buzz marketing

Getting a Buzz On

March 29th, 2010 |

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Viral marketing has matured a bit over the years. There seems to have been a shift to the web of not just being seen by agencies and brands as another tick box for any ad campaign, which is significant enough, but now being the medium where a campaign is launched to create a buzz before it hits TV and print. This is buzz marketing.

Even before a movie is released there are trailers, reviews and downloads all over the web, which is seen as the pre-launch buzz-generation activity even before the theater trailers and movie and print ads are launched. Pepsi, Budweiser and numerous other name brands have Facebook fan pages. Red Bull and others have videos on YouTube and a multitude of other video sharing sites. Believe me… Big business “gets it”.

Why? Because buzz marketing works! It can work for small and start-up businesses, as well. The planning stage of a viral campaign will set out the objectives and develop the viral theme for the buzz. These objectives are developed using three core components that are vital to any viral campaign and businesses of any size can use them. They are:

1. The creative material: the viral agent that embodies the message you want to spread in a digital format (image, video, text, audio or any combination of them). The trick is to put together material that people will be eager to share with their family and friends. And guess what? People are much more eager to share “advertainment” than an advertisement.

2. Seeding: Distributing and placing the buzz agent online in places that provide the greatest potential spread. Direct viral material downloads or links on specialist viral third-party web sites like Youtube, Twitter and Facebook in order to create brand awareness and spread the buzz before the viewers get to the campaign destination site.

3. Tracking: Measuring the spread of the buzz marketing campaign to provide accountability and prove success. It is absolutely vital that you know what is or is not working so you can put more resources towards what is doing you the most good. The only way to get that information is to track the results of your seeding.

Lessons have been learned, trends have been developed and there is definitely some science involved in creating a buzz successfully. The buzz marketing technique is here to stay and, if used strategically, it can make a huge difference in your viral campaigns and to the success of your e-business.