Going bananas with viral marketing

Recently we posted a photograph to the Random Jamaica Facebook page captioned, "Going Bananas Over Bad Roads: Residents of New Market in St. Elizabeth plant trees in potholed roads in protest." Within days of the post more than 5,000 fans were talking about the funny image (that is, the number of unique people who created a story from the post), and its virality reached a whopping 349.2%. Talk about going viral! Viral marketing accomplished what a traditional advertising campaigns could not – catapulting Random Jamaica to prominence without spending a cent.

Like the age-old concept of "word-of-mouth", viral marketing takes your message, product or ideas and powerfully and quickly spreads it from person to person across the social networks.  All of a sudden your message takes on a life of its own, spreading like a virus.  Everyone wants to see your message and share it with friends.

The benefit of getting individuals to pass on a marketing message to others is obvious - these people become your free viral marketing network.  And all marketers know that referrals are a very powerful marketing tool.

Successful viral marketing hinges on creating a compelling message in the form of a video, image, branded game or other format and then disseminating it through various online channels.  The goal is usually to raise brand awareness by creating a buzz around a product, service or website.

Getting content to go viral can be difficult and unpredictable and often requires a huge amount of luck and timing.  Which is why most content goes viral by accident. But here are a few rules to follow that can greatly improve the virality of your message:

• Tap into people’s emotions. Individuals are more likely to spread the word if they find something amusing, interesting, or otherwise worthwhile.
• Do something unexpected to get people’s attention. Traditional news says when a dog bitesaman that is not news, but when a man bitesadog that is news. Viral messages are no different – they’re funny, they’re weird and compelling.
• Remember that viral marketing is not advertising.  It’s about creating a good and interesting story.
• Make it incredibly easy for people to share your content by including the right sharing buttons.  The more your audience shares your content, the more publicity you gain.