Project report on Viral Marketing

To Study the impact of Viral Marketing on Consumer Buying Behaviour
C.I.B.M.R.D NAGPUR Page1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Internet is something we use in our everyday lives. The reason for why I choose our subject
to be viral marketing is because we all fascinated about how much power it has on the
Internet. During the past years social medias has grown and we, just as the majority of our
friends, family and relatives are all using different types of social medias every day. The
companies have realised how effective these social Medias are as an advertising tool and the
number of viral messages being exposed to the social media users has grown tremendously.
The growth of social media has created a new marketing environment where the traditional
marketing rules are no longer apply. Marketers experimenting with new ways to reach the
customer are now heavily rely on online and social media. Internet technologies not only
provide marketing information to customers but allow them to talk to other customers of
their opinions and experiences. This has resulted in the increasing trend of viral marketing
where marketing messages are shared among users, creating the exponential growth in the
message visibility. Further, wider acceptance of smart phones has made it all the more easier
as several mobile messenger apps like WhatsApp allow customers to get instant touch with
family and friends at no cost.
The viral marketing is specifically related to its use of existing digital networks, which are
relatively inexpensive, fast, and easy to use, and often include global consumers. It is easy to
target a viral message because they naturally circulate among persons with common
behaviors or interests where viral marketing exploits existing social networks by
encouraging customers to share product information with their friends. The technique is
valuable for both consumers and companies. Consumers get things they want, such as
discounts, free products, or valuable information and the companies getting benefits.
The widespread use of the Internet by consumers to exchange information and pass it
between them and used it in online purchases is easy way through social media
(intentionally or unintentionally), makes them an effective tool to pass the advertising
message between them. According to the "small world" concept, "any pair of entities in a
seemingly vast, random network can actually connect in a predictable way through relatively
short paths of mutual acquaintance.

1.1 BACKGROUND
The early marketing thoughts were focused on how to bring products to the market and the
consumers then bought what was available at the market. While the economy developed,
organizations had to become more market and customer positioned. The technology changes
that have occurred in the recent years have been reflected in the product and services in the
market. Companies have to adapt these changes to keep their competitiveness because of
many substitutes in the market. The communication in the Internet market has become more
important and therefore social medias such as Facebook, YouTube and blogs have become
one of the most important ways for companies to market themselves. Viral marketing is a
strategy that boosts individuals to pass along a message to other people. If a large number of
receivers forward a message to a large number of people, the growth of the message grows
quickly. A viral message can be exploded to thousands and millions of people, therefore the
name viral marketing. Off the Internet viral marketing also is called “word of mouth”.
The amount of private persons that use social medias like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and
blogs every day, are millions. These people use these communities everyday to communicate
with their friends and to create new contacts. Viral marketing has become a huge opportunity
for companies to advertise on the Internet. “Brands big and small launch viral videos via
YouTube, post new product information on their MySpace pages, court the blogosphere and
send forth armies of evangelists to spread the gospel by word-of-mouth to make people aware
of their products and services and hopefully create a need at the customers for just their
products”. For companies to adapt these new media strategies is not only a cost saving,
especially in time of economic recession, it also gives the companies opportunities to increase
brand awareness and access to the most influential marketing strategy of them all: online
word of mouth marketing; viral marketing.
1.2 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR
Consumer buying behavior is a process by which consumers select, purchase, use anddispose
a product based on their taste and preference.
There are few reasons for the change in consumer buying behavior, that are:
● One of the most significant reasons is the Convenience; the customer can order theproduct
anytime they want. 24/7 service is available if the customer is inclined topurchase online.
They can order the product from anywhere, anytime by just click ofa finger so the ease factor

is there for consumers and that’s how marketers are providing convenience benefit to their
potential buyers.
● Another important reason is Information; customers can find a variety of informationabout
companies, products, competitors, prices and above all they are getting veryclear and
information through their Mobile or laptop screens.
● The other reason is the low cost; marketers are intelligent enough to capture theaudience
with the term ‘low cost,' that provides savings to the customers. Onlinemarketers utilize
economic techniques to serve the customers. They hold back thestore expenses that would
cost them high while they maintain a proper franchise fortheir respective product. They
produce digital catalogue which is less than the cost ofprinted catalogues.
Figure. 1.2.1. Consumer Buying Decision Process
Keep in mind, however, that different people, no matter how similar they are, make different
purchasing decisions. Stages in the Consumer’s Purchasing Process outlines the buying
stages consumers go through, mentioned as follows:
Stage 1.Need Recognition: Marketers often try to stimulate consumers into realizing they
have a need for a product.
Stage 2.Search for Information: Maybe you have owned several backpacks and know what
you like and don’t like about them. Or, there might be a particular brand that you’ve
purchased in the past that you liked and want to purchase in the future. This is a great
position for the company that owns the brand to be in—something firms strive for. Why?
Because it often means you will limit your search and simply buy their brand again.

Step 3.Select an Alternative: The third step in the problem-solving model is to select one of
the alternatives explored in Step 2 for implementation. After you have evaluated each
alternative, one should stand out as coming closest to solving the problem with the most
advantages and fewest disadvantages.
Step 4.Implementation: Implementing the solution may not be easy, however. There may be
repercussions, and you should complete a “reality check” to identify and evaluate the possible
consequences of implementing the solution. Carefully consider how the solution will be
implemented before selecting an alternative.
Step 5.Evaluate the Situation: Evaluation involves two parts; first monitoring progress,
which leads to understand whether the situation has changed, if there are more (or fewer)
resources required, and if the different alternative solution required are made. Monitoring the
success and results of a decision is anongoing process that is critical to fine tuning a course of
action Secondly, evaluating the resultsto knows whether the purchase decisions are achieved
its goals or not.
1.3 CONCEPTUALFRAMEWORK
Viral marketing is the term used to describe the method of online marketing that encourages
individuals to pass on a marketing message to others. According to the term ‘Viral
Marketing’ describes the phenomenon by which consumers mutually share and spread
marketing relevant information initially sent out deliberately by markets to stimulate and
capitalize on word-of-mouth behaviour." In other words, viral marketing is a marketing
strategy that focuses on spreading information and opinions about a product or service from
person to person, especially by using unconventional means such as the Internet or email:
Which online social networks can help with viral marketing?
1.3.1 Basic Principles of Viral Marketing
Experts say that there are six basic principles of any viral marketing strategy ,
a. Gives away products or services.
b. Provides effortless and easy transfer to others.
c. Scales up easily.
d. Exploits general behavior and common motivations.
e. Works using existing networks of communication.
f. Takes full advantage of resources that are others’.

1.3.2 Viral Marketing Strategy
You need to market your online business on a regular basis if you want to get tangible results
from marketing your business online. Web site traffic started increasing steadily and getting
more and more sales on a regular basis once stopped random marketing campaign and created
an online marketing plan. (http://websitetips.com/articles/marketing/onlinestrategy). Here is
how you can create an online marketing strategy to bring in steady Web site traffic and sales:
1. Take stock of marketing that you have already done. Spend some time reviewing
marketing you have done to date so that you will not have to do the same work twice.
2. Create an online marketing strategy for your business. Your strategy should consist ofa
process that will reliably bring your potential customers to your Web site every singleday,
and should outline different online marketing techniques, such as businessblogging, article
marketing, search engine optimization, and others, and how you aregoing to use them to
bring your potential customers to your Web site.
3. Start implementing your online marketing strategy. You can't implement your strategyin
just one day. Instead, break your strategy into many manageable tasks that are easyto
complete and that you can add to your schedule.
1.3.3 Viral Marketing Mix
For a viral marketing, DuFour,(2011) highlights the following important points the
companies have to focus on:
 To propose valuable product or service: the attention has to be attracted by the “free”
element. It generates a wave of interest and generates it faster in order to sell
something.
 The product or service has to be provided for an effortless transfer to others: it’s
easier when it’s easy to transmit. You have to work instantly because digital format is
easy to copy. So the message has to be simplified.
 Use different types of scales: the transmission method has to be scalable from small to
very large. Mail servers must be added very quickly in a viral model.
 Meet common motivations and behaviors: a viral campaign must be love and
understand by people. The marketing strategy has to be designed and built on
common motivations and behaviors for its transmission.
 Use existing communication networks: It’s not a secret anymore more people are
social. The human network is powerful and thanks to that, the message will be
multiply for its dispersion.

