Interested in going viral?

Word-of-mouth behavior is what a viral email marketing campaign is based on to spawn awareness of a product, service or concept. The significance of such a home grown campaign, most often uses shock or humor, lies in connecting with the right people via social media channels and offering relevant content that motivates them to take action and forward the message to others they know.

Similar to a real virus, a campaign starts out as a single entity and uses its host and their resources to spread out, replicate and double with each interaction. To become viral, the campaign needs to find the right recipient to begin with. An individual will receive a message, this person then passes on the message to friends using relevant sharing tools notably displayed in the email. These friends usually trust the person who sent the email, so they're more likely to open it and forward it onto their own group of friends from there sparking the viral aspect of it all.

Here is what you can do to ensure a successful viral email marketing campaign.

1. Be unique. What makes you respond to an email and take action? Is it because it's unique, makes you laugh, shocks or excites you? You want your campaign to have a similar effect, so try applying these reactions to your message.

2. Stay relevant. Offering a unique approach is only a part of the message, you also need to offer content that is different, useful and appropriate to your target audience.

3. Offer the goods. Viral marketing works best when consumers are able to get something out of forwarding a message to their friends. Think along the lines of a free report, case study, white paper or even a coupon. Just ensure you're able to deliver on your promise or you run the risk of turning the tide and your company could get bad mouthed virally.

4. Make it readable. It's a good idea to cover your content layout bases by incorporating HTML and text options, this way people who open your email can easily see what you have to show on their mobile devices.

5. Brand it. Remember to include and clearly display your branding, logo, website and contact details. You want to make sure people recognize who started the campaign. To go a step further you may also want to tie in a url to your branding and logo that takes viewers to a campaign landing page to further engage them in what you have to offer.

6. Include a call out. Tell your customers what they need to do and how to do it with a direct call to action button. It could be along the lines of “send to a friend now” or “share”.