There is much evidence which proves that a viral marketing strategy in a company is beneficial, however there are reasons to suggest that it can also have a negative effect.

Krishnamurthy (2000) stated the problems which can hinder a viral advertising campaign. These include brand control, uncharted growth and lack of measurement.

·         Brand Control: Once an ad goes viral it can be seen and shared by anyone so it is hard to know exactly who is going to view the ad. This means many of the messages can come into contact with people outside of the target audience who may view the ad in a different way. Nowadays it is also possible for messages and videos to be modified before passed on, which causes variability, and to an extent uncertainty in how a brand is perceived.

·         Uncharted Growth: Viral marketing can cause mix growth patterns and paths therefore making it harder for companies to plan and change their strategic direction.

·         Lack of Measurement: It is extremely difficult to measure how successful a viral advertising campaign actually is.  This is because it is virtually impossible to track and measure whether a sale was made due to a viral campaign. There are also other marketing strategies which could be adopted that give a better indication on the levels of success.

Thevenot & Waiter (2001) state there worries with viral marketing campaigns are that spam messages are a major concern. They state ‘companies wishing to use viral marketing campaigns need to make sure the motivation they offer persons to spread the buzz is not so great that it encourages spamming’. Spam messages could disinterest potential customers and turn them against the brand resulting in a loss of customers and sales. However the year later Klopper (2002) suggests the way to avoid this obstacle is by having a disclaimer at the beginning of the viral content, reminding consumers that they did ‘opt-in’ to receive this content. At the same time the content must always have an option where the consumer can ‘opt-out’ should they want to do so.

After reviewing over Thevenot’s and Klopper’s views I can see that it is important that a company looking to develop a viral ad campaign recognise and understand where the areas of vulnerability are before creating their campaign.

References

Krishnamurthy, S. (2000) Is Viral Marketing All It’s Cracked up to Be? Click Z. 9 May 2000 [Online] http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1703213/is-viral-marketing-all-its-cracked-be [accessed 28th April 2015]

Thevenot, C. & Watier, K. (2001) Viral Marketing. Washington: Georgetown University Press [accessed 28th April 2015]

Klopper, H.B. (2002) Viral Marketing: A Powerful, But Dangerous Marketing Tool. South African Journal Of Information Management. Vol. 4 (Issue 2).[accessed 28th April 2015]