Viral Marketing

Definition

A marketing strategy that encourages rapid, organic sharing of content so it spreads exponentially. It's the lottery ticket of marketing—everyone dreams of it, few win.

Example Usage

Our TikTok video went viral with 5 million views, but somehow only 47 people visited our website.

Origin

Internet culture, early 2000s

Fun Fact

Most attempts at viral marketing fail because you can't force organic sharing; the best viral campaigns happen accidentally.

Source: Social media and content marketing terminology

Related Terms

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lookalike expansion

The process of finding new prospects who resemble your existing customers, using algorithms to clone your best audience at scale. It's digital matchmaking based on the assumption that people similar to your customers will also tolerate your product.

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customer retention rate

The percentage of customers who continue doing business with you over a specific period, revealing whether your product is good or your churn is just temporarily delayed. The metric that determines if you're running a business or a leaky bucket.

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programmatic advertising

The automated buying and selling of ad space using algorithms and real-time bidding, eliminating the need for human negotiation and replacing it with machines that work faster and complain less. It's like high-frequency trading, but for banner ads.

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dog and pony show

An elaborate marketing presentation or product demo designed more to impress than inform, typically involving excessive showmanship. Substance optional, theatrics mandatory.

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sentiment analysis

Using natural language processing to determine whether customer feedback, social mentions, or reviews express positive, negative, or neutral opinions about your brand. It's teaching computers to detect sarcasm, which goes about as well as you'd expect.

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PPC (Pay-Per-Click)

An advertising model where you only pay when someone clicks your ad. It's gambling but with spreadsheets.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

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