# Viral Marketing Explained: How It Works, Key Examples, Pros & Cons

![Viral Marketing: Spreading information about a product or service by word of mouth or via the internet or email.](https://www.investopedia.com/thmb/laYTKJpccY76C1ycwWW0bybgmsY=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/viral-marketing.asp-final-2a6057868b30439fbe678bb9386809bd.png)

*— Investopedia / Tara Anand*

## What Is Viral Marketing?

Viral marketing is a strategy designed to quickly and widely spread a brand’s message using social media and digital platforms. Successful campaigns depend on the message, the messenger, and the environment in which it spreads. Viral [marketing](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketing.asp) can offer big advantages, like reaching large audiences at low cost, but it also comes with challenges like unpredictability and difficulty measuring success. Popular examples include Hotmail’s email promotion and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which helped catch people's attention and drive engagement.

### Key Takeaways

*   Viral marketing aims for rapid word-of-mouth spread, often using social media as a key platform.  
    
*   Early successful examples include Hotmail, which embedded marketing messages in user emails.  
    
*   Virality is unpredictable but can significantly boost brand visibility and consumer reach.  
    
*   Disadvantages include the potential for negative buzz and difficulty in measuring impact.  
    
*   Viral campaigns are low-cost but risk backlash if they appear insincere or compromise user privacy.

## How Viral Marketing Works in Today's Digital World

In the case of viral marketing, "viral" refers to something that spreads quickly and widely across its audience. Viral marketing is a deliberate enterprise, though the distribution of a message happens organically. As such, social media provides the perfect ecosystem for viral marketing, though it has its roots in traditional [word-of-mouth marketing](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/word-of-mouth-marketing.asp).

While the practice was much more widely used in the early to mid-2000s, it is still common among Internet-based [business-to-consumer](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/btoc.asp) (B2C) companies. Social media platforms like YouTube, X, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook have boosted the effectiveness of viral marketing. 

## Real-Life Viral Marketing Success Stories 

A frequently used example of early viral marketing is Hotmail, the free web-based email service launched in 1996 that included in its users' outgoing messages an embedded advertisement and direct link inviting recipients to sign up for an account. This practice led to the fastest growth among user-based media companies at the time. 

Another example that illustrates how varied viral marketing can be is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. The ice bucket challenge existed before The ALS Association utilized it to raise awareness and generate donations; however, the massive dissemination on [social media](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-media.asp) of ALS Ice Bucket videos created a worldwide sensation that tremendously increased ALS awareness.

### $220 million

The amount of donations raised from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

## Key Characteristics of Successful Viral Marketing Campaigns 

All viral marketing efforts, whether planned or accidental, share three elements: message, messenger, and environment. Each part must be leveraged to create a successful viral marketing campaign. Viral marketing campaigns may be created by any size of business and can stand alone or be a part of a larger traditional campaign.

These campaigns use tools like videos, games, images, and messages to engage users emotionally, raise awareness, and facilitate sharing. Viral marketing often relies on the help of an influencer, who has a large network of followers.

[Social networks](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-networking.asp) speed up and reduce the cost of viral marketing compared to traditional methods. Since it can receive so much traffic in a short time, it can also lead to mainstream media attention. Viral marketing on social media can backfire if messages are changed, misunderstood, or seen as spam. Viral marketing success can also be hard to measure.

## Pros and Cons of Viral Marketing Strategies

### Advantages

Viral marketing allows companies to better market their products by reaching consumers that ordinarily would not be targeted by its traditional [marketing campaigns](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketing-campaign.asp). This expanded reach allows the company to enter new markets and potentially expand its customer base.

When done creatively, companies can trigger viral responses. For example, Burger King created a buzz when it posted pictures of its month-old, moldy Whopper in response to McDonald's claim that its burgers don't decompose. Burger King asserts that it uses only fresh ingredients and no preservatives, which should provide a better and healthier outcome for its customers. Its unappealing-looking burger was visible proof of that claim.

Typically, viral marketing costs are a fraction of traditional advertising campaigns. In this way, advertising is essentially free when consumers infectiously share their positive experiences with a company's products and services with others.

