Facebook: As a Viral Vehicle

Let's take a look at one of the most popular social networking sites out there from a viral marketing perspective.

Have you heard of or used Facebook?

I kept getting emails from all my friends inviting me to join facebook. You know what went through my head everytime?

"Not another frickin' Social Networking site!!"

I mean really, how many of these things are we expected to sign up for and start profiles in?

Well along came my sister, and she said "You gotta join it, it's incredible, it's NOT like the other social networking sites!" I was certainly skeptical, but she kept insisting that it was so amazing that she was meeting up with all her old classmates from high school, university, old groups of friends she hadn't seen in years etc...

So I signed up for it, and the first thing that amazed me about it, was the fact that it'll go through your address books on Yahoo, MSN, Gmail, etc.. if you let it, and invite everyone automatically. Ok, so this isn't entirely a new feature, I've seen it before, but it's still an incredibly effective way to get a lot of users real quick through simple word of mouth marketing.

Once I started using it, I realized what's so special about it. It really is different than the other social networking sites. It allows you to see an RSS feed of all your friends daily activities, including new friends that they make. This last part is important, because when you see a friend befriend a friend of yours that you're not currently friends with on Facebook, then you'll be able to go add them too. (Did you follow that?) This really grows your network real quick and easy.

It also keeps you in the loop on whatever your friends are up to. What parties they're going to, whose wall's they're posting on, and let's you see the latest pictures people are posting. Now the pictures are an interesting feature, because you can tag other friends when you see them in a picture and then that picture shows up on their profile pics. Interesting isn't it. I certainly thought so.

Another thing is the groups. There are groups for different schools and educational institutes so you can meet up with all your old friends from highschool and any other groups of friends that find their way to Facebook and start their own groups.

So where am I going with all this?

First of all, this site is growing virally by being arguably the best social networking site online for keeping in touch with friends.

Secondly, because it makes keeping in touch with people as easy as pie, it also means that it's ripe and ready to be utilized as a viral vehicle.

A viral vehicle is something that can carry your viral marketing message to others who can then use the vehicle to spread the message further on to others, etc, etc, etc,...

So all one has to do is find a way to seed your viral message in Facebook, and watch it grow.

I've already seen this working with chain-letter type of messages being posted on peoples walls (Each user has a wall which comments can be posted on by friends). Someone will post a message which has a note to post on 5 friends walls or suffer the consequences.

Now I don't recommend posting such chain-letter style posts. But certainly if you have some incentive to encourage others to spread your message, then they most certainly will, and Facebook will make it a very easy task for them.

They can just pick and choose which friends would be interested in your message and easily send the message along.

Anyways, i just wanted to introduce you to Facebook, if you haven't already discovered it, and get you to start thinking of ways in which it can be utilized as a powerful viral vehicle.

Peace and Prosperity,

Jambhala Rinpo
ViralMarketingBuzz.com
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The Yin/Yang Viral Marketing Strategy

I know I've explained this before, and if you've read my Viral Marketing Buzz Report - Volume 1 then you would've read it in there too, BUT it's a really important point to emphasize.

What is the difference between pure Excellence vs. the other forms of viral incentives.

Other forms of viral incentives include offering commissions to people for sales of product (eg. affiliate programs), or bribing people (eg. we'll give you this free **** if you tell X amount of people), or using psychological fact of curiosity/the zeigarnik effort (eg. we'll reveal **** only if you tell X amount of people). Are you getting the picture here?

Now compare that to pure Excellence being the viral incentive. In this case your product, service, information, or whatever your viral vehicle may be, that is so excellent that people just go off of their own volition spreading the word about it.

Why?

Because they think it's something that is worthy of praise, and that anyone they tell about it, will most certainly thank them and respect them for their most excellent referral.

Notice the difference now?

You could say it's a difference between a Pull or Push viral strategy, Yin or Yang viral strategy, Passive or Active viral strategy.

The Push, Yang, or Active viral strategy requires more effort on your part, and that effort requires you to force the viral effect to happen whether it's going to happen with ease or through hardship.

The Pull, Yin, or Passive viral strategy requires little to no effort at all , often happens without any intention of it at all, and when it does happen it requires no effort to uphold and often snowballs with great effect in perfect alignment with the laws of nature.

So which method should you be striving to achieve?

Of course everyone is now going to say the Passive strategy, but hey, why then is everyone these days generally only focusing on the Active strategy?

