Stop Committing These 10 Common
Viral Marketing Mistakes
by PD
Unsuspecting computer users consider themselves to be doing favors for their
friends with whom they are sending these referrals, but they are not the only
ones jubilant with their discovery. They do not exactly feel it, but they are
part and parcel of the mechanism which makes viral marketing promote and
increase website visits like luscious pancakes.
Viral marketing is currently being used by most online business people because
it works. Who would pass up the opportunity to have a website endorsed
exponentially by all its users and viewers? However, not all viral marketing
ploys work. Before you concoct your own viral marketing portal, here are a few
basic things you need to avoid.
1. General Unhappy Perspective-- One cannot do viral marketing without having a
good dose of confidence that it will actually WORK. Even if you don't
communicate that directly to your marketing ploys, a disbelief for whatever you
have set out to do has already started to sabotage your attempts.
2. Not-So-Viral Marketing-- You need to be very competent or at par with other
websites in viral marketing. Study other existing excellent viral marketers
online and see what makes them secure the top spot. Timing is essential. Your
viral marketing can backfire if you do it without researching first on your
target groups and executing your moves in an unproper time. Conditioning is just
as essential as the actual marketing itself.
3. The WIIFM (What's in it for Me) Factor is Missing-- Most people are
encouraged to refer to friends only if they have something to get out of it.
Some viral marketers forget this very important thing. Giving out rewards or
incentives can boost or motivate every visitor to pull more people in. Watch out
for the extremes of giving too many rewards, though. It must boost and not take
the limelight off the main concept.
4. Marketing without Asking-- Some websites employing viral marketing techniques
forget to let the customers interact. Javascripts are useful tools.
5. Giving up the first time-- Some users tend to get irritated the first time
they receive recommendations from friends. People behind viral marketing fail to
anticipate this and end up giving up on what could have been a most promising
buyer.
6. Too Many Details--This is a common and often commited mistake! No one would
want to hang around that long just for one offer. There are other websites which
would be less concise and yet drive the point home with pizzazz that yields a
lasting impression. Time is not just gold in viral marketing. It is everything.
The fact that a person is surfing the Internet for information already
communicates that he or she is already trying to save time by retrieving
information in the fastest possible way. If websites offer good products but
takes forever to load or for one reader to get to the bottom of the page, it
still would not be worth his time or looking effort, for that matter.
7. Hoops and Hurdles in Transactions-- Related to the mistake above is the
transaction hurdle itself. Given that you have already convinced or gotten a
buying signal from a customer, if the whole process is tedious and hard to
follow, it will most likely dropped by the customer. No one would want to buy or
refer something which is too intricate or complicated.
8. Lack of Uniqueness and Follow-up-- Viral marketing needs to be continuous and
not just a one-time big-time shot, and it must not merely duplicate what is
already available with other competitors. There must be something unique about
the offer, and at the same time, you must have a line of products prepared after
the first purchase, in order to experience the long-range effects of viral
marketing.
9. Forgettable By Clicks-- Some viral marketing websites do not make use of
javascripts. A user or viewer may easily be distracted by other links within the
page and click it in the middle of his or her evaluation of your offer. It may
be an affiliate website or an outside link, but it totally diverts the attention
off your product and may lead him away from your page.
10. Lack of Assurance in Privacy-- Privacy concerns are also important for every
person who wants to take part in the process of viral marketing. Asking for
referrals without making any assurance that the personal information to be given
will be kept confidential and not forwarded to other websites makes a person
think twice before typing up those email addresses.
After learning the abovementioned viral marketing boo-boos it will be definitely
easier to work out your viral marketing campaigns.
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For more SEO know-hows please go to: Isulong SEOPH
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About the Author: Author
of an SEO blog
http://alfamercado.com/blog.
Source of this article:
www.goarticles.com
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