Viral marketing, also known as nuclear explosion marketing, sounds a little scary, but it is an already common method of online marketing. It uses the enthusiasm of the public and interpersonal networks to make marketing information more popular. Spreading and spreading like a virus, marketing messages are quickly copied to reach tens of thousands or even millions of audiences. I have carefully collected some viral marketing cases for everyone to enjoy and learn!

2017 Viral Marketing Case 1

The God of Brainwashing---Brain Platinum

Advertising, many people have been almost completely brainwashed by it. Shi Yuzhu’s sales team actually released the theory of "melatonin body", but there is no such term in modern scientific literature, only the pineal gland. This word is used because the main component of melatonin is the pineal gland. However, there are no scientific experiments to prove that the pineal gland has a good effect on the brain. However, there are many side effects. These myths have led to the sale of melatonin in major pharmacies on the market. It is almost sold out, and even some primary school students will give melatonin to their teachers on Teachers' Day, which shows the great influence of melatonin advertising. This is Melatonin’s viral marketing strategy.

Let’s analyze the implementation steps and strategic methods of the viral marketing strategy of melatonin.

One: Refining the communication value of products or services.

Melatonin is really good at this. Shi Yuzhu once mentioned such a story in a speech. He saw a man wearing glasses in a shopping mall and bought Melatonin, so he went up to chat with the man. Asked why he wanted to buy Melatonin, the man almost immediately said that he hated Melatonin ads. Then the question came, why did he buy it? The answer was: First, it was to be given to his parents during the Chinese New Year. There are too many types of gifts on the market. , I don’t know which one to choose. Second, among these gifts, the only one I am familiar with is melatonin. It is still advertising, advertising overwhelmingly. If you think about it carefully, this company should still be very rich, so at least the quality of its products can be guaranteed.

Two: Create a tipping point for information dissemination.

The repeated bombardment of melatonin’s magic advertisements has made many citizens feel these three things: vulgar, too many, and monotonous. But on the contrary, the sales volume of Melatonin is extremely high and the sales are extremely hot.

Three: Provide convenient communication channels.

The key point of viral marketing is to allow users to unconsciously accept and participate in the spread of viral information. Faced with the bombardment of more than 380 TV stations with advertisements of no less than 2 minutes in prime time at the same time, it was expected that it aroused heated discussions about melatonin among the public. This makes the communication channels more open. One spreads to ten, and ten spreads to a hundred. The virus has spread quietly.

Four: Create the spread of viral information.

As we all know, Melatonin’s advertising slogan is that we will not accept gifts during the holidays this year, but we will only accept Melatonin as gifts. Melatonin is a youthful and healthy product. The advertising slogans released by Melatonin are catchy and easy to remember, which means it is very conducive to communication, has a sense of quality and class, and is also in line with the characteristics of localization. It is this kind of viral marketing strategy that makes Melatonin gain huge profits.

However, just recently, a new round of melatonin bombing has begun again. Melatonin's latest TVC advertisement landed on major TV stations, once again successfully achieving the brainwashing effect, and once again creating a myth in the advertising industry. Previously, old men and women who did not accept gifts during the holidays this year only accepted Melatonin as gifts. The series of ads is nowhere to be seen.

It must be said that the new version of the like advertisement has once again refreshed the public's three views, and the degree of derision of the advertisement is unmatched by peers in the industry. Many netizens even ridiculed "It's like thunder rolling down the sky", and more netizens began to miss the old old man and old lady series of advertisements a little bit, calling on the Melatonin team to "invite the old man and old lady back".

It is worth noting that Melatonin suddenly launched a new advertisement this time, changing from "gift giving" to "efficiency", and using popular Internet slang among young people such as "like" and "complaining" as advertisements. The main element can be regarded as the biggest breakthrough in advertising strategy in the past ten years. After all, after more than ten years of playing the "No gifts for this year's holiday" meme, it needs to be changed a little.

Not every brand dares to do so boldly by disclosing in advertisements "asking for criticism". Is this learning from the spirit of self-defeat on the Internet or digging a hole for itself? Marketing experts believe that Melatonin this time It still continues the template of viral marketing. In any case, Melatonin's new advertisement has successfully created a topic and attracted a new round of attention from many consumers.

