Viral campaigns aren't living up to the hype

Viral marketing may have a lot of hype and interest from marketers but a recent report from Jupiter Research indicates that consumers aren't as affected by the campaigns. In fact, only about 15% of viral campaigns caused consumers to actually buy a product.

by Kristina Knight

Called "Viral Marketing: Bringing the Message to the Masses", the report indicates that the best way to get the viral message across is through the use of influential users - consumers who aren't affiliated with a company or product but endorse it. Though targeting influentials is the best way to increase the ROI of a viral campaign more than half of marketers involved with viral campaigns say they will decrease the use of influentials by 2008.

"Viral marketers often send one campaign to all influentials," said Jupiter Research analyst Emily Riley. "Different influential groups not only respond very differently to advertising campaigns, but also influence others in very different ways."

By focusing on different destination points - social networks for younger influential users and email campaigns for older influentials - instead of sending one message to all influential users in general, the report indicates that marketers could get an even better ROI on viral campaigns.