Do you understand what viral, buzz and social marketing are?

Buzz marketing, social marketing and internet viral marketing are all terms that are frequently bandied about in today’s Web 2.0 world. But what do they really mean? Is the definition of viral marketing, the definition of buzz marketing and the definition of social marketing the same? Let’s take a look at each of these.

Definition of viral marketing

The term “computer virus” was coined to describe a harmful computer program that replicates itself to spread from computer to computer, much like a real human virus. Viral marketing is a similar concept. It is an online idea, whether it be a game, a site or a message, that becomes popular due to being passed from person to person, normally very quickly. Often time internet viral marketing happens unintentionally. A viral marketing example is that a person finds a previously unknown website and sends the URL to 5 of their friends. Those friends, in turn send the URL to 5 of their friends. And so on after that.

Definition of buzz marketing

Buzz marketing can be related to internet viral marketing. It is sometimes used to help launch a viral marketing campaign and sometimes happens after an idea goes viral. Buzz marketing is when a concept appears online in key influential locations. For example, a popular blogger may talk about a previously unknown website. This in turn causes several other bloggers to talk about the site as well.

Definition of social marketing

Social marketing is more of a collective marketing. Rather than an idea being passed along, as you would find with internet viral marketing or buzz marketing, it is gathered together in a central location, typically a social media site like Digg, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us or YouTube. An idea is submitted to these places and then additional actions are done by others to cause it to be elevated in the public view. In the case of Digg or StumbleUpon, a webpage is submitted and then others vote on the merit of that webpage on the Digg or StumbleUpon website. The more votes a webpage gets, the more visible the wepage is to other users of the service. Similarly, on Del.icio.us, the more times a URL is saved by members on the Del.icio.us site, the more visible it is to other members. On YouTube, the more times a video is viewed, the more visible it is to other viewers.

Now that you know the definition of viral marketing, the definition of buzz marketing and the definition of social marketing, you can use these different concepts to build on one another. In the Web 2.0 world, these three closely related forms of marketing can be combined to create a power packed yet affordable online marketing campaign.