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A Study Into the Effectiveness of Viral Marketing

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Aman Aggarwal
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    A Study on factors affecting viral marketing success

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    DECLARATION

    This dissertation is a product of my own work and is the result of nothing done in

    collaboration.

    I agree that this dissertation may be available for reference and photocopying at the discretion of theUniversity.

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    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

    Many thanks to all those who participated towards this study, either by taking part in the

    experiment, or completing the questionnaire.

    Thanks also, to the project advisor Miss. Anjali for the advice given throughout the

    project.

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    CONTENT

    ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ 3

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................. 3

    CONTENTS ........................................................................................................ 4

    1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 8

    1.1 Pitfalls in viral marketing 1.2 Hypothesis .......................... ..................................................................... 9

    1.3 Aims and Objectives .................................................................................. 9

    2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................ 10

    2.1 Marketing for Business............................................................................. 10

    2.2 E-Marketing.............................................................................................. 10

    2.3 Viral Marketing ......................................................................................... 11

    2.3.1 History................................................................................................ 12

    2.3.2 Viral Marketing Techniques................................................................ 13

    2.3.5 Successful Viral Marketing Campaigns .............................................. 18

    3. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................... 23

    3.1 Questionnaire........................................................................................... 23

    3.1.1Questionnaire Design.......................................................................... 24

    3.1.2 Questionnaire Sample........................................................................ 26

    3.1.3 Data Collection Method ...................................................................... 26

    3.4 Method of Data Analysis ..........................................................................33

    3.4.1 Questionnaire..................................................................................... 33

    3.5.2 Experiment ......................................................................................... 34

    3.5 Reliability and Validity .............................................................................. 34

    3.6 Ethics ....................................................................................................... 34

    4.RESULTS ...................................................................................................... 36

    4.1 Questionnaire Results.............................................................................. 36

    4.2 Experiment Results .................................................................................. 46

    5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION.............................................................. 50

    5.1 Questionnaire........................................................................................... 50

    5.1.1 Pass-along Viral Marketing ................................................................ 50

    5.1.2 User Control ....................................................................................... 51

    5.1.3 Web-linked Viral marketing (consumer reviews) ................................ 52

    5.2 Experiment ............................................................................................... 52

    5.2.1 The use of viral marketing in promoting brand awareness................. 525.2.2 Product Identification.......................................................................... 53

    5.2.3 Purchase Intention ............................................................................. 54

    5.3.4 Viral Potential ..................................................................................... 54

    5.3 Summary.................................................................................................. 55

    5.4 Recommendations ................................................................................... 56

    6. EVALUATION............................................................................................... 57

    6.1 Questionnaire........................................................................................... 57

    6.2 Experiment ............................................................................................... 58REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 60

    APPENDICES................................................................................................... 65

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    INTRODUCTION

    Marketing is used to increase an organisations success, by promoting its products of services to targetedpotential consumers (Hill and OSullivan, 1999). It is essential therefore, that marketing evolves and is

    redefined, in accordance with consumer behaviour, enabling organisations to remain successful.One recent development is that consumers have become more sophisticated and individually focussed,which is related to the introduction of new technologies such as the Internet. It is estimate that the total

    size of the global online population is currently over eight hundred million, and this figure continues to

    rise (OConnor, Galvin and Evans, 2004).

    This is resulting in developments in online advertising, with organisations identifying the potential in

    targeting this new online market (Nunny, 2000). Online advertising formats such as the press, television

    and outdoor media can be said to help create brand awareness and encourage consumer product preference

    (Nunny, 2000). However, a new technique being implored by some businesses is the use of viralmarketing which can be used to generate brand awareness among a large populous extremely quickly, and

    uses the consumers themselves to encourage product preference to others (Meerman-Scott, 2007).

