Viral Marketing Case: Sina Micro-Blog - Part II

The most outstanding advantage of viral marketing is low cost. Before the launched date of Sina Micro-Blog, Sina had invited 800 hundred people (including some artistes) to use the Micro-Blog. Through the word-of-month from these trial users, the registered blog users dramatically increased. Since Micro-Blog is an online public platform that users can post his/her messages, buzz spreads much more rapidly.



There is, however, one significance drawback of viral marketing. Once the message spreads, it cannot be controlled, especially some negative buzz. Many users feel dissatisfied with Sina as their messages are deleted and their accounts are removed when it thinks the contents include some sensitive political words. The voice of discontent widely spread via online and offline channels and that could not be stopped by Sina. There is no doubt that negative voice will affect people's desire to sign up to become a user.

Reference: http://t.sina.com.cn/, news

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Definition of Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is also called buzz marketing (or word-of-mouth) and network marketing. It describes any marketing strategy or tactic that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others. Successful execution means the message's exposure grows exponentially - like a virus and hence the word viral.

Viral marketing is a clever idea, a game, a shocking idea, or a highly informative idea which makes compulsive viewing. It can be a video clips a TV ad, a cartoon, a funny picture, a poem, song, political message, or a news item. It should be amazing and with perceived value that can make people want to pass it on. Finally, the originator of the message can benefit from its propagation.

Viral marketing highly depends on the pass-along rate from person to person. If a large percentage of recipients forward a message to a large number of friends, the snowballs can grow very quickly and can create unexpected outcomes in a short period of time.

Reference: Dave Chaffey (2006) Internet Marketing Strategy, Implementation and Practice, 400-401, viral marketing

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