The Email Wars

In the world of viral email I am often not that impressed with the value of the “viral” pre-planned ability of a campaign, but in the meat of the campaign. IF it is truly something that is authentic, credible, transparent and worth sharing for cred or value… then it has legs to be “viral” or sent on to someone in the peer group of your subscriber. So many times I hear companies, service providers or agencies talking about how they will make it viral. No secret sauce here, you all have the abilities to give your subscribers the content that will help them spread your meesage.

Church of the Consumer had an inspiring post about this below:

How free goes viral – By Jackie Huba
Michele Miller posted this on SWOM. It’s so good I wanted to repost it here:

One of the hottest videos on YouTube today is the Free Hug Campaign – one man giving away free hugs and the effect it has on the people around him.

It’s a perfect parallel to building a viral campaign for your business.

Watch the video and observe:

People’s resistance to anything free… even if it’s a hug
The breakthrough that happens when one random individual decides to try one
A tsunami of response once people watch the experience of others
The fight to defend their right to hug when barriers are erected by “authorities”
If you believe strongly enough in your product or service, give it away for free. In the beginning, no one will believe you. Stick with it long enough, experience breakthrough, and you’ll have more business than you know what to do with.

And you’ll have a band of merry men (and women) who will be your brand evangelists.

The funny thing is that here it is peculating up and it was done last year in 2007. Good content has legs to stand over time and keep engaging.

How can this not be just like email? What if you could send things that people wanted, trusted and felt like sharing and spreading for you after engaging with it? And I bet you that these videos were emailed out time and time again, making email this media platform and YouTube the delivery vehicle.

The it went to Korea

Then Amsterdam

Then NYC

Then Scotland

Then Venezuela

Where will it strike or launch next? Your guess is as good as mine.