    1.1 Pitfalls in viral marketing and how can one avoid them-

    Problem:Breaking netiquette

    Phonefree.com,a free long-distance-by-web company, recently got involved in a lawsuit over a netiquettefiasco. The viral campaign involved getting people to register for the service, then downloading their

    address books, and contacting everyone in there with the message "Register for free long distance with us,

    and you can talk to so-and-so who just signed up!"

    In this extreme case, not only were they spamming all the people on the lists they lifted (by contacting

    them without permission), they were violating the privacy of the voluntarily registered user, too. Not onlydid they incur the wrath of anti-spam factions, they also were sued.

    Solution:Know the rules, and educate your minions.

    1. Remember the basic premise of viral marketing: You are motivating your users to evangelize foryou by offering something positive. "Motivation" does not mean force, threats, dishonesty or

    stealth.

    2. Remember the basic rule of business: Build a customer base through good service, good products

    and trust. Whatever tactics you try, dont violate the trust of customers youve already won.

    When you evaluate a viral campaign, ask yourself if it violates these basic tenets, or if it asks the

    participants to violate them. Is the prize so large that it motivates false entries and spamming? Is the tacticso aggressive that you will saturate the message? Is it gaining new customers in such a way or at such a

    rate that you will alienate your previous customers?

    Problem:Too much of a good thing.

    Viral tactics are designed to grow exponentially. You tell two friends, then they tell two friends, then they

    tell two friends, and so on and so on. On the web, the growth is instant, as well as the reaction. A good joke

    http://www.phonefree.com/http://www.phonefree.com/
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    can spread to thousands of people in one day because it's so easy to click "Forward," add ten addresses, andhit "Send." Behold, the power of viral marketing.

    When you are dealing with web promotion, the action might involve the respondents hitting your web site,

    registering, downloading a large file, requesting a freebie, or buying something.

    If the promotion is big enough and response strong enough, you might see a ten- or 100-fold increase in

    traffic within a day. Is your web server ready? Is your response staff ready? Is your budget ready?

    Solution:Keep the spread of the virus properly valued, paced and targeted.

    Target, target, target. Again, viral marketing works best as a community-based event. Visitors should be

    spreading the word to friends that will be interested in the topic, not to everyone in the world.

    How can you make sure your visitors properly target their word-of-mouth, when they may not even know

    what targeting means? The reward should be relevant to your market. The reward shouldn't be so large that

    it motivates cheating or over-spread. The reward should have your message or brand all over it, so thateverybody knows this is aboutyou.

    1.2 Hypothesis

    Viral marketing is an effective medium for advertising over the internet.

    1.3 Aims and Objectives

    This study aims to investigate two areas surrounding viral marketing-

    The first aim is find out what are the factors that affect viral marketing success. This will be done

    through the use of a participants being assessed before and after the questionnaire analysis.

    The second was to investigate the effectiveness of viral marketing on the internet in promoting a video.

    This will be explored through the use of a questionnaire.

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    LITERATURE REVIEW

    2.1 Marketing for Business

    Marketing is essential for businesses as it allows them to make their products or services known to the

    consumer and persuade them to invest in them (Hill et al,

    1999). It has been noted that the use of marketing will improve a businesses performance (Jobber andFahy, 2006). For instance, in a study carried out by Narver and Slater (1990) the use of marketingwithin a business had a significant effect on how profitable a business was deemed to be, with

    businesses that did more marketing having the highest levels of profitability. This therefore suggests

    that to enable a business to be successful it needs to have a high level of market orientation. There aremany ways for businesses to begin marketing themselves, these include television campaigns, national

    and regional newspapers adverts, billboard posters, radio adverts, business and consumer magazine

    articles, or more traditionally through direct mail campaigns. (Zimmerman, 2001)

