Viral Marketing Point Of View Final Generic

April 11, 2023

Viral marketing is dead.Long live viral marketing.

Presentation Objectives

• A point of view about measurement and analytics• Defining viral marketing (if we can)• Effective uses• Methods of measuring• What we can learn from epidemiologists• In the end, it’s all about the consumer

• Goal: Think differently

Issues addressed in this presentation

A point of view on measurement and analytics

Understanding the question on CPG

WHO…

• What people do• What people read• What people tell us• What we can learn

…BUYS…

• Direct sales• Yahoo Consumer Direct• Coupon programs• Click through to retailers

…and WHY?

• Voice of the customer• Surveys• Polls• Market research programs

A simple philosophy…

Any marketing dollar spent that does not make you money or make you smarter is a wasted

marketing dollar.Kirk Cheyfitz, CEO, Story Worldwide

Grounding data in traditional marketing*

Loyalty Usage Purchase Trial ConsiderationAwareness

Purchase OwnershipPre-Purchase

• In order to evaluate digital channels, we should look at digital activities in the context of traditional marketing principles, such as the consumer decision making process

DefectorsMembersNew UsersTrial UsersObservers

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Customer Lifecycle



Moving consumers past inflection points

“It’s not just what people do, it’s what people do next”

Inflection points Stop

Go

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Re-classifying metrics

Definition: Indicate if business and brand metrics have been met

Audience: Senior Management & Business Owners

Sample Metric: Number of visitors requesting a free sample

Diagnostic metrics (Weekly/Monthly)

Strategic metrics (Quarterly)

Definition: Continuous improvement data Audience: Brand team, Site Owner, User

Experience Team, Technology / Infrastructure Owners

Sample Metric: Abandonment on free sample form

Conclusive

Inferred

•Some are conclusive, others act as indicators only

Not all data are the same

•”Number of consumers who pressed ‘start’”

>Web analytics tool measuring action button

•“Forward-to-a-friend indicates brand health”

>Spreading of messages suggests that company is expanding brand equity

DefectorsMembersNew UsersTrial UsersObservers

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Strategic measures track conversion

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“It’s not just what people do, it’s what people do next”Are consumers moving down the decision-making process?

The reasons why drive learning goals

Diagnostic measures track size of audience

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What is happening with the technology?

Is the experience working properly?

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Overall success is measured in the increments

Ultimately, let’s turn data into customers

Are consumers moving down the decision-making process?Who buys our products and why?

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The reasons why drive learning goals

Content / Experience

s


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Data

dB

Data Data Data Data Data

“Consumers”

Insights

Individual

Real

“Eye Balls”

Data

Aggregate

Virtual

The “who” starts everything

None of this really matters if we don’t know—or at least have a

hypothesis about—our consumers.

David Levy, Story Worldwide

Segment Description Business goals Digital role

“Buyers”Consumers who have purchased our products and opted in for further communications

•Identify•Drive repeat purchase•Drive loyalty

•Analyze dB•Deliver content and coupons •Customer for life

“Dabblers”Consumers who have opted in but may, or may not, have purchased our products

•Validate & engage•Eliminate

•Analyze dB•Hygiene email to validate

“Name” Consumers who have purchased our products but have yet to opt in

•Identify•Opt in•Drive repeat purchase

•Analyze web stats and media reports•Deliver content and coupons

“New” Consumers not in the brand at all •Acquire•Purchase qualified leads

Segmentation of consumers in dB

Customer Lifecycle



Buyers

Dabblers

Name

New

Engage each segment at a relevant moment…

Drive the next purchase Customer for life

IDENTIFY as Buyer

Acquire new names

Validate: in or out?

Drive trial

No

Yes

IDENTIFY

Customer Lifecycle



Buyers

Dabblers

Name

New

…with content and experiences designed to reach that particular goal

Drive the next purchase Customer for life

IDENTIFY as Buyer

Acquire new names

Validate: in or out?

