The Viral Coefficient: Your 2020 Guide to Viral Marketing

Last Updated: December 16, 2021

Going viral can give your brand and product immense publicity, generate brand awareness, and acquire new customers. But how does viral marketing work? What is the Viral Coefficient and the Viral Cycle Time? Let’s find out.

Before we begin, let’s first understand what viral marketingOpens a new window is.

Let me draw parallels to the recent coronavirus outbreak. The virus rapidly spreads from person to person and grows exponentially (if not controlled) in a short period. And if something goes viral, many people are exposed to it (and it spreads further).

Similarly, in the digital world, especially in the era of social media, content like video, memes, images, music, advertising campaigns, open letters, etc. go viral when it spreads to numerous online users within a short period. And a lot of people talk about it and share it irrespective of whether they are the intended target audience.

Viral marketing is, therefore, the science and art of creating campaigns that achieve viral growth in a short time. It helps in accelerating brand awareness and also to elevate the brand image for an extended period.

Learn More: Top 3 Viral Mobile Marketing Campaign Examples to Inspire YouOpens a new window

The Viral Coefficient

Serial entrepreneur David SkokOpens a new window , suggests two models for viral growth in the marketing world in his article in ForEntrepreneursOpens a new window . He suggests two parameters to compute viral growth.

Let’s assume you want to achieve viral growth for your brand that specializes in baby products through a new marketing campaign. You have created a promotional video that focuses on mothers’ real-life challenges and how they overcome them, connecting them with your brand values.

Since your target audience is new or expecting mothers, you share this video with them. And they, in turn, share it with others and it goes far and wide.

Let’s call your initial set of customers (target audience): custs (0)

No. of invitations sent out by each set of customers: i

Percentage of invites converting into customers: conv%

The viral coefficient (K) is the number of customers each existing customer can convert successfully, given by K = i * conv%.

During each cycle of infection, customers infect a percentage of invitees who become customers, who affect others in subsequent cycles.

In this model, Skok further suggests that only the new set of (added) customers send out invitations (or shares). “This is because it is highly unlikely that the entire population will continue to send out invitations every cycle. Every time I have looked at other blog articles or formula for Viral Growth, they appear to have gotten this part of the calculation wrong.” Skok observes that the viral coefficient must be more than 1 to achieve viral growth.

Viral Cycle Time

Viral cycle time is the time taken for your first set of audience to first look at your message, share it with friends, who in turn decide to take a look. Ideally, the viral cycle time should be low to achieve explosive growth.

Skok, along with partner Stan ReissOpens a new window , derived a formula to compute the effect of Viral Cycle Time on viral growth.

Custs(t) = Custs(0) * K (t/ct + 1) – 1 / K – 1

where K is the Viral Coefficient

t is the time elapsed
ct is the viral cycle time

comp_viral_5e81a7baec3c6 image

The Science of Viral Marketing – ForEntrepreneursOpens a new window

The Viral Coefficient and The Viral Cycle Time – Impact on Viral Growth

Key lessons from the above two formulae to achieve viral growth are:

  1. The viral coefficient should be more than 1.
  2. Decreasing the viral cycle time (ct) will have a dramatic impact on viral growth.
  3. The Viral Coefficient will increase if you increase the number of invitations and the conversion rate.
     

So, that was the science behind viral marketing. But, as I said earlier, viral marketing is also an art.

We know that we have to improve the viral coefficient, send out as many invitations as possible, ensure that they convert, and decrease the cycle time. And we know that not everyone can achieve it.

There lies the art of viral marketing. Let’s look at some tips that can help you go viral.

Tips for Viral Marketing

First, let’s look at the types of virality. TechcrunchOpens a new window defines eight types of virality:

  • Inherent – A person gets a value from a product only if other people use it. Think Skype.
  • Collaboration – The person gets some value out of a product but gets more value if more people use it. Think online collaboration tools like Google Drive.
  • Communication – The product (and the message) is being sent to remind receivers of its importance. For example, ‘sent from my iPhone’.
  • Incentivized – The person will get added benefits for sharing. Example: Uber credit.
  • Embeddable – When the content can be embedded anywhere on the web. Example: share buttons to WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
  • Signature – When users of your product’s features embed your brand name. For example, a survey powered by SurveyMonkey.
  • Social – When companies integrate with social networks to spread the word. Think Spotify.
  • Word of Mouth – There’s no exact way to measure this, but if you have a great product and offer brilliant features, you have a viral product. Netflix anyone?

