Viral marketing, it sounds like a bad thing, doesn’t it? I know that the fist time I heard someone refer to viral marketing I thought they were talking about an unhealthy cross of a virus and adware.

Before I go any further, let me define a few terms.

• A virus is a malicious piece of code that can copy itself into a computer without the permission or knowledge of the user.
• Adware is any software package that automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements.
• Viral marketing is neither of these.

Viral marketing actually refers to any marketing techniques that make use of existing social networks in order to increase brand awareness or accomplish other business objectives.

Odds are good that you encountered an early form of viral marketing before you ever heard of a personal computer. It probably began something like this:

Ding, dong, “Avon Calling!”

What Mr. McConnell and Mrs. Albee (Avon’s founder and its first saleswoman) realized was that if you could get a salesperson who was an integral part of their own community, you could leverage their personal connections to give you additional market exposure.

Because of the Internet, there are now a number of ways in which you can blend all the advantages of a professional advertising or design team with all of the advantages of a word of mouth network. That is viral marketing.

The rather unsanitary sounding name was chosen because of the speed with which popular online advertisements can spread from one online peer group to another without the need for additional advertising dollars.

With this in mind, it’s easy to see why, “going viral,” is actually an accolade. If one of your campaigns has gone viral, it means that your marketing team did such a good job capturing the public imagination that your target audience has itself become the engine driving your advertising campaign.

Additional Reading:

• Wikipedia: Adware
• Wikipedia: Computer Virus
• Wikipedia: Viral Marketing
• Avon Products Inc.