By now, most understand that “viral marketing” means using sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube to reach audiences in non-traditional ways. But the question remains for many businesses – what’s the ROI?
Many current proponents measure the success of a video by the number of views it receives. But, as we all know, many of these videos barely (if at all) relate to the brand or product they are supposedly promoting. Take the new Cadbury video, for example – while being extremely inventive, it would be better suited to promote Ritalin than a new candy bar.
That being said, I have already passed the video along to three other people – according to some, it makes the video “successful.” Will the video make me run out and buy the new Cadbury candy? Probably not – but, if the goal was pure recognition, Cadbury got their wish.
This blog photo is making me hungry.
I agree. There’s no doubt that viral can increase awareness and spark conversations, but what about sales? I recently read an article on Ad Age about a method to measure the relationship between viewing/interacting with a social media campaign and purchasing the product offline. Research from ComScore and Dunnhumby suggests that the use of social media can result in offline sales and deliver positive ROI. This is a great article and a great topic to follow in the coming months: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=135940
Enjoy!