 

Here are a few actionable tips to achieve viral growth:

1. Content that resonates
 

Marketers must design content that resonates well with their target audience, but a truly viral message will evoke the right emotionOpens a new window in everyone. Focus on creating content that humanizes your product or marketing message and strikes an emotional chord.

For example, Nike’s 2019 Women’s Day Dream CrazierOpens a new window campaign talked about the challenges and stereotypes that women faced on the path to success. The target audience was women, but everyone felt the emotion behind it.

        Nike’s 2019 Women’s Day Dream Crazier Campaign

2. Go social
 

Social media can help you achieve explosive growth in terms of likes, shares, and user views. Ensure your content is suitable for sharing, i.e., it is well integrated with social media, and your content is shareable with just one click.

For example, SpheroOpens a new window launched a Snapchat marketing campaign to launch its product BB-8 droid. For the ForceFriday-Star Wars event, they invited top Snapchatters to five of Disney’s flagship stores around the world. The creators created hype and excitement in fellow fans and took their new Droid on an adventure in their respective cities. The video was watched for over 69.1M seconds, and it garnered 10M views and 411K social engagementOpens a new window .

Sphero’s Snapchat Marketing Campaign

Learn More: The Anatomy of a Viral Video: Ideas for YouTube, Facebook, & Instagram for 2020Opens a new window

3. Capitalize on trends
 

Having a pulse on social trends and timing them with hot topics can help you grab public attention.

The Oreo SuperBowl campaign of 2013 is still fresh in our minds. There was a power outage in the Mercedes-Benze SuperdomeOpens a new window , New Orleans stadium, postponing the game for 32 minutes, leaving viewers exasperated. Oreo whipped up a tweet in under five minutes that generated over 14K retweets, 6.8K likes, and made the internet ‘Dunk in the Dark’.

4. Get influencer marketing right
 

A viral infection spreads if a person meets with several people. The same goes for viral marketing. Influencers have an important role to playOpens a new window in improving the Viral Coefficient. Collaborate with influencers relevant to your domain to spread the message across. And don’t shy away from partnering with micro or nano influencers for an organic and authentic reach.

In October 2019, Reese’s launched a social media campaign – It’s A Live CampaignOpens a new window , with actor Neil Patrick Harris. In this campaign, Harris invited viewers to vote on tricks and treats for a haunted house, and they could watch the live stream of the event on October 24, where 32 fans would be led through the haunted house. Apart from experimenting with interactive and social, Reese’s rode on Neil Patrick’s popularity for the success of the campaign.

Learn More: How to Get Instagram Influencers Onboard with Your BrandOpens a new window

5. Hashtags and User Generated Campaigns
 

User-generated content (UGC), hashtags, and challenges have a fun, interactive element that drives shares and engagement. With hashtags, you can also track campaign success.

White Claw invested in user-generated memes and parodies to entertain users and boost sales. Sales went up roughly by 250% in 2019 compared to the previous year, according to data from Nielsen, with the brand saying in October that White Claw had already seen retail sales of $638 million. Opens a new window White Claw’s brand reputation received a boost from a particularly strong social media presence, internet memesOpens a new window , and a parody videoOpens a new window that garnered over 3.2 million views on YouTube since June, reported CNBCOpens a new window .

Summing Up

You now know the secret to getting viral marketing right. Here is a gist of the important points to remember:

  1. Include as many customers as possible in your initial set when you share your marketing message.
  2. Focus on improving the conversion rate with each cycle.
  3. The conversion rate can be improved by crafting witty, humorous messages that have a high share-ability quotient.
  4. Create content that resonates with your target audience as well as to the majority audience. Having an emotional connection is a winner.
  5. Partnering with the right influencers can also increase reach.
  6. Interactive and user-generated content and hashtags can drive better engagement.
  7. Apart from improving the viral coefficient, it is important to reduce the viral cycle time for explosive growth.
  8. Keep a tab on latest trends and react to them in time to capture audience attention and reduce cycle time.
  9. Ensure your content is suitable for social sharing and present it on your audience’s favorite social media channels. This can help reduce the viral cycle time.
     

Make sure you create super content that has witty, humorous, emotional, and inspirational elements. Understand your audience well and experiment with content types to reach larger audiences and to win them over.

What are your favorite viral marketing campaigns? Share your tips on virality via TwitterOpens a new window , LinkedInOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window ; we’re always listening!

Vandita Grover
Vandita Grover

Contributor, Ziff Davis B2B

Vandita is a passionate writer and IT enthusiast. She is a Computer Lecturer by profession at the University of Delhi. She has previously worked as a Software Engineer with Aricent Technologies. Vandita writes for MarTech Advisor as a freelance contributor.
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