 Take advantage through other resource: By using links on website, give away free
article on others web’s page etc. You can also multiply the view of the offer.
1.3.4 Effective Viral Messages
Messages in viral marketing could be a words, sounds, videos or images that compel
theaudience to pass them along. If a company wants people to consider and act on a
communicationmassage, first it have to gain the audience’s attention. Attention statements
require sparks andtriggers. To design a message to go viral, consider these three factors:
 Does it have an emotional appeal that people will feel compelled to share?
 Does it have a trigger (does it challenge, provide novelty, or incorporate humor
tomotivate interest)?
 Is it relevant to the audience?
1.3.5 Power of Viral Marketing
The viral marketing concept is to get customers to pass along messages to other people. The
company influences the message just in the beginning of the campaign, then when the virus is
taking over the companies holds little control over to who the message is being spread to.
Consumers will share their opinions towards brands with or without this being known from
the companies. The power of a negative or a positive opinion towards a brand is of highly
importance. Companies are therefore very interested in positively influencing the message
being advertised through integrated viral marketing strategies. It is important that marketers
and companies understand how the word of mouth is affecting their information about
products, brands and firms. If a message gets a positive effect through a viral marketing
campaign this can be spread very fast and maybe lead to a purchase in the consumers buying
act. On the other hand a negative word of mouth can be spread just as fast but instead maybe
push the consumer further away from a purchase in the consumers buying act.
1.4 STEP FOR CREATING A VIRAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Viral marketing is the strategy which made Hotmail, Facebook, Twitter and many other
platforms on the internet VERY popular and successful.
A prime example of this Hotmail who offered free email service and added an offer in the
bottom of each email for the recipient to sign up for a free Hotmail account. This created the
impression that those using the Hotmail service were advocates. Also, since the offer was
free, there was no impression that the users were being marketed to. This is what caused
Hotmail to explode in popularity within a VERY short time period...this is the power of viral
marketing.

Viral Marketing Step #1: Prepare for Growth
Before you launch a viral marketing campaign, you must be ready for explosive growth and
visitors to your website. This means checking to make sure that your web hosting account
can handle a high volume of traffic and that your merchant account is ready for a sudden
spike in sales. Many marketers have had their merchant accounts shut down due to a
sudden increase in sales and had a hard time getting them back up and running again.
Your viral marketing campaign might be a very big success, and it would be a shame if you
weren’t prepared to handle the fulfillment side of it.
Viral Marketing Step #2: Capturing Contact information is the Key
There are several methods you can use to spread your marketing message, but it’s important
that you have an objective before you start spreading the message. The best objective when it
comes to a viral marketing campaign is to capture contact information. In fact, collecting
emails is a much more effective means of viral marketing than making sales is. This
is because with viral marketing, your message will be getting to a lot of people who might
have never heard of you before and who will be much less likely to spend money than they
will be to submit their contact information.Once you collect the emails, you have the

opportunity to market to them and build a relationship so that you can convert your email
subscribers into paying customers.
Viral Marketing Step #3: A Message With a Free Offer
Once you have an objective for attracting new prospects and you’re prepared for explosive
growth, you need to offer something in exchange for capturing people’s email or contact
information. The offer can be a free white paper, a free E-book or a free report of some kind.
However, since you’ll be asking people to submit their email address, it’s a good idea to have
an offer which you can send them via email. This will eliminate the “Why is this person
asking for my email?” skepticism and help you to capture more qualified email addresses.
A good approach is giving away something free right away AND offering valuable content in
the form of follow-up emails. Once you have an attractive free offer ready to go, it’s time to
start getting your prospects to help you spread the word….
Viral Marketing Step #4: Offer an Incentive for Spreading the Word
This is where the power of viral marketing really shines. Within your free Ebook, free report
or free email mini-course, include a “refer a friend” invitation where your new subscriber can
input the emails of some of their friends who they think might be interested in your free offer.
Offer a reward to the person who does the inviting, which can be another free Ebook or report
of some kind or even a free piece of software. Of course, you’ll need a program which
automatically emails your offer to their friends and which is set up to reward the person for

inviting people. Some tools which accomplish this are Viral Friend
Generator, OmnistarTell, Tell a Friend Pro.
By having an incentive to your customers who are doing the inviting AND to the new
invitees, you’ll have a powerful viral marketing machine which will run with little or no
intervention from you. Just a few more things to do then…
Viral Marketing Step #5: Deliver Your Message with Multiple Forms of Media
Once you have your automated viral marketing system set up, it’s time to start attracting
traffic to your offer page. A great way to do this is with multiple forms of media such as
videos, articles, press releases and podcasts. This might sound like a lot of work, but you can
deliver one message by creating a video and have that content used to create articles and
press releases which promote your offer. In this message, you’ll want to offer your free mini-
course which will encourage people to subscribe to your email list.
After this is complete, the next step would be to immediately make another offer to your new
subscriber in return for them inviting friends to take advantage of your free opt in offer. You
can include this offer on the thank you page, this way you can get your new subscriber to
send out invitations when their interest is at its peak.
Viral Marketing Step #6: Explode Your Viral Marketing Campaign With a Contest
Once you have the first five steps in place, you can really explode your viral marketing
campaign with a contest. In other words, offer a great prize to the subscriber who invites the
most people to take advantage of your free offer. Don’t be afraid to make an investment in
this prize, because the better it is the more effective your viral marketing campaign will be. It
might also be a good idea to offer a prize for those who invite the second and third most
people. Again, Viral Friend Generator, OmnistarTell, Tell a Friend Pro all have the capability
of setting up contests and offering a prize to the subscribers who invite the most friends.
This simple process can help you to set up a viral marketing campaign that will generate a lot
of interested leads for your business. Best yet, you can repeat this campaign over and over as
long as you’re attracting qualified customers and effectively monetizing your subscriber list.
1.5 Viral Marketing:Word-of-Mouth

This strategy is in line with the most recent developments in consumer behavior. In fact,now a
days consumers seem to trust heirpeers’wordsmorethanthefirm’s.They don’t let themselves be
convinced by the standardized, one--fit--all advertising campaign made by the firm anymore:
before making the buying decision, they look for advices, reviews, comments and ratings from
their peers. Blogs, forums, review
sitesandsocialnetworksplayanessentialroleinthisspreadingprocessandarethe main recipient for
information and trust, as long as they are not “sponsored” (for example, if a blogger is known
for having been paid by a firm to positively advertise its product, he will immediately lose
credibility). People expect that the firm, in a desperate attempt to sell its product, will indeed
present it as exceptional and flawless. However, they want to know the “real” side of the story,
from people like them who actually experienced the service/product and can give an unbiased
opinion. One should trust the experienced customer because he probably possesses relevant
information on the matter (since he has already made the purchase decision) and the
information he gets is most likely tailored and relevant. Nowadays, word--of--mouth
communication referrals are more powerful and popular than ever, as they result in the
decreased risk of making a wrong purchase decision, and in the possibility to save time and
money.
Viral marketing usually works through an informal type of communication :messages are
transmitted through channels like e--mail, chat rooms, discussion forums, social networks and
online video services such as. YouTube. Them essage can take various forms, including
images, texts, video, MS PowerPoint and soon.
The figure above shows the difference in network structure between traditional advertising
and viral techniques. It is clear that the main difference is in the way communication occurs:
in the first case it is a one--to--many communication process, where the marketer sends a
standardized message with which he tries to reach as
manyindividualsaspossible;;inthesecondcase,instead,theaimisto“lightthematch” inside a group
of people, to create a buzz and get the network talking. After the “ignition”, the group

members pass the message to others in their social network thus contributing to itsdiffusion.
Viralmarketingboastsalsootherbenefitscomparedtotraditionaladvertising:itisless costly and
more credible;;furthermore, it allows for easier and quicker diffusion and bettertargeting.
1.6 Viral Marketing:Word-of-Mouse
Ontheotherhand,theword--of--mouthphenomenonisnotnew:althoughIthasrecently evolved and
became more powerful, In the past, it worked simply through face--to-
-facedialogue.Peoplewouldtalktotheirfamilyandfriendsaboutpositiveand negative experiences,
products and services, thus making ideas spread. This process worked on a small scale, as
every individual would talk to two or three people who would perhaps
inturnrefertoanotherpersoneach. However, the flow was likely to not spreadonalargescale,but
rather to consist of only fewphasesandtoextinguishafter little time. After the invention of the
telephone ,the phenomenon grew a bit stronger but remained of modest scale. With the
advent of the Internet ,the social ln networksandthe portable devices, however, the word of
mouth became more important and powerful thanever.Inthe21stcentury,word--of-
-mouthhasbeenprovedtobeupto50timesmore likely to lead to a purchase than a passively-
-viewed message, just because it generates advocacy, according to McKinsey Quarterly
(2010). Today, people are deeply interdependent and interconnected. When one goes online,
he can reach anyone in the fraction of a second, without any physical movement and at zero
cost.
The evolution of the traditional word--of--mouth has resulted in a communication thatwas
enhanced by the online presence (nowadays marketers mostly talk about the so called “word-
-of-mouse” to refer to the peculiar interactions that take place through the Internet and
digital tools). People can now reach thousands of peers just with a click. As a result, a
message today can spread much more quickly and flow through a largerbase. Since the
numbers are greater and faster, the idea virus keeps growing for aong time instead of
extinguishing soon.
Viral marketing techniques are designed to leverage this word--of--mouth phenomenon. In
fact, the message senders, after having launched the message, expect it to flow among
consumer through shares and referrals. Research has shown that word--of-- mouth can play a
significant role in influencing consumers and their behavior. Forinstance, it was proved that
word--of mouth is linked to buying decisions (Brown &Reingen, 1987), loyalty (Samson,
2006), and satisfaction (Anderson, 1998).The impact, however, can be positive and negative.
Negative comments coming from dissatisfied customers are just as powerful as the positive
ones, and can therefore lead to mass dissatisfaction about a product or service and destroy a