2017 Viral Marketing Case 1

Charity Crowning---Ice Bucket Challenge

One of the hottest topics in 2015 must be the Ice Bucket Challenge. This event Popular around the world. It is a charity event launched by the American ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) Association. Participants are asked to post videos of themselves being doused with ice water online, and then name others to participate. Invitees can either accept the challenge within 24 hours or choose to donate $100. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Kobe Bryant, Lei Jun, Zhou Hongyi, Andy Lau and other celebrities from all walks of life have come to compete.

With the continued celebrity effect, from July 29 to August 12, the ALS Association headquarters*** received US$2.3 million in donations, while only US$25,000 was received in the same period last year. As of August 20, the number of donations has reached US$11.4 million.

Zero-cost, detonating the Internet in a short period of time, the Ice Bucket Challenge is another successful viral marketing. Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, a well-known American e-commerce consultant, believes that viral marketing encourages users to spread marketing information to others, and creates potential growth momentum for the exposure and impact of the information, making it grow exponentially. Viral marketing contains three major elements: pathogens, susceptible groups, and modes of transmission.

Pathogens are products or things that are promoted. They rely on the analysis of the interests, hobbies, information reception methods, etc. of the target group to create communication selling points, thereby attracting attention. Susceptible groups are those who are likely to receive the message and pass it on. The mode of communication is the means and channels of communication. However, the pathogen of the "Ice Bucket Challenge" is not a specific product, but is for charity purposes, hoping to draw public attention to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and raise funds. The pathogen is not deliberately designed or manufactured. The participation of influential and susceptible people is one of the keys to its success. In the "Ice Bucket Challenge", benchmark figures from all walks of life such as politics, business, and entertainment around the world have been named to participate. The right to speak and attention they have is a huge communication power in itself. Although the pathogen was not deliberately packaged, it undoubtedly took advantage of the favorable charity environment and people's concern for charity in its spread. The Ice Bucket Challenge flourished in the United States. According to relevant statistics, the United States is the country with the most prosperous charitable donations in the world, and charities hold nearly 10% of the GDP in their hands. Americans give away 1.8% of their income each year.

2017 Viral Marketing Case Three

2008. On March 24, Coca-Cola launched the online torch relay. This event can be called a classic case of viral marketing:

If you win the qualification for the online torch relay, you will be awarded the title of "Torch Ambassador", and an unlit icon will appear next to your avatar. You can then send an invitation to one of your friends.

If you can successfully invite other users to participate in the event within 10 minutes, your icon will be successfully lit, and you will obtain the right to use the exclusive QQ skin for the "Coca-Cola" online torch relay event.

QQ panel skin for the online torch relay event

And this friend can continue to invite the next friend to carry out the online torch relay. And so on.

Netizens are proud to be the bearers of the online torch, and the viral chain reaction is out of control, like a surging river, stretching endlessly.

This event attracted 40 million people (41,169,237 people) to participate in just 40 days. On average, more than 120,000 people participate every second. In more than a month, without everyone knowing it, many friends around me had a red flame icon (which also contained elements of Coca-Cola) on their QQ.

The person who designed and planned this event should be a first-class Internet marketing expert. In fact, Coca-Cola is not the only one who plays with viral marketing. With more cases below, let’s study together: How to achieve the best results from viral marketing? To achieve the results of viral marketing, you must do the following six points:

1. Provide valuable products or service

In the vocabulary of marketers, "free" has always been the most effective word, and most viral marketing programs offer valuable free products or services to attract attention, for example, free e-mail. -Mail service, free information, free cool buttons, free software with powerful functions (may not be as powerful as genuine). Words like "cheap" or "cheap" can generate interest, but "free" usually gets noticed faster. The most successful company in this regard is Kingsoft. When people talk about the low price of Kingsoft Drug Bully, what makes Kingsoft Drug Bully’s low-price strategy so successful? In fact, Kingsoft Drug Bully’s ability to achieve such results is precisely the foundation laid by Kingsoft Drug Bully through viral marketing in the early stage. Let’s take a look at the entire viral marketing process of Kingsoft Antivirus. In fact, the process is very simple:

a. Provide free download and website reprinting services for the trial version of Kingsoft Antivirus; b. The trial version regularly notifies users of upgraded versions or Purchase the official version; c. Trial users carry out interpersonal communication, and reprinted websites carry out network communication, and more people know about Kingsoft Antivirus; d. More users use Kingsoft Antivirus trial version for free; e. Kingsoft Antivirus’ brand information spreads on a larger scale Scope spread.