    2.2 E-Marketing

    The introduction of the Internet and the World Wide Web created an opportunity for businesses to reacha wider audience (quickly and easily) in their marketing campaigns. Advertising over the internet via

    pop-ups in websites, or banner adverts, became an effective way to market in the mid 90s and is known

    as e-

    marketing (Jelassi and Enders, 2005). As a result of this, new marketing techniques have been

    implemented into business marketing strategies. One example would be e-mail campaigns, where acompany sends out an e-mail detailing their latest product offers to a range of consumers, hoping that they

    will get an increase in business. However, this can be problematic as the company must first gather email

    addresses from prospective customers, and they must also design their e-mail campaigns according to

    target the audience they wish to sell to. Also, when marketing material is sent to a list of email addresses itis hard to target the preferred audience. This is because often businesses do not have any other information

    to link the email address to an actual person (Chaffey, 2003)

    2.3 Viral Marketing

    Viral marketing can be used for passing along adverts, animations, photos, hyperlinked promotions,

    newsletters, games, press releases, petitions or whatever else will advertise your business. This type of

    marketing encourages individuals to pass on information that they receive in a hypermedia environment tofriends and acquaintances (Moore, 2003). The way in which data and information is sent between users in

    viral marketing creates a chain effect that spreads the message, or purpose, of the sent content onto the

    next user, and therefore the cycle continues onto the user after that. As Mohammed and Fisher (2003)

    suggest, viral marketing generates a buzzaround a product or service, created by user-to-userrecommendation. It has been noted by Mohammed et al (2003), that users are more likely to trust

    recommendations made by friends or acquaintances on a product or service, rather than the company

    themselves. This is one reason why products that are part of a viral marketing campaign tend to take off

    in popularity very quickly. Evidently, this is the reason that

    businesses are now starting to understand the possibilities and opportunities that viral marketing can createfor them.

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    2.3.1 History

    Viral marketing was first recognised in 1997 following the rapid growth of the email service Hotmail

    through the invite friendsrequest. Hotmail is a key example of how quickly business may becomesuccessful using viral marketing, as Simonsen (2008) states its users grew from 500,000 in 1996 to

    12,000,000 users just a year later. The film The Blair Witch Projectis also considered to be a pioneer for

    viral marketing techniques, with its use of the Internet to communicate leakedinformation to the wider

    audience (Mohr, 2007). Marketing in this way had not been seen before on the Internet. Previously,companies who decided to use the internet to advertise themselves rarely produced material that created a

    viral buzz. Instead, corporate video about a company, which often was mundane and predictable, wasproduced. For example snippets of a Managing Directors Speech may have been uploaded. However, this

    is not something that would excite viewers, and certainly wouldnt encourage them to tell others to watch

    the material (Stern, 2001).

    2.3.2 Viral Marketing Techniques

    As described by Smith and Chaffey (2005) there are four viral marketing techniques available for

    businesses to use.E-mail plays a key part in these techniques as it provides the portal for communicationexchange to take place.

    Pass-along email viral is one technique. It is where one email is sent containing a link or attachment to

    view the marketing material a company wishes you to. The viewer is then prompted to email a friend,spreading the message in the link or attachment further.

    Another technique is web facilitated viral, where a link to email a friendis placed on the company

    website to gain additional email addresses to use in other marketing campaigns.A popular viral marketing technique is incentiviezed viral, where an award or offer is made available to an

    individual once they have provided the company with an email address, or addresses of friends or

    colleagues. This technique often works well because individuals are far more likely to participate if theres

    something in it for them.

    Finally, the last viral marketing technique being discussed is web-linked viral.This is where links inarticles, chatrooms or even social networking sites, sent by friends or colleges direct you to a businesses

    website. This technique relies on the word-of mouth (or rather word-of-mouse) of the every day web user,and so it is much harder for businesses to manipulate in their favour. This means that if their products and

    services are good, then people will advocate this. However, this is also true if the products and services are

    bad.

    2.3.5 Successful Viral Marketing Campaigns

    Creating material that others wish to view and ultimately send on for others to see is essential for viral

    marketing to work. There are many ways that businesses can create successful viral marketing campaignsto aid the growth of their business and get it known world-wide. This is because, in some ways, successful

    viral marketing campaigns are heavily influenced by luck, meaning that someone has found theinformation interesting enough to pass on to another.

