Why You Shouldn’t Be Aiming for Viral Marketing
Viral marketing seems like the business success a marketer can strive for–your message is out there, and everyone is sharing it. What could be better? Well, a lot, actually, because going viral says a lot about how many people see your message, but not a whole lot about how many people are buying your product.
Some of you might remember the feel-good stories or days gone by, such as Blendtec, that great blender whose messages went viral when they pulverized an iPod with that powerful little motor. And that viral marketing definitely led to sales–huge increases, in fact. So, why am I so down on viral marketing? A few reasons:
- You’re not so unique. Nowadays, there is way more content vying for attention. The possibility of any marketer breaking through the way Blendtec did is much less than it was.
- Facebook makes it hard. Facebook used to show any content–now it suppresses marketing content in the free feed to make you pay them for ads.
- You’re not looking for everyone. This is probably the most important reason. If you’re Coca-Cola, then maybe viral is great, because your target market is anyone with a neck. But you’re probably not.
But the biggest reason that viral marketing doesn’t work, is that even if it goes viral, it doesn’t persuade anyone to buy. The best thing about those old Blendtec videos were that they showed off their differentiation. If it can obliterate an iPod, you can bet it won’t leave any lumps in your smoothies. But most viral attempts focus solely on sharing and reach and not at all on persuading all those people that they reach.
Focus on reaching the right people instead of all the people. Maybe that finally give you the boost in sales you really need.
Mike Moran is an expert in digital marketing, especially content marketing areas, such as personalized websites, search, and social media. Mike also has a 40-year background in technology with a dozen US patents, specializing in machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and other AI techniques, as well as search technology.
Mike serves as a senior strategist for Converseon, a leading social listening technology company based in New York City. He is also a senior strategist for SoloSegment, a site search and customer experience software company. Mike is also an executive consultant for the Consultant's Collective and a Program Director for the Conference Board. Mike currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of SEMPO, is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) in the National Speaker's Association, and a Senior Fellow for the Society of New Communications Research.
Mike spent 30 years at IBM, rising to Distinguished Engineer, an executive-level technical position. Mike held various roles in his IBM career, including eight years at IBM’s customer-facing website, ibm.com, most recently as the Manager of ibm.com Web Experience, where he led 65 information architects, web designers, webmasters, programmers, and technical architects around the world.
Mike's newest book is Outside-In Marketing with James Mathewson, covering Big Data and Content Marketing. He is co-author of the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc. (with fellow search marketing expert Bill Hunt), now in its Third Edition. Mike is also the author of the acclaimed Internet marketing book, Do It Wrong Quickly, named one of best business books of 2007 by the Miami Herald. Mike founded and writes for Biznology®, a daily blog devoted to digital marketing.
In addition to Mike’s broad technical background, he holds an Advanced Certificate in Market Management Practice from the Royal UK Charter Institute of Marketing and is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He also teaches at Rutgers Business School and is a Distinguished Instructor at the University of California Irvine.
|Mike Moran is an expert in digital marketing, especially content marketing areas, such as personalized websites, search, and social media. Mike also has a 40-year background in technology with a dozen US patents, specializing in machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and other AI techniques, as well as search technology.
Mike serves as a senior strategist for Converseon, a leading social listening technology company based in New York City. He is also a senior strategist for SoloSegment, a site search and customer experience software company. Mike is also an executive consultant for the Consultant's Collective and a Program Director for the Conference Board. Mike currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of SEMPO, is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) in the National Speaker's Association, and a Senior Fellow for the Society of New Communications Research.
Mike spent 30 years at IBM, rising to Distinguished Engineer, an executive-level technical position. Mike held various roles in his IBM career, including eight years at IBM’s customer-facing website, ibm.com, most recently as the Manager of ibm.com Web Experience, where he led 65 information architects, web designers, webmasters, programmers, and technical architects around the world.
Mike's newest book is Outside-In Marketing with James Mathewson, covering Big Data and Content Marketing. He is co-author of the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc. (with fellow search marketing expert Bill Hunt), now in its Third Edition. Mike is also the author of the acclaimed Internet marketing book, Do It Wrong Quickly, named one of best business books of 2007 by the Miami Herald. Mike founded and writes for Biznology®, a daily blog devoted to digital marketing.
In addition to Mike’s broad technical background, he holds an Advanced Certificate in Market Management Practice from the Royal UK Charter Institute of Marketing and is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He also teaches at Rutgers Business School and is a Distinguished Instructor at the University of California Irvine.
|Mike Moran is an expert in digital marketing, especially content marketing areas, such as personalized websites, search, and social media. Mike also has a 40-year background in technology with a dozen US patents, specializing in machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and other AI techniques, as well as search technology.
Mike serves as a senior strategist for Converseon, a leading social listening technology company based in New York City. He is also a senior strategist for SoloSegment, a site search and customer experience software company. Mike is also an executive consultant for the Consultant's Collective and a Program Director for the Conference Board. Mike currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of SEMPO, is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) in the National Speaker's Association, and a Senior Fellow for the Society of New Communications Research.
Mike spent 30 years at IBM, rising to Distinguished Engineer, an executive-level technical position. Mike held various roles in his IBM career, including eight years at IBM’s customer-facing website, ibm.com, most recently as the Manager of ibm.com Web Experience, where he led 65 information architects, web designers, webmasters, programmers, and technical architects around the world.
