VIRAL

The concept of going viral sounds horrible. Despite the impression this word gives, the impact is positive and powerful for your business. When your service / website / idea / book / concept is perceived as valuable people forward and share with others who share with others... the result is that your message is received by an exponential number of people who may be interested in and/or buying what you offer - without directly advertising.

Social media is the primary way things go viral today, but viral concepts were there before social media. Think Tupperware. Social media improves the process because it makes sharing faster and easier. Viral loops happen when someone tells 10 people they like what they see. Then each of those people share with 10 other people who tell 10 more people and the numbers climb quickly.

Most of us are not looking to create viral loops the size of Facebook, which has more than 400 million users. We are likely to consider viral loops of hundreds or thousands of users a successful viral loop. These can also be called micro-viral-loops.

We would like to share an example of how viral can work. Angel Tuccy, author of Lists That Saved My Life has a goal to be the Amazon.com bestseller for a day.

Sending and sharing this link to your friends and/or buying this great book because of its merits can illustrate the power of creating a viral loop and help Angel achieve her goal.

Viral loop concepts are explained in the book Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today's Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves by Adam L. Penenberg. This book and any other materials you find valuable can help set your own "viral loop" in motion which, far from being gross, can have a positive, powerful impact on your business.