Drive trial

No

Yes

IDENTIFY

Coupons and offers, then migrate to newsletter

Newsletter with content, features, coupons and offers

Identify, then migrate to newsletter

Identify, then migrate to newsletter

Summary

•Learning goals: “Who buys our products and why?”

•Any dollar spent that doesn’t get us closer to answering at least one aspect of this question is a wasted marketing dollar

•Consumers are DIFFERENT: It all starts with knowledge of our consumer and good segmentation

•Think of digital marketing in terms of the consumer decision making process, because…


Long live viral marketing.

Some famous examples

Some not so famous examples –Week of 7/30/07

http://www.viralvideo.com

Top 10 Viral Videos, From Wendy Boswell

1. The Backstreet Boys - "I Want It That Way" - Two Chinese Students and a Dream

2. All Your Base Are Belong To Us

3. Numa Numa Dance

4. Star Wars Kid-Original Star Wars Kid and Star Wars Kid Remixes

5. Demolition of the Seattle Kingdome

6. Whale Blows Up Video-aka Explosives and Mammals Don't Mix

7. "Apache Boy" - Big Hair, Big Dance Numbers, Big Cheese Factor

8. How To Dance Like A White Guy

9. "It's A Big Ad-Such A Big Ad"-Carlton Draught's Big Ad

10. Fifth Grade Devo-Whip It! Whip It Good!

The consumer decides what is viral…not us.

http://www.viralvideochart.com/youtube/quotchocolate_rainquot_original_song_by_tay_zonday?id=EwTZ2xpQwpA

http://websearch.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=websearch&cdn=compute&tm=50&f=00&su=p284.8.150.ip_&tt=3&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.metacafe.com/watch/101251/beer_belly/

Some not so famous examples –Week of 8/2/2007

http://www.viralvideo.com

The consumer decides what is viral…not us.

Special report on experienced “viral” marketers

Special Report: Viral Marketing 2007 (Marketing Sherpa)

•SUMMARY: Interest in viral marketing is super-hot right now. The 2007 Viral Marketing Survey just closed with 2,914 responses, 3 1/2 times more participants than last year. (Thanks, folks!)

But what the responses tell us is that, after more than a decade, viral marketing still has several bugs to work out. For instance, few viral campaigns explode online on their own -- ever.

•Growing their email list and viral as a very good match of a tactic/goal.

•Much less likely to use viral for attempts at direct sales and see it as a better tool for branding/awareness I’ll link to the study at my blog http://thethingis.typepad.com

http://thethingis.typepad.com/

The Hall of Famers

#1. Peerflix Paparazzi (game)

#2. Beer.com's Virtual Bartender

#3. New Rules of PR (White paper, PDF) B2B

#4. Wadsworth Atheneum - Surrealist Exhibit

#5. The Quantum IT Challenge B2B Game to qualify leads

#6. MakeMyTrip Viral Series (India)

#7. Blog in Space

#8. Kreedo Brand Democracy market research firm, Portugal

#9. Monk-e-Mail

#10. mySBC eBill Service: Trees in the Forest of Change

#11. Belt Buckle Knife – Independent shop, measured value of leads

#12. The ERP of This Century B2B Rap song

#1. Sunflower Market Multichannel, widget, cardboard flowers

#2. NetQoS' Netcosm B2B, video

#3. Farm Aid microsite

#4. The Gobbledygook Manifesto Blog posting of book excerpt

#5. Levi Strauss Hong Kong Make your own video contest

#6. TaxBrain.com TV commercial

#7. Six Degrees/Network for Good

#8. Beacon Street Girls Games for book launch

#9. Exeros Inc. B2B Tech audience game

#10. Fox's 'American Dad' DVD Game

Source: Marketing Sherpa: Viral Hall of Fame 2006, 2007

2006 2007

Definition(s) of viral marketing•Viral marketing: A marketing message that is passed along from person to person so that it reaches exponentially more people than the marketer originally exposed to it.

•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 funny video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, images, or even text messages Source: Wikipedia

•A marketing message that, by virtue of it’s a powerful message (be it entertainment, social, economic or otherwise), is shared among cohorts who are valuable to your marketing plan.