Mike's newest book is Outside-In Marketing with James Mathewson, covering Big Data and Content Marketing. He is co-author of the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc. (with fellow search marketing expert Bill Hunt), now in its Third Edition. Mike is also the author of the acclaimed Internet marketing book, Do It Wrong Quickly, named one of best business books of 2007 by the Miami Herald. Mike founded and writes for Biznology®, a daily blog devoted to digital marketing.
In addition to Mike’s broad technical background, he holds an Advanced Certificate in Market Management Practice from the Royal UK Charter Institute of Marketing and is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He also teaches at Rutgers Business School and is a Distinguished Instructor at the University of California Irvine.
Mike serves as a senior strategist for Converseon, a leading social listening technology company based in New York City. He is also a senior strategist for SoloSegment, a site search and customer experience software company. Mike is also an executive consultant for the Consultant's Collective and a Program Director for the Conference Board. Mike currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of SEMPO, is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) in the National Speaker's Association, and a Senior Fellow for the Society of New Communications Research.
Mike spent 30 years at IBM, rising to Distinguished Engineer, an executive-level technical position. Mike held various roles in his IBM career, including eight years at IBM’s customer-facing website, ibm.com, most recently as the Manager of ibm.com Web Experience, where he led 65 information architects, web designers, webmasters, programmers, and technical architects around the world.
Mike's newest book is Outside-In Marketing with James Mathewson, covering Big Data and Content Marketing. He is co-author of the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc. (with fellow search marketing expert Bill Hunt), now in its Third Edition. Mike is also the author of the acclaimed Internet marketing book, Do It Wrong Quickly, named one of best business books of 2007 by the Miami Herald. Mike founded and writes for Biznology®, a daily blog devoted to digital marketing.
In addition to Mike’s broad technical background, he holds an Advanced Certificate in Market Management Practice from the Royal UK Charter Institute of Marketing and is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He also teaches at Rutgers Business School and is a Distinguished Instructor at the University of California Irvine.
|Mike Moran is an expert in digital marketing, especially content marketing areas, such as personalized websites, search, and social media. Mike also has a 40-year background in technology with a dozen US patents, specializing in machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and other AI techniques, as well as search technology.
Mike serves as a senior strategist for Converseon, a leading social listening technology company based in New York City. He is also a senior strategist for SoloSegment, a site search and customer experience software company. Mike is also an executive consultant for the Consultant's Collective and a Program Director for the Conference Board. Mike currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of SEMPO, is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) in the National Speaker's Association, and a Senior Fellow for the Society of New Communications Research.
Mike spent 30 years at IBM, rising to Distinguished Engineer, an executive-level technical position. Mike held various roles in his IBM career, including eight years at IBM’s customer-facing website, ibm.com, most recently as the Manager of ibm.com Web Experience, where he led 65 information architects, web designers, webmasters, programmers, and technical architects around the world.
Mike's newest book is Outside-In Marketing with James Mathewson, covering Big Data and Content Marketing. He is co-author of the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc. (with fellow search marketing expert Bill Hunt), now in its Third Edition. Mike is also the author of the acclaimed Internet marketing book, Do It Wrong Quickly, named one of best business books of 2007 by the Miami Herald. Mike founded and writes for Biznology®, a daily blog devoted to digital marketing.
In addition to Mike’s broad technical background, he holds an Advanced Certificate in Market Management Practice from the Royal UK Charter Institute of Marketing and is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He also teaches at Rutgers Business School and is a Distinguished Instructor at the University of California Irvine.
|Mike Moran is an expert in digital marketing, especially content marketing areas, such as personalized websites, search, and social media. Mike also has a 40-year background in technology with a dozen US patents, specializing in machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and other AI techniques, as well as search technology.
Mike serves as a senior strategist for Converseon, a leading social listening technology company based in New York City. He is also a senior strategist for SoloSegment, a site search and customer experience software company. Mike is also an executive consultant for the Consultant's Collective and a Program Director for the Conference Board. Mike currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of SEMPO, is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) in the National Speaker's Association, and a Senior Fellow for the Society of New Communications Research.
Mike spent 30 years at IBM, rising to Distinguished Engineer, an executive-level technical position. Mike held various roles in his IBM career, including eight years at IBM’s customer-facing website, ibm.com, most recently as the Manager of ibm.com Web Experience, where he led 65 information architects, web designers, webmasters, programmers, and technical architects around the world.
Mike's newest book is Outside-In Marketing with James Mathewson, covering Big Data and Content Marketing. He is co-author of the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc. (with fellow search marketing expert Bill Hunt), now in its Third Edition. Mike is also the author of the acclaimed Internet marketing book, Do It Wrong Quickly, named one of best business books of 2007 by the Miami Herald. Mike founded and writes for Biznology®, a daily blog devoted to digital marketing.
In addition to Mike’s broad technical background, he holds an Advanced Certificate in Market Management Practice from the Royal UK Charter Institute of Marketing and is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He also teaches at Rutgers Business School and is a Distinguished Instructor at the University of California Irvine.
Latest posts by Mike Moran (see all)
- Are You Trying to “Keep Up” with Technology, or Ride It? - March 25, 2019
- AI Improves Your Website as More People Use It - January 28, 2019
- Your Response to AI Is Actually a Personality Test - January 2, 2019
More Articles by Author
