REPORT DETERMINING WHETHER VIRAL MARKETING CAN REPLACE OTHER ADVERTISEMENTS
Glacier Products Ltd.
Figures
Figure 1: Viral Marketing Capacity 10
Figure 2: Effectiveness of Viral Marketing 12
Figure 3: Security Issues Associated with Viral Marketing 13
Figure 4: Ethical Issues in Digital Advertisement 14
Figure 5: Social Media Use by Marketers 19
GLACIER PRODUCTS LTD.
This report is a fulfillment of the research approval you made on 5th January. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Primary and secondary sources of data were interrogated towards achieving the goals of the research.
The report discusses the viability of viral marketing as a rising form of product marketing. Security and ethical concerns that viral marketing presents were also discussed. Hopefully, the report will be instrumental to your decision-making process.
I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of this noble study and any further considerations for a marketing study will be received with alacrity.
Thank You.
Executive Summary
The findings of the report points to more effectiveness in reaching virtual customers in viral marketing as compared to traditional and other forms of advertisement. Using viral marketing could enable the business information reach as many potential customers as possible. The research found out that internet has enabled the creation of useful social networks that acts as a collection point to the businesses. The online family is becoming bigger every day and information asymmetry continues to enable the faster spreading of information. The faster movement of information within the online community makes viral marketing the best form of marketing as the intention of every advertiser is to move the information to the largest number possible within a short time. Therefore, viral marketing can replace the other forms of advertisements.
Introduction
The competition in the business community has taken a new turn due to the growth in technological methods. Many businesses compete for the acquisition of customers and continue to battle both in digital and print forms to sway customers in their direction. In many businesses, digital marketing has become the only way to reach many potential customers. Marketing over the social environment is growing day by day. Many people are increasingly using the Internet and the social media (Ho & Dempsey, 2010). It is conducted through online engagements, chats; Internet surfing, etc. the main reasons is sometimes to connect with their loved ones or friends. In the regard, an emerging marketing technique that capitalizes on the idea that many people have continued to use the web for various purposes, and there is a necessity to take advantage of the growing trend. The use of the web brings a new lease of life to the marketing sectors as it has become very easy to employ the technique and turn it to their advantage. The new marketing technique is a means through which users are tricked into spreading the information about a given issue or subject. The technique has been referred to as viral marketing.
There are some campaigns that the technique uses to reach its potential customers and how the information regarding the product is spread to the target customers (Ho & Dempsey, 2010). It is paramount to understand the mechanisms that the viral marketing uses to pursue its objectives. It is equally important to know how credible the sources on the Internet and the quality of campaigns that strive to spread over the web. The report attempts to investigate whether viral marketing can replace other forms of advertisement. Therefore, reaching a large group of the audience can be important for every company that attempts to use viral marketing. Using the immersive events can be useful in this course as many audiences love or are swayed by certain events. Regarding the reputation of the company, the campaigns must always target credible persons to reach their intended customers with the viral information. The whole process of viral marketing finds its strength in the word of mouth Zhang, J. (2011). The word of mouth can be used by many as the most effective way to spread the information to other customers. Therefore, the report looks into issues that can make viral marketing considered more effective method or ineffective compared to other forms of marketing and whether it can replace the other forms of advertisement.
Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study is to answer the following;
Does viral marketing have the capacity and the potentiality to replace other forms of advertisement?
Can viral marketing be used to effectively carryout marketing as opposed to other forms of advertisement?
Is there security issues involved in viral marketing?
Are there ethical issues that surround the advertisement?
Scope of the study
The study seeks to explore the various forms of marketing that Companies use today to conduct their business and appeal to the vulnerable customers. The research data was gathered through academic journals and surveys on 10 people. The project report attempts to unravel the benefits that the several forms of marketing present to the companies in comparison to the others and how they play a critical role in the general growth of the business. The study also covers the importance of using such methods to reach the virtual audience and how information provided through the methods and forms of advertisement can be translated into a profitable business scheme. Additionally, the report seeks to find out how the forms of advertisement can be used to gain the competitive advantage over opponents. There are numerous forms of advertisement used in different products’ promotion and advertisement. The methods differ in effectiveness. Thus, the project seems to unearth the effectiveness of the forms of advertisements and how their effects have been used to create online traffic and appeal to the clients.
Definitions
Viral marketing is a technique that uses digital campaigns to reach its potential customers who receive the information regarding the product from other users spreading the information (Dobele et al., 2005). In viral marketing, users who receive various campaigns for a given product take the information to their friends and relatives who in turn share the information with their peers thus leading to an array of informational asymmetry. The technique has been employed by some companies to reach out to the millions of online users who could be turned into customers.
Advertisement is a form of marketing in which a given product or idea is driven by the customers and potential customers through the use of the special message Kaplan et al., 2012). Advertisements have been a very popular form of marketing in which users business have been drawn to promote their products (Dobele et al., 2005). Using advertisement has been very useful to businesses as it has enabled them to expand their customer base and geographical coverage is thereby reaching many people than the business would without using the mode (Torun, 2015).