    The businesses need to be aware of negative feedback that appears online, as well as the positive (Scott,2007). If positive comments are made businesses should then step in and encourage them to snowballusing viral marketing techniques.It is generally advised that viral marketing campaigns should be kept

    simple in concept (Baily, 2006, Morrissey et al, 2008).

    Mohr (2007) explains that to make a successful viral marketing campaign, it must include something that

    is interesting, clever, catchy or remarkable that will create a buzz and propel the subject into being a key

    talking point with people.

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    Recent studies have shown that the majority of people who receive some kind of email advertisement will

    forward it on. A study by Zimmerman (2009) found that 81% of recipients will forward a message to atleast one other person and 49% will send it to two or more others. When considering those percentages, it

    becomes clear how quickly these viral messages spread, and therefore why businesses need to harness

    them to aid their marketing objectives. Thus, digital world is the place in which a brand communicates

    with its young market, with one in four people aged between seven and sixteen estimated to have replacedwatching television with online activities in recent years. It is evident that businesses can use the internet

    to reach this younger audience, but this is too often overlooked and undervalued by most companies.Instead these companies opt to stick to more traditional marketing methods. However, a changing to newmarketing methods is required to ensure businesses are targeting the most current markets. This is because

    businesses cant afford to lose the interest of the young.

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    METHODOLOGY

    An effective promoting medium is being outlined in this study as a tool which is able to generate interestin videowatching . In order for the aims and objectives of this study to be realised, The method of

    questionnaire designed is used to find out if participants have themselves been part of viral marketing, and

    the feelings they have towards viral marketing techniques.

    3.1 Questionnaire

    A questionnaire has been designed to establish the effectiveness of viral marketing in generating

    awareness of a video (gangnam style) in a real-world environment

    A method of obtaining data through a questionnaire was chosen as it allows many potential participants to

    be targeted quickly. Also, as questionnaires were sent via email and surveymonkey.com

    This style of questionnaire is a self-completion questionnaire, which as Brace (2005) suggests is effective

    in gathering data from participants as they allow the participant to respond to the questions in their own

    time, and so there is no pressure put on them that may result in any unnecessary anxiety or stress. Inaddition, as the questionnaire was anonymous, the participant is more likely to be truthful in their

    answers, so better results can be obtained (Brace, 2005)

    3.1.1Questionnaire Design

    The questionnaire has been designed to ensure participants are clear on the information they are required

    to provide, making it as easy as possible for them to complete. This is important because a poorly

    designed questionnaire is not likely to gain many results, and for the results that are recorded, their

    reliability should be questioned (Brace, 2005).

    The questionnaire, therefore, had a logical structure and was split into three defined parts.

    The first area the questionnaire explored was whether participants had been involved in viral emailmarketing campaigns, as previously mentioned this is one technique used in viral marketing.

    The second area the questionnaire investigated was if participants have been aware of a recent viral

    marketing campaign for the video Gangnam style by PSY ,and assessing the effect this

    had on them.

    Finally, the third area that the questionnaire covered was the use of web-linked viral for product reviewsand how participants respond to them.

    There were a total of twenty-two questions asked in the questionnaire, however all questions in eachsection were not related to one another. The questionnaire included closed questions, that force a choice to

    be made. Thirteen questions required the participant to select either a yesor noresponse. This was

    designed to enable the results obtained to be as clear and defined as possible. In only giving participants achoice of two possible answers, it ensures they make a considered choice. This method was reported tominimise discrimination against the less literate as the answers categories are easy to understand.

    3.1.2 Questionnaire Sample

    An opportunity sample will be used to gain results for the questionnaire. This questionnaire will be sent

    to one hundred prospective participants.It is essential for the questionnaire to be sent out to as manyprospective participants as possible,this is to ensure that enough responses are sent back to be able to

    asses the results successfully (Brace, 2005).

