GOOD BUZZ/BAD BUZZ

May 21st, 2008 at 04:09pm Bill Swick

For years, marketers have always touted the value of a referral…word of mouth is cheap and effective.

These days, the term viral marking is as hot to marketers as dotcom was to speculators not that long ago. But we don’t think there’s a bust in store for the viral marketing.

The idea is nothing new. Building a buzz about your brand has worked in the real world for years…companies still employ street teams of interns. There is a lot of value in getting people chatting online – trends that used to spread slowly are now free to explode in cyberspace.

I don’t need to go into details on viral marketing; there are books, blogs, and enough search engine results to choke Google out there to tell you everything you need to know.

But here’s a warning for you.

Before infecting the Web with your viral campaign, make sure your product, webpage, service, or whatever can live up to the hype. Your buzz can turn into dud in a hurry if the folks that bought into the hype are disappointed.

Bad buzz on the internet will spread and reverse your opportunities just as fast as they were created.

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