SES Chicago: Igniting Viral Campaigns
John W Ellis - Tuesday, December 09, 2008(Guest Post)
My favorite session from Day 1 of SES Chicago was Igniting Viral Campaigns
Chris Winfield, of 10e20, started off the session discussing “How can social media ignite your viral marketing campaign?”
Chris discussed the differences and opportunities with various online avenues:
- Forums (example: rankings.bigboards.com)
- Social Networking / Bookmarking (Digg, StumbleUpon)
- List
- How To’s
- Surveys
- Tools and Calculators
- Video
- Badges / widgets
Fionn explained that viral marketing is not expensive.
- The basic elements of Viral Marketing
- Give Away Items
- Effortless transfer to others
- Scales Easily
- Exploits Common Motivations
- Utilize Existing Communication
- Takes Advantage of other’s reasoning.
Jennifer Laycock, of Editor-in-Chief Search Engine Guide, spoke last. As always, Jennifer had some great viral success stories to share with the group.
3 Commandments of Viral Marketing
** John Ellis is a Senior Online Marketing Manager for ResortQuest Vacation Rentals
Labels: Chicago, john ellis, Search Engine Strategies, SES









Hey John -
I'm really glad you enjoyed our session - thanks a lot for coming out :)
Just one note, my company is 10e20 (in your post it says 10e2 and links to 10e2.com) - thanks!
Hope you enjoy the rest of the show.
Best,
Chris
Thanks Chris - fixed the company name.
Thank you John, we always get good feedback on this session. Many newbies think of viral as the office max elf and the burger king chicken when there are so many multiple free ways of doing great viral marketing.
Thanks
Fionn
Chris,
Very enjoyable session. Sorry for typo.
-John W Ellis