Blog posts tagged viral campaign

Six ways to make your email marketing messages go viral

A viral email marketing campaign uses word-of-mouth to increase awareness of a product, service or concept. The value of such a campaign lies in connecting with the right people and offering relevant content that motivates them to take action. This is done by grabbing their attention through social media channels and prompting them to forward your message.

According to EmailStatCenter: “20 per cent of Facebook, MySpace and/or Twitter users have posted or shared something from permission email to their social account(s) via a "share" option.”

Like a real virus, a campaign starts out as a single entity and uses its host and their resources to grow, replicate and double with each interaction. An individual will receive a message, which they then pass on to friends using relevant sharing tools prominently displayed in the email. These friends trust the person that sent the email so it’s more likely to get opened. They in turn do the same thing and so forth. Before you know it, the message has gone viral!

So what can you do to ensure a successful campaign?

1. Make it unique. What makes you respond to an email and take action? Is it because it’s unique, makes you laugh or inspires you? You want your campaign to have a similar effect, so try applying these reactions to your message.

2. Send to a select audience. Don’t email your campaign to everyone; you’ll look like a spammer. Rather, target those who generally respond positively to your regular campaigns. Also remember that the only way you can effectively track your email is if they use the “share” tools in the body of the message to forward it, so let them know this is how they need to go about it.

3. Offer a valuable reward. Think along the lines of a free report, white paper or even a coupon. Just ensure you’re able to deliver on your promise in good time, or you run the risk of your company getting bad-mouthed — virally.

4. Optimise your message format. It’s a good idea to have an HTML and text option that’s optimised for people who open their email on a mobile device. An eConsultancy article states that more than 20 per cent of people now do this.

5. Corporate identity. Make sure your branding, logo, website and contact details are all clearly visible. Without this, no one can identify who started the campaign, so what’s the point?

6. A call to action. This is a vital feature. Tell your customers explicitly what they need to do and how to do it. It could be along the lines of “forward to a friend now”, or “share on your social network”. Many campaigns fail because they don’t include a call to action. Don’t be one of them.

 

Georgia Christian is the editor of the online email marketing service Mail Blaze.