firm’s reputation. Once again, it comes to the conclusion that it is very difficult (if not
impossible) for a firm to retain control over the content of referrals: for this reason, this tool
is very dangerous. Marketers can try to shape strategies aimed at influencing transmission,
but they have little scope for action: the consumers today hold control, as they can say
anything about any firm with virtually no chance of repercussions.
1.7 Viral Marketing : DigitalMarketing
Digital Marketing is also key in the analysis of viral marketing. It defines the promotionof
brands, products and services via any forms of electronic media. It is quite similar
to marketing itself but differs in terms of channels used and methods. It helps
analyzingmarketing campaigns and understand why it is working or not in the real time.The
process can vary according to different perspectives. However, the first step isplanning
(coordination of marketing activities, visibility to status and budget). The nextone is to attract
by choosing the media to use and the place. Then after attractingcustomers the following
process is to create ideas and help integrate a brand I people’s life. Executing is part of the
process as all strategies have been implementedin the campaign. The next step is the
measurement. Goals and objectives have beenset in the planning, therefore this step checks if
everything has been achieved correctlyor not. The final step is to optimize the brand. The
process is, like the marketing one,linked to 4E’s. These are the Exchange, Everyplace,
Experience and Evangelism. Thestrategy takes care of both the 4P’s.
1.8 Drivers of Viral Marketing
This study makes three principal contributions; first, the study generates a grounded
understanding about the drivers of viral marketing. A sequence of drivers of viral marketing
is also found out in previous research on viral marketing but this sequence is modified with
an additional factor. Second, a theoretical framework is developed that illustrates the factors
which influenced user to receive viral messages.
Thus, the proposed framework helps researchers and marketers better understand the
important attributes which influences user to receive viral messages. The success of viral
marketing is depends upon if the viral messages are propagated. Therefore, efforts have been
taken into this study to understand the factors which influenced user to forward messages.
Third, this study integrates a specific grounded theory with the more formal insights available
from information systems research and marketing literature, developing a more general
framework that will allow researchers and practitioners to explain, anticipate, and evaluate
viral marketing strategies. Traditional word-of-mouth marketing technique has proven to play
a significant role in consumer buying behavior or decision. Past research also shows that

WOM is more effective than traditional marketing tools of persona; selling and promotion
through convention advertising media like print, Television etc. Electronic word-of-mouth
communication refers to any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or
former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of
people and institutions via the Internet. It can also be considered as the extension of
traditional interpersonal communication into the new generation of cyberspace. With the
growth and evolution of the internet, electronic peer-to-peer referrals have become an
important phenomenon, and marketers have tried to harvesttheir potential through electronic
referral marketing (ERM) campaigns. At the same time, spam, email-based viruses and the
like have cluttered electronic communications, making ERM campaigns problematic and
challenging to deploy. The key driver in ERM is the effectiveness of unsolicited, electronic
referrals to create awareness, trigger interest and generate sales or adoption. For the success
of viral marketing internet user should be aware of this marketing technique. The decision to
purchase a good or service or to adopt an innovation, for instance, can be viewed as the end
result of electronic word of mouse, a viral marketing strategy.
It has been observed that marketing role has been changed and Information Technology is
Promoting that change. Earlier marketing was one-to-one basis but because of Information
Technology whole scenario has changed. Keydrivers of Viral Marketing is awareness(Arnaud
De Bruyn, Gary L. Lilien, 2008), interest((Arnaud De Bruyn, Gary L. Lilien, 2008), Access
to use this marketing techniques and experience which decides their final decision((Arnaud
De Bruyn, Gary L. Lilien, 2008). The consumer has now taken an observable action, a
purchase of a good or service or the sustained adoption of an innovation. The key driver in
viral marketing is the effectiveness of unsolicited, electronic referrals to create awareness,
trigger interest, and generate sales or product adoption.Sequence of actions and intermediary
decisions, a diagrammatic representation of a sequence which is the driver of viral marketing
includes the following steps.
Access Awareness Interest Experience

Access:To get benefit from viral marketing technique which is adopted by the company,
access to use internet plays a very vital role. User should get access to internet from its home
or workplace to receive and forward messages or to view company website which is uploaded
on the company portal for promotional purpose. Access creates the awareness.
Awareness: The consumer knows the alternative exists, but may have neither interest in it
nor enough information to understand its possible benefits (Rebecca J. Larson, January
2001). Once the user gets the awareness about the viral marketing technique it helps them to
create interest into it. Interest, The consumer is aware, develops some interest and hence
decides to learn more about the product (Arnaud De Bruy, Gary L. Lilien, 2004).
The success of viral marketing campaigns depends on how well they are promoted within the
target users, and also the increased usage of internet and mobile phones by the Indian
consumers provides a very good platform for the retail chains to promote their
business by using viral marketing as an effective and cost efficient tool for marketing
(ShailendraDasari and B Anandakrishna, 2010).
Experience: The consumer‘s demands for a personal, interactive and relational experience
have arisen from the opportunity to demand and experience this type of interaction made
possible through improved technology (Rebecca J. Larson, January 2001)
1.9 FactorInfluence User to Receive Viral Messages
1.9.1 Trusted Source
The importance of and source credibility has also been highlighted and strongly validated in
prior research on receiving messages. From the past literature it has been observed that there
is the positive relationship between trust and acceptance of new technologies. In general, the
more the trust there is, the lower the perceived risk is, the more willing people are to adopt
new technologies. Trust can reduce complexity especially when innovations are being
considered. Trust is the most important and most influential factor for user to receive viral
messages.
User normally receives viral messages if it is from a trusted source. Word of mouth (WOM)
marketing is such a successful marketing strategy because it breeds ―familiarity, personal
connection, care and trust‖ between the consumer and the translator of the information (Datta,
et al., 2005). Consumers often hit the delete key when they know the message is from a
marketer. They are much more reluctant to delete a message from a person they know this
fact is a key component in understanding the potential power of viral marketing. A deeper
analysis of the category revealed that it is also interwoven with perceived risk. If the content
comes from a ‗trusted source‘the perceived risk is low or not existent. For instance,

participants did not express reservations regarding data security and privacy issues when they
would receive the content from a friend. Also, they would open viral messages received from
well-established brands.
In the online environment, people have almost unlimited freedom to publish and express their
feelings towards certain products or services without disclosing his/her real identity. It is
therefore left up to users to determine the expertise and trustworthiness of the contributors in
order to either adopt or reject the information presented. If the consumer thinks that the
comments are posted by high-credibility (high degree of expertise and trustworthiness)
individuals, he/she will then have a higher perception of the usefulness of the comments.
Emails are here to stay, and there is no doubt that peer-to-peer, email-based communications
will continue to play an informational and influential role on recipients' behavior. The
proliferation of spam (i.e., unsolicited bulk emails) and email-based electronic viruses,
however, have made most unsolicited emails suspicious. Consumers experience a high level
of noise in their day-to-day electronic communications. Therefore, source is very influencing
factor for user to receive viral messages.
Trust can also be related to tie strength. In real life, people maintain a large number of
relationships with varying tie strength: close friends, family, work, colleagues, casual
acquaintances, and so on. User normally accept information if it is from a strong tie.
1.9.2 Relevance
Relevance of messages is important as most Internet users are conscious of their time. Madu
and Madu (2002) urged that Internet users rarely read web pages in detail but rather scan the
pages to find the information they need. Users want to find the information that they want
quickly and with little effort (Nah and Davis, 2002). It is therefore important to have only the
most relevant information present in the online community. Dunk (2004) also suggested that
relevance is an important element in decision making. Therefore, the more relevant the
messages are, the higher the perceived information usefulness of the message (Christy M.K.
Cheung, 2008). Attitude towards receive and accept messages is also important. Some users
like to receive messages even though they are not from their acquaintances but they have the
attitude to receive information (Wolfgang Palka, 2009). User is interested in getting
information about the product which he may not be required at that very moment.
When consumers engage in goal-directed decision making and are exposed to information
that may not be diagnostic or relevant in nature and content, they may elicit the negative
emotion of irritation because of their wasted time and the utility of the cognitive effort in

