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“People engage in word of mouth because they want to look good”

- George Silverman, author of “The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing.”

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In the book Persuasive Advertising: Evidence-based Principles, the author states that one way to identify the ultimate objective (of an advertising campaign) is to keep asking “why?” until it is no longer sensible to ask. Basically, start acting like a 2-year old.

Before you spend thousands of dollars and countless hours, ask yourself some hard questions:

• Why do we want to do this?
• Why is this idea virus going to achieve my objective?

This approach to finding the ultimate truth is also applicable to testing your viral concept. I covered this approach in a previous article; however, I think it’s worth restating.  ”Why” is a very powerful weapon against mediocrity…and failure.

Photo credit: Artifex creation

To help promote the upcoming release of their iPhone app, SquareSpace.com has launched a very simple, but effective, campaign using Twitter. They are giving away 30 iPhones in 30 days for simply being mentioned in other people’s tweets.

Using the Twitter “#” grouping feature, they asked people to include “#squarespace” in their tweets. At the end of each work day, Squarespace does a search for that reference hashtag and randomly selects someone to win an iPhone.

I especially like the fact that the prize complements their upcoming app. Check it out.

Recently Ashton Kutcher challenged Larry King to see who would could get the most Twitter follower. Not to my surprise, Ashton won.  As of today, he has over 1.8 million followers.

Although Twitter has been around for years, it is not until recently that it has exploded.  Twitter is everywhere. Oprah, Ellen, and many of the big starts are now Twittering.  With a lot of the celebrities’ subscriptions hovering in the hundreds of thousands…if not a million plus…this got me thinking.  The selling power that these stars have is amazing.

A few weeks ago, Ashton tweeted that he tried, and liked, a new social media software called Seesmic. He told 1.5 million people that Seemic is worth checking out. He even provided a link. Imagine the effect this small Twitter post  had on Seesmic’s web traffic.

According to Compete.com, Seesmic only had 11,524 visitors in March. I’m willing to bet that in May, the traffic will skyrocket past it’s previous record of 55,000 visitors.

These Twitter stars are super hubs when it comes to viral marketing.  I’m not suggesting reckless spamming, but it might we worth following a few of these stars to see if a well placed @reply or direct message can be used to start a conversation. I know for a fact that they do reply to some of their @replies and DMs.

The power of Twitter is definitely worth checking out.

A little while back PushON, an Online Marketing agency, sent me a episodic viral video campaign they produced for K3 Syspro.

Each episode focuses on a bumbling manager’s quest to learn more about ERP. To make this dry subject palatable, they’ve mimicked the British version of The Office.

The guy playing David does an amazing job imitating the main character. This spoof has a lot of funny and original lines…very smart writing. Even if you haven’t seen the British version of The Office, you’ll enjoy the episodes.

The campaign starts by teasing you with excerpts from each episode. To view the full episodes you have to do a quick registration.  After you’ve submitted your contact info they send you a link to the full episodes via the email you supplied (nice touch).

PushOn, has done a brilliant job at getting the message across without beating you over the head. They achieved a very nice balance…in my opinion.

I particularly like the way they progressed through the episodes.  The first episode touches on the subject, sets up the topic, and simply charms you into viewing the other episode.  The following episodes focus more on the case studies…a little dryer but still funny.

This is a great example of how to market your company using funny videos, without neglecting the original objective…generating leads. They’ve managed to take a mind-numbing subject and make it interesting.

Definitely worth a click.

During this time of year, companies around the world collectively kill acres of trees so that they can wish their vendors and customers a happy holiday season.

Today, on MarketingSherpa.com, I read an interesting case study about a viral holiday e-card that a company called Enlighten designed. Instead, of creating a typical card, they came up with a funny concept for an e-card: the Holiday Party Excuse Generator.

Each recipient is asked a few questions about the party they don’t want to attending. Based on their answers, the “machine” creates a personal excuse letter that can be sent to the party planner. It’s more cheeky than useful, but it’s definitely entertaining.

The company initially sent out 3,000 emails. In its first year, the microsite generated over 50,000 unique visitors. Enlighten’s corporate website traffic rose 400%. And, most importantly, it generated serious requests for proposals from 5 large corporations.

What has your holiday card done for you lately?

I recently received an email from Specsavers regarding a video spoof they produced. The video is well put together; however, I struggled to connect the concept with the message. How would Specsavers glasses have helped the man know what’s at the bottom of the slide? The pairing seemed forced. That’s often the danger of doing a spoof.

It was not until I saw the original Barclaycard Waterslide video that I understood the inspiration for this spoof. The Barclaycard video is definitely a tough act to follow.

Specsavers Spoof

Original Barclaycard Waterslide

Here are a few simple rules to help ensure your spoof video is as successful as the original:

1. The spoof should be able to stand on it’s own two feet. You shouldn’t have to explain it.
2. The spoof should be funnier than the original, or it will simply make your company look lame.
3. If you’re directly making fun of the original video, pick a popular video to spoof.
4. Don’t force it. Make sure the concept fits your marketing message and brand.

Here’s a great example of a spoof video: click here

There was once a publisher who produced the only successful local newspaper in his area. According to him, the secret to his success was names. People love to see their name in the paper. Even more importantly they love to share this brief moment of fame with all their friends and family. That’s why he filled his paper with local names.

What if this same principle was applied to viral videos?

How much time does the average marketer spends on the sharing aspect of a viral marketing campaign? I’m willing to bet that it’s not that much.

Unfortunately, neglecting this part of your campaign can stifle even the most creative concept. Even if you tapped into one of the 11 reasons of why ideas spread, you still need to overcome one major barrier: the cumbersome task of spreading the word.

However, what if the task of sharing was actually entertaining?

What if the task was transformed into a game? What if there was a payoff everytime you told a friend? What if the act of sharing was as viral as the main ideavirus?

Photo by: ClintJCL

Did you know that about 25% of the Western honey bee population has disappeared over the last few winters? Most experts think that the main culprit is a mysterious phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes bees to suddenly leave their hive and die.

How did I learn about this? Viral marketing! I recently came across a fun YouTube video from Haagen-Dazs. In an effort to save the bees (and sell some ice cream), they are trying to put a human face on this situation. Check out the video:

After watching the “Bee-Boys” dance, you are directed to a viral microsite called helpthehoneybees.com. This is a great little site. They give you some quick facts, wallpaper, a screensaver, and information on how you can help. They even assemble it into a handy lesson plan that teachers or parents can use.

To help spread the word, they let you create a bee in your own likeness, which you can send to friends. Don’t I make a cute bee?