After repeated operations of this procedure, Kingsoft Internet Security has achieved two obvious effects: First, its brand awareness has been greatly improved; second, a large number of consumers have become accustomed to using its products.

This is the charm of viral marketing: well-designed scenes, well-designed plots, well-designed results? When a large trial consumer group has been formed and is accustomed to using Kingsoft Antivirus (trial version), the low-price storm of Kingsoft Antivirus genuine is coming. As a result, consumers fell in love with it one after another. Therefore, Kingsoft Drugstore's success was natural.

2. Provide effortless ways to convey information to others

Public health nurses have serious advice during flu season: Stay away from sick people who are coughing, wash your hands frequently, and don’t touch your eyes or nose. and mouth. Viruses only spread when they are easily contagious. Therefore, media carrying marketing information must be easy to transmit and copy, such as: e-mail, websites, graphics, software downloads, etc. Viral marketing works so well on the Internet because instant communication becomes easy and cheap, and digital formats make copying easier. From a marketing point of view, marketing messages must be simplified to make them easier to transmit. The shorter the better. good.

3. The transmission range can easily spread from small to large scale

In order to spread like wildfire, the transmission method must change rapidly from small to large. A typical case in this regard is China’s first This mobile blockbuster produced using Flash technology is adapted from Stephen Chow's "Westward Journey". Compared with the original live-action performance, Flash is more exaggerated and funny. And combined with popular elements.

As soon as this blockbuster was uploaded to the Internet, it spread rapidly on Sina, Sohu, TOM, NetEase, Tencent, Flash Empire and other websites. It has been downloaded more than 10 million times and was included in the website selection. ?The most popular Flash of the year has been broadcast on TV and other media.

4. Capitalize on public enthusiasm and behavior

Clever viral marketing plans take advantage of public enthusiasm. What was the reason for the surge in demand for the Netscape Now button in the early days of the web? It was people's desire to be cool. Gluttony was a driving force, as were hunger, love, and understanding. The demand for communication has resulted in millions of websites and billions of e-mail messages. Marketing strategies that build on public positivity and behavior for the sake of transmission will be successful.

5. Use existing resources for network communication

Most people are social. Social scientists tell us that everyone lives in a close circle of 8 to 12 people. Within a network, there may be friends, family members, and colleagues. Depending on one's position in society, a person's broad network may include twenty, hundreds, or thousands of people.

For example, a waiter may contact hundreds of customers regularly during a week. Internet marketers have long recognized the important role of these human networks, whether they are strong, intimate networks or loose network relationships. People on the Internet also develop networks, collecting email addresses and the addresses of favorite websites.

For marketers, the most difficult thing is how to deeply understand the minds of consumers and convey their messages to their minds. The usual method is to try to raise the voice of the information transmission as much as possible, hoping that the louder the voice, the higher the probability of being heard. But viruses have a smarter method: they can find a way to get close to their carriers using seemingly disjointed paths, and thus become firmly attached to the carriers.

Pepsi-Cola, one of the pioneers of viral marketing, gave children an opportunity in the MountainDew beverage marketing plan: Children only need to collect 10 beverage purchase vouchers plus $35 and mail them together. PepsiCo, you can get a Motorola pager. Pagers are cool gadgets in children's minds. Of course, the children themselves are responsible for purchasing the pager service, and PepsiCo has the right to send out Pepsi beverage paging messages to these children every week.

6. Use other people’s resources

The most creative viral marketing plans use other people’s resources to achieve their own goals. For example, membership programs set up their own text or image links on other people's websites, provide authors with free articles, and try to determine the position of their articles on other people's web pages. One published news may be cited by hundreds of journals. Become the basis for articles read by hundreds of thousands of readers. When other print news or web pages forward your marketing message, it consumes other people's resources instead of your own. In this regard, we can learn from Moutai’s viral marketing.