Viral Marketing and the Basics

5. Use your constituents’ connections.
People are connecting online by the millions. Look at the number of “friends” people have gathered on social-networking sites. Or the popularity of online dating. Viral marketing enables organizations to help constituents share their admiration for the organization with their personal network. By creating clear, short messages that are easy to share and send, nonprofits can discover new supporters and touch more people.

Viral marketing is a favorite of marketers and fundraisers because it’s effective and inexpensive. Viral marketing is even more prevalent in today’s Web-driven world, and Web 2.0 capabilities have caused the number of viral marketers to skyrocket.

With so many tools available to enable constituents to become fundraisers, it’s important to remember the basics. Personalized communications; encouragement or incentives; simple messages that are easy to share; good privacy practices; and utilizing constituents’ connections are the five basic things to remember when fundraising the viral way.

Darryl Gordon is vice president of marketing for Kintera.