Viral marketing tips and traps

Viral marketing is one of the most effective, and cheapest, forms of marketing for any affiliate program. There are a number of ways to make any viral marketing campaign more effective, and a few of our favorites are listed below.

Focus on content

The best way to create a viral product is to provide valuable information or entertainment to the public, while at the same time focusing information on your main product. For instance, an affiliate for a seller of fishing products could provide a valuable article on the top fishing spots in North America. It is easy to see how this information would be very useful to all types of fishermen, and how the article can spread quickly through word of mouth.

It is important for the content you provide to be focused on information, and to not be seen as just an ad. While it is fine to include some subtle suggestions to buy your affiliate’s products, the main focus of the viral product should be to provide valuable information to your target audience.

Urge the reader to take action

The viral product should include some sort of information that urges the reader to take action. The action can be either visiting your squeeze page or clicking through your affiliate link to buy a product. Again, it is important to make this suggestion as subtle as possible, and to avoid the impression that the article is nothing more than an ad.

Urge the user to give the product away

When creating your viral product, it is important to let the reader know that they have your permission to give the product away. Many readers are uneasy about passing on content for fear of copyright issues, so it is important to let users know that they have your permission to pass the product along and give it away.

In addition, many viral products are designed to be brandable, meaning that the user can adapt the product, change some of the links or even add their own links. Allowing people to customize the product you create will encourage them to give it away.

There is no doubt that viral marketing can be a powerful tool to drive targeted traffic to both your web site and those of your affiliated merchants. By following the suggestions listed above, you should be able to create viral products that quickly spread around the world, and bring back business to you for many years to come. Many viral products created years ago are still out there on the web, continuing to provide free marketing and free advertising for their original creators.