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    3.1.3 Data Collection Method

    The questionnaire will be distributed via email, which will contain an attachment to the blankquestionnaire in the form a word document. A cover letter is contained within the email as a participant

    can be influenced by this, and therefore it provides a means to persuade the participant to complete the

    survey .

    The participants were not obligated to answer all questions, although ideally this was preferable. Therefore,

    areas that a participant felt uncomfortable in providing information for, could be left unanswered. The

    received email was then immediately deleted from the

    system to ensure that the participants anonymity was upheld. It is important that any identifying informationis destroyed in this way and the participant is notified of this procedure to reassure them that their anonymitywill be maintained.

    The data was also collected through the online questionnaires that each participant completed. The

    responses to these questionnaires are stored online on the surveymonkey.com server and are accessible via

    the researchers login details for the site.

    3.4 Method of Data Analysis

    There are two methods of data analysis used in this study; one used for the questionnaire and another for the

    experiment. Although, both methods analyse data obtained from questionnaires, they do so in differingways.

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    Findings and Analysis

    4.1 Questionnaire Results

    The data obtained from the questionnaire produced some interesting results, which were then

    analysed with the aim of the questionnaire in mind, to investigate the effectiveness of viral

    marketing in generating awareness of Gangnam style by PSY .

    Exihibit: 01

    This shows that the age of the surveyed.They range from the teens to the middle aged highest being the age

    group of 20-30 yrs with 59% and lowest is 3% in the 40 above age goup.

    8%

    27%

    10%

    55%

    Age

    40

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    Exihibit: 02

    The chart above shows that 38% of people spend an average of 3-4 hrs a day surfing the internet followed

    by 24% respondents spending 1-2 hrs a day.

    Exihibit: 03

    46% people are likely to watch videos and 2% respondents being the most unlikely to watch videos.

    16%

    24%

    38%

    22%

    How long do you usually spend on the

    internet per day ?

    >1 hour

    1-2 hours

    3-4 hours

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    Exihibit: 04

    52% respondents are likely to watch music videos whereas 4% people are not at all attracted towards music

    videos.

    Exihibit: 05

    38% respondents preferwatching Funny videos voer Serious and Romantic. And 40% people like to wath

    Romantic videos n least preffered is watching serious videos.

    14%

    52%

    14%

    16%

    4%

    How likely are you to watch music videos ?

    Extremely Likely

    Likely

    Neutral

    Unlikely

    Extremely Unlikely

    38%

    22%

    40%

    Which type of music video do you prefer?

    (select all that apply)

    Funny

    Serious

    Romantic

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    Exihibit: 06

    In the last few months the video of PSY Gangnam style has been watched the most with a percentage of 51

    followed by On the floor and Kolaveri Di.

    Exihibit: 07

    There are only 4% people who have not watched the video of PSY Gangnam Style.

    51%

    9%

    21%

    19%

    Which of the following videos have you

    watched in the last few months?(select all

    that apply)

    PSY Gangnam Style

    Baby (Justin Beiber)

    On the floor (jennifer Lopez)

    Kolaveri Di

    96%

    4%

    Have you seen the video of PSY gangnam

    style?

    Yes

    No

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    Exihibit: 08

    Gangnam style has mostly been spread by word of mouth followed by Facebook and Youtube holding the

    same percentage.

    Exihibit: 09

    70% of the respondents liked the video whereas 14% and 15% found it very well and not at all appealing

    respectively.

    34%

    31%

    31%

    4%

    If yes, from which source did you get to know

    about Gangnam style music video?

    Friends

    Facebook

    Youtube

    Newspaper

    16%

    70%

    14%

    How well the video visually appeal you?

    Very well

    Somewhat ok

    Not at all

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    Exihibit: 10

    The video is most widely like because of being Funny and having a Catchy Beat.. the respondents did not

    find the video very Speacial or very Exciting.

    Exihibit: 11

    The video became popular among the respondents due to Humor majorly i.e. about 40% followed by good

    music and Easy Dance steps.

    50%

    6%

    14%

    30%

    Why did you like the video ?

