Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is not only putting yourself out there with some free information, but its utilizing the "coolness" factor by getting people to write about you and spread the word.

Viral marketing refers to any strategy that is implemented for the purpose of spreading marketing messages. Such strategies spread like the ripple effect, a slight movement, something falls in the water causing increasingly larger rings resonating from a sign point. Viral marketing is similar in nature to a contagious disease, the way it spreads. However, it's always beneficial to the business conducting the campaign.

Viral marketing uses social networks to create and spread brand awareness. Viral marketing methods work when the product is something of value..so efforts towards design, usability, and solving pain is most of the solution.

Enabling viral marketing then becomes two efforts, creating the conventions from Web 1.0 that people expect, share with a friend is an example and the unique Web 2.0 strategies that are more social, using RSS/Blogs, etc.