Viral Marketing Does Not Exist

That’s according to Brian Solis, renowned public relations expert and digital thought leader. In a recent blog post, Solis explains why most viral marketing attempts fail, through analysis social scientist Dan Zarrella’s work on why ideas spread and the seven types of “sharing motives.”

A few key takeaways:

  • Identify and pre-seed your message with appropriate key influencers
  • Some of the top emotions that motivate sharing are: Personal, Relevant, Timely, and Humor
  • Define the action you are trying to provoke
  • The ability to share with one-click essential to spreading your content/message
  • Videos are much easier to spread on Facebook compared to Twitter

It’s not a short read, but definitely great food for thought as you market your small business. Read it once, chew on it awhile, then read it again!