Link bait and viral marketing

The term "link bait" refers to content that people can't help but link to. You know, if you've ever seen something funny online and just had to share it with your friends, that's basically what it is. It's essentially viral marketing, word of mouth is a powerful tool. What can you display that will evoke such a response? What can you do with your product or service that will make people want to spread the word about what you have to offer.

Perhaps even a little mystery might work in your favor. Take the monster movie Cloverfield. We first saw the trailer during Transformers, and wondered what it was about. Later, we find that it's a monster movie. Then pictures of the monster start popping up everywhere, all different, and all wrong. It sure stirred up a lot of buzz. And if people are intrigued by your product or service, then that's a good thing.

I can think that the very nature of over quoted movie lines is viral in nature. For instance, take the spider pig song Homer Simpson sang in the commercials for the Simpsons movie. I'd say it was the most memorable aspect of that movie's advertising, everyone in the theatre, seeing it for the first time, could sing that song.

I'm sure everyone has been "Rick Rolled" at least once if they've spent any amount of time online. Someone will post a link, often times with the claims of something too good to be true. Then bam, there you have it, Rick Astly is sining "Never Gonna Give You Up." This has caught on, and according to Wikipedia the two main videos that are used in this have been viewed more than 39 MILLION times. It's silly, it's annoying, and it's producing a reaction in people.

The goal is to come up with something that will spread. Something interesting, funny, and/or controversial. Anyone can put up a site, but it takes a little outside the box thinking and often times luck to see link bait and viral marketing work for you. The key is to focus on what will spark people's emotions, not on advertising your stuff.