Putting Viral Marketing to Work

Doing business on the Net means learning to take advantage of the well-known habits and typical behaviors of hundreds or thousands or even hundreds of thousands, of eager Web surfers.

There are a lot ways to kick-start a viral marketing campaign, which is to say a marketing campaign that takes advantage of a pre-existing social network to generate exponential increases of brand awareness, via a self-replicating viral process not unlike the way in which a computer virus spreads. Most will drive targeted traffic straight to your site, but one of the more effective viral strategies relies on free e-books. A viral marketing e-book is the kind of authoritative "product" that can be widely distributed with ease. And, each time a consumer downloads your free e-book; you'll gain a long-term conversion prospect and the opportunity to turn a profit on your products or services besides.

Having a viral marketing campaign based on e-books, newsletters or the like will not only generate business, it will help you retain hesitant customers, and bring consumers back to your site.

Go as Wide as You Can With Your Viral Marketing Campaign

There are plenty of website's featuring e-books or newsletters that make the mistake of charging for their creations. But the truth is, charging for an e-book isn't the best way to encourage its distribution. Consumers love signing up for freebies - even when they're packed with useful information about your products and services or related topics. And, by offering a free e-book, you'll ensure that your campaign will have a wide reach.

Here's where the power of communication lies: Once a consumer's ready to give you their email address, it means that they're interested in doing business with you, that they won't be wary of a conversion oriented follow-up.

It's also worth noting that if you allow your e-books to be re-distributed or re-branded, you'll practically guarantee additional targeted traffic, and in turn, more of a return on your investment.

Rely on Quality Content in Your Viral Marketing Campaign