Online marketing is a form of promotion in which a product idea is passed to the potential customers via the internet medium. The goal of every business is to reach as many clients as possible. Online marketing is thus used as a way of reaching so many people in a small period. The goal of online marketing is to promote and popularize a particular product to the online community who will then take the idea to the analogue peers for decision making for the product. It is paramount that companies use appropriate methods to reach their clients and others who can be turned into clients.
Ethical issues are the values that apply to a particular set up and that are acceptable within a given environment (Grifoni et al., 2012). Ethics is a requirement for a certain form of behavior within a given environment. There are several issues of ethics that come from the use of the internet. The internet exposes the users to various forms of undesired behaviors by others whose intention is always to wreak havoc. In the environment such as the web, people often misuse the platform to pursue undesired agenda. In such circumstances, it is important that certain ethical values are ensured in the administration of online information to ensure that it conforms to the required standards and acceptable codes of behavior. It will ensure that other people do not suffer as a result of infliction from other users.
Methods and Procedures
The report used the both qualitative and quantitative methods to find out the potential presented by viral marketing when it comes to digital marketing. There were circumstances in which digital analytics was used in the research to find out how the methods of advertisements were used by different companies and the extent to which they were a considered a success. The main analytic tool that was used in the online usage analysis was Google analytic tool. There are several other tools for analysis whose reports were considered in making the final report to answer the research question. Also, the report used observation as a way of finding out how people reacted to online campaigns and the information regarding the product under a different form of advertisement. Companies conducting online marketing were also interrogated about their findings on the use of viral marketing and how effective it was to use compared to other forms of marketing.
Findings
There are several forms of marketing that companies have employed to help promote the sales of their products and improve their profit margins. One of the popular forms of marketing is an advertisement. Advertisement involves the use captivating information that gives alluring details of the product and further information that tends to give it the competitive advantage over the ancillary products (Bhat et al., 2013). Advertising involves different methods of engaging the customers online. One of the advertisements in the business marketing is the content advertisement. It uses the videos and audio information that is streamed to the users with the intended message embedded in it to help sway the viewers or listeners. It is one form of advertisement that has grown in popularity in the recent days, and many companies use the method due to its appeal to the online users (Wiedemannet al., 2008)).
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing that companies use to promote their products has been found to be effective in capturing users’ attention. The developments in technology present the marketers with better opportunity that can be used to enhance marketing of products. The new technology has made it easy to access heavy contents can be accessed with a lot of ease as opposed to older times. Many people continue to use the Internet, therefore; it acts like a commonplace for many customers. Viral marketing like many other forms of marketing are used to gain a competitive advantage over the rivals and to attract more customers to a particular product. However, there are many other forms of advertisements that have been used by different companies to market their products besides this form of advertisement. The interests of individuals are shifting to the use of web technology for several divergent purposes. People play games online; some are entangled in altercations with their foes while others enjoy the feel of meeting their loved ones who are distant from them (Langner et al., 2005). The varied interests shown by many people on the internet is a virtue that can be utilized to create information about a given product. The use of analogue methods of advertisements seems long gone.
Does viral marketing have the capacity and the potentiality to replace other forms of advertisement?
Figure 1: Viral Marketing Capacity
According to the survey, 80% of the people interrogated were in conformity that viral marketing can be used to replace other forms of advertisement. However, 20% disagreed with the point citing overreliance on the Internet, and computer literacy as a potential setback.
Effectiveness of viral marketing
According to Torun (2015), the world today embraces technology in all forms. There are millions of people that access the internet daily for different reasons for their interests. At any given point in time, several users are online connecting to friends and business colleagues and business partners. It creates a conglomerate of viability that makes it easy to access target customers at will. The internet has made it easier than ever to connect to virtual customers (Arco et al., 2014). The virtual customers often turn into real customers with proper information regarding the company or the product sold to them. The social media is one technology that has been instrumental in the use of viral marketing. With many people now accustomed to their numerous online accounts, the use of viral marketing continues to grow in popularity and effectiveness. Facebook alone has 1.4 billion users who are active and online every month (Khalil & Hussain, 2014). The vast population of users online makes it easy to find any customer online. Youths are often the majority of online users. However, segmentation of the social markets makes it very easy to find your target customers enclosed in a social segment. If a campaign is meant for ladies, the digital segments will offer the right segment in which the content can be posted. Over the recent past, the issue of viral content has become standard as major campaigns like the # tag handle that Twitter created for its users to spread information (Yadav et al., 2013).
Can viral marketing be used to effectively carryout?
According to the survey findings, 70% of the subjects agreed that viral marketing can be effectively used to promote and publicize a product. However, 25% of the respondents disagreed. The remaining 5% of the respondents were not sure.
Security issues
There are numerous security concerns as pertains to online marketing. Equally, viral marketing presents several security vulnerabilities that can be used by malicious stokers to pursue unwarranted agenda. Such could be exploitation of shared links to intrude into the target customers system and steal their identity. Such cases have been witnessed in which clicking of certain viral links would lead to spread of malware.
Is there security issues involved in viral marketing?
