# Viral marketing ideas and do's/don'ts



## AmericanBandit (Jan 11, 2008)

I have been reading a lot about web 2.0 and viral marketing campaigns and ideas. has anyone had success with a particular idea? I have been looking into myspace, facebook, stumble upon, youtube, blog marketing, blog user submitted reviews, digg, etc. My site will official launch in around 3 weeks when my first run of tees is printed and then Im going to start marketing like crazy attempting to use viral techniques (low/no cost high pass along rate) Any and all information is beneficial to me and a lot of other "greenies" in the business.


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## AmericanBandit (Jan 11, 2008)

P.S. any links to articles/blogs would be amazing as well!!


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## CUSTOM UK (Jun 28, 2008)

Viral marketing has proven to be very effective for some campaigns, but it still has the association with network marketing, junk mail and other scams.

If you are going to use it constructively, you need to ensure that you are targetting the people that are most likely to be interested in your product. Have something for free on your site, even if it's just a page of useful tips, so at least people haven't wasted their time if they don't like your product.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Here's a good article: 7 tricks to Viral Web Marketing - Baekdal.com

Also read The Purple Cow by Seth Godin and read his blog here: Seth's Blog

Here's another good article: 3 Things Viral Videos Must Do to Make Money


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## PleaseDressMe (Sep 5, 2008)

Whatever you do make sure you do it tastefully. Marketing done in moderation, especially in the web 2.0 space is EXTREMELY important. I have found some great success with Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and Stumbleupon using careful moderation and smart marketing.


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

Viral marketing is a tricky. You have to hit the right people at the right time and have something that people will want to spread around. It's kind of hard to "make" something go viral. You just have to put your content out there and hope you've targeted the right people. 

Quality is also key. Make sure your content, web site, videos, blogs, whatever you do, is the very best quality you can afford for it to be. If something does start getting passed around, you want it to be because it's cool, not because people are commenting on how cheesy it is. 

Also, if you do use Stumbleupon, Myspace, facebook, forums etc, you have to be genuine in your contributions. If you're just there to drum up business, the other users will pick up on that quite quickly and most likely your presence will backfire on you. Make sure you're a contributor first and a marketer second. Using these sorts of resources for marketing depends on credibility. If you're simply there to spam the members with marketing messages, your credibility will fade quite quickly.


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## AmericanBandit (Jan 11, 2008)

Thanks guys, and rodney nice links those were good article and i have read some things by seth before


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## jkruse (Oct 10, 2008)

Starting off with a product that is new and different doesn't hurt your chances at going viral either. No one wants to share something that isn't interesting.


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## xbftees (Jun 9, 2008)

We have a viral campaign that has had some success. We have a line of geeky tees that say things like intramural supervillain and now accepting henchman applications. To go along with this, we set up a customizable "Henchman Application" widget that people can put on their Myspace, Facebook, blog, etc. When people link the fun widget for the henchman application, they're also linking our site and sharing our brand with their friends. Brings in some free traffic for us. 

I think viral campaigns are going to be most effective for you if they're highly relevant to your brand and target audience.


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

xbftees said:


> We have a viral campaign that has had some success. We have a line of geeky tees that say things like intramural supervillain and now accepting henchman applications. To go along with this, we set up a customizable "Henchman Application" widget that people can put on their Myspace, Facebook, blog, etc. When people link the fun widget for the henchman application, they're also linking our site and sharing our brand with their friends. Brings in some free traffic for us.
> 
> I think viral campaigns are going to be most effective for you if they're highly relevant to your brand and target audience.


That's a cool idea. Unique and funny.


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## TeesForChange (Jan 17, 2007)

I think a viral marketing campaign can definitely work as long as you have plan of attack. what is your goal, how are you going to achieve that goal, how much time are you going to spend on social media every day, etc... if you have a well thought out plan, it will succeed! good luck


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## VneckPlaid (May 5, 2010)

Although its not tshirt related, I read about this campaign today and thought it was pretty creative. Piranha 3d is making alot of noise with its website that was never linked to the actual movie. They seemed to have made a girls gone wild-esque site and marketed it separately from the film. Eventually the public started to catch on that it was an advertising tool and created buzz for the movie. 

Heres a link to an article about the campaign:

ELI ROTH & JERRY O'CONNELL IN PIRANHA 3D'S GIRLS GONE WILD VIRAL MARKETING PARODY

And here's the actual site created:

WILD WILD GIRLS!

Just some food for thought...


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## LTD Tee (May 20, 2010)

The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott is a good one. He breaks down what type of content to create, how to create it and then how to disseminate it.

It's well worth the $15.



VneckPlaid said:


> Although its not tshirt related, I read about this campaign today and thought it was pretty creative. Piranha 3d is making alot of noise with its website that was never linked to the actual movie. They seemed to have made a girls gone wild-esque site and marketed it separately from the film. Eventually the public started to catch on that it was an advertising tool and created buzz for the movie.
> 
> Heres a link to an article about the campaign:
> 
> ...


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## frightrags (Feb 26, 2007)

> My site will official launch in around 3 weeks when my first run of tees is printed and then Im going to start marketing like crazy...


My question to you is: Why release shirts AND THEN market like crazy?

Why aren't you marketing NOW? The links in your signature go to a blank page of links. Not good. You need to get something up right away...even if it is only a splash page with your logo and a brief description of what you're about. Then add an opt-in form (use AWeber, VerticalResponse, Constant Contact, etc) to collect names and email addresses from those who are interested. 

As soon as they sign up, have them put into an auto-responder sequence (AWeber is best for this - I don't think the others have this functionality) that will send out relevant content (based on your brand, what you're about, etc) automatically over the course of either a few days or a week, etc. And be very blunt about asking for opinions on what people want out of your brand, and even post a survey. 

Remember, the key is getting permission to email them (i.e. they sign to your list voluntarily - DO NOT SPAM) and then talking to those people who share the same worldview. Then, once you are ready to launch you will have a better idea of what they want and (hopefully) already have people lined up to buy.

As for viral marketing, it is extremely hard to "make" something go viral. Huge companies spend millions trying to create a video that will go "viral" and get watched millions of times on YouTube. Does that sell more of their product? I highly doubt it.

Don't look for gimmicks to sell your stuff. Be real, be true, have a story that resonates, and engage with your customers.


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