Going Viral part 2 - A Personal Story

In the first part of this article I tried to explore the subtle differences between Viral Marketing and MLM and Network marketing. This time I would like to show an example of a product that I knew was going to go viral and explore what made them so popular

A Real Viral Product goes Global

When I was in living in Israel 4 years ago I saw that a lot of people were wearing a new type of shoe, It looked ugly and clumsy but I was intrigued and asked one guy if I could try his pair on. He then told me how amazing they were and gave me a ten minute sales pitch. I instantly loved them and spent the next few weeks hunting out a shop for a pain my size. This was a lot harder that I had expected because everyone was buying them up and many shops had a long waiting list for the next order. I have quite large feet which made it even more difficult. I finally tracked down a place and bought the last pair. which I wore constantly for 2 years and still wear to this day. I knew that these were going to go global because they were so good. If I was on a commission I would guess I must have been responsible for at least 100 sales due to all the people I recommended them to

A Business Opportunity

When I looked around for Crocs in England no one had even heard of them. At that time I seriously thought about starting a business related to these shoes but I had other commitments and my life was too travel oriented for this to become possible. A year later I bought my second pair at a stall at the county fair. I spent a while chatting to the guy. He has just discovered them 2 months before in America and became an agent. He wanted to buy my shoes so he could show people what they looked like after wearing them everyday for over one year.

The Tipping Point

Over the next two years crocs reached the tipping point and went global and for me the real proof came when my parents arrived for a visit a few days ago and my mum was proudly sporting her first pair. She had laughed at how strange they looked and is now singing their praises just like I was 4 years ago. This is a great example of viral marketing. Crocs spread via word of mouth because they are great shoes. They have a great design, are lightweight and extremely comfortable. They add value to the life of anyone who wears them and it’s the happy customers who do most of the advertising. Now they have created a whole range of products but it is still the original style that continues to be most popular I even saw a great squidoo lens that someone had made that about recycling old crocs. They even had a survey and I became part of the 2%, that said "You'll never pry my Crocs away from me!"

Get People Passionate

To make anything go viral you need to get people passionate and excited about your product or service, You have to create enough buzz so that people choose to promote what you have to offer so you either have to have a great product or you have to give away something of high enough value to get others talking about it.