Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is something remotely new in the social media world.  This type of marketing relies on others to spread the word about everything from products to contest to Web sites.  Personally, I think this is a great thing.  I know my friends all go on YouTube and find cool videos, then post about them on my Facebook, create a bulletin on MySpace, and recently, many of them Tweet about interesting articles or Web sites.  People sometimes share too much information over the Interne, but I think when looking from a pr perspective, this kind of information is interesting.  I like knowing what my friends are reading and sharing with them current events or something cool I found.  

In The New Influencers, Gillin discusses why viral marketing has a driving force behind it.  He first points out how the response to banner ads has declined.  Personally, I hate them.  I think ads on the sides of Web sites are annoying.  They are usually too flashy and overbearing that I get extremely annoyed.  Sometimes I think I'm lucky I'm not epileptic. 

Another point Gillin makes is about demographic shifts.  I feel that since our generation, the Millenials, are so into over-achieving and are slightly narcissistic , we want everyone to know what we are looking at and what we are doing.  We want the world to know that we are informed and educated on hot topics and all the trendy things.  

Gillin also makes a great point about the customer preference.  I really do trust my peers more than marketers.  Marketers obviously want you to buy their product so they make it as appealing as possible.  This summer I ordered new Nikes for working out.  Instead of going to the store and talking to the clerks, or going by which ad was the best or which shoe was promoted the most, I looked at comments posted by people who had bought the shoes.  Consumers told the truth.  They said if the shoe ran big or small, if the laces were too short, or if they were truly comfortable.  I based my decision on my peers rather than the marketers.  Gillin really hit this topic on the head (and not surprising since he has throughout his book).

Talking about all of this makes me want to be a more active consumer so other people have comments and first hand experience like I did instead of just the influence of print ads and commercials.