BUZZ NEWS

MarketingSherpa: Study on Viral Marketing 2007 (USA)

Posted on May 2, 2007
Laetitia Theuriot

MarketingSherpa has just published its third annual study on viral marketing. The survey was proposed to 237,000 readers and was accessible from April 10th till 13th, and compared to the year before responses have tripled. Developed around questions aiming at experience, objectives, expected and actual results, used measures and ROI, the study draws a balance of viral marketing deployed by experienced users compared with new or potential users.

The study reveals firstly that 57 of the participants were intending to at plan least one viral marketing campaign that year. Still, marketers without experience in viral marketing, the so-called “newbies”, were much more hesitant and two or three times less likely to choose this means of communication. Also worthy of note: It seems that marketers in the B2B (Business-to-Business) sector are more interested in using viral marketing than those in the B2C (Business-to-Consumers) sector.

The results hoped for by using online marketing differed. As a matter of fact, newbies hope to directly increase their commercial results, whereas experienced users most of all want to create a true relationship with their target, which would give them a long term ROI.

Concerning the evolution of measures, newbies declared they did not want to use more than one measure for their first viral campaign. Experienced users on the other hand preferred to mix video, audio, viral games and sending modules.

The most efficient means, according to general opinion, were mini-sites, followed by viral games and video clips.

The question “Which means should be used to launch a viral marketing campaign?” was answered unanimously with "the blogosphere", which is one more proof of the growing impact of bloggers.

Finally, we noted that marketers see all of viral marketing as a means to enlarge their audience, while benefiting from much lower costs than incurred by traditional marketing.