•For me, viral marketing is when something is developed - either a video, a joke, or a game (like an ARG) - that is barely branded, if at all, and is so attractive/additctive, that you can't help but pass it onto all of your friends or get involved. The key is that it's stealthy - like I said, barely branded. Often, the most successful viral marketing pieces aren't even meant to be viral marketing pieces

•Viral marketing is messaging (humorous, provocative, angry, persuasive) that is created with the intention of having recipients forward the message to a social network of friends, coworkers and family. Sometimes there is a specific call to action (sign a petition, give money, visit a website), messages are usually self-contained with the ultimate action goal being a message that inspires every recipient to continue forwarding the message to a new group of contacts.

•I think of “viral marketing” as marketing that is brief, broadly accessible and easily shareable. It seems that it is more often than not humorous, but the better one-word definition of what makes marketing viral is probably “novelty”. It has to feel like something new, to the point that the consumer is willing to spam their friends and family with yet another “check this out” email in their inbox.

Definition(s) of viral marketing•Viral marketing is a program that starts out small but due to consumer interest the campaign gets larger through people passing the word to their friends/others. A Viral campaign is meant to be spread via word of mouth and by the consumer.

•In a nutshell, viral marketing is word-of-mouth (or these days, word-of-email). Something that is so compelling that you must pass it along to your friends to give them a chuckle, an eye-opener or a scare. Or simply to introduce them to something you find amusing, intriguing, shocking or simply entertaining

•I understand "viral" content to refer typically to a piece of online entertainment that spreads contagiously (either as a URL or file) because its users have found it particularly amusing, surprising, etc., and that earns them "cool points" for distributing it. The "marketing" extension suggests an attempt to generate a similar wave of interest/positive attention to the company responsible for the content's creation, often through material more provocative or candid than would be seen in traditional marketing channels, that is seeded on sharing/community/blog sites with as little appearance of being promoted by the company as possible.

•The taxonomy relates to "virus" and specifically how they spread: invisible, contagious, with exponential growth. I think it means street cred. Outsider as insider messaging distributed through atypical channels of communication containing an essential element of truth—be it wrapped in shock, humor, or absurdity.

• Key elements to viral marketing: - Do something to eye catching or offer up something free - Tell a story (the message does the selling) - Make it easy for someone to pass along. It's important to follow up once the idea blows up. You have do more to promote/exploit all the word-of-mouth advertising to be a successful campaign.

Common / Uncommon

•Spreading

•Pass along

•Exponentially

•Contagious

•Funny

•Compelling

•Stealth

•Barely branded

•Atypical channels

•Word of mouth

•Seeding social networks and blogs

•Call to action

•Follow up post “blow up”

•Brief

•Novelty

•Cohort

•Cool points

•Street cred

•Voluntary

Creating great content that turns people into

media…and it helps to be funny

But…Is it branded?

Can we control it? Do we kick start it?

Must it be short? And what’s a “cohort”?

Classic “viral” model

•Spreading

•Pass along

•Exponentially

•Contagious

Our message starts with this one “alpha” case and spreads

throughout a larger population:Un-paid media

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Explosion in un-paid media and awareness

Increases in up-paid media can impact

results further down the decision making

process

Increases in un-paid media can be measured

•Set baseline expectations for Cost Per Impression (CPI) paid media impressions by channel

•Observe and track activity through channels

Digital

• Site based; Email; Search; Text messaging, etc.; Engagement metrics (downloads, buddy icons, sweeps)

Word of mouth

• Blog mentions; PR impressions

Off line media

• Over delivery on impressions (usually happens); Off line media (landing page strategy); video plays on YouTube

•Compute incremental un-paid awareness

•Add baseline plus incremental and calculate new CPI

A simple model to measure un-paid awareness

Channel Impressions Investment Initial CPI Incremental impressions

New total New CPI

Digital 5,000,000 $250,000 $0.050 10,000,000 15,000,000 $0.017

PR 1,000,000 $100,000 $0.100 1,000,000 2,000,000 $0.050

TV 20,000,000 $2,000,000 $0.100 2,000,000 22,000,000 $0.091

Print 1,000,000 $500,000 $0.500 500,000 1,500,000 $0.333

•Assumes each channel can be tracked

•What should you use for costs?

