We have all heard the term and think we understand it, but what is viral marketing?  According to Wikipedia, Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to “marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses.” Viral marketing is today’s electronic equivalent of old-fashioned word of mouth. It’s a marketing strategy that involves creating an online message that is entertaining enough to prompt consumers to pass it on to others, at no cost to the advertiser. 

Still, viral marketing success depends on the rate at which the idea can be passed along person to person. It becomes a free marketing system that works around the clock 24/7. It is claimed that a satisfied customer tells an average of three people about a product or service he/she likes, and eleven people about a product or service which he/she did not like.

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Social Media has taken off over the past year and a half. MySpace, FaceBook, Wikipedia, YouTube, Second Life, Digg, Flickr, TripAdvisor etc. just to name a few, all bring users together to share media, insight, opinions and perspectives. Each network shares text, images, video, and audio. As social networks continue to evolve, niche groups like High School sports, Mothers and Doctors are now participating in vertical networks.

Since most of my experience is in paid search and contextual advertising, Social Media is still a fairly new thing to me. As I continue to learn about the basics of this new media; I am sure many of you are in the same boat as I am. So here’s a little background on Social Networks. Basically, it’s a website which brings users together to share anything those users have in common. As per my examples above; high school athletes can demonstrate their skills on Takkle.com, doctors can share diagnosis and cases on Sermo.com, and mothers can share their experiences on Maya’sMom.com.

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Have you ever imagined a time where the Internet would be more popular than Television? Well hold onto your seats, it looks like that time is near- at least when it comes to marketer’s media budgets. According to a recent article in MediaPost, Internet Ad spending is set to overtake all other media by 2011. 

For years, marketers have said that the best way to sell a product is to reach as many consumers as possible. Although reach is still important in today’s marketing world, engagement is the key - which is why marketers are turning more and more to the capabilities of the internet.  We would all like to imagine that the referees on the TV screen can hear us when we yell at them, but it is not true! Consumers cannot engage or participate with TV, radio, and/or print like they can with the Internet.

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