Viral marketing doesn’t work
For some reason that eludes there has been a disproportionate attention and focus on viral marketing. In the news you read about how youtube videos and myspace pages can allow companies and organizations to promote their services for free through viral marketing. Once you ‘get the ball rolling’ the growth should be exponential as more an more people virally spread the message of your product.
Sounds like a good marketing strategy? Maybe, if you’re one of the lucky few who’s message does go viral. Otherwise viral marketing doesn’t work and is a waste of time.
There are countless videos on youtube and myspace with the intent of creating a viral reaction, yet only a tiny, tiny percentage of them ignite any viral response. The remaining videos simply fade away in the ever growing archive of internet crap.
These videos are usually created by experts as well, and in failing to have their video go viral they lose money in the process because the directors are unable to recoup the costs. Not a very good deal.
The same not only applies to internet videos but internet meme’s, social networking sites, and other forms of online media intended to generate a viral response. It just doesn’t work and is a waste of time, as is the case with 99.9% of things.
Here is the lowdown: don’t bother with viral marketing. It doesn’t work. You will just be wasting your time and money. Internet users are INUNDATED with media attempting to generate a viral response. The odds of YOUR video or website capturing their attention, let alone going viral, is slim. Thousands of viral videos uploaded on youtube and myspace a day. There are Tons of new viral websites being created every week, each vying for an infinitesimal sliver of your attention. Obama parody pages, dancing cats, deodorant commercials, enough is enough.