processing the information (SwetaChaturvedi, 2009). This irritation may lead them into not
accepting viral messages.
User accepts messages from the acquaintances for giving sender recognition (Wolfgang
Palka, 2009). E-mail messages are described as inherently interactive (Andrew Paul Williams
et. al., 2004). Messages with content which users‘ are looking are likely to get received by
user.
A measure of viral advertising effectiveness that is of particular concern to advertisers, and
ultimately the raison d'être of viral campaigns, is the extent to which an advertisement is
passed from one person to another. Researchers have begun to investigate why ads are passed
on. Phelps et al. (2004) found that messages that spark emotion are more likely to be
forwarded. A qualitative study by Dobele et al. (2007) provides additional support of this
view, suggesting that for a viral advertisement to be passed on, it must elicit both the emotion
of surprise and at least one other emotional response such as joy. They argue that although
such combinations of emotions may be prerequisite, they may be insufficient to motivate an
individual to pass on a viral advertisement. A message must also capture a viewer's attention
"in a unique or unforgettable way" (Mark R Brown et al, 2010). Appearance of viral
advertisement posted on website or social network plays important role in capturing user‘s
attention towards them. YihHwai Lee, 1999 quoted in his research paper that Relevancy
refers to the degree to which an item or a piece of information contributes to the identification
of the primary message communicated. Across two studies that examined immediate
response, He found that information expectancy and relevancyinteract to produce different
levels of attitude favorability. Although ads with unexpected-relevant information elicited
more favorable attitudes than did ads with expected-relevant information, ads with
unexpected-irrelevant information yielded less favorable attitudes than did ads with expected-
relevant information.Customer data is collected both online and off, for example, when a
customer clicks on a Web banner ad for the first time, reaches a certain number of frequent-
flier miles or purchases a particular item on their credit card. These areevents that, until now,
have not been lever-aged to deliver more effective customer communications (Young Troy,
2001).
1.10 Factors Influence User to Forward the Viral Messages
This type of marketing encourages individuals to pass on information that they receive in a
hypermedia environment to friends and acquaintances. Before a user makes a purchase
they‘ll seek peer reviews and product recommendations. After the purchase they will

experience the product and form their own opinions upon which they will cycle back
comments for new consumers to review.
Viral marketing has been described as ―the process of getting customers to pass along a
company's marketing message to friends, family, and colleagues‖ (Laudon&Traver, 2001, p.
381). Like a virus, information about the company and its brand message, goods, or services
is spread to potential buyers, who then pass the information along to other potential buyers
such that a huge network is created rapidly (Dobele, Toleman, & Beverland,2005;
Lindgreen&Vanhamme, 2005). However,the emergence of the Internet along with broadband
capabilities have opened the door to the emergence of a new WOM advertising platform in
which individuals communicate about a brand, product or service in a non oral manner but
rather through a computer-mediated communication (CMC) environment (Guy J. Golan,
et.al, 2008).
From the literature review and basic model of mobile viral marketing it has been observed
that Tie strength ((Wolfgang Palka, 2009, Arnaud De Bruyn, 2008),Sender benefits,
Conditions to forward, Customer Satisfaction, and Altruism (intention to benefit others)
(Wolfgang Palka, 2009) are the most influential factors for user to forward messages.
Following diagrammatic representation shows the prerequisites and relationship of factors
which influence user to forward viral messages.Jonker, MJ, in his master thesis ―What
drives people to forward viral messages? Message aspects and motivations‖, (2008),
mentioned that ―Many people forward messages to each other that they on their turn have
also received from other people. Some examples are poems, jokes, chain letters and feel good
e-mails. These messages are called pass-along-emails or viral messages. These messages are
forwarded to other people in one‘s own network, often without altering the message. This has
offered opportunities for marketers to spread messages by using the network of other people.
The use of this strategy is called viral marketing.
Influencing factors which motivates user to forward viral messages are as follows:
1.10.1 Tie Strength
Wolfgang Palka, (2009) stated in his research paper that tie strength is a category was
motivated by respondents‘descriptions of potential recipients. Strong ties include family
members, friends, or neighbors. When the recipient is identified as merely an acquaintance,
colleague, or neighbor, but primarily an acquaintance, the tie is classified as weak (Brown
and Reingen, 1987). The category tie strength describes the combination of the amount of
time, degree of emotional intensity, level of intimacy, and degree of reciprocity between two

individuals (Granovetter, 1973). Tie strength has been found to be one of the most significant
factors to explain the influence of WOM communications (Arnaud De Bruyn, 2004)
For viral marketers it is important to know if a message is sent only to people with whom one
remains a strong tie, or if a message is also forwarded to people with whom one remains a
weak tie. By forwarding messages to weak ties socialnetworks are crossed and this makes it
more likely that the message reaches a large audience.
However, as discussed, people interact on a more regular basis with their strong ties than with
their weak ties. It can be argued that this is also true for e-mail communication. In this paper,
the author argues that to whom the message is forwarded is closely linked to interpersonal
motivations for forwarding a message.
1.10.2 Sender Benefit
This factor is not studied in a research widely. Messages through which sender is benefited is
most likely to be forwarded. People are interested in doing things that gives benefit to them.
Without a reward they will likely to ignore forward request. Marketers who offer reward for
spreading the message and services to friends, family, and coworkers who might benefit are
forwarded by the user. There are some messages or services which require user to provide
their friends contact details to get complete benefit of the message or service e.g.
subscription, additional information etc. These messages are called as incentivized messages.
One of the most common examples of financially incentivized word of mouth techniques is
an affiliate or online referral programmed, such as that run by online retailer Amazon. The
system is simple and straightforward: anyone who runs a website, or who is active on the
Web, can recommend products from the company via the affiliate programmed. The
recommendations are made in the form of referrer-personalized weblinks. The referrer can
publish them on his or her website, send them in an email, or post them in Internet forums.
When someone clicks on such a link, the system logs the referrer, and once the referred
visitor completes a purchase, the referrer will get a reward for the purchase made
1.10.3 Customer Satisfaction
Messages which give user usefulness(Wolfgang Palka et. al., 2009), enjoyment (Wolfgang
Palka et. al., 2009) and personal satisfaction (Wolfgang Palka et. al., 2009) are more likely to
be forwarded. Perceived usefulness includes the concepts perceived ease of use. Perceived
enjoyment where user finds this as an enjoyable activity. Therefore, customer satisfaction is
defined as a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment (Oliver, 1997). The nature
of satisfaction is defined as ―happiness, ―good feeling‖, or ―pleasure‖. Therefore,

customer satisfaction is defined as a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment
(Oliver, 1997). Higher the customer satisfaction, which derives from mobile viral content, the
higher is the intention to forward this content (Wolfgang Palka et. al., 2009).
Furthermore, marketers nowadays develop websites containing videos and games that attract
customer attention and interests. These websites usually facilitate the viral process by
providing tools to easily forward emails to friends, such as ‗Tell a Friend‘ or ‗Share Video‘
buttons. Examples of extrinsic motivations to forward marketing messages are prizes and
other monetary incentives (Biyalogorsky, Gerstner, and Libai 2001). E-mail is a convenient
and efficient way for people to exchange messages through mutually connected computer
networks as well to be connected with the people. Customer satisfaction with respect to
product or service is a key factor in forwarding viral messages. Customer who is satisfied
with the product would like to advocate the product on his own pay positing positive review
or forwarding messages about the product within his network. We tried to found out in this
study also that whether customer would like to advocate or forward messages of the product
or service even he/she is not using it but having a good knowledge or opinion about it.
Satisfied experts generate the most WOM, but only when they had choice. Consumer experts
may be motivated to self-enhance by talking about their positive (satisfying) experiences
(Andrea C., 2006). (Rebecca, 2009) quoted in her paper that Popcorn (2005), who confirms
that current trends have ―led consumers to reject artificial, highly scripted, top-down
marketing‖ and are instead seeking a personal, conversational experience Not only do
consumers‘ opinions about their care experience shared online influence other people‘s
perceptions about a business, they truly impact purchase intent‖ (Barnes, et al., 2008).
1.11 SocialMedia
Social media networks such as Facebook, YouTube and blogs have become very large and
popular during recently years. The main strengths of these social networks are the use of viral
marketing. Companies are taking advantage of using these social medias for advertising
because it is a cheaper alternative to the traditional advertising methods. According to the
DAGMAR that stands for Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results the
social medias can help consumers from being unaware towards purchasing actions (Gil-Or,
2010).
As members in a social network you are connected to your friends and when a message
isbeing forwarded and passed along by a friend the trustworthiness in the message increases.
As the author Rebecca Larson stated “Viral marketing works because friendsare better at
target marketing than any database” (Larson, 2009). “More and morebusiness is going to

transact via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other applications yetto be developed
cautioning that this movement is too important to not be included in acorporate marketing
and communications strategy. Social media is essentially a newformat of word- of-mouth
marketing”.
1.12 Types of SocialMedia
In the discussion regarding different categories of social media, five distinct types of social
media outlets are focused on –
1) Social networking sites
2) Social news
3) Media sharing
4) Blogs
5) Micro blogging.
Each of these social media platforms has provided unique features and experiences to
individuals and entities, for instance marketers and consumers, in the social media sphere.
1.12.1 Social Networking Sites
Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are platforms where individuals are able to connect with
others, for instance Facebook and MySpace. Social networking sites, as Weinberg (2009,
149) states, “are generic terms for sites that are used to connect users with similar
backgrounds and interests”. These platforms, generally, have few common elements across
most of them – (1) users are able to create interactive and customized profiles, either a public
or a semi-public, within a bounded system, (2) a list of suggested “friends” with whom they
share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by
others within the system (Boyd and Ellison 2007, 211).
To consumers, they are the outlets, which present wealth opportunities for establishing a
closer relationship with the brand via several functions – fan pages, plug-in applications, and
groups.
1.12.2 Social News & Bookmarking Sites
Social News sites and Social Bookmarking sites, for instance Digg, Reddit, and Scoop.it, are
fairly similar, and are very much in the trend of online community. Social News enables
users not only to be in control of their news streams, but also allows individuals to “submit
and vote on content around the Web” but the core value of the latter one is to allow users “to
collect and interesting links they have discovers and may wish to revisit.” (Zarrella 2010,

