What is online viral marketing? It is called a successful advertising campaign. The phrase was a creation of a business school graduate, popularized a media critic named Douglas Rushkoff. It simply refers to your ability to reach an unlimited number of people by starting out with a handful.

If you tell me something that I think is interesting, I will tell my friends about it. They will tell their friends as well if they like it. They probably know people that I do not. So, growth can literally become exponential. It traditionally was called word of mouth advertising.

The biggest difference between word of mouth advertising and online viral marketing is the potential number of people that anyone at any given time communicates with daily. I can give you a personal example. I speak to my family every day in my personal life. I may speak to my family and friends once per week.

Some of them I haven’t talked to in years, “live”. I communicate to everyone at least once every day or so via e-mail and social networking sites. If something really grabs me that I think my friends will love too, I will share it with at least 30 people.

Surveys indicate that the average person shares this type of thing with 12 people max. So, I may be a little outside of the loop. The point is that the 30 people that I know will share with others. Effortless, this information ripples through this wave of people. Will the wave eventually crash?

If you have an effective online viral marketing strategy, you may be able to generate numerous waves; when one crashes, another forms. There are a number of different strategies, but all of the effective ones include one element. There is something “free” of value for people to share.

In some cases, it is just a well-done, simple commercial. Sony had one some time ago. It was posted on YouTube and people got it out there to people they knew. To date, it has been seen by thousands of people. How many people bought something? Who would possibly know?

The point is this. To reach hundreds of thousands or millions of people in the not so distant past, TV advertising would have been the only option. And, of course, you would have had to buy space on the most popular shows and the costs are prohibitive. With online viral marketing, you can reach that many people for next to nothing.

Do you really need viral marketing software? Here’s a look at the five elements of an effective strategy. After you learn these, you may realize that what you require is something completely different.

Offer something of value for no charge. What you choose to give might be simply information, an ebook or even software. One idea is that you might give a free download of a limited function software program. But, in order to get the “premium” version, the customer would have to pay.

Video game providers use this technique to the full extent. You can play their games free on the web, but to get certain features, you must buy their “complete” version. People that enjoy playing the game will usually pay for the full version or upgrade to the extended version. Viral marketing software cannot tell you what to give away. Only you yourself, or a specialized company that offers personalized service could determine that.

Another element is to create a methodology that would enable your free offer to be accepted if others were to receive it. Typically, this is done via e-mail. Surveys show that when a person finds something interesting on the web, they share it with an average of six friends. You can see how the number of people that you can contact grows exponentially, which makes the next element very important.

You must be able handle the increased business generated effectively. You may need to have an auto-responder set up or other virtual “assistants” in place. You might need to increase your stock, if you are selling an item or even overhaul your site to handle massive traffic. If you are providing a service, you will need to figure out what your ability is to handle new clients. Is is possible that viral marketing software do that? No.

The fourth element is to use common reactions to your advantage. Think of it this way, a common reaction to a picture of food is to stimulate hunger. If you sell food, you want every photo on your site and in any email communication that appears so tasty looking, it will create a feeling of hunger. Another example is the “what can it do for me” mentality. People don’t care to know every detail showing that a car has reinforced side beams. People just want to know that their family is protected in the automobile in the event of an accident. Show and tell a potential client what your product will do for them and you will have a new customer.

The last element, is to take full advantage of existing communication networks available. That’s the one thing that viral marketing software might be able to do for you. But, it cannot offer everything that you need for your campaign to be a success.

There are several ways that you can make absolutely sure you are able to do well with your business. The Word of Mouth Association or WOMMA exists to help you make sure that you can harness a unique power called word of mouth.

One of the best ways for you to be successful is to make sure that you are using WOMMA to your advantage. This means taking advantage of what word of mouth can do for your business.

In marketing, word of mouth can be everything. Word of mouth is basically what can get you the contract, bring you more customers, and what can help your reputation.

Word of Mouth Marketing Association helps you to capture customer satisfaction and turn it into a marketing advantage. The satisfaction of your customers is very important – chances are good that you know that already – but what you might not know is how important it is to treat those customers with the right type of respect and admiration. You want to be certain that when your customers speak about your business, that they are saying positive things. The more positive that you can make sure they are, the more you are going to get out of the word of mouth marketing association that comes along with them.

WOMMA helps take the pressure off your marketing budget, and allows your customers to work for you.If you want to take advantage of it, you first need to have the right category of customers. They need to be satisfied customers, who have had their expectations exceeded by your service or product. The experience should be something that they are excited to be associated with. You must provide the ultimate experience, because this is what the marketing system is operating on.

Therefore, it is your job to make sure that your customers and clients have the right type of experience that they will enjoy – so that they talk about you. Even though this is your main job – you can use WOMMA to make sure that the job gets done correctly.

When clients and customers are very happy, they are going to be talking about you. This is the part that is going to benefit you – because as they talk about you, they'll be saying good things about you and telling others that they should try you out. This is one of the best ways that you can be sure to draw in more customers – simply by allowing your current ones to tell others about you. These are the main principles that WOMMA will touch on for your business.

Define viral marketing?It is an especially effective advertising technique that uses a pre-existing network to enhance public awareness of a brand or service.It is similar to word of mouth of advertising, but with electronic communication, it broadens your reach globally, in a short period of time, and is inexpensive.

It can be combined with other forms of advertising, such as a television ad campaign or a direct mailer.Technically, media can be used in many forms.On the internet, a campaign may be created using video clips, interactive games, static images, and graphics or short emails.Newsletters are used by many companies as a way to start a dialogue.