Posted by: Vanessa Clark @ May 28, 2009
Just like a virus spreads by copying itself and jumping from host to host, so viral marketing relies on the receiver of the marketing message to pass on the information to other consumers.
Some great examples of viral marketing include Google, which had almost no marketing budget initially and relied on its users to spread the word. Twitter is another example, and shows how word of mouth support can take a product from the early adopter phase and into the mainstream (even Oprah tweets nowadays!)
You also get examples where the marketing campaign itself (as opposed to the actual product or service) becomes viral, either on purpose such as Nando’s adverts, or accidently, such as Ogilvy’s History Channel ads.
This is a marketer’s holy grail, as the customers do their work for them, and also give the marketing message added credibility. Think about it, do you trust a smirking salesman more than your next-door neighbour or colleague who has no financial interest in telling you about the product or service?
Viral marketing is really just a form of word of mouth endorsement - which is as old as when the first hunter-gatherer told his buddy that the antelope hang out on the other side of the hill and he better head that way if he wants to eat today.
However, thanks to the Internet and specifically the rise of social media and platforms such as YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and so on, word of mouth had just been given super powers, and viral campaigns have the ability to spread to millions of people around the world. Likewise, when things go wrong, they will go spectacularly and publicly wrong.
In my opinion some of the best viral campaigns happen spontaneously, thanks to a combination of humour, timeliness, ease of passing on and intrinsic value. Seeding, or deliberately setting up, a viral campaign needs to be handled carefully by marketers, and usually involves “infecting” super nodes of opinion and influence in the hope that the message spreads.
Essential reading: Seth Godin’s blog
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @ May 27, 2009
A notable feature of my recent social events seems to be the common theme of geeks and wine. Could this be 2009’s cheese and wine?
Last night was no exception when Delheim wine was served up at the bi-monthly GeekDinner. A delicious Merlot 2006 (and I am not typically a Merlot fan) as well as Sauvignon Blanc/Chenin blend. I am a bit of a glutton for red wine at the moment, so I stupidly forgot to taste the wine - will have to remedy that soon.
The list of geek-friendly South African wine seems to be growing: Stormhoek, of course: Perdeberg (not sure why they don’t sponsor GeekDinners any more but hooray for Delheim), Moreson has turned up now and again, and now Delheim.
Nice.
In my opinion Geek dinners are the black horse of the current Cape Town social media circuit. Always incredibly fun - and funny, you have to witness the slideshow karaoke at least once - and with the widest variety of topics at a dinner/networking event I have come across.
Last night was no exception, with Mandy Watson taking impromptu to a new level and testing out her new presentation pointer, slide mover thing in front of a live audience. It’s called an Apacer Wireless Presenter. You can see why she is queen of the tech reviews with her astute observations and questions about the technology’s capabilities.
Next up was Wessel Venter talking about Aspergers syndrome. Discussing it later, Kerry-Anne and I agreed that we live in amazing times where increasingly there is no normal.
Wessel was followed by poster child for “Saffers taking the world by storm with a pocket full of VC money”, Vinnie Lingham. Vinnie, head of Synthasite … I mean Yola, held a lively question and answer session about his move to Silicon Valley and observations on what’s up in SA. I am not sure he is totally convinced that Silicon Valley beats Silicon Cape Town hands down though.
And of course the ever-present Springleap team provided the geek schwag for the evening.
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @ May 24, 2009
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @
THE ABSA CENTRE
I kicked off the PR work I am undertaking for Rennie Property, South Africa’s leading specialist commercial property management company, with a publicity project focussing on the launch of the first phase of the refurbishments of the ABSA Centre. Rennie Property is the manager of the ABSA Centre, and is overseeing the refurbishment.
Here is a selection of the coverage achieved:
Saturday Argus: Ongoing revamp for ABSA Centre, 28 February 2009 [Download PDF]
The Property Magazine: Socials pages, April 2009 [Download PDF]
The Property Magazine: Absa-lutely fabulous, March 2009 [Download PDF]
The Cape Towner: 5 March 2009 [Download PDF]
iAfrica: New look for CT icon, 23 March 2009
Property 24: CT Absa centre to be revamped, 23 February 2009
You can read the press release here.
RONDEBOSCH VILLAGE
The opening of the first phase of new parking at Rondebosch Village, under Rennie Property management, was announced via an advertorial I wrote for the Tatler. [Download PDF]
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @ May 20, 2009
Definition:
Social media refers to the newish ability for anyone with an Internet connection to create content, interact, discover content and share content. A good example is the idea of “citizen journalism” where anyone online can communicate with hundreds, if not thousands and hundreds of thousands of people instantly, and unmediated by any editorial process.
Look at popular blogs where people are interacting, commenting and conversing with each other. You’ll see many traditional publications now allow for comments at the bottom of articles, taking the letter to the editor concept to a whole new level. News is often breaking on social media platforms first, and then followed up with more details and analysis from “traditional” media.
Related concepts: Web 2.0
What this means for marketers:
Communication is no longer one-way, from company to consumer. Consumers are having their own conversations about your brands, without your involvement. Companies need to change their approach and start conversing, rather than telling. This also has an impact on media relations, with traditional media looking to redefine themselves in this new media landscape.
This is the first in a series of posts that I have planned. The idea came about when I was sitting at a conference in Cape Town in May 2009 and overheard someone whisper to their colleague: “What’s viral marketing mean?” This reminded me that things are moving so fast at the moment that it can sometimes be difficult for marketers to keep up, and to know what is important and what can be disregarded. It also reminded me to get out of my echo chamber, and share some of the knowledge that I am been fortunate enough to pick up along the way.
Drop me a line with any requests and I’ll do my best to provide a user-friendly explanation.
