Viral Marketing

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"You give me fever"

- Ella Fitzgerald

Overused to the point that it's almost already lost its meaning, viral marketing at its worst is a cynical attempt to take advantage of internet trollers' lesser instinct. Employed wisely, however, an internet marketer can strike gold while enjoying veritably free publicity without regard to borders or medium.

Viral marketing exploits a tendency for compelling and/or entertaining messages to be propogated by and between end-users. Taking advantage of the "six-degrees of Kevin Bacon" like power of geometric expansion, viral marketers attempt to employ any hook element found in popular culture.

Viral marketing is the advertising equivalent of a fad - rather than attempting to create a marketable fad, the marketing device itself becomes the fad.

Whether intentional, such as the Evian skating babies:


or accidental, such as the Numa Numa Dancer:


viral media can produce extraordinary results.