Is going VIRAL important in the world of marketing?

The first thing that strikes my mind when talking about this topic is whether going viral is necessary and if it is positive or negative to have such high media coverage. What exactly are the impacts when such levels of virality is reached and how does it spread? People often use the format of STEPPS – S (social), T (Triggers), E (Emotions), P (Practical), P (Publicising consumption), S (Story) to explain why things go viral, but how are they actually used?

I think the word “Viral” in marketing has two opposite outcomes that are good and bad. Let us take a look at some examples that backs this statement.

Source : CNN.com

This incident happened in 2019 and it caused a huge outrage in the online community in Singapore. The portrayal of different races by a single celebrity named Dennis Chew led to netizens crying foul with some even making malicious remarks to Dennis. The advertisement began with the positive intention of appealing to different races and working classes by showing the multi-racial side of Singapore and the various uniforms used by different people. The virality of this was brought about by anger of the use of “Blackface” to depict another race. This is evidence of emotional factors being brought into play to cause society to react tremendously to a stimulus. Due to the negative reaction, Nets E-PAY then took down the ad even though there was no breach of any code of practices.

_{Image: Twitter (@skeletonjacket)}

Adding on, a chinese couple in the property and real estate industry made a video to attract minority ethnic groups. The video depicts the couple in ethnic indian clothing attempting to imitate indian dance moves while dancing to a Chinese song and speaking in poorly pronounced Tamil and Malay. Even though the owner of the property that the couple listed approved of the video, it was still shunned by the public as most saw it as offensive. The youtube video went viral overnight when content creation websites like Goody Feed made a post about them. Like the “Blackface” advertisement, the video was a poor attempt to portray or imitate another ethnic group resulting in negative comments blasting the couple and the need for them to make a public apology.

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But of course, viral marketing can also create positive impacts on negative origins.One example can be seen in 1986, when two boys went missing in Singapore which led to an islandwide search. The incident was associated with Mcdonald’s as the fast food chain participated in the search and even placed a $100,000 reward for any information regarding the whereabouts of the boys. By associating the brand with this incident, Mcdonald’s indirectly attained viral marketing through the employment of emotions and social currency as most people started talking about the reward offered. This helped place Mcdonald’s in a positive light that associates them with being generous giving back to the community.

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Another example would be the ALS ice bucket challenge. Though the content of the challenge video may seem irrelevant to the illness, the video made a viral impact with more than 17 million people participating and $115 million was raised for the ALS Association. A huge part of emotions and social currency were involved in virality of the challenge as the intent was clear to let people know of the good cause, thus causing more to want to share this video with the motivation of wanting to spread awareness of a good cause.

SO HOW DO WE BECOME VIRAL? Firstly, you need to have content that can interest people. It must be something that is relevant and people would find worthy of sharing. Next, be persuasive. For example, an online business related to fashion will require you to understand your target market. For example, if your target market were young adults, clothing like formal dresses and neutral outfits would appeal to them as they will be entering the workforce soon. This would give practical value to your product. Furthermore, constant social media marketing marketing using multiple influencers will also tap on consumer’s emotions and will act as strong persuasion as consumers will deem it as a trendy product.

Ultimately, I feel that it is essential to select the right approach to market your product. It would be your responsibility to ensure that the content you publish can cue a person’s thoughts to be about your product.

Do share your thoughts about this with me in the comment section below! Ciao~

The Evolution of Business Trends in the Digital Age

Source: Buffer

To remain in the game, it is no doubt that businesses have to constantly evolve and many have turned to expanding from simply having live stores to eCommerce options ranging from various websites to social media like Facebook, Instagram, and even Youtube.

6 years ago, there was a prediction on Forbes that Instagram would be a formidable selling application. Within three years, Instagram has gained 150 million of users and as of today, we can expect 1 billion users. As of June 2017, there are 25 million business profiles using Instagram. With this wide base of users, Instagram charges $6.90 per thousand views, and estimating at 3000 views per day, this would cost $603,000 a month!

I personally believe in the powerful effects of social media on modern businesses. Evidence can be seen from various success stories just like Singapore’s very own actor and well known emcee Wang Lei, who began selling fresh seafood via Facebook Live Streams. His live streams have garnered over 1.2 million views and he has publicly stated that through live streaming sales, he has earned 2-3 times more in an hour than what he did as a stage performance host.

Source : Facebook

Even blogshop influencers like Sophia Chong, founder of The Juice Market, promotes new launches utilising live streaming. Due to the nature of the impact that Covid-19 have had on the community, many businesses have adopted a Live Streaming strategy to engage with its customers. In the current economic landscape, live streaming auctions are the most intimate that any business can be with its customers. Consumers have shown positive feedback in Live Streams as they are able to get quick responses for any enquiries as compared to just looking at a static image of potential products, they are able to see raw unedited footage of products that are being offered. However, a perfect world doesn’t exist. As much as we hear these advantages of live streaming, there are a few cons to this new marketing tool. For one, it is challenging for business owners to engage its entire target audience as not everyone can accommodate to the limited time that the live stream is online. To keep the audience entertained and interested, hosts on these live streams have to be charismatic with an appealing personality.

This year has been a rough start for everyone. The impact of Covid -19 has put a great extent of businesses to test, with an estimate of 3,800 businesses shutting down in Singapore alone. With new government regulations , this has caused many ripples in business operations. From a female shopper’s perspective, many simple purchasing decisions have became much more complex. An example of this would be buying make-up, as previously, testers could be provided for shoppers to try out and identify a suitable shade to their liking. With government restrictions, brands are unable to provide testers in physical stores. These brands have thus, turned to social media influencers to showcase new product launches to engage potential customers to understand the benefits of products offered.

Do share your thoughts about this with me in the comment section below! Ciao~