103.). In other words, individuals get to control and customized their news streams, this
special attribute of social news site facilitates the democracy which creates values to users.
These sites allow individuals to discover websites that a large number of people have already
discovered; some say social news sites have changed the concept of newspaper nowadays and
are governed by the “wisdom of crowds” (Weinberg 2009), due to the fact that the contents
personal and targeted news and they empower users by putting the audience in the center via
active discussions and which reacts on how readers interact (Baekdal 2009).
1.12.3 Media- Sharing Sites
Media-Sharing sites (e.g. Youtube and Flickr) are outlets where individuals can upload,
store, and share their multimedia files, for instance photos, videos, and music, with other
users. There are myriad opportunities through the engagement to these websites, because
these certain platforms within the social media segment has always been a stronghold to
online societies, as they provide users opportunities to create their own podcasts with
affordable technology and to propaganda their identical “channels” via subscriptions. One of
the major elements of these media-sharing sites has to be highlighted is the tag. “A tag is a
word assigned to a piece of content that helps describe it”, which means that businesses have
to acknowledge the importance of the search words on the search engines.
1.12.4 Blogs
A Blogsis an online journal which is as refer to a type of content management system (CMS),
typically maintained by individuals or groups, and featured commentary and ideas for a larger
group of audience (Safko and Brake 2009). Blogs create good hubs for other social media
marketing tools (videos, hyperlinks, pictures, and so on), because they can be integrated into
the platforms and posts; besides, blog software provides a variety of social features such as
comments, blogrolls, trackbacks, and subscriptions (Zarrella 2010, 9). On the other hand,
Weber (2009) has pointed due to the fact that blogs allow everyone to publish and to join
multithreaded conversations online, in which some of the bloggers have no editorial restrains
and have access to the entire Web; as a result, their posts can impact personal, products, or
brand reputation harmfully.
1.12.5 Micro blogging
Micro blogging is a real-time information network, which shares similarity to blogging, yet it
limits the size (number of words) of each post and encourages a faster mode of
communication. Micro blogging allows users to spread their short-texted messages via instant
messages, mobile phones, e-mails, or the Web. For instance, Twitter, launched in 2006, is
one of the primal and leading micro blogs that currently has over 140 million users as of 2012

and handles over 1.6 billion search queries per day (Twitter 2011). Obviously, Twitter
provides companies with leverage via Internet traffic by creating a buzz on online
communities, as users get the essence and concise information through short-texted posts.
Many companies have been using Twitter to tap into the business prospects, influencers, and
customers; by doing so, businesses are able to take advantage in relationship building,
achieving on-line and offline marketing objectives, and brand building etc. (Weinberg 2009).
Re-tweet is one of the most powerful mechanisms to marketers, in which individuals can
copy and paste what others have posted onto their Twitter stream. Consequently, the certain
tweet gets to spread virally in a furious speed.
1.13 Brand Equity
“Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol
that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and / or to
that firm’s customers. For assets or liabilities to underlie brand equity they must be linked to
the name and / or symbol of the brand. If the brands name or symbol should change, some or
all of the assets or liabilities could be affected and even lost, although some might be shifted
to a new name and symbol. The assets and liabilities on which brand equity is based will
differ from context to context. However, they can be usefully grouped into five categories.”
1. Brand Loyalty
2. Name awareness
3. Perceived quality
4. Brand association
5. Propriety brand assets
Brand equity is a valuable asset for a company, which they want to, put in their brands. A
powerful brand enjoys a high level of customer brand awareness and loyalty. Company can
have acompetitive advantage through high brand equity. Brand equity also involves the value
added ofproduct through customer relations and perceptions for the specific brand name.
1.13.1 Brand Loyalty
Brand loyalty shows customer preferences to purchase a particular brand; customers believe
that the brand offers the enjoyable features, images, or standard of quality at the right price.
This belief and faith of the customer becomes a base for new buying habits. Initially
customers will purchase a brand for trial, after being satisfied, customers will keep on buying
the product from the certain brand. Brand loyalty represents an encouraging approach
towards a brand resulting in regular purchase of the brand over time.

“The brand loyalty of the customer base is often the core of brand equity. If customers are
indifferent to the brand and, in fact buy with respect to features, price and convince with little
concern to the brand name there is likely little equity. If on the other hand, they continue to
purchase the brand even in the face of competitors with superior features, price, and
convenience, substantial value exists in the brand and perhaps in its symbol and slogan.”
(Aaker, 1991, p 39).
There are many attributes in the car which helps them creating loyal customer base and even
can influence the customers group in such a way that they are using the same brand for
generations.
1.13.2 Name Awareness
This is the second category of the brand equity. Brand name awareness plays vital role
inConsumerdecision making process; if customer had already heard the brand name, the
customerwould feel more comfortable at the time of making decision. Customers normally do
not prefer tobuy an unknown brand, especially if it an expensive product like motor car, TV,
refrigerator,apartment etc. Therefore companies’ strong brand name is a winning track as
customers choose theirbrand over unknown brand.
1.13.3 Perceived quality
It is an essential characteristic for every brand; perceived quality defines a
customer’sperception and the product’s quality or superiority. The perceived quality provides
fundamentalreason to purchase. It also influences brand integration and exclusion to
consideration set beforefinal selection. A perceived quality provides greater beneficial
opportunity of charging a premiumprice. The premium raises profit and gives a resource to
reinvest in the brand. Perceived quality willenable a strong brand to extend further and will
get a greater success possibility than a weak brand.
1.13.4 Emotional Branding
Usually branding starts when company designs a product with great feature and capabilities
better than what their competitors are offering. The company then has a “position” in a
product distinct category against competitors. The problem increases when neither of the
groups has made efforts to create emotional bond between the customers and the company
and its product. Emotional branding is the fine approach that clarifies the values of the
company to the customers (Marken, 2003). When companies want to know what consumer
feels about them, they have to build a personal communication with the customers. This is the
good way in a company can consider itself because customer perception is very important for

companies. However a company can learn a lot by listing to its customer views. It is essential
for companies to correspond by their product by relating to their customers emotionally;
otherwise product can be a product and become a brand image in the customer’s minds.
Emotional Branding also consider brand name which influence consumers decision making
process.
1.13.5 Brand Name
The brand name is very significant choice because some time it captures the central themeor
key association of a product in a very condensed and reasonable fashion. Brand names can be
extremely successful means of communication. Some companies assign their product with a
brandname that in reality has nothing to do with the emotional experience but is catchy and a
name thatpeople can easily memorize. The core base of naming a brand is that it should be
unique, can beeasily discriminated from other names, easy to remember and are attractive to
customers (Keller,2008).In our opinion people have strong connection to brands and brands
name. Brand nameinfluences the customer decision in car choice. When people intend to
purchase a car, they havemany brand names to choose from, but usually people purchase a
car with preference to brand nameand company reputation in market because of trust and
previous experience.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 A STUDY ON IMPACT OF VIRAL MARKETING ON CONSUMERS
The present paper makes an attempt to understand the perception of consumers with respect
to their impact on viral marketing on consumers (VMC) by executing a structured
questionnaires to 100 consumers and the data thus collected was analyzed through Statistical
Package for Social Sciences. Our main findings showed that VMC helps to raise consumer
awareness but does not significantly impact their purchasing decisions, Consumers do not
view VMC as spam messages, Consumers are more receptive to VMC which market services
compared to products, Negative VMC has a stronger influence on consumers than positive
VMC and Monetary incentive is not the strongest motivator in influencing consumers to
actively spread messages.
2.2 VIRAL MARKETING -- HOW CAN A CAMPAIGN SUCCEED IN GOING
VIRAL? WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF VIRAL MARKETING?
This research contains an in--depth analysis of viral marketing used by modern firms as a tool
to advertise their offerings and increase brand exposure. Initially, the current marketing
environment has been analyzed, in order to understand modern consumer behavior and what
is trending (or not) in terms of marketing techniques. Subsequently, the relevant theory about
viral marketing was explored, to have a deep understanding of the phenomenon (of its

