Viral marketing is very different from many forms of online marketing. While pay-per-click advertising and email marketing rely on razor-sharp calculations and per-customer acquisition costs, viral marketing is much more dependent on psychological triggers and natural marketing methods.
Perhaps that is why it is rarely the most scientific marketers that make the most successful viral marketing campaigns. It is difficult to calculate the spread factor for viral marketing news, just as it is incredibly difficult for Hollywood to predict which movies will hit big and which won’t.
The internet has opened up the age of the unpredictable hit, and with some psychological effects it’s possible to give your viral marketing campaign a much greater chance of being that hit.