Figure 3: Security Issues Associated with Viral Marketing
According to the findings of the survey, 60% agreed that there is likely of security issues associated with viral marketing. 30% of the respondents did not agree whereas 10% were not sure.
Ethical issues
Viral marketing can be damaging to the beliefs of others. Certain products are prohibited by certain beliefs. For instance; marketing pork to a Muslim population would be tantamount to provoking their religious beliefs. Therefore; it can sometimes lead to an ethical dilemma.
Are there ethical issues that surround the advertisement?
Figure 4: Ethical Issues in Digital Advertisement
According to the survey, 80% agreed that ethical issues advertisement while 20% did not agree.
Analysis
According to Statista, there are billions of users online at any time (Homburg, 2014). An online survey that was performed by the company showed the popularity of the social networks as medium platforms for communication. The users form the largest part of the online community that is targeted by various businesses for consumption of their products. In today’s business segment, the business has shifted to digital forms of operations. Very few use print media as a source of information as most of such information are always available on the internet. Owing to a large number of online users and the shift in paradigm, viral marketing continues to gain popularity amongst the business community. Due to its exploitation of the Internet platform, in which many users are getting accustomed to, it presents the best form of advertisement and technique that will remain relevant. It is mainly due to the development of technology and the rapidly changing taste in information access. Many people now prefer to access online information than get them on analogue platforms. The contents are also very appealing and can be designed in the form of cartoons that are accompanied by music to attract the attention of the customers. Such contents can go viral within minutes to become a real hit. Therefore, it can be efficient and easy to reach many potential customers. When a given campaign goes viral, it works to the benefit of the company.
Summary
According to the research question, viral marketing has increasingly become popular thanks to the advancing technology. Statistics show that billions of people all over the world. There are also billions of users online with several users’ accounts. The presence of many users online is often a great benefit to the companies that use online platform as a medium for marketing. Viral marketing presents the users with the opportunity to have fun as some content are humorous while others are embedded with entertaining information that can amuse the users thus share with friends who share it with their friends. As a result, the content goes viral.
Conclusion
It is apparent that social networking has taken the world by storm. Nearly every person craves to be part of the digital movement. Technology has become increasingly useful to the business community and continued to support business solutions. On marketing, viral marketing has been proven to be on the rise owing to the continued used of the web as a platform for self-satisfaction. Many people use the internet to satisfy their desires and happiness. The popularity of the social networks makes viral marketing a reality as many people share online content with peers leading to the spread of information. Additionally, many people are likely to access the content thus making it effective compared to other forms of advertisement. Therefore, viral marketing can replace other forms of advertisements since the techniques used by those technologies are quickly becoming obsolete.
Recommendations
I recommend the use of viral marketing be considered by several companies as a rapidly growing form of advertisement and used to reach as many potential customers as possible. I also recommend that further study of the changing dynamics of marketing and digital platforms to find out how viral marketing can be improved to make it the most appropriate form of advertisement.
References
Arcos, V. A., Gutiérrez, S. S., & Hernanz, R. P. (2014). Business application of viral marketing and Electronic Word-of-mouth. Firm opinions. Cuadernosgestion Cuadernos De Gestión, 14(1), 15-31.
Bhat, S. Y., & Abulaish, M. (2013). Overlapping Social Network Communities and Viral Marketing. 2013 International Symposium on Computational and Business Intelligence.
Dobele, A., Toleman, D., & Beverland, M. (2005). Controlled infection! Spreading the brand message through viral marketing. Business Horizons, 48(2), 143-149.
Grifoni, P., D’Andrea, A., & Ferri, F. (2012). An Integrated Framework for On-line Viral Marketing Campaign Planning. IBR International Business Research, 6(1)
Ho, J. Y. C., & Dempsey, M. (2010). Viral marketing: Motivations to forward online content. Journal of Business Research, 63(9-10), 1000–1006.
Homburg, C. (2014). Business-to-Business-Marketing. Grundlagen Des Marketingmanagements, 299-312.
Khalil, Z. T., & Hussain, M. (2014). Social Business Marketing Mix. Social Business, 177-198.Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2012). The Britney Spears universe: Social media and viral marketing at its best. Business Horizons, 55(1), 27-31.
Langner, S. (2005). Planung und Umsetzung einer Viral-Marketing-Kampagne. Viral Marketing, 55-84.
Torun, T. (2015). The Impact of Persuasion and Uncertainty on Perception of Viral Marketing Activities. Journal of Business and Economics JBE, 6(8), 1459-1466.
Wiedemann, D. G., Haunstetter, T., & Pousttchi, K. (2008). Analyzing the Basic Elements of Mobile Viral Marketing-An Empirical Study. 2008 7th International Conference on Mobile Business.
Yadav, M. S., Valck, K. D., Hennig-Thurau, T., Hoffman, D. L., & Spann, M. (2013). Social Commerce: A Contingency Framework for Assessing Marketing Potential. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), 311-323. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
Zhang, J. (2011). Research on propagation mechanism of viral marketing. 2011 International Conference on Business Management and Electronic Information
Appendix
Figure 5: Social Media Use by Marketers
Surveys