    Funny

    Special

    Exciting

    Catchy beat

    26%

    40%

    7%

    27%

    Why do you think the video became so

    popular?

    Easy Dance Steps

    Humor

    Celebrity Collaboration

    Music

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    Exihibit: 12

    The exhibit shows that 52% of the people rate the video as a 4/5 and being the least preffered rate as 2/5 by

    only 4% respondents.

    Exihibit: 13

    The USP of the PSY Gangnam Style video comes out to be its Dance Step followed by the Beats of the

    Song.

    10%

    4%

    21%

    52%

    13%

    On the scale of 1- 5 ; what score would you

    give to the to the video of gangnam style? (1

    being the lowest & 5 the highest)

    1

    2

    3

    4

    5

    45%

    31%

    6%

    14%

    4%

    What do you remember about the video ?

    Dance steps

    Song beat

    Costume

    PSY himself

    No idea

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    Exhibit: 14

    The exhibit shows that 50% wanted to share the link whereas 21% people only shared it because they liked the

    video.

    Exhibit: 15

    This exhibit shows that 50% of the people share links sometimes whereas 30% and 20% of the respondents share

    links rarely and quite often respectively

    50%

    3%

    21%

    26%

    What was the reason behind forwarding the

    link?

    Wanted to share link Appear cool Liked the video Normally share link

    20%

    50%

    30%

    How often do you forward/share links with

    others?

    Quite often Sometime Rarely

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    Exhibit: 16

    41% of the respondents view a forwarded link only if it is interesting, 30% want to

    Exhibit: 17

    50% of respondents never open a link from a stranger whereas only 13% open links from strangers always.

    24%

    41%

    30%

    5%

    How often would you watch a link from a

    friend ?

    Often If interesting After knowing about it Ignore

    13%

    37%

    50%

    How often do u open a link from a stranger?Always If virus free Never

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    DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

    After Interpreting the analysis I found that-

    As shown in exhibit 1, the surveyed population has maximum 58% of people lying in the age of 20- 30

    followed by 22% of people ranging from 30-40 years. The next set being of 16% people less than the age

    of 20 and the rest 4% lying above 40yrs of age.

    40% females prefer watching videos compared to 60% males doing the same.

    38% of people spend an average of 3-4 hrs a day surfing the internet followed by 24% respondents

    spending 1-2 hrs a day. The next slot is another 22% and 16% of people spending 1

    hours a day respectively.

    8%, 46%, 38%, 6% and 2% respondents watch videos in the order of liking ranging from extremely

    likely to extremely unlikely respectively.

    14%, 52%, 14%, 26% and 4% respondents watch music videos in the order of liking ranging from

    extremely likely to extremely unlikely respectively.

    38% respondents prefer watching Funny videos over Serious and Romantic. And 40% people like

    to watch Romantic videos n least preferred are watching serious videos with 22% of the respondent.

    The video of PSY Gangnam style has been watched the most with a percentage of 51 followed by

    21% people watching on the floor and 19% respondents seeing Kolaveri Di and the least watched

    being 9% and that of Baby by Justin Beiber.

    4% people who have not watched the video of PSY Gangnam Style.

    Gangnam style has mostly been spread by word of mouth in about 34%, followed by Face book and

    YouTube holding the 31% each and the least been spread by the newspaper.

    70% of the respondents liked the video whereas 14% and 15% found it very well and not at all

    appealing respectively.

    The video is most widely liked because of being Funny attracting 50% and having a Catchy Beat

    attracted 30% of the respondents. 6% and 14% of the respondents did not find the video verySpecial or very Exciting respectively.

    The video of PSY Gangnam Style became popular majorly about 40% due to Humor, followed by

    27%, 26% and 7% respondents being attracted due to Music, Easy dance Steps and Celebrity

    Collaboration respectively.

    52% of the people rate the video as a 4/5 and being rated 3/5, 5/5, 1/5, and 2/5 by 21%, 13%, 10%

    and 4% respectively. 5/5 being the highest and 1/5 being the lowest.

