Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 2
Viral marketing is defined “as electronic Word-of-Mouth in which some form of marketing message related to a company, brand or product is transmitted in an exponentially growing way, often through the use of social media applications”
(Andreas M. Kaplan 2011)
Viral marketing (electronic WoM - buzz) is a question of crossing the tipping point
• Viral marketing starts with a seed of individuals who spread a message by infecting their friends
• Viral marketing relies on audience to distribute the objective
• Reproduction rate R: Expected number of new infectious people generated by each existing one
- R = 1: Tipping point (moment from which onwards an event of a previously rare phenomenon becoming rapidly and dramatically more common)- R > 1: Success, epidemic (each person who gets the message will, on
average, spread it to more than one additional person, leading to exponential growth)
- R < 1: Failure
Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 3
Relationship between Word-of-Mouth, Social Media and Viral marketing
+ =Word-of-Mouth
Social Media
Viral Marketing
… the sharing of information about a product, promotion,
etc., between a consumer and a
friend, colleague, or other acquaintance
(American Marketing Association)
… a group of Internet-based
applications that build on the
ideological and technological
foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User
Generated Content
(Kaplan and Haenlein 2010)
… electronic Word-of-Mouth in which
some form of marketing message
related to a company, brand or
product is transmitted in an
exponentially growing way, often through the use of
social media applications.
(Kaplan and Haenlein 2011)
Exponential growth
Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 4
The three basic conditions for creating a viral marketing epidemic
Market mavens(Receive)
Social hubs(Distribute)
Salespeople(Amplify)
Message(Memorable, Interesting)
Viral marketing epidemic
Environment
• Size of initial seeding population < 150 (Dunbar’s number)• Luck to be at the right time at the right place
Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 5
Message has to be memorable and sufficiently interesting to kick off a virus
Mavens, hubs, and salespeople spread the message, but for an epidemic to start, people need to remember the message and act on it: it must be interesting
• The power of the practical and personal• If you can hold their attention you can educate them• If they understand what they see, they will pay attention
Tetanus Leaflet 2Tetanus Leaflet 1
???
Tetanus Leaflet 3
Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 6
Messengers need to belong to three groups: Market mavens, social hubs, and salespeople
Market mavens are individuals who are
continuously “on the pulse” of things
(information specialists) ; they are
usually among the first to get exposed to the
message and who transmit it to their immediate social
network.
Social hubs are people with an exceptionally large number of social
connections ; they often know hundreds
of different people and have the ability to
serve as connectors or bridges between
different subcultures.
Salespeople might be needed who receive the message from the market maven,
amplify it by making it more relevant and persuasive, and then transmit it to the
social hub for further distribution. Market mavens may not be particularly
convincing in transmitting the information
Do not forget about the environment and Dunbar’s number!
Market mavens(Receive)
Social hubs(Distribute)
Salespeople(Amplify)
7
Environment: Communication must happen at the right time and place
Environment is crucial in the rise of epidemics – small changes in the environment lead to huge results, and people are much more sensitive to environment
than companies generally realize
“Sometimes, some plain good old luck is needed to glue everything together,
as sometimes it’s just not the right time and/ or place to launch a viral
marketing campaign”
Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3)
Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 8
Four groups of social media viral marketing campaigns
Strokes of luck
(e.g., the Diet Coke & Mentos Experiment)
Triumphs
(e.g., Burger King‘s Whopper Sacrifice
campaign)
Nightmares
(e.g., the case of Jet Blue)
Homemade issues
(e.g., Charlie‘s and Jeremy‘s Sony PSP
blog)
Customers Company
Initiator of viral marketing campaign
Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 9
Nightmares: Minimize negative viral marketing campaigns - The example of jetBlue
Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 10
Homemade issues: Creating bad viral marketing - The example of WalMart’s flog
Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 11
Strokes of luck: Jumping on positive viral marketing - The example of Mentos / Diet Coke
+
= ?
Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 12
Triumphs: Planning good viral marketing campaigns - The example of Burger King
Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 13
Issues with viral marketing communication
Five pieces
of advice when
spreadinga virus
Successful viral marketing requires a little bit of luck and
gut feeling
Viral marketing is only as good as the
remaining marketing mix
Viral marketing needs to be backed-up by traditional forms of
communication
Excessive planning and intervention kills any viral marketing
campaign
Highly provocative and edgy messages are a double-edged
sword
Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media–Viral Marketing dance, Business horizons, 54(3) 14
• De Pelsmacker P., Geuens M., Van den Burgh J. (2009) Marketing communications : A European perspective, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall.
• Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) The early bird catches the news: Nine things you should know about micro-blogging, Business Horizons, 54(2), 105-113.
• Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2011) Two hearts in 3/4 time: How to waltz the Social Media – Viral Marketing dance, Business Horizons, 54(3).
• Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2010) Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media, Business Horizons, 53(1), p. 59-68.
• Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2009) The fairyland of Second Life: About virtual social worlds and how to use them, Business Horizons, 52(6), 563-572.
• Lendrevie J., De Baynast A. (2008) Publicitor (7e édition), Dunod.
• Malaval P., Decaudin J.-M. (2009) Pentacom (2e édition), Pearson.
• Vakratas Demetrios and Ambler Tim (1999) How advertising works: What do we really know?, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 63, pp.26-43.
Further reading