Viral marketing has become the holy grail of the modern internet. Almost everyone who has products or services to sell is looking for some magical piece of content that will make their website fly to the top of Google even when it gets removed for too many clicks from DIGG and REDDIT.

The truth is that Viral Marketing is like the actor who becomes and succeeds overnight. . . after twenty years in the industry and a few thousand hours of acting classes. When you look back, it’s obvious that little was left to chance.

The heart of a good viral marketing campaign for a product or service is the product or service that has the following properties:

• It’s purchasable.
• Meets customer expectations, even if it’s not what they expected.
• It’s easy to find, even when a customer doesn’t have as much information.
• It is something for which there are no substitutes.

A good example of this type of product is the IPHONE. Those of us who saw that product saw it, wanted to buy it, knew who was selling it, and were able to have it in a matter of hours, or days at most. If your product doesn’t meet these requirements, think twice before you try to launch a viral marketing campaign on any big site. Creating mass demand for a disappointing product is rarely helpful.

Once you have a winning product or service. . .

The key to marketing a product using what amounts to “word of mouth” on the Internet has to do with tailoring your product or service to one of the many communities that live on the Internet. You need to identify exactly who uses your product or service, where they connect online, and what interests them most.

Sites like “Web Marketing Today” provide good demographics for various populations and websites. You can find the demographics of most large web populations by Googling the name of any website followed by the word “demographics.”

Once you know who you’re talking to, where to find them, and what you want to sell them. . . you are in a position to generate viral content that will drive them to your site.

For example, DIGG demographics indicate that its population is 94% male, ages 20-35, and earns over $75,000 a year. This is not the best goal for geriatric medical services or home insurance. This could be a very good target for movie content, DVD content, video game content, and information about new devices. This population is literate, somewhat preoccupied with sex, often willing to watch videos online, and frequently purchases products or services online. They are often politically active and politically liberal. If you review your most popular articles from the last year, Apple, Google, and Microsoft products are mentioned in 10 or more of the top 50 articles. Most of the rest focus on politics, DIGG itself, Scientology, and celebrities ages 10-35.

To get your product or service to the top of this site, it might be a good idea to incorporate technology, politics, gender, and/or religion into your offering.

The REDDIT population, by contrast, may be on average slightly younger, somewhat more politically active and politically liberal, and may have a slightly lower income. Both populations like to see themselves as “influential” and “cutting edge,” but chafe if they think their “social channel” is being used for overt marketing.

And now the content

For a quick sale of a product or service, video content is most effective. Directing people to a YouTube video where they can learn more about your offer works better than directing them to your corporate website. For one thing, you can control YouTube comments. On the other hand, more people will watch a good video for longer than they will read a great article. Production values ​​are important. . .

To get to the top of any social website, create the content, ask employees, friends, relatives, and others to sign up for accounts, then post the content, and then submit them to the site to “vote” on the content you’ve posted. . . You should also encourage people to post comments about the product or service along with the upvote. The more honest the comment, the better. A post warning people that “big thumbs and an IPHONE don’t mix,” or one that mentions “you have to be an AT&T customer” to use the phone is the kind of bad news that sells well on these sites. Always remember that your goal is “awareness” not “sales”.

Finally, don’t be too afraid of controversy. Social networking sites are places where conversations are lively or angry from time to time. Flame wars break out regularly. For every guy who loves the IPHONE, there is someone else who can’t figure out what all the fuss is about.

Michael Moore probably sent O’Reilly flowers to thank him for hating Fahrenheit 9/11 so much. That kind of national public attention is something that simply cannot be bought. More people are hearing about Scientology as Anonymous attacks it day after day, and more people are hearing about McCain as liberals attack him. Controversy, attacks and flame wars are part of the “information process” that increases awareness of the product or service. Make sure the first twenty posts on your topic are somewhat favorable and you’ll find that most people never read more than that.

Good viral marketing is an ongoing process

Successful products and services appear again and again from new angles. A story about how “The New Indiana Jones is a Rotten Movie” tells a lot of people that the new movie is coming out. A story about “Harrison Ford’s New Abs” tells people that Harrison Ford is in the movie. As you create viral marketing campaigns, plan to have several related stories that you post over time. A successful viral marketing campaign has many compromises.