Yep, still responding to question #6 in The Importance of Viral Marketing, a podcast interview I did with AllBusiness.com's Chris Bjorkland. The podcast was based on NextStage's research into WOM, viral and buzz marketing. Obviously, I'm verbose. Then again, if you've ever seen any of my blibiographies, you know that.
This arc provides a text version of the The Importance of Viral Marketing interview. There was a lot more in the podcast than appears in this arc, save a few last questions we didn't have time for. Each post in this arc will answer some part of one of the questions (regular type) Chris Bjorklund asked me followed by my response (italics). Question #6 was "Some viral messages keep re-appearing and become annoying. What are some ways you can control how long a message is out there? How can the message get distorted?" I responded to "How long can a message be out there?" in Part 6 and Part 6a, and started answering "How can the message get distorted?" in Part 6b. I'm continuing that thread here, picking up at Print allows the individual immediacy but not necessarily the group.
But on the web? I can email you, I can even call you. Now let’s put both those elements together with what are called “smart mobs”, where people are using cellphones to virally spread messages, instructions, whatever, to each other. The challenge there is the size of the individual’s social network. This is why so many cell phone service providers give you a perk for getting everyone you know into your network hence onto their system. They’re kind of rewarding you for being a social butterfly.The reason I say “butterfly” is because we know from anthropology studies that the largest group any one individual can have significant social contact with is about 65-70 people, about the size of a tribal village (we may evolve rapidly as a technological society but we’re not evolving rapidly as social creatures). Once groups get larger subgroups tend to emerge.
This isn’t a good or bad thing, merely a thing. For example, a small high school or college’s graduating class may have 35-50 people in it and each student knows all the other graduating students on a first name basis, probably has had direct interaction with them at some point in time.
(more to follow)
Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.
Links for this post:
- 3 Rules for Creating Buzz
- The "AllBusiness.com's Chris Bjorklund interviews viral marketing expert Joseph Carrabis, founder of NextStage Evolution" arc
- Holmes&Watsons
- Social Networks and Viral Marketing
- The Importance of Viral Marketing Podcast on AllBusiness.com
- Viral Marketing blog posts
- Why Some Viral Marketing Doesn't Work
- Yes, You Can Predict Viral Marketing
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