Viral marketing refers to the internet version of word-of-mouth marketing which involves creating a Web site, video, e-mail, cell phone message, advertisement, or other marketing event that is so infectious that customs will want to pass it along to their friends. It is a fairly new marketing technique that facilities and encourages people to pass along a marketing message about a particular product or service. Because customers pass the message or promotion along to others, viral marketing can be very inexpensive. And when the information comes from a friend, the recipient is much more likely to view or read it.
The most well-known example of viral marketing is Hotmail. When Hotmail first started distribution free e-mail accounts, it put a tagline on every message sent out by Hotmail users that read “Get free e-mail with Hotmail.”With in less than a year, the company had several million users. Every e-mail message that passed through the Hotmail system was essentially advertisement for Hotmail. The success of viral marketing depends on the pass-along rate person to person.
Viral marketing - This is the online equivalent of word of mouth and referred to as word of mouse. It occurs when individuals forward e-mail lists.