Strengths and weaknesses of viral marketing Essay

Strengths and weaknesses of viral marketing - Essay Example Contrary to expectation, Leskovec, Adamic and Huberman, found that the chances of infection decreases as interaction increases (Leskovec, Adamic and Huberman, 2007, P.14). Therefore, marketers should avoid providing excessive incentives for customers to recommend products due to the corresponding weakening of credibility after the first recommendation. They also found that individuals have influence over only a few friends in network based epidermic models. Leskovec, Adamic and Huberman, recommend that smaller tightly knit groups are more conducive to viral marketing (Leskovec, Adamic and Huberman, 2007, P.14). Rationale for viral marketing Viral marketing exploits the established social networks between people by encouraging customers to share product experience and information with friends. It is important for marketers to understand the context in which viral marketing works and the qualities of products for which it is most effective. This is important in order to ensure that the right strategy is adopted to create favorable customer attitudes towards a product (Blythe, 2005, P.110). It can be argued that some services used by people to communicate are naturally suited to viral marketing because such products can be advertised as part of communication. Examples of such products are email services like Yahoo and Hotmail which were adopted very fast because every message sent through them was an advertisement for the service and the service was free. Hotmail spent only $50 000 on traditional marketing but still acquired 12 million users in 18 months. By the end of 2000, Hotmail had over 70 million users with 270 000 new accounts opened each day. Google’s Gmail grew...This is important in order to ensure that the right strategy is adopted to create favorable customer attitudes towards a product (Blythe, 2005, P.110). It can be argued that some services used by people to communicate are naturally suited to viral marketing because such products can be advertised as part of communication. Examples of such products are email services like Yahoo and Hotmail which were adopted very fast because every message sent through them was an advertisement for the service and the service was free. Hotmail spent only $50 000 on traditional marketing but still acquired 12 million users in 18 months. By the end of 2000, Hotmail had over 70 million users with 270 000 new accounts opened each day. Google’s Gmail grew rapidly in spite of the fact that customers had to sign up for the mail service through a referral . Most products cannot be advertised in this way; in any case, the choice of products on offer has increased as a result of the emergence of online marketers who can supply a wide variety of products. Another aspect of online retail is the fat tail phenomena, where a large portion of the sales consists of obscure products. For instance, at Amazon.Com 20 to 40 percent of unit sales fall outside the top 100 000 ranked products. Some online marketers argue that the fat tail indicates that key products with low sales volume contribute significantly to overall sales.

Mass communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Mass communication - Essay Example Moreover, the analysis will consider the two pertinent arguments that seek to define the ways in which the media and culture interact with society. For such a purpose, it is necessary to view â€Å"the media† as a solitary entity rather than a conglomerate of multi-dimensional pieces. Although such a definition is somewhat simplistic, it is one of the only ways that such a broad topic can be attempted to be researched and answered in such a brief piece. Firstly, many scholars have sought to portray the way in which the media interacts with and defines culture as a mechanism by which one is forcefully shaping the other in a way that exhibits the strength and power of one over the other. This approach has been used by many to draw a level of inference with respect to the ways in which the media has a direct or indirect effect in attempting to mold and direct the shape of a given culture (Salomon 1997, p. 379). As such, this interpretation necessarily takes the view that the medi a is somehow operating in a type of vacuum and has the strength to both mold and shape the beliefs, attitudes, and norms/mores of society in which it interacts. Although this can to a large extent be realized to be partially true, the fact of the matter is that the media is itself integrally tied to the concept and understanding of culture. In this way, it cannot be fully understood to be a foreign force that is acting upon culture as a means to influence it. However, to the credit of those that espouse such a view of the media, it should be understood that recent changes and direction in the media actually helps to add a degree of credence to such a worldview. Years past, the media itself was a massive conglomeration of different firms and interests that could be divided amongst radio, television, movie industry, newspaper, magazine, entertainers, production entities etc. However, there has been a definite and pronounced trend within the past 30-40 years to have what can only be de fined as a more integrated representation of the media within our world. This is not the result of some sinister plot to control the minds and culture of our current society; rather, it is merely the fact that the media industries are like any other business and seek to continually differentiate themselves and seek out new opportunities, reduce competition, and open themselves to new markets and new consumers of their products. As a means to earn more profits and generate a higher degree of market share, mergers have been a trend within the media industries for the better part of the past several decades. As such, the aforementioned groups that make up the media industry within the world have become more and more related; thereby creating a situation in which but a handful of dominant media firms seemingly dictate multiple sectors of the media. This has caused many people to assume that due to the non-penetration of free market players into the industry it necessarily means that the media as such has a powerful and monopolistic effect on interacting with and defining culture (Mallia 2011, p. 33). However, as will be analyzed in the proceeding section, such an approach is somewhat narrow-minded. Due to the fact that each of these media sectors ultimately seeks to operate in the same way that any firm would (i.e. to generate profits), the behavior of the entity is not unpredictable or