Should I use viral marketing?

In the previous post, we talked about exactly what viral marketing means.  That begs the question “Should I use viral marketing?”

This is an area that I am quite passionate about and think that we, as engineers, can gain a competitive advantage.  You need to tread lightly, however.

Depending on what you’re selling, a lot of your customers will look at you like you have two heads if you tell them that they should be following your every move on Twitter.  You run the real risk of alienating these folks - I talk from experience here.  I used to try to keep my marketing and sales methods on the cutting edge of social technology.  I’ve learned over the past few years that my customer base runs literally about two-years behind that curve, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

My point is that you need to know where your customers stand in this arena before you pummel them with zany invites and pitches.  You don’t want to try to sell an Xbox game to someone that is still using Atari.

Start small with simple things like newsletters and blogs and see how your base reacts.  Educate them as you bring them along the technology curve and you’ll be seen as an expert in two fields, and that can never be a bad thing.