Creating a Viral Campaign

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Permalink Reply by John Jones on August 9, 2007 at 11:00am

I've been working in web development and web marketing for about 8 years now, and not all of it in academic settings. The concept of viral marketing has been out there for a long time, but in practice it's one of those lightning in a bottle things that's very hard to succeed with reliably.

Think about your own surfing and email habits -- what content and resources online do you forward on to other people? It's different for everyone -- some people forward practically nothing, some forward just about everything they get, and most of us are somewhere in between. But there's a set of values you have that a piece of content has to meet for you to pass it on to others.

Funny -- intentionally and unintentionally funny -- tends to be an easy way for a piece of content to go viral. Unfortunately, we're not all funny, and it's especially hard to be funny on cue, or to predict what others will find funny.

Useful is probably the other major value that makes something go viral. Specific ideas, tools, and solutions for specific problems that the audiences needs a solution for have a decent chance of becoming viral. The challenge of specificity is that your solution needs to be specific enough to be interesting and engaging, but it also needs to appeal to a wider audience of people who don't need that specific solution right now -- because the community of people who will need that specific solution will be too small for viral success. So it needs to get started by appealing to a specific need but reach beyond that specific need as those users who initially found it say to themselves "you know, Bob would get a kick out of this, too".

In our case here, we have the advantage of trying to reach a much more specific audience with our viral content -- teachers. It's a lot easier to predict what a specific group will find useful and make viral than it is for a general audience. They will tend to share the same sorts of in-jokes, and so the road to funny is easier. They will also tend to have many of the same needs, so the road to useful is also easier.

The other caveat I'd throw in there is that web consumers are more and more savvy every year. They are very good at smelling out marketing for the sake of marketing. I recommend that you make sure that your offerings are sincerely valuable contributions.

So . . . the idea then is to come up with a solution to a problem that teachers have that is specific, sincere, and perhaps also funny. Sounds easy, doesn't it?

For instance . . . if I were going to create a hopefully viral nugget based on your living textbook site, I would start out by trying to find something specific that I could use on the site. Just the concept -- "Living Textbook" -- it's a good idea, and I like the concept of the site, but it's not intriguing enough to make me want to share it with friends. However, a specific lesson plan might be something that would excite some interest.

Once you've got your idea, you need to package it in a way that will engage readers. Tighten up the writing, make it funny and fun if you can, think about what else would convince you to send that idea on to your friends.

So I'd look for a lesson plan that has a lot to offer. It should be useful and specific. It would also help if it were timely, somehow tied to current events. It needs to have a title that's going to make me want to read more -- a title that promises some sort of meat. Take a look at what's there, and do your best to imagine that you're not someone associated with the site -- is there a title in that list that's interesting enough that if it were the subject line of an email you'd open it up?

If you can really put yourself into that position (looking at your site as an outsider) you can see some pretty stark truths. Look at the list of lesson ideas in the political section, for example -- do any jump out at you and promise excitement and interest? Here, I'll paste in the list:

The Coming Elections, 2006
Ned Lamont From CT.
Saddam Hussein and the U.S. Elections
A Velcro President?
Democrats Take the House
Who is Robert Gates?
States Lead the Way
A Change at the House
Moms Rule
The President Speaks
The Riders on the Bus Go Blog Blog Blog
Grafitti
Scooter Libby Guilty
In the Criminal Justice System

Now, each of those represents a lesson plan that may or many not be very useful -- heck, I'm a web guy, not a teacher, so I won't try to make a judgment on that level. And if I were a teacher desperate for a lesson plan idea for tomorrow, I am sure that I would dig in to that list looking for the right idea. But viral isn't about desperate, it's about fun and intrigue, and looking at that list from that point of view is a whole different story. If those were subject lines of emails, I would probably skip over most, if not all, of them.

So, for the sake of the exercise, lets say we like the idea of the Velcro President -- it's enough of an interesting discongruity in the title that we find that one worth opening up, just to see what's there. But the text of the lesson plan -- all very formal and responsible and appropriate . . . is also blocky and dull. If I had been intrigued enough to open the email, seeing the page I would probably not forward that unless I knew someone whose specific immediate need this might fit.

But that's not enough people to go viral -- we want this to be something that I might forward to ALL of my teacher friends, even those that don't have a specific, immediate need for that lesson. How could this lesson be rewritten to pass that test?

So, you start working on revisions. Cut out all unnecessary words. Break concepts out into bulleted lists so they can be easily read. Make sure it's as funny as you can make it (or sad, mortifying, provoking -- some other emotional appeal if that's more appropriate). Remember, the bottom line question is "is this something I would read if I didn't have to -- and would I send it to friends who don't need it?"

The final step, of course, is to find a way to try to get the ball rolling. Forward it to some friends and see if they'll bite and send it to their friends. Reference it on other web sites, that sort of thing. If you've made it as tight and interesting as possible, and if it hits the right people at the right time, it's got a good chance to go viral. Digg it yourself to get things started, take advantage of some of the other tools out there online that help promote these viral nuggets.

That's about all you can do. There are no guarantees of success -- some great content just doesn't hit the right chord at the right moment.

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Permalink Reply by ddeubel on August 10, 2007 at 10:51pm

John,

I really enjoyed reading your reply and thanks for taking the time to state all of so succinctly. Yes, it isn't an easy thing to define and even when you got it right, it can be hit or miss or the horse at the waterhole that won't drink.

I think you really need to just create a good product. I mean a GOOD product. Lots of people complain that their ideas aren't adopted, their sites not visited, their comments/thoughts not engaged....but really when you look past our egos, it is all about "need" and "quality". I started a website, free, simple as can be, just to post up some stuff for other teachers. No advertising but kept adding material, adding content. Still no advertising but I get emails from all over the world, from teachers, students. Great to see them getting some "value" and I think my own little success is just that, focusing on value.

