Viral ecommerce marketing campaigns can seem like a fantastic idea for any online store. In a world of influencer marketing, social media traffic boosts and other tactics designed to drive maximum exposure to brands, going viral is every brand’s dream. You may think that getting thousands of likes, comments and shares is the way to grow your online store. You may think that going viral is the only way to see real results.
In reality, it’s not as simple as that. While viral campaigns certainly have their place in ecommerce marketing, they don’t always relate to actual sales. They don’t always equal return shoppers, either.
When to Consider Viral Ecommerce Marketing Campaigns
To help you decide whether it’s worth aiming to make your ecommerce marketing campaigns go viral, here’s what you need to know.
The pros…
The biggest and most obvious advantage of any type of viral marketing campaign is exposure. When your Facebook posts or YouTube video gets a huge amount of hype, it will be seen by a large number of people. If the post is funny, controversial, unusual, on-trend or interesting enough to be shared, it can put your brand on people’s radar. Many may follow you online to see if you have anything else to share. If you get in on a new trend doing the rounds, such as the next Jerusalema video, you will get noticed. With a high level of engagement, follows and likes, you may generate sales if people visit your store. If you consistently produce content that readers love and share, you have the chance of developing a loyal following. You also have the chance to grow a reputation for being ahead of or on top of content trends.
The cons…
On the other side, producing viral content is not an easy task. People are extremely fickle. What gets likes today may not get any attention in a week. Even if you do put out the perfect post that gets attention, it may get massive engagement initially, only to get lost in a sea of other viral posts. Those who follow you hoping to see more, equally viral content may end up unfollowing if you are not able to deliver any more big hitters. Another challenge is the relevance factor. You want to gain a following of people who are likely to visit your store and make a purchase. It can be far more effective to have a smaller following of customers who have a genuine chance of converting than a huge following of people who are only interested in seeing your video of shopping fails.
Effective Ecommerce Marketing Campaigns
Rather than putting all of your time and effort into trying to out-beat Nando’s and their catchy campaigns, you can focus on producing content and campaigns that are made to convert. When you stay loyal to your brand and give fans exactly what they expect to see – relevant content that adds real value – you will have far better success with your ecommerce marketing campaigns.
