Viral Marketing and Project 3

I thought the Wikipedia article on viral marketing was very interesting. I was not aware of exactly what viral marketing was or how it worked before reading this article, and the article cleared up a lot for me. I found it interesting that it is not necessarily paid for by the business itself, but is often funded by a sponsor company. With all the examples the article gave, I can identify a lot of viral marketing platforms in my daily life. For example, when an ad pops up below a YouTube video, or when I see a girl on Instagram promoting some sort of jewelry or tea or bathing suit, these are all examples of viral marketing. I like how the article uses the phrase “endless amount of potential forms” to describe the actual nature of viral marketing. I think this certainly ties in to project three because, in a sense, we have to come up with three different viral marketing platforms for our project. I think different “genres” is also another way to say different “viral marketing platforms.” Both are simply a way to get an idea out into the world in a creative manner. The important part is knowing your audience. For the example with the YouTube video ads, the internet uses cookies to track where you have been and aims the ads towards what they believe you would be interested in. With the girls on Instagram, their cute and trendy photos are supposed to make you desire the item they are promoting. This ties in with project three because it is important to know the audience of our genres in order for them to be effective in conveying their message.