The term viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to increase brand awareness. It can often be word-of-mouth, delivered and enhanced online, using the network effect of the Internet to reach a large number of people rapidly.

It also refers to Internet-based stealth marketing campaigns, including the use of blogs, amateur web sites, and other forms of astroturfing, designed to create word of mouth for a new product or service.

The aim of viral marketers is to create a buzz about a certain product, so that the idea spreads widely. If it’s effective, viral marketing may require very little effort, as the recipients of the message become the primary agents who spread it to other people. But the weakest aspect of viral marketing is that its impact is quite difficult to measure and control.

An article in Marketing magazine, Catching a virus, which discusses the necessary tools marketers need to effectively measure viral marketing campaigns, observes that the most attractive element of viral marketing is that it can transform the consumer into an endorser, turning him/her into a persuasive influencer among peers.

Due to the fact that the source of the marketing message originates from consumers themselves, it automatically becomes a credible endorsement, since it’s a recommendation which fellow consumers are more willing to believe. The consumer, after all, never lies.
But as viral marketing grows, its impact also needs to be carefully measured. According to the same article, the biggest challenge in measuring viral marketing is the ability to exclude spam blogs.

The authors, Lesli Fairweather and Jason Ten-Pow, stress that the most effective methods for measuring viral marketing should include the following:

24-hour real time access offering the ability to track and trend
Trend analysis over various increments of time
Sentiment measurements and analysis
Demographic and geographic analysis
The ability to develop and customize detailed report

Such a methodology will allow marketers to survey the expanding online community and to listen to the uncompromised sentiments of consumers. Another advantage is that, aside from gaining honest comments, it also improves the quality of research, adding a more perceptive aspect to trend and market analysis.