A framework for evaluating viral marketing effectiveness using social media

Abstract

The dramatic employment of digital trend technologies, Internet and social media has fundamental touch on business and opened up opportunities in marketing field. Word-of-mouth communication can be helpful in social media for marketing and it is called as viral marketing. However, there are many online retailers, though managed to retain product or product reputation but unsuccessful to grow their business because do not know or do not understand viral marketing techniques. Therefore, this study had been discovered the techniques used in viral marketing on social media. In order to use the viral marketing techniques efficiently, the discovered techniques were evaluated. To evaluate the techniques, a framework to evaluate the techniques was designed and named as VMT Evaluation Framework. Viral marketing techniques had been applied by online retailers (SME) on three different sites of Facebook which are FB Profile, FB Page and FB Group. The result of using the viral marketing techniques on Facebook was based on engagement rate. The engagement rate showed the most effective VMT is Be Fun/Interesting for FB Profile, Web-linked Viral for FB Page, and Draw Motivation is the only one that had been used by the retailers for FB Group. At the end, the result performance of each viral marketing techniques were ranked out in the proposed enhancement model of digital marketing. Hence, the online retailers that using Facebook (social media) to market their product or services, they will able to focus and use more viral marketing techniques according its effectiveness.