Perhaps ignorance, but more likely due to the fact that the Passive viral strategy requires more creativity and ingenuity. Most marketers these days are copy-cat marketers, following the exact same strategies that their predecessors use. Unfortunately with the passive viral marketing strategy, you can't always follow the others because it just won't have the same viral effect. To truly make it work for you, YOU MUST create your own Unique Selling Proposition (USP) with emphasis on the UNIQUE! And it must be to the level of PURE Excellence!

So again, why should you focus on the Passive Viral Marketing Strategy?

Answer #1: Because when done correctly, it's effects are far superior, far more wide-reaching, and with far less residual effort involved. It's self-perpetuating in and of itself.

Answer #2: Because everyone already knows how to implement the Active viral marketing strategy (Just do what the others have done), and if you add the active strategy to your campaign after the Passive strategy has been effectively created, then you're likely to explode your viral reach even more.

The active viral strategy will also require far less effort in combination with the passive viral strategy.

So my advice is to focus on the Passive Yin Viral Marketing Strategy, and finish with the most powerful Passive/Active, Yin/Yang Viral Marketing Strategy.

May you succeed in all you set out to accomplish!

Jambhala Rinpo
ViralMarketingBuzz.com
"This article is free for reproduction but must be reproduced in
its entirety & this copyright statement as well as all links must
be included."

Reality TV Shows are Super Viral!

Yes indeed, reality TV shows ARE super viral, and that's why there are so many of them these days. They are hugely successful.

Why?

There are a number of reasons for this. First and foremost I would say it's because the reviewer can really relate to the contestants, as they are often average people. This gives them a lot more empathy and rapport with the contestants of the show, and makes them feel more involved themselves. The diversity of different characters chosen for these shows is often intentionally done so that many of the different psychelogical archetypes are covered, and that way more viewers can find one or more people that they can closely relate to. This entices those viewers to choose someone that they like, and want to cheer them on to win.

Viewer participation also adds to their desire to keep following each episode and gives them a feeling that they help choose the outcome of winners or losers. Now when those viewers feel that they can influence the outcomes, this is where the real viral power kicks in. With their desire for their chosen character to win, they will be eager to tell their friends about the show, and about their favorite characters. They will then urge their friends to watch and vote, so that their circle of influence becomes greater.

These are the mental incentives, and when also matched with easy viral tools to spread the word about what's going on even faster, this could literally explode, and has!

However, it's about to unveil a new kind of Reality Show! Internet Reality Television!

You heard right, and you know what that means? It means that viral tools can be utilized more easily to spread the word even faster, because the viewers will be in a position to use them at any time.

Joel Comm and Eric Holmlund have teamed up to create the first internet marketers reality show online called:

"Next Internet Millionaire"

This sounds and looks like a lot of fun, and it'll be an interesting viral experiment to observe. I'll tell you right now that I'll be watching closely to see what they do right, and possibly what can be done better (If anything).

They are going to be setting a standard for new internet reality tv shows, and I can only imagine that there will soon be more popping up all over the place, so pay attention to this one.

If you're as eager as I first was to check it out, then click here NOW!

It has only just recently been unveiled, and they are still taking auditions for becoming a contestant yourself. Do YOU want to be the Next Internet Millionaire? Make a video audition and see if you can get voted onto the show.

If you just want to participate as a viewer, then go to the site where you can watch the current video auditions and vote on a scale of 1-10 for which ones you like the best. Some of them look pretty good.

Go Check it out and Vote NOw!

I hope you enjoy the viral experiment, however you choose to participate.

Jambhala Rinpo
ViralMarketingBuzz.com
"This article is free for reproduction but must be reproduced in
its entirety & this copyright statement as well as all links must
be included."

Viral Marketing - How, Why, What, & Get Started!

I just discovered a good article on viral marketing, which explains in nice simple terms the How, Why, What, & Let's Go!

Do you want to know How viral marketing works?

Do you want to know Why you should be utilizing viral marketing?

Do you want to know What the two sub-types of viral marketing are?

Do you want to know how to Start your own viral marketing campaign?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then I am happy to present to you this wonderful article on viral marketing, that is brought to you by Quirk. Just follow the link below!

Quirk's Viral Marketing Chapter

I hope you enjoy.

Jambhala Rinpo
ViralMarketingBuzz.com