characteristics, forms and objectives). The following chapters are focused on the steps that
are beneficial or risky for firms when they are trying to create viral marketing campaigns.
They were integrated with concrete cases of firms and a case of students who experienced
either successful or disappointing viral marketing campaigns. The research ends with the
presentation of the solution to make a campaign go viral and be beneficial for the firm. The
examples used are emblematic of how viral marketing can be both extremely beneficial and
surprisingly damaging for a firm, and lead to the conclusion that this technique is a powerful,
unpredictable and risky “double-edged sword”.
2.3 VIRAL MARKETING: A STUDY OF DRIVERS OF VIRAL MARKETING AND
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE RECEIPT AND FORWARDING OF VIRAL
MESSAGES
This research project attempts to understand viral marketing strategy adopted by the marketer
and find out drivers of viral marketing. There is evolution of new marketing tactic which is
called viral marketing. Why this new marketing tactic has been evolved? The reason behind
is that there are dynamics or transitions in marketing. This transition is because changes in
marketing techniques and these changes of marketing techniques are because customer is
changing. Why customer is changing? Because of the advancement of communication
technology and internet technology made his life very simple. Information of the product is
available on internet. Today‘s customer is well informed. Before going for purchase he likes
to know about the product. This knowledge he may get it from the internet or through his
social network. There is lot of ease also in purchasing product. At any time, from anywhere
he can purchased product online.
2.4 INVESTIGATING EFFECTS OF VIRAL MARKETING ON
CONSUMER’SPURCHASING DECISION (CASE STUDY: THE STUDENTS OF
THEADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES COLLEGE- NAJRAN UNIVERSITY)
The study aims to examine the effects of viral marketing on consumerspurchasing decision
among the students of administrative science college at NajranUniversity. The population of
this study is consisted of all the students of administrativescience college at Najran
University, which is according to the latest data, a number of 710individuals. In order to
measure the variables used in this research, a questionnaire was used.Validity of the above-
mentioned questionnaire was confirmed by experts and their reliabilitywere measured using
Cranach’s alpha coefficient that was respectively 0.697. Also,Statistical methods were used
for the analysis of final descriptive and inferential statistics (methods like one-way sample
test). The findings showed that there is a significant and positiverelationship between the

viral marketing and the purchase decision; In other words, viralmarketing leads costumers to
improve their purchase decisions.
2.5 THE IMPACT OF EMAIL MARKETING, MOBILE MARKETING AND
RETARGETING ON ONLINECONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR
This research identified the impact of Email marketing, Mobile marketing and Retargeting on
consumer buying behavior in an online setup. With the growing trend of digitalization and
internet, the dynamics of businesses are changing, and consumers are now heading towards
online shopping. With these changes, it is very important for marketers to carefully examine
their buying behavior and target them accordingly. This study helps in understanding that
how with the help of Email marketing, Mobile marketing and Retargeting, online consumer
behaviour can be changed. According to the hypothesis, all three variables had a positive
effect on consumer buying behavior which means that by the effective use of these measures,
marketers can enhance purchases made by consumers. However, one of the hypothesis, i.e.,
Email marketing has a positive impact on consumer buying behaviour was rejected because
of some issues; Emails go unnoticed or go in spam/junk, etc.
2.6 IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
This research gives explanation on how individuals are attending, processing, and selecting
the information on social media before a purchase. The findings indicated that individuals
pursue an active role in information search on social media comparing to mass media, yet
information exposure is selective and subjective during the course of information search.
Moreover, the empirical part of the research strives to provide insights to any companies that
are trying to shift to or are currently participating in the new marketing trend.
The objective of the research is to explain why, when, and how social media has impacted on
consumer decision process.The theoretical framework rests on literature of consumer
decision making process, social media, as well as previous studies relating to social media
marketing. Quantitative research method is adapted for the purpose of this research.
2.7 A QUANTITATIVE STUDY ABOUT HOW VIRAL MARKETING AFFECTS
THE CONSUMERSBUYING ACT
The aim with this dissertation is to investigate if viral marketing affects the consumers buying
act, to be able to determine if it is necessary for companies to adapt viral marketing into their
marketing strategy. They choose a quantitative research to investigate how viral marketing
influences the peoples buying act. We conducted anonline survey so we could get a broad
range of answers to try to find a relation between these two subjects.

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Aim & Objective
In this research I have tried to find out what is the impact of Viral Marketing and how
effectively people market the product or suggest the product or buy the product after seeing
its advertisement on the different Social Media Platform. Also tried to learn how Word-of-
Mouth changes from Word-of-Mouse.
Objectives:
 To study how viral marketing helps in reaching to the customer.
 To study the role of viral marketing in creating the brand awareness.
 To study the opinion of customers towards viral marketing.
 To study the impact of viral marketing on buying act of consumer.
3.2 ResearchDesign
Research design used during the Research work is Descriptive cum Analytical.
3.3 Hypothesis
H1: Viral Marketing helps in creating awareness for the need of the product.
H2 : Viral Marketing affects the buying acts of an Customer.

H3 : Viral Marketing influence the customer to buy a product & services.
3.4 Data Collection
I have chosen to use both Primary data and Secondary data to get an overall view of viral
marketing, for which I have also made structural questionnaires and also conducted the
Interviews.
3.5 Sample Design
I have chosen to use Stratified sampling technique during my project work.
3.6 Sample Size
I have selected 66 Sample units of individual customers.
CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS
Data analysis will be done mainly from the data collected through the customers. The data
Collected from secondary sources is also used to analyse on one particular parameter.
 Please select your age group
Interpretation: After surveying the 66 Respondent we found that highest percentage of the
response is from age group between 21-25. Which also indicate that the respondent may be
belonging to category of Student.

 Please select your Gender
Interpretation: In this survey we found that Male respondent is in highest percentage as
compared to that of the female respondent.
 Please Select your Occupation
Interpretation: In this survey question we totally satisfied the fact that the maximum
respondent are student, which also satisfy the first question asked by the respondent.
 Do you read Blogs?

Interpretation: Out of total 66 Respondent we found that almost all the respondent are well
aware about the Blogs. Also found that respondents giving their time to read the blogs.
 How often you read blogs

Interpretation: After asking this question little bit shocking facts are came that is nothing
but the fact as compare to number of user of blogs only 19.4% are user who use to visit at the
blogs on everyday basis, this also suggest us that advertising the product in this Social
platform is seem to be good option but not the best option.
 Have you ever bought a product or Services after seeing if advertised or read
about on blogs?
Interpretation: This pie chart shows that, now it might not be the good option for promoting
the product and their services because survey shows that highest percentage of the respondent
not bought any product or services after seeing it or read about in the blogs.

 Do you use Facebook
Interpretation: This result proves that there are many user of facebook but due to the
introduction of new network service in telecom sector people are diverted themselves on
other social media services which provide the information which is more informative and in
the form of Videos.
 How often you use Facebook
Interpretation: This chart shows that as compare to that of number of users of the facebook
daily users are also in the large scale, this result also justified that it is one of the good social
media platform to promote the products and their services because it seem as one of the
regular visitor social media platform.

 Have you ever brought a product or Services after seeing it advertised on a
facebook
Interpretation:This again shows that the user of the facebook are in highest number as well
the everyday user are also in highest number but again this platform too seem not perfect for
promoting the product or service as many respondent reject to brought product or service
after seeing it advertised on this platform.
 Do you use YouTube
Interpretation:This survey proves that respondent invest most of their time to the social
media platform which is more video base then the picture based. This is only the platform
seem in survey where the entire respondent response as they are using it on large scale.

 How often you use YouTube
Interpretation:When this question was asked by the respondent, 66.7% of the respondent
responses they are using the You Tube on Everyday basis, on the basis of this result we can
said that it is good platform to promote the product and their services.
 Have you ever brought a product or Services after seeing it videos on a YouTube
Interpretation: Whenever, this question ask with respect to the any social media platform to
the respondent the result was almost same, here also the result was same the respondent here
also reject to brought the product or services after seeing it’s video on a YouTube. This will
again show that the Social Media is not seem to be good platform for promoting product or
the services.

 Do you know what is viral Message is
Interpretation: When this question was asked to the respondent maximum respondent response
that they are well aware about the term Viral Marketing.
 These are some of the famous example of viral message Campaigns. Have you
everheard about or seenthem? Tick every Box you recognize
Interpretation: For this multiple choice option is given, it found in this survey that
respondent are well aware about the Campaign which is Viral recently, also found that One of
the old advertisement which is character by One of the famous Actor still remember by the
respondent, it somewhat proves that the message should be that much strong that it should
rules on people mind even after a decades.