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    45% respondents remembered the dance steps, 31%- the song beat, 6%- costume, 14%- PSY

    himself and 4% people did not really find anything memorable.

    50% respondents shared the link because they wanted to, 3%- to sound cool, 21% shared the link because

    they liked the video and the rest 26% because they normally shared links.

    50% of the people share links sometimes whereas 30% and 20% of the respondents share links rarely and

    quite often respectively

    41% of the respondents view a forwarded link only if it is interesting, 30% respondents viewed a link only

    after knowing what it was about, 24% watched links often and 5% ignored it.

    50% of respondents never open a link from a stranger whereas only 13% open links from strangers always

    and 37% respondents see a link only if it is virus free.

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    Summary

    The results conclude that the use of incentivised viral marketing is not being effectively utilised

    enough on the Internet. This is because the majority of users stated they do not provide businesseswith an additional email address, of a friend or acquaintance, when prompted to, which suggest that

    incentives are not being provided.

    The study has concluded online user reviews are an effective way in generating awareness of anvideo, and the results also found that users are more likely to forward link of the same if it is

    worth sharing.

    It has been concluded from results that viral marketing material created by companies needs

    to include information that enables usersto identify the products being promoted, so that it is

    effective in generating potential sales.

    Finally, it has been concluded that the majority of users will pass-on marketing material to oneanother. This suggests therefore, that businesses need to target these users effectively to enable

    their viral campaigns to be successful in generating sales.

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    5.4 Recommendations

    The study highlighted two recommendations for further work:

    The first area to be looked into further is the relationship between the content of viral marketing

    campaigns and the number of potential sales that are generated as a result. This relationship shouldbe analysed, possibly by categorising the type of content used in viral marketing. For example the

    differences in sales resulting from viral marketing campaigns containing humorous content

    compared with content generating different user emotions, could be assessed.

    The second area where further work is recommended is the effect viral marketing has on brand

    awareness. The differences in viral marketing campaigns that generate positive consumer

    attitudes towards a brand, should be analysed against those that generate negative consumer

    attitudes, and the results should be concluded.

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    QUESTIONNAIRE

    Gender: Male Female

    Age Groups :

    1.How long do you usually spend on the internet per day?

    a)>1 hr

    b)1-2 hrs

    c)3-4 hrs

    d)

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    7. From which source did you get to know about Gangnam style music video?

    a)Friendsb)Facebook

    c)Youtube

    d)newspaper

    8. Did the video appeal to you? 5 scale

    a) Yes

    b) No

    9. How well did the video catch your attention ?

    a)very well

    b) Somewhat well

    c) not at all

    10. Why did you like the video ?

    a)Funny

    b)Special

    c)Exciting

    d)Catchy beat

    11.. Why do you think the video became so popular???

    a)Easy Dance steps

    b)

    Humor

    c)Celebrities collaboration

    d)music

    12. On the scale of 1-5 ; what score would you give to the to the video?(1 being to lowest & 5 the highest)

    a) 1b)2

    c) 3

    d)4

    e)

    5

    13. What do you remember about the video ?

    a)dance steps

    b) song beatc)costume

    d)PSY himself

    e) No idea

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    14 . Did you forward the video link onto your friends to watch?

    a)Yes

    b)No

    15. What was the reason behind forwarding the link: (Select all that apply)

    a)I wanted to share the link with my friends

    b) I wanted to appear as a cool person who knows the trends

    c) I liked the video a lotd) I normally share links with my friends

    16.How often do you forward/share links with others :-

    a)Quite often

    b)Sometimes

    c)rarely

    17. How often would you watch a link from a friend :-

    a)I watch the video

    b)I watch until it seems interesting

    c)I open only aftr asking whats the link all about

    d)I ignore it

    18. How likely are you to open a video from someone who is not a friend ./family

    a)I always open the link

    b)I open until it is virus free

    c)I ignore it