Viral marketing does not necessarily lead to an increase in sales; it does generate a lot talk and a lot of visitors. However, viral marketing does not always have the positive outcomes you may want to see.
If you set out to try and achieve a viral marketing sensation be sure that everything is in place to support the outcome and achieve your end goal. There have been many viral marketing campaigns that have gone wrong and yet gone viral, all for the wrong reasons. Poor promotion, poor support, web site not ready. The bottom line is, people are talking about you virally and everything is negative.
Some people believe that any publicity is better than no publicity. In some situations this may be true; however your long term reputation is far more important than any short term gains. Negative publicity does not generate the same level of sales that a good positive image campaign can deliver.
Viral marketing requires careful planning to ensure that, should everything go according to plan, your systems and procedures will all work smoothly. Please rethink your plan to ensure that, if things don’t go smoothly, you are still able to cope with situation. Viral marketing has two faces, success and failure. We always tend to plan for the successes but never plan for the failures. If you have strong plans in place to cover any problematic situation, you may be able to turn a possible failure into a success.
