The Real Viral Effect

People normally think of the viral effect in terms of an exponential curve. The number of views gently curving upwards and upwards as time goes by.

The reality of how viral campaigns really perform is, however, a lot more complex.

A real viral curve has an initial launch boost, which is similar to the classic exponential curve, and shows the preliminary surge a campaign generates on launch – generally created from the initial seeding push.

This initial curve is though then followed by a plateau. This leveling off viewings represents the “community conversation” around the campaign – in blogs, community forums, social networks etc. over a sustained period of time.

Finally there is the long tail. This is the legacy of a viral campaign and is created by the huge amount of referrers generally created from any form of viral activity.

The most interesting aspect of the real viral curve is the long tail – an area often over-looked in developing marketing strategies. It is important remember how viral campaigns continue to attract interest way beyond the initial viral launch period, and shows the ongoing value of viral marketing.