Research by Sharpe Partners, an interactive marketing agency, has shown that 89% of adult Internet users share email information with other users. Which is great for those who use viral email techniques to sell their products.

The research also looked at the type of email content that is forwarded most often. Top of the popularity list is humour.

Next, in decreasing order of popularity, are: news; medical & healthcare; religion and spiritual matters; games; personal finance & business; and hobbies & sports. So humour is the best approach for your viral marketing campaign.

To ensure that your email message goes viral, add something like jokes, cartoons or funny video clips. If it makes them laugh, people are more likely to pass it on. They are more likely to forward your message to friends and family if it is entertaining, rather than just an advertisement.

A little while back about 35 million people received an email that included a picture taken in Disneyland. There was Donald Duck lying flat in front of the famous Cinderella Castle. The caption read “Bird Flu has hit Disneyland”. This was viral email marketing for Disneyland, using a borderline strategy of making fun out of something serious – and it works.

Lots of computer users have seen that picture and hence the Disneyland advert. The bird flu epidemic was newsworthy and had the potential to get attention for any brand that might, whatever the reasons, associate itself with it.

Since people are more likely to share a funny picture or a joke than anything else, including humour in your email campaign could be a smart move.

It is generally accepted that e-books – particularly FREE E-BOOKS – are one of the best tools in a viral marketing campaign. Here are four good reasons for this:

1.    E-books are cheap and relatively quick to develop

If you have already written articles about your topic, you can incorporate them into an e-book.

Alternatively, if writing is not your strong point, try using rebrandable e-books that other people have written. Use your search engine to look for “rebrandable e-books”. This should give you many choices to consider.

You could give the e-book as a free gift to people signing up to your newsletter. If people want to share this sort of content with family and friends, they will pass it on to them – and they will pass it onto others – and you will earn money.

2.    E-books can reach a mass audience

The only thing limiting an e-book’s circulation is the readers’ enthusiasm. Hence your e-book must contain something that your readers will want to share, such as well-timed information or wit. Everyone likes to know something that everyone else needs to know. So they will pass on something that makes them look well informed.

3.    E-books help sell products other than the ones first targeted

For example, if the original target was garden products, customers may also be interested in e-books about landscaping, trees or lawns.

4.    E-books are good at building your reputation

 If you have a quality e-book that readers want to pass on, then your reputation is enhanced.

Here are some ideas to help start your viral marketing campaign.

1. If you can set up a bulletin board or online discussion forum, this is a really good tool. Allow others to use your forum within their own website. (Many sites do not have one of their own.) Ensure that your banner advertisement is included at the top of the forum.
2. There are lots of people on the Internet that will sell you a licence to distribute their product free of charge. What you want is a licence that includes “branding rights”. This allows you to include your name, web site and contact details on the product.
3. Buy the branding rights to a viral e-book. Let others give away your free e-book to their visitors. Then those visitors can also give it away. Thus your advertisement and messages will carry on spreading over the Internet.
4. Write articles relating to your product or service. Let others reprint your article in their websites, newsletters, magazines, e-zines or e-books. Include your particulars (name, hyperlinks, other contact details) and details about article reprints at the bottom of each article.
5. Produce your own e-book. Let others place an advertisement in your free e-book if, in return, they give your e-book away to their website visitors or e-zine subscribers.
6. Are you into web design? Develop your own templates, graphics, etc. and make them available on your site. Then let others give away your free templates, graphics, etc. Include your own advertisement on them or require users to link directly to your website. Ensure that there is a link to your website in the copyright notice and require that the copyright notice is kept intact.