How to do viral marketing? You will understand after reading these 4 steps

After the most recent heavy rainstorm in Beijing, a photo of a man holding an umbrella sitting on a trash can next to the Xi'erqi bus station quickly spread across the Internet, and also made the Xi'erqi bus station a hot topic.

But less than two days after this incident, Xi'erqi bus station became popular again.

The only difference is that the protagonist this time has changed. It is a billboard placed at the bus stop by a training company. It is said that many small notes were posted on the billboard, including jokes between various technology giants, as well as recruitment information, local dating, etc. These notes even blocked the original advertising content.

There are people coming and going in front of the bus stop. Such a special billboard makes many people stop and watch every day. Some netizens even saw it and forwarded it on their WeChat Moments and came here just to take a photo with the internet-famous bus stop.

That's crazy. Why would such an ordinary bus stop quickly become popular and become the object of so much pursuit?

“This must be marketing !”

Let’s not discuss whether it is deliberate marketing for now. But the indisputable fact is that the two virus transmission incidents have pushed Xi'erqi Bus Station to the forefront. With the help of this event, we may be able to gain some marketing inspiration.

1. Good content is the starting point of viral transmission

There is no doubt that almost every startup company dreams of planning a hot marketing event in addition to regular marketing work, triggering viral spread across the entire network, thereby harvesting large-scale user minds and business conversions .

But we must admit that the first step of viral marketing must be good content that is easy to spread. If the content does not pass the test, even if a huge marketing budget is allocated and advertisements are placed all over the streets, it will be difficult to cause widespread dissemination and discussion.

why is that?

In fact, the company's marketing department is only responsible for completing the task of stimulating the market, and the rest of the main marketing work is all completed by consumers.

What's the meaning? Let me give you an example so you can understand. Just think about it, did you buy a Huawei phone because you saw the elevator ads and Weibo ads put up by Huawei?

In fact, many times, our purchasing behavior is more based on other people's opinions, discussions and recommendations. Behind all these actions, Huawei's marketing department was not involved. Huawei was only responsible for the initial market trigger and then waited for the market's reaction.

Therefore, a qualified marketer will definitely pay special attention to the subsequent communication resistance when creating advertising copy . So good content must be content that users are willing to actively forward and share, thereby minimizing the resistance to dissemination.

Jonah Berger introduced the concept of social currency in his book “Going Viral”. The core idea is that if sharing a piece of content increases your value in the eyes of others, then that content becomes like currency that can be used to buy attention from the outside world.

In other words, if sharing certain content can increase one’s value in the eyes of others, people will take the initiative to share it. Therefore, we can say that so-called good content is actually content that can provide social currency.

Social currencies can be roughly divided into five types. Generally speaking, they are all designed to help users complete a certain psychological task.

(1) Social currency 1: Helping others - I want to prove that I am needed by everyone

Everyone wants to be a valuable person in the eyes of others, and everyone longs to be needed. In social networking, if you can provide content that can help your friends, they will automatically forward and spread your information. This is especially true for those who urgently need to prove their own value. They often cannot find opportunities, so creating opportunities also requires helping others.

If you have worked in Beijing for many years, an article titled "Increased by 548 yuan, the monthly upper limit of Beijing's provident fund contribution is adjusted to this number" will most likely prompt you to forward it to your friends.

(2) Social currency 2: Chat material - I need something to talk about when I socialize with others

Having something to talk about is a basic need in socializing. If you provide content that people can talk about, they are more likely to share it. Imagine what you would do if you just heard a breaking news from someone? Definitely share it with your friends right away, even if you've been told not to tell anyone.

(3) Social currency 3: Improving my image - I need to create a positive image

Everyone is eager to show their positive image to the outside world. Therefore, many people have to give up forwarding content that they may be interested in but does not conform to their own image due to image consistency issues.

For example, high-end business people, although they also like to eat junk food, often do not show it off on their circle of friends because it does not fit their high-end status.

Therefore, only if the content you provide can strengthen or enhance their image, will it be more likely to be actively shared by them.

