product or service, not just the features, and don’t be afraid to get crazy in this objective.
- Determine your method – are you going to produce a written viral piece or a video viral piece. Consider the elements involved such as costs, time, etc. and then determine what route you want to follow.
Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing
For those of you that are looking for a definition read this just below. If you want to see the top 10 viral ads of 2008, skip to the bottom…
Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.[1] Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily.[2] Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages. The basic form of viral marketing is not infinitely sustainable.
Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing
This could not have worked out more perfectly for what I am about to post. I was just checking my email and received a viral marketing question from a reader who sells Pet Carriers. She was asking me what she could come up with that would be a good viral marketing post and wanted some ideas for some good content that would do well. heh
Here is why I am so giddy about this. Just before I left for my trip to Disneyland, my son was out in our garage and he was messing around with our cats pet carrier. I went ahead and took out the old iPhone and snapped some shots knowing that it would be good material for a later date. Remember this is me, the guy who can’t think about anything without trying to find a way to turn int viral. Here are the pictures I snapped:
Viral Marketing
Marketing, pet carriers, viral, Viral Marketing, viral marketing idea
I did a similar post on another blog I co-author about a year ago titled how to think like a social media marketer (thus part 2 here), and decided to revisit the topic of “thinking like a social media marketer” and bring it up to date a little more, and give some fresh ideas.
Last night I was out playing with my kids, and the kids in the neighborhood when my son thought it would be a good idea to get his Tonka truck out and ride it down the hill (see picture). It made me think of so many viral markering ideas all over again.
Thinking Like A Marketer
Pretty soon, all of the kids went and got their own Tonka trucks and it turned into a big ordeal of racing and having fun zooming down the little hill we have by our house. They probably spent a good hour just zooming up and down this hill (yes they slept good).
Viral Marketing
marketing campaigns, thinking like a social media marketer, Viral Marketing
