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In September 2008 at Web 2.0 Expo in New York, I shared something that many, to this day, believe to the contrary, “There is no such thing as viral marketing.”
The declaration was empathetic in its direction to those marketers who have been on the receiving end of directives instructing them to create and unleash viral content. In parallel, the statement was aimed at those decision makers who assign such projects.
One of the greatest challenges I encounter today is not the willingness of a brand to engage, but its ability to create. When blueprinting social architecture and the engineering that connects people to other people strategically, enthusiasm and support typically derail when examining the resources and the commitment required to rhythmically produce, distribute, and support content.
Indeed, we are programming the social web around our brand hub and as such, we’re required to capture attention and also hold it through the introduction of engaging dialogue, interaction, and the introduction of relevant information packaged and published as social objects.
I just read an interesting post over at Search Engine Land by Greg Sterling. He gives some information about a study recently done that measured the impact of real-time search results in Google. (For the uninitiated, “real-time search” is the ability of Google and other search engines to return content in the search results that might be mere minutes old, such as newly-minted blog entries, Facebook status updates, and tweets, rather than returning only the traditional Web pages and other content that might have been published far earlier than the search being performed.)