Viral Marketing

Andreas M. Kaplan (kaplan@escpeurope.eu)

Executive MBA

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 2

Viral marketing is defined “as electronic Word-of-Mouth in which some form of marketing message related to a company, brand or product is transmitted in an exponentially growing way, often through the use of social media applications”

(Andreas M. Kaplan 2011)

Viral marketing (electronic WoM - buzz) is a question of crossing the tipping point

• Viral marketing starts with a seed of individuals who spread a message by infecting their friends

• Viral marketing relies on audience to distribute the objective

• Reproduction rate R: Expected number of new infectious people generated by each existing one

- R = 1: Tipping point (moment from which onwards an event of a previously rare phenomenon becoming rapidly and dramatically more common)- R > 1: Success, epidemic (each person who gets the message will, on

average, spread it to more than one additional person, leading to exponential growth)

- R < 1: Failure

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 3

Relationship between Word-of-Mouth, Social Media and Viral marketing

+ =Word-of-Mouth

Social Media

Viral Marketing

… the sharing of information about a product, promotion,

etc., between a consumer and a

friend, colleague, or other acquaintance

(American Marketing Association)

… a group of Internet-based

applications that build on the

ideological and technological

foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User

Generated Content

(Kaplan and Haenlein 2010)

… electronic Word-of-Mouth in which

some form of marketing message

related to a company, brand or

product is transmitted in an

exponentially growing way, often through the use of

social media applications.

(Kaplan and Haenlein 2011)

Exponential growth

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 4

The three basic conditions for creating a viral marketing epidemic

Market mavens(Receive)

Social hubs(Distribute)

Salespeople(Amplify)

Message(Memorable, Interesting)

Viral marketing epidemic

Environment

• Size of initial seeding population < 150 (Dunbar’s number)• Luck to be at the right time at the right place

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 5

Message has to be memorable and sufficiently interesting to kick off a virus

Mavens, hubs, and salespeople spread the message, but for an epidemic to start, people need to remember the message and act on it: it must be interesting

• The power of the practical and personal• If you can hold their attention you can educate them• If they understand what they see, they will pay attention

Tetanus Leaflet 2Tetanus Leaflet 1

???

Tetanus Leaflet 3

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 6

Messengers need to belong to three groups: Market mavens, social hubs, and salespeople

Market mavens are individuals who are

continuously “on the pulse” of things

(information specialists) ; they are

usually among the first to get exposed to the

message and who transmit it to their immediate social

network.

Social hubs are people with an exceptionally large number of social

connections ; they often know hundreds

of different people and have the ability to

serve as connectors or bridges between

different subcultures.

Salespeople might be needed who receive the message from the market maven,

amplify it by making it more relevant and persuasive, and then transmit it to the

social hub for further distribution. Market mavens may not be particularly

convincing in transmitting the information

Do not forget about the environment and Dunbar’s number!

Market mavens(Receive)

Social hubs(Distribute)

Salespeople(Amplify)

7

Environment: Communication must happen at the right time and place

Environment is crucial in the rise of epidemics – small changes in the environment lead to huge results, and people are much more sensitive to environment

than companies generally realize

“Sometimes, some plain good old luck is needed to glue everything together,

as sometimes it’s just not the right time and/ or place to launch a viral

marketing campaign”

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3)

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 8

Four groups of social media viral marketing campaigns

Strokes of luck

(e.g., the Diet Coke & Mentos Experiment)

Triumphs

(e.g., Burger King‘s Whopper Sacrifice

campaign)

Nightmares

(e.g., the case of Jet Blue)

Homemade issues

(e.g., Charlie‘s and Jeremy‘s Sony PSP

blog)

Customers Company

Initiator of viral marketing campaign

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 9

Nightmares: Minimize negative viral marketing campaigns - The example of jetBlue

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 10

Homemade issues: Creating bad viral marketing - The example of WalMart’s flog

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 11

Strokes of luck: Jumping on positive viral marketing - The example of Mentos / Diet Coke

+

= ?

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 12

Triumphs: Planning good viral marketing campaigns - The example of Burger King

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 13

Issues with viral marketing communication

Five pieces

of advice when

spreadinga virus

Successful viral marketing requires a little bit of luck and

gut feeling

Viral marketing is only as good as the

remaining marketing mix

Viral marketing needs to be backed-up by traditional forms of

communication

Excessive planning and intervention kills any viral marketing

campaign

Highly provocative and edgy messages are a double-edged

sword

Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 14

• De Pelsmacker P., Geuens M., Van den Burgh J. (2009) Marketing communications : A European perspective, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall.

• Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) The early bird catches the news: Nine things you should know about micro-blogging, Business Horizons, 54(2), 105-113.

• Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media – Viral Marketing dance, Business Horizons, 54(3).

• Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2010) Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media, Business Horizons, 53(1), p. 59-68.

• Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2009) The fairyland of Second Life: About virtual social worlds and how to use them, Business Horizons, 52(6), 563-572.

• Lendrevie J., De Baynast A. (2008) Publicitor (7e édition), Dunod.

• Malaval P., Decaudin J.-M. (2009) Pentacom (2e édition), Pearson.

• Vakratas Demetrios and Ambler Tim (1999) How advertising works: What do we really know?, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 63, pp.26-43.

Further reading