Because the Internet allows content to be shared easily and quickly, viral marketing can also trigger exponential and rapid [growth](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/growthcompany.asp); however, it is important to note that how quickly and easily content is shared is largely dependent on whether the company uses the right tools that make this possible.

### Disadvantages

Sometimes, viral marketing sparks a response counter to what was intended. [Consumers](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/consumer-goods.asp) tend to share negative news more often than positive news, and studies show that people have a stronger emotional response to negative news. Negative buzz can harm a business and be difficult to overcome.

The effects of viral marketing are hard to measure as it is difficult to determine if a [lead](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sales-lead.asp) or sale resulted from it. And there is no consensus among businesses on how to measure its success.

Customers won't share content if they think it threatens their privacy and security. As a result, the company's marketing mission fails, and its reputation may be tarnished. Future viral marketing campaigns may be adversely affected by previous unsuccessful attempts.

Pros

*   Wider reach
    
*   Faster and exponential growth
    
*   Lower costs
    

Cons

*   Negative word-of-mouth
    
*   Hard to measure
    
*   Low virality
    

## How Do You Make Money If Your Video Goes Viral?

To make money on a viral video, you must monetize it, generally by requiring subscribers to pay to view it or by allowing companies to advertise to your audience in exchange for a fee. Companies either pay the creator to mention their products or services or run company-created ads before, during, or after their videos.

There are other ways to make money from a viral video other than the ones mentioned. For example, creators can license their videos, allowing third parties to use their content.

## Why Is Transparency So Important in Viral Marketing?

Being transparent means being honest and open about operations and motives. Transparency in viral marketing is important as consumers are more critical of traditional marketing campaigns and are holding companies accountable for their actions more often than before. Approximately 94% of consumers are likely to be loyal to companies that are transparent in marketing.

## What Does "Seeding" Mean in Relation to a Viral Marketing Campaign?

Seeding is a marketing technique in which companies purposefully distribute viral information or content to select users who they think will effectively share the campaign. Most often, social media influencers are chosen as seeds to spread the word and solicit feedback about a product.

## What Are the Steps to Start a Viral Marketing Campaign?

First, identify the purpose of going viral. Are you seeking to improve your brand's image or increase awareness? Then, find out more about your audience. Social media reporting is a good source of information about what is preferred by your target audience. The content you want to go viral needs to be configured to where it can be easily and quickly shared. If not, the campaign will likely fail at the start. Make sure that the content you want to be shared is organic and relatable. Lastly, use trends and hashtags to promote the content as they will capture the attention of your followers.

## What Are Good Tools for Viral Marketing Campaigns?

There are many tools companies can use in their viral marketing campaigns. Companies can create and sponsor communities, which can be tapped to promote your products or services. Create and promote sweepstakes, contests, and rewards to generate buzz and capture a large audience. Other tools include sponsoring messages and chat blasts.

## The Bottom Line

Viral marketing can boost a company's brand awareness and expand its reach. It often comes at a lower cost than traditional advertising because it relies on organic sharing. Its success depends on creating engaging, shareable content and strategically using social media platforms. But viral campaigns carry risks, including negative word-of-mouth and challenges in measuring impact. To protect a brand’s reputation, it’s important to consider consumer privacy and security, while leveraging influencers and seeding techniques can help target the campaign more effectively.

> **Article Sources**
>
> 1.  ALS Association. "[The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: How it Started](https://www.als.org/ibc-how-it-started)."
>     
> 2.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. "[Cross-National Evidence of a Negativity Bias in Psychological Reactions to News](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1908369116)."
>     
> 3.  Global Marketing Professor. "[The Importance of Transparency in Social Media Marketing](https://globalmarketingprofessor.com/the-importance-of-transparency-in-social-media-marketing)."
>     
> 4.  Business to Community. "[Seeding Strategies for Viral Marketing Campaigns – An Introduction](https://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/seeding-strategies-for-viral-marketing-campaigns-an-introduction-0386982)."