Classic Example of Hotmail

Hey, to better understand viral marketing, I almost forgot there is a classic example that we must talk about…… is the Hotmail.com, one of the first free Web-based e-mail services.

Did you sign up your first email with Hotmail.com? I think the majority of us..

The strategy of hotmail is very simple, there are 6 stages, let’s talks about the first 3 :

1. Hotmail give away free e-mail addresses to people to communicate through the Internet and to send / received files and visuals.
2. Hotmail will attach a simple tag at the bottom of every free message sent out: "Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com". This way, they can advertise for free and create WOM, they also use the term “free” to attract people.
3. In the back end, Hotmail staff will stand back while people e-mail to their own network of friends and associate.

Have you ever realize that from long long time ago viral marketing was already being used through digital, want to know the rest of how Hotmail managed viral marketing? Come back and check out tomorrow!!

Related article by Carvian

Classic Example of Viral Marketing - Hotmail (ii)

The Disadvantage of Viral Marketing

There are always advantages and disadvantages in everything; there are no exceptions, especially for viral marketing. Now, let me explain some disadvantages of using viral marketing.

1. Nuisance Factor



People get so many internet noises everyday; they have difficulty to determine which message they should pay attention to. The message, just like a spam mail, is likely to be deleted or ignored instead of being passed on to the other people.

2. Negative Buzz



People most likely to talk about the bad things rather than the good things, people will not take time to proof the negative news. As a result, the business will suffer.

3. Ethical Considerations

Although there are some privacy policies to limit the transaction of the mailing list of a company, there are some recipients who feel that viral marketing is a sleazy practice. They may even choose not to do business with those companies at the end.

4. Hard to measure

Viral marketing can be a hit and miss proposition, or unless the campaign is being handled by experience individuals; it can be very difficult to determine whether it is a worthwhile proposition.


Related article by John

The advantage of Viral Marketing

The Advantage of Viral Marketing

We know that there are many examples that companies use viral marketing to increase brand awareness and to achieve marketing objectives. You may ask why there is more and more companies like to use viral marketing as a marketing technique. Now, let me explain some advantages of using viral marketing.

1. Reachable

Viral marketing concerns on reaching people through internet. Hence, you can reach anyone at anytime and any places. That means there is no limitation on who you can reach.

2. Cost effective

Viral marketing usually uses techniques like joining social networks, building profiles, writing blogs and making videos. So, you can do whatever you want with a small cost or even free of charge.

3. Fast recognition

Without any restrictions or reservations, medium allows you to be as creative as you want. When people come over with the creative advertising many times, they will start recognizing the name and the business quicker than those who are using traditional marketing.

4. Enhance the ranking on the search engine

Ranking on the search engine is partly determined by the amount of one-way link leading to your homepage, such as embedding your video or posting your link.

Next, let’s talk about the disadvantage of the viral marketing.

Related article by John

The disadvantage of Viral Marketing