5 Steps to building a “Viral Quotient”

There is a theory of product evolution that states in this new market it is not the standalone job of Marketing to create your brand and find pools of prospects anymore; this responsibility is shared by the Marketing and product teams.

A product developed in today’s environment must be “social” in itself, allowing the people who sign up for the product or service to easily tell their universe of people around them how cool it is and the product must be designed so that your users will need other people (their friends) to participate with them in order to have a “killer” experience with the product (think Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare).

If you can pull that off, then you have made your product “social”, when this happens the users become your “viral” marketing department and what they say about the product and how it works becomes your brand.

This theory can simply be summed up as your organizations Viral Quotient and it has become one of the top 3 measures used by firms when evaluating your company for investment.

Here are the 5 steps your organization can follow to determine your Viral Quotient:

1. Think consumers connecting to consumers, users connecting to users
2. Find out what your customers say about your product, do you have a killer product they want to tell other people about?
3. Determine if your customers need other people to interact with your product to make it useful.
4. Make it easy for your customers to promote your product by giving them an easy way to tell their friends about it (think "Like" button)
   
5. Viral does not mean that everyone on the internet should use your product, viral is achieved within specific demographics your are targeting.

Here are some examples of products that have taken Viral Quotient to heart and their products are being talked about within their respective markets:

Kiva – They connect small business owners with people who have money and want to lend it out, they need each other for this to work.

PayPal – They grew very rapidly in a space dominated by big players like MasterCard, why, because you can’t use their product without having someone else involved, you say I have money and I want to buy that, the other person will usually pick up the money.

The Telephone – It’s no fun to talk to yourself on the telephone, you need a participant.

What other products have taken this new approach and are riding the Viral wave?

I share my insights here to help companies explore extraordinary opportunities, manage and sustain growth, and maximize revenue.

It is my goal to help you unlock the potential of your organization.

1.       Think Consumers connecting to consumers, users connecting to users

2.       Find out what your customers say about your product, do you have a killer product they want to tell other people about?

3.       Determine if your customers need other people to interact with them and your product to make it useful.

4.       Evaluate your product for areas where you can get your customers to promote your product for you (i.e. the experience with a certain aspect of your product would be so much better if I as a user could get 10 other people to participate with me)

5.       Viral does not mean Facebook or Twitter, viral can and is achieved within specific demographics your are targeting.