Viral marketing

The "Successful Viral Marketing - An Agent Provacetuer Case Study" cites Sweeney, Soutar and Mazzarol (2012), who believe that companies have reduced expenditures on traditional advertising fees to focus on viral marketing and word of mouth strategies because, according to Hinz et al (2011) consumers trust and value others' opinions of a brand and its product more than the information disclosed by the company - which is important, as consumers enjoy talking about a product or service that they have become involved with (especially through social networking). This being said however, the increase in sales to the use of viral marketing cannot be measured in a simple way, therefore potentially making viral marketing practices in-effective, even though viral marketing - when implemented correctly, can create huge brand loyalty.

Viral marketing, once defined, is the "informal communication between private parties concerning evaluations of goods and services" (Sweeney, Soutar, Mazzarol, 2012), which has been extended to be used online.

As previously mentioned in the post prior to this one (PR), the use of open social media for Mavo would not work - as Mavo is an exclusive brand. Therefore, the social media platforms that can be considered have to be ones which can heighten and enthuse brand image - yet discard the idea of in-depth brand-consumer communication.

Below are two examples of how social media could be used for Mavo.

Pinterest

For encouraging brand image and awareness, Pinterest could be used. An idea taken by PR Daily could be to use Pinterest to update those interested on how the construction of the new Mavo hotel is going by uploading photographs documenting the progress of the hotel's construction, but also of products, places and people which reference certain thoughts, ideas and lifestyles that Mavo perceive its target market to like and resonate to. Eg a new Mulberry bag, which would imply Mavo's values of fashion.

Second of all, Pinterest could be used to launch competitions. As PR Daily suggests, a competition could be 'pin it to win it' whereby you pin a photograph and the best one can win something that you offer. An example of a prize could be a year's free membership (can only be won by those working in the fashion industry) or free entry into Mavo's Hangout.

Youtube

Youtube can be a very important benefactor for creating a good viral marketing scheme. It can be used for the following things:

• Hotel adverts 
• Documenting fashion events
• Industry interviews
• New brand introductions 
• To make Mavo a well-rounded lifestyle brand

In order to create a good viral marketing campaign, the message which is conveyed needs to have a simple message and good connections eg. in Mavo's case, connections to British Fashion Council and designers.