Viral Marketing Case Study – Success Or Failure?

Viral Marketing Case Study – Success Or Failure?
By Karen Sielski

This case study in viral marketing is the result of a wonderful experience I had recently participating in a business networking event. A friend and business acquaintance, retired from a career in tradition marketing, recently started learning about social networking. He got the brilliant idea to help business owners using a combination of tribal marketing and social networking, with an emphasis on New Thought spiritual practices. How cool is that?

With no experience in websites or social networking, he launched his new venture, Self Marketing, a few months ago. First, he created a website using Yahoo! Web Hosting. Then he created social networking accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. He filled in his profiles. Then he created Self Marketing groups on each of the sites.

For his local in-person events, he created a Meetup group. Next he lined up some speakers for monthly events and populated his online calendars. Business sponsors were invited to showcase their businesses. I was one of the lucky sponsors to participate in the first event.

While all of this was going on, people were finding out about the groups and were joining them. Word started spreading. With no experience in viral marketing, he acquired 71 people in his Facebook group and 14 in LinkedIn. 36 people joined his Meetup group. 15 people started following him on twitter.

To promote his first local event, he sent an email out to the 174 contacts in his email database. What were his results? There were 49 people at the first event, paying $20 at the door to get in. The profit from the attendance fees was over $750!

It was also a win for the business sponsors. I personally received over 10 consultation requests from attendees to help them grow their businesses using the internet.

In my humble opinion, the event was a huge success and I can see it growing very rapidly. Why? The organization of the event was very professional. The speaker and content were excellent. The energy was very positive and people had a good time.

The positive comments in the groups about the event will cause more people to check it out. Word will spread quickly. People will tell other people about it. As is the case in viral marketing, a good thing will snowball into a bigger snowball.

However, using social networking is no guarantee of success. Had the event not delivered on content, quality, and professionalism, the future would be a different story.

Now think about how you are using viral marketing in your business. Can you use any of these strategies to grow your business?

And now I would like to invite you to claim your step-by-step blueprints to massive online success and generating high quality, low cost traffic to your website. If you would like FREE ACCESS to “Catapult Your Income With An Endless Stream of Online Leads” visit http://AutopilotOnlineSuccess.com and get started today.

Karen Sielski is a passionate online wealth builder, self proclaimed cool mom, tennis enthusiast, and founder of Autopilot Online Success. She uses her 20+ years in the high-tech industry to help small businesses, entrepreneurs, and online network marketers successfully grow their businesses online. She has a Masters Degree in Computer Science and owns a successful online business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karen_Sielski
http://EzineArticles.com/?Viral-Marketing-Case-Study—Success-Or-Failure?&id=2315349