Publisher Lesson #1: Create a profile of your community members and work to understand how they share information–then make it easy for them to share it!
Whether you’re adding share buttons to your website, reaching out on Twitter, or starting an email campaign, you need to know how your readers receive and send information every day. You’ll make better decisions if you know who you’re marketing to and why.
Publisher Lesson #2: Identify the members in your community with the greatest potential viral pull.
The members of your community with the most widely respected and followed online platforms obviously wield potential, but don’t rule out the people who have a greater influence over as smaller, better cultivated group of followers, too. You may find that ten bloggers with 500 followers each have more actual influence over their followers than the single celebrity with 50,000.
Publisher Lesson #3: Use real language for real people.
Your marketing copy isn’t going to swing it for “the viral rave”. Pick your words wisely. Your community members need to feel comfortable sending your content on, and you’ll need to stand above the pack of sell-sheet copy that’s already out there. Get creative!
Publisher Lesson #4: Face your fears: be ready to set your content free.
Well, at least some of it. Viral marketing won’t work unless you’ve got something to offer. A deal or coupon might get some communities going and will leave others high and dry. And even though your content is your business, the best way to get viral marketing going will be to give some of it away. Assess the risks of opening those doors, but while you’re at it, assess the risk of not opening them.