David
www.ddd.batcave.net is my very humble site of teaching resources.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Pass on August 11, 2007 at 12:59pm

David,

First, I really like your website. Thanks for the link.

Second, I just wanted to point out that I wrote John a note right after reading his response. I thought it was incredibly insightful and helpful.

Third, why not consider putting up a few ads on your site? Google adwords makes it incredibly easy. If it's something aobut profiting from the website, no reason that you couldn't use the revenue to support the children's foundation you mention.

Thanks for your comment.

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Permalink Reply by ddeubel on August 11, 2007 at 5:07pm

Andrew,

I'm going to redesign my website and spend a few pennies this year. Mostly because I have too much there and it is a little hard for teachers to find specific files/info. and I'm continually getting emails from desperate teachers who at the last minute can't find something and are in need. Also need a site with a more smooth transition between click and the resources for teachers. Right now I store my teaching files/materials in another site, multiple accounts. Would help if it were all together and seamless. My website is TOTALLY free at the moment, doesn't cost me a penny and is an example of what you can do without spending money.But if I begin paying I will look into Google adwords for a "little" revenue. Though philosophically, I'm all against money and ownership of teaching materials/ideas. But I do realize how the world exists in the here and now too.
I'll also need it for my own EFL Classroom ning which will be a paid site come Sept when I bring on a lot more teachers.

I was wondering how you might use the viral concept from social networks, as a way to bring people to your site? Join a network like this, start viral tag (like that mentioned here, "meme" tag) on the social network, with people tagging and passing along an "icon". If it catches on, people will gain access to your site when they pass on the "icon". Google just did it in a little different fashion with their mail envelope/video campaign. I wonder if using a viral campaign on a social network would work to promote / market a website also. I'm trying it on my EFL Classroom ning and I'll see if it works - I'm trying a new kind of tag.
Promotion really is about getting your name out there but also like John said, with nuance. Not making it into a pushy "buy me" type of deal.

David

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Permalink Reply by John Jones on August 14, 2007 at 12:48pm

It's an interesting idea -- the typical web user I measure things like this against (the one I've invented in my head) is probably not going to go to a "promotion" area of the forum looking for products or services that he needs. I'd bet that the vast majority of the users in that part of the site would be OTHER people trying to find good ideas for promotion. ;) I could be wrong, of course.

In the web design puddles I play in, communities like this have forum areas where you can post links to the most recent sites you've built and what you used to build them -- and those forums are mostly used by other developers who want to pick up tricks.

The people you really want to find your product -- and who you want to pass it on to their friends and co-workers -- aren't going to look here for it. And once they're here, they expect to be marketed to, and will have their guard up.

I just read a very interesting book (I wouldn't have read it if it hadn't been recommended to me, I'm an escapist reader by choice) called the Innovator's Solution (Clayton Christiensen). There's a lot of interesting stuff in there, but the main idea that applies here is that creating a "good" product isn't enough -- it has to be the right product for the circumstances it's in. You need to think about what your product -- your web site, your resource, etc. -- is competing against. Who's out there in the market already.

People will tend to stick with products and companies they know unless you can offer a solution that's better or cheaper -- or serve a segment of the market that is not being served at all. But the deck is truly stacked against you trying to create something better, and even if you could, you also have the challenge of trying to market against the established brand. Don't trick yourself into believing that's a fight you can truly win.

So you need to focus on either people who are not being served by the offerings that are out there, or to offer a solution that is cheaper, so you can try to undercut the low-end market.

That's mostly about business stuff, and may not quite fit perfectly for educational web site resources, but it's not all that far off.

Think about online research. I have decided that I want to start my own online reference source. The dominant force in the market is Wikipedia, which is free and open to the public.

If I imagine I'm going to be able to do it better that wikipedia, I'm smoking some really good stuff, and I ought to share with others.
If I imagine that I'm going to be able to steal low-end customers/users from wikipedia . . . wikipedia is free, so price isn't going to help drive them towards my product. Another tough one to win.

BUT if I can find a customer base that is, in the language of the book, "non-comsuming" -- not being served by Wikipedia -- then I can probably produce something that might take off. But finding, defining, and connecting with that customer base is where the real challenge comes in. I could produce the best online encyclopedia known to man, if I'm not able to connect it to the people who might use it, they're never going to come.

And I've wandered through all of that so I can say this: the other challenge with trying to use a section of classroom2.0 for "products" is that you're presenting those products to the wrong people. Your average C20 user is already pretty web-savvy and comfortable finding resources online -- and there simply aren't enough of us in the community to make it worth our while to market to each other. And we all see so many of each other's clever ideas on the site, ideas that might thrive elsewhere may end up dying for lack of attention.

I'd say the best use of a "promotion" section of the web site would be for comparing notes about how to market your products and services, and not for marketing to each other. Share ideas about ways to drive traffic to your web sites, share notes on how to make the content more appealing and potentially viral.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Henke on August 13, 2007 at 7:04pm

HI Andrew,

One of the first things you can do to encourage viral marketing is to ask your users to tell a friend. We launched Grant Wrangler in January 2006 and have built up all of our traffic through viral marketing. We created a newsletter and send it out every two weeks. I know that a lot of people forward the news and it drives people to our site. Alot of sites have an "email this page to a friend" option on their pages. That's another hint to people to share with they like.

The other key concept is making sure that your web site is easy to find. Think about web sites that should link to you. Send them a request for a link with a short description of your site and a reason why you think they should link to you. Alot of sites will link to you if you link to them. Also we've had a lot of success writing articles for print or highly subscribed online newsletters.

Good luck!
Karen

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