(4) Social Currency 4: Expressing ideas - I need to convince someone and express my true thoughts

Everyone has some thoughts in their mind that they want to express, whether they want to express joy, complaints, or even anger, or simply vent. Perhaps they can't express their ideas clearly, so they choose to keep them in their hearts. At this time, if the content you provide happens to be what they want to express, they will forward it crazily.

For example, Kava Weika's "If you have something to say, just say it, don't ask "Are you there?"" really speaks out the thoughts of busy people in the workplace, which naturally gains everyone's recognition and stimulates the desire to share.

(5) Social Currency 5: Showing off - I need to prove to the outside world that I am doing OK

In social networking, anything that can help users pretend to be cool without leaving any trace is welcomed.

After reading the article "It is said that people who have seven hemorrhoids on the soles of their feet will become very rich in the future", if you happen to have seven hemorrhoids on the soles of your feet, will you still be indifferent? It's really hard to maintain restraint at this time.

The above are five types of social currencies that can make users forward crazily. We can see that, in fact, whether it is Brother Sheltering from the Rain or The Worst Billboard, they both have the characteristics of becoming good content - providing topics for conversation.

In short, if you want to go viral, marketers first need to ask themselves: Does the content I provide (such as articles, advertisements, copywriting, etc.) provide users with sufficient social currency to drive them to actively share?

2. Sharing behavior penetrates user circles

Compared with new media, traditional media has a natural flaw, which is that the opening rate (or ratings) must be less than 1. In other words, the number of people reached by the content must be less than the number of people covered by the advertisement. For example, the average viewership rate for TV commercials is only 3%, which means that if an advertisement reaches 30 million people, only 1 million people will watch it in the end. The loss in between is huge.

Therefore, in the past, traditional media either purchased more user coverage to bring more effective reach, or made the advertising content colorful to maximize the purchasing desire of reachable users and improve conversion rates .

The opening rate of new media can theoretically be infinite. For example, if an article on a WeChat official account has 1,000 readers within the account, if the article provides enough social currency, it is very likely that 200 people will forward it to their friends circle, and other people will forward it after seeing it, and so on. It may even induce WeChat big accounts to repost it, thus constantly piercing the user circle, and the final number of article readings is immeasurable.

Therefore, we often say that the essence of traditional media is coverage, while the essence of new media is penetration.

New media is a hotbed for viral marketing. If you want to trigger viral dissemination, you must make full use of public opinion platforms such as WeChat and Weibo. A photo of a man taking shelter from the rain that was posted to his circle of friends sparked heated discussions throughout Beijing; an Internet celebrity billboard can reach 100,000 reads in just a few days with just one picture or text.

Obviously, this effect would be far from being achieved without the penetration of user circles caused by user forwarding.

3. Do your best and wait for luck to bless you

Having said all that, do I just write an article full of social currency and then push it to the company’s official account with tens of thousands of followers, and then wait for 100,000+? To put it bluntly, even so, your chances of success are only 20% or even lower.

Brother Biyu became popular, probably because the threshold for sharing photos is extremely low, and the internet celebrity billboard became popular, probably because Xi'erqi is a gathering place for Internet companies.

There are too many uncontrollable factors in the communication process, and it is impossible to attribute all the factors. Luck can account for 80% of the factor. Even a large company known for its marketing, such as Coca-Cola , cannot control all nodes of the communication process.

We have to admit that it is no exaggeration to say that the success of viral marketing depends 80% on luck and only 20% on skills , that is, the effort you put in polishing the content and building a new media communication matrix. Creating a viral marketing event is a luxury for any company.

IV. Conclusion

Viral marketing is a low-probability event. Out of tens of thousands of attempts, there may be only a few successes. This is especially difficult for startups with limited funds. On the basis that conventional marketing efforts can steadily acquire customers, it is certainly not a bad idea to try a few viral marketing plans - because if it fails, the losses are limited, but if it succeeds, the gains are unlimited. In fact, viral marketing is like gambling. It is a low-probability event to make a lot of money from it, so you must not indulge in it. Working hard may be the right way to live.

Source: Xiaoouyanshang (ID: siji uc hengdewo)