In the past, marketers believed that one unhappy customer would tell 7 other people about their bad experience with a product or business. Today that can be hundreds of people considering all the ways people can express their displeasure via social media and other online avenues. Conversely, before social media, online forums, emails and more, a happy customer may only have told one person about their great experience and today that too can be multiplied tenfold. How can you beat these odds to get more of your satisfied customers to spread the word about your products and services?
Before sharing, the most important thing you need to do is to produce excellent content in a range of formats useful to the prospects in your niche, including:
– Articles
– Special reports on hot topics in your niche
– Videos on YouTube
– Images/infographics
– Webinars
– PowerPoint presentations on platforms like Slideshare
– Emalls in your * email marketing platform and autoresponder
– Ecourses
And more.
Use share buttons for all of your content. Today most blog and website platforms have tools (like plugins) that allow visitors to share the content from your site on many of the main social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Tumblr. Publish original content on the networks that your followers can also share easily.
To go viral: to spread rapidly from person to person in your niche; content that spreads rapidly through a population by being frequently shared with a number of individuals…
We might also term it creating buzz about your products and service. Launching new products regularly can create buzz. Be willing to give away free review copies of your printed and digital work in exchange for testimonials to pass the word along about how good your products are.
Another good way to create buzz is by hosting or offering free webinar or workshop with Questions and Answers (Q & A). if you have a good reputation in your niche, are considered a thought leader or someone that knows something worth sharing, people will be eager to attend for the opportunity to interact with and learn from you.
Emails can easily be forwarded to friends and family.
Ecourses are even better for viral marketing purposes if they are on an interesting niche topic. Similarly, special reports designed to get more email sign ups have a high potential of going viral.
As one of the largest search engines on the Internet, YouTube is not just for entertainment. People search it for ideas, how to instructions and more. Don’t want to appear in front of the camera? Transform your best PowerPoint presentations into video and upload them to your YouTube account. You can use tools like Screencast O Matic and to record those videos. Both are affordable and easy to use.
Create an affiliate program for your loyal customers so they can earn income by referring your products and services. Form JV partnerships with those in your niche who are not direct competitors so you can all help each other with your viral marketing. Give your customers a chance to try your product so they feel excited to use it and more importantly, recommend it to others. Craft attractive offers that any customer would be delighted with it. When you do, they will be glad to tell others about the value they got, the results they received, the knowledge they gained, etc.
Regarding your social networks, publish unique content to all your channels so your audience keeps coming back for more. This will inspire your connections to share it with all their followers with just a click.
Include a call to action. Include social sharing buttons on all your content. I use ShareThis plugin for wordpress. You would be amazed at how many marketers forget to include a call to action that suggests if the reader liked the content or found it useful, they should feel free to share it with others.
Finally, just ask! Ask people outright to share your content. Make it easy to share by showing them what you want to share, who you want to share your content with and how you want them to share it.