 Now when you hopefully have an idea of what is Viral Messages is, have you
evergot influenced to buy a product or services after seeing a Viral Messages
Interpretation: It is shown that maximum respondent get influenced to buy a product or
service after seeing its viral messages. After getting this result we may predict that the people
may do the impulse buying after seeing the viral Campaign.
 Do you often buy a product online
Interpretation: This result shows that the more than half of the respondent is usually buy the
product online; it means that we can say that people are well aware about the different online
portal available in the market.

 Do you usually buy a product or service online on impulse
Interpretation: After seeing the result we can said that the highest percentage of respondent
are accept that they never buy a product on impulse, but it can also not to be neglected that
many of the respondent buy a product on impulse.
 Have you made an Impulse buy online after seeing a viral Messages
Interpretation:This result may justify the above result that 52.2% respondent reject the fact
that they do the impulse buying of product and service because this result strongly shows that
people or respondents never made an impulse buying decision after seeing its viral messages.

 Has a Viral Marketing Campaign raised your awareness for need of a product or
Services
Interpretation: Almost all the respondent accept that Viral Marketing Campaign has raised
their awareness level towards the product or services, some of the respondent also said that
viral marketing campaign not raise their awareness level regarding the product or service
from that we can say that satisfying all the people regarding product or services is not
possible.
 If you see a Viral Messages that Catches your interest do you forward it to your
friend or family

Interpretation: From this result we may predict that people usually share or forward the
message which they like most. Also from here we can say that anything which catches the
interest of one person that person always let the other people know about it.
 If yes, than in what form of social media do you forward Viral Messages
Interpretation: In above analysis we have seen that the Face book and YouTube user are
highest in the numbers so as per previous result we may think that these may be the strongest
way to forward the viral messages but the results was opposite and the respondent reject the
social media platform like Face book and YouTube to forward the Viral Messages.
 Do you get influenced to buy a product or services after hearing about it from
friends or family

Interpretation: Here we can interpret that the people get influence to buy a product or
services after hearing about it from friends or family so we can say that Word-of-Mouth &
Word-of-Mouse playing a effective role in promoting the product and their services.
 If you buy a product or services do you tell people about it
Interpretation: From the responses it can be seen that peopleusually tell about the product
purchase by them to other. From here also we can say that people always do the Word-of-
Mouth publicity of the product.
 To whom you tell

Interpretation: From here we can see that the respondent highly promote their purchasing
habit to their Friends, it also justify are previous result that we get the highest responses from
student side.
 Has reading or Hearing a NEGATIVE customer response about a product
changed your decision about buying product or services

Interpretation: This result shows that reading or hearing the any negative customer response
regarding product or services does not impact the decision of the buyer toward product or
services.
 Has reading or Hearing a POSITIVE customer response about a product
changed your decision about buying product or services
Interpretation: This result shows that reading or hearing the any positive customer response
regarding product or services does not impact the decision of the buyer toward product or
services.

 Do you trust the information written in online reviews
Interpretation: This result shows that people mainly done on-line purchases on the basis of
review provided by the others, but this interpretation fails the earlier analysis that there is no
impact on customer after reading or hearing positive or negative response regarding product
or services.
 What kind of feedback are you more likely to write
Interpretation: This result interprets the satisfaction level of the customer. If the customer is
satisfy with the product or services then it likely to give positive response if not they use to
give negative responses.

 Is Viral Marketing is just Fashionable or does it really sell product
Interpretation: This result shows that whatever viral campaigning promoting they are really
providing the same with respect to the product or services.
 Factors that affects the length of your decision making process after watching
the Viral Messages
Interpretation: From the above result it can be seen that highest percentage of People are
not satisfied with the amount of information provided on the online portal regarding the
product and their services.

 In your opinion, which stage of your buying decision has been affected mostly
because of social media
Interpretation: This result justify that most of the people do not believe in the information
given in the social media platform. It also prove the earlier interpret, that people are not
satisfy with the amount of Information present in the online portal with regard to product and
their services.
 Do you feel encouraged to voice out your opinion after a purchase via social
media platforms

Interpretation: Above result shows that people not always raised the opinion after every
purchase of product from the social media platform. This result also justifies the fact that
people review back on the basis of their satisfactory level.
 Are you likely to change your attitude towards a certain brand or product or service
after you have read positive comments/reviews/online articles etc. about it
Interpretation:This result show that highest percentage of people changes their attitude
toward certain brands after reading positive comments or reviews about it. But their also
good percentage from the respondent that predict that they will not sure about it whether they
change their decision or not. This result somewhat justify the fact that decision of the
customer depend upon their satisfactory level.

 Which of the following mass media channels you still find attractive
Interpretation: From the above responses it is clear that people still find the Television as
the attractive way to advertise the products and their services.
CHAPTER 5
MAJOR FINDINGS & HYPOTHESIS TESTING
5.1 Finding

1. People are well aware about the different Social Media Platform.
2. People giving more preference to Video base social Media platform other then
pictorial or Image base Social Media platform.
3. People using the Social Media platform on regular basis.
4. We found that people are well known about the term Viral Marketing.
5. We found in the study that people mostly get influence to buy a product after seeing it
viral messages.
6. We found that people never buy a product after seen its advertisement on Social
Media Platform.
7. It is also finding in the study that people using online portals for purchasing products
or to use the different services associated with the products.
8. It is also finding in the study that people still remember the Viral Campaign which is
become famous many decades ago.
9. In our study we found that people mainly reject the fact that there is any type of
positive or negative impact on them after hearing or reading the other customer
responses.
10. It is also found in the study that people will personally analyzed about the product and
then decided about the product or their service quality.
11. It is found in the study that people usually avoid the impulse buying.
12. In study we found that if people are satisfy then they will always provide positive
response about the product if not provide negative response.
13. It is also found in the study that people mainly share their purchase habit mostly with
friends.
14. We found in the study that information available in the online site with regards to
product is not satisfying the customer.
15. It is also found in the study that people usually raised their opinion after purchase of
the product.
16. It is found in the study that people still think that television is the best source of Mass
media to promote the products & their services.

5.2 Hypothesis Testing
HYPOTHESIS 1
Frequencies
IMPACT OF VIRAL MARKETING ON
AWARENESS FOR NEED OF THHE
PRODCT
Observed N Expected N Residual
NO 11 33.0 -22.0
YES 55 33.0 22.0
Total 66
Chi Square Test
Test Statistics
IMPACT OF VIRAL MARKETING ON AWARENESS
FOR NEED OF THHE PRODCT
Chi-Square 29.333a
Df 1
Asymp. Sig. .000
a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum
expected cell frequency is 33.0.
At 5% level of significance our P-value i.e. 0.000 which is less than 0.05 so we reject Null
Hypothesis.
Means the viral marketing help in creating the need identification for a product.

HYPOTHESIS 2
IMPACT OF VIRAL MARKETING ON BUYING
ACT OF CUSTOMER
NEVER 27 16.5 10.5
NOT OFTEN 12 16.5 -4.5
OFTEN 17 16.5 .5
VERY OFTEN 10 16.5 -6.5
Total 66
Chi Square Test
Test Statistics
IMPACT OF VIRAL MARKETING ON BUYING ACT OF
CUSTOMER
Chi-Square 10.485a
df 3
Asymp. Sig. .015
a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The
minimum expected cell frequency is 16.5.
At 5% level of significance our P-value i.e. 0.015 which is less than 0.05 so we reject Null
Hypothesis.
Means the viral marketing has the impact on Buying Act of the Customer.

HYPOTHESIS 3
VIRAL MARKETING INFLUENCE
CUSTOMER TO BUY PRODUCT
NO 26 33.0 -7.0
YES 40 33.0 7.0
Total 66
Chi Square Test
Test Statistics
VIRAL MARKETING INFLUENCE CUSTOMER TO BUY
PRODUCT
Chi-Square 2.970a
df 1
Asymp. Sig. .085
a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum
expected cell frequency is 33.0.
At 5% level of significance our P-value i.e. 0.085 which is greater than 0.05 so we fail to
reject Null Hypothesis.
Means the viral marketing does not influence the Customer to buy product.

CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION
The purpose for this dissertation was to identify if viral marketing in the form of viral
messages at the three different concept, social medias, people listen and talk (word of mouth)
and the power of viral marketing.
From our analysis we achieved some new knowledge of our subject, but also some relations
that our secondary data show to be a connection and in the end did not match with our
primary data.
The main intention companies have is to convince consumers to make the actual purchase
and because of this the consumers buying act is an important concept for the company’s
performance, because companies wants the consumers to buy their products or services.
Not to forget; in our primary research it was also stated that viral messages at social medias
raises a need for a product or service for half of our respondents and almost half of our
respondents claimed they got influenced to buy a product or service after seeing a viral
message. But in our study during hypothesis testing we fail to reject the hypothesis. Even
though viral messages at social medias not gave a huge positive effect in the consumers
buying act, the marketing strategy is inexpensive and a good way to raise consumers need for
a product or service and make them influenced for perhaps a purchase in the future. Also
social medias helps companies to create brand awareness.
The results from our second concept viral messages when it comes to people listen and talk
(word of mouth) shows that it affects the consumers buying act. The majority of our
respondents are brand advocates; they forward viral messages to other people around them
they have close relationship to. The majority of our respondents also tend to listen to the
people around them, especially when it comes from a tie source such as friend, family and
work colleagues.
Our third concept viral messages and the power of viral marketing affect the consumers
buying act. Depending on the brand advocates feeling towards the product he or she will pass
along a positive or a negative response. If a product or service is getting bad responses our
respondents claimed that they would not buy it, the consumer will be further pushed away

from a “buying act”. On the other hand if a product or service will get a positive response it
will affect the buying act in a positive way- a purchase.
The environment is always changing though, and social media might have a larger impact on
the consumers buying act in the future. It is necessary for companies to keep themselves
updated and to understand the new technology to not lose any advantages.

SUGGESTIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
From the study I will suggest that for promoting any type of the product or services television
will be the best Medium. Because even in the scenario of Social Media and other Digital
platform television always been the first choice for the viewers for entertainment.
To influencing the respondent for buying the product or services if the Marketer thinks that
digital media or other Social Media platform are best to promote the product then they have
to came with new ideas along with some “Slogans” which will remain in the Mind for the
people for longer period of time.
It is seen that whenever the product or services advertisement are published on digital
platform many users ignores to even watch that published advertisement. Here one thing that
the company can do that they can attract the viewers by providing some offer to them, it may
be the offer like pay per click like offers.

REFERENCES
[1]Ms Poorvika & Dr. N.V. Kavitha, “A STUDY ON IMPACT OF VIRAL MARKETING
ON CONSUMERS.”International Journal Of Marketing, Financial Services & Management
Research ISSN 2277-3622 Vol.3 (4), APRIL (2014).
[2] Assistant Professor Mohammed ALAMGIR, Associate Professor Mohammad
SHAMSUDDOHA & Associate Professor Ph.D. Alexandru NEDELEA, “INFLUENCE OF
BRAND NAME ON CONSUMER DECISION MAKING PROCESS- AN EMPIRICAL
STUDY ON CAR BUYERS.”The Annals of The "Ştefan cel Mare" University of Suceava.
Fascicle of The Faculty of Economics and Public Administration Vol. 10, No. 2(12), 2010.
[3] Mr. Maelle, “VIRAL MARKETING --
HOWCANACAMPAIGNSUCCEEDINGOINGVIRAL?WHATARETHEPROSANDCONS
OFVIRAL MARKETING? ” Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
International Bachelor Programme in Management Sales and Marketing May 06 2016.
[4] Ms. Pratima Nishant Dabholkar, “VIRAL MARKETING: A STUDY OF DRIVERS OF
VIRAL MARKETING AND FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE RECEIPT AND
FORWARDING OF VIRAL MESSAGES.”Padmashree Dr. D.Y. Patil University, Navi
Mumbai,DYP-M.Phil-09008, July, 2011.
[5] Dr. Eltaj Mohammed Mohammed Ali Hamed, “INVESTIGATING EFFECTS OF VIRAL
MARKETING ON CONSUMER’S PURCHASING DECISION (CASE STUDY: THE
STUDENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES COLLEGE- NAJRAN
UNIVERSITY).” British Journal of Marketing Studies Vol.5, No.4, pp. 63-73, May 2017.
[6] Mr. Fahim Iftikar & Imran Khan, “THE IMPACT OF EMAIL MARKETING, MOBILE
MARKETING AND RETARGETING ON ONLINE CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR.”
Haaga-Helia University of Applied Science, 2017.
[7] Mr Ethel Lee, “IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR –
Decision Making Process.” Turku university of applied sciences International Business |
Bachelor of Business Administration May 2013| 77 pages.
[8] Caroline Gholamzadeh & Karolina Jakobsson, “A QUANTITATIVE STUDY ABOUT
HOW VIRAL MARKETING AFFECTS THE CONSUMERS BUYING ACT.” Halmstad
University Faculty of Business and Technology European Business Degree, 180 HP, 14th of
June 2011.
[9] Mrs. R. Shashikala & Ms. Prachi Mahapatro, “A STUDY ON ANALYSING THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF VIRAL MARKETING IN THE ERA OF MOBILE MESSENGER
APPS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO WHATSAPP” Acme Intellects International

Journal of Research in Management, Social Sciences & Technology ISSN 2320 – 2939
(Print) 2320-2793 (Online) Let your Research be Global search– An Ultimate search of
Truth- Reforms through Research Vol- 10 No. 10 Apr 2015.
[10] www.slideshare.com
[11] www.scribd.com
[12] www.seositecheckup.com

ANNEXURE
To Study the Impact of Viral Marketing in Consumer Buying Behaviour
Response No : …………
E- Mail Address*
Please select your age group
a)16-20
b)21-25
c)26-30
d)31-35
e)36-40
f)41-45
g)46-50
h)51-55
i)56-60
j)61-65
k)66-Above
Please select your Gender
a)Male
b)Female

Please Select your Occupation
Doctor
Doctor Professor
Professor
Asst. Professor
Lecturer
Lawyer
Engineer
Government Employee
Ex-Servicemen
Student
Other
Do you read Blogs?
a)Yes
b)No
How often you read blogs
a)Every Day
b)Every Week
c)Every Month
d)Fewtimes a year
e) Never

Have you ever bough a product or Services after seeing if advertised or read about on blog
a)Often
b)Very often
c)Not often
d)Never
Do you use Facebook
a)Yes
b)No
How often you use Facebook
a)Every Day
b)Every Week
c)Every Month
d)Few times a year
e)Never
Have you ever brought a product or Services after seeing it advertised on a facebook
a)Often
b)Very often
c)Not often
d)Never
Do you use youtube
a)Yes
b)No

How often you use youtube
a)Every Day
b)Every Week
c)Every Month
d)Few times a year
e) Never
Have you ever brought a product or Services after seeing it videos on a YouTube
a)Often
b)Very often
c)Not often
d)Never
Do you know what is viral Message is
a)Yes
b)No
These are some of the famous example of viral message Campaigns. Have you ever heard
about or seen them? Tick every Box you recognize
a)Coca Cola – Zero is Moreb)Cadbary – Gorilla Advertc) Amazon – ApniDukaan Yeah
haiApniDukaand)Vodafone – Zoo Zoo Adverte)Raymond – The Complete Manf)LIC –
ZindagiKeSathBhiZindagikeBaadBhig)Dairy Milk – Pappu Pass Ho Gaya
Now when you hopefully have an idea of what is Viral Messages is, have you ever got
influenced to buy a product or services after seeing a Viral Messages
a)Yes b)No
Do you often buy a product online
a)Yes
b)No

Do you usually buy a product or service online on impulse
a)Yes
b)No
Have you made an Impulse buy online after seeing a viral Messages
a)Often
b)Very often
c)Not often
d)Never
Has a Viral Marketing Campaign raised your awareness for need of a product or Services
a)Yes
b)No
If you see a Viral Messages that Catches your interest do you forward it to your friend or
family
a)Yes
b)No
If yes, than in what form of social media do you forward Viral Messages
a)Facebook
b)You Tube
c)Blogs
d)Other
Do you get influenced to buy a product or services after hearing about it from friends or
family
a)Yes
b)No

If you buy a product or services do you tell people about it
a)Yes b)No
To whom you tell
a)Friends
b)Family
c)Working Colleague
d)Other
Has reading or Hearing a NEGATIVE customer response about a product changed your
decision about buying product or services
a)I did not buy it
b)I did buy it even though
c)I personally analyze the product and then decided about it
Has reading or Hearing a POSITIVE customer response about a product changed your
decision about buying product or services
a)I did not buy it
b)I did buy it even though
c)I personally analyze the product and then decided about it
Do you trust the information written in online reviews
a)Yes
b)No
What kind of feedback are you more likely to write
a)Positive
b)Negative
c)Both

Is Viral Marketing is just Fashionable or does it really sell product
a)Yes
b)No
Factors that affects the length of your decision making process after watching the Viral
Messages
a)Resources (Time, Finance ,etc)
b)Amount of Available Information
c)Personal Factor
d)Uncertainty
e)Risk
In your opinion, which stage of your buying decision has been affected mostly because of
social media
a) Exposure to product/service info
b) Problem Recognition
c) Search for the alternatives
d) Evaluation of information
e) Post-purchase Evaluation
Do you feel encouraged to voice out your opinion after a purchase via social media
platforms
a) Strongly Agree
b )Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly Disagree

Are you likely to change your attitude towards a certain brand or product or service after
you have read positive comments/reviews/online articles etc. about it
a) Yes
b) No
c) Not Sure
Which of the following mass media channels you still find attractive
a)Television
b)Radio
c)Magazine
d)Other
e)Social Media

Project report on Viral Marketing

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