•I’d recommend breaking out media costs from actual production costs

•Content creation is the key to driving un-paid media

•REMEMBER: This phenomenon can only be measured after the fact and after a relatively long period of time

Long live viral marketing - Summary

•“Viral” marketing has many definitions but we all agree it describes the spreading of a marketing message throughout a population, leading to incremental un-paid awareness

•“Viral” marketing is driven by compelling and unique content, and good customer segmentation

•Consumers make the content viral, not us

•In fact, isn’t all GOOD marketing, viral marketing?

Viral marketing is dead.

Flaws with the “viral” metaphor

•We don’t make it viral, the consumer does

You never know what is going to pop, and why > Leads to hope-based planning

•It means too many things

Used as a proxy for integrated, or multi-channel marketing, or word of mouth marketing as well as to describe content types and functionality

•Un-necessarily constraining

No need to start small

•Focuses on the action, not the actor

Viruses don’t even work that way

They only “go viral” after they “went” viral

Why start with a small seed….

…when you can start with a big one?

Source: “Viral marketing for the real world,” Harvard Business Review

Reproduction rates describe movement

R>1 R<1

R=1

A slightly more complicated model

[Additional impressions per time period = T]

Investment Initial seed

Initial CPI

R T=1 T=2 T=3 T=4Incremental impressions

Total impressions New CPI

$100 1 $100.00 2 2 4 8 16 30 31 $3.23

$100 1 $100.00 1 1 1 1 1 4 5 $20.00

$10,000 100 $100.00 0.5 50 25 12.5 6.25 93.75 193.75 $51.61

$10,000 1000 $10.00 0.05 50 2.5 0.13 0.01 52.63 1052.63 $9.50

$10,000 50,000 $0.20 0.05 2500 125 6.25 0.31 2631.56 52631.56 $0.19

We can measure this in REAL-TIME

[Additional impressions per time period = T]

Investment Initial seed

Initial CPI

R T=1 T=2 T=3 T=4Incremental impressions

Total impressions New CPI

$100 1 $100.00 2 2 4 8 16 30 31 $3.23

$100 1 $100.00 1 1 1 1 1 4 5 $20.00

$10,000 100 $100.00 0.5 50 25 12.5 6.25 93.75 193.75 $51.61

$10,000 1000 $10.00 0.05 50 2.5 0.13 0.01 52.63 1052.63 $9.50

$10,000 50,000 $0.20 0.05 2500 125 6.25 0.31 2631.56 52631.56 $0.19

Interested?

Looking for a partner to pilot an open source piece of software called “Forward Track”

• Software is free

• Incremental costs to implement, test, QA, possibly invest in another server

• Long term commitment to learning (6 months to a year)

Here’s how viruses really work

Caught the disease

•Who are these people?

•How did they get it?

•Where did they get it?

•Data points

Resisted the disease


•Why did they NOT get it?

•Source of a CURE

This is your target audience…and your dB

We care about actions, as well as the actors

Actively spread your message


•Do they buy your products?

•Why are they engaged with your brand?

•Potential brand advocates or ambassadors

Received your message


•Do they buy your products?

•What are they NOT engaged with your brand?

•Build your dB (Quantity)

After the media is spread, treat them differently….and try to turn receivers into senders

Viral marketing is dead - Summary

•We don’t make it viral, the consumer does

•“Viral” means too many things – Set expectations accurately

•Start with a large seed of consumers through several channels > We can plan and measure this

•Constantly cleanse and re-evaluate the email dB

•Treat consumers differently>Turn “receivers” into “senders”

•Think of digital marketing in terms of the consumer decision making process, because…


Please, give me your feedback

David Levy, VP Data MarketingStory Worldwide

(203) 803-4791

[email protected]

Audio comment line*: (206) 350-3473

http://thethingis.typepad.com

*May be used on a future podcast