Viral Selling Through New Social Media Marketing

Alli, the new over-the-counter brand of the prescription drug Xenical from Glaxo-SmithKline, is being marketed by a new, strategic mix of personalized messages. Their marketers understand both the emergence and importance of social networking as a new marketing tool, as evidenced in their latest television commercial. They get it.

They are now able to grasp the concept of social media networking as a tool for viral marketing. What is particularly interesting, is that neither of these terms were even included in general marketing vocabulary and strategic thinking until just recently.

The marketing professionals employed by the pharmaceutical giant have created a huge buzz surrounding their new product while addressing a huge and hungry market; no puns intended! Their latest ad vividly displays the power of word-of-mouth viral marketing. The ad focuses upon people conversing via email, extolling the benefits of this new product, Alli. The ad then begins to accelerate the layering of these images so that we can more easily picture the word-of-mouth actiivity and viral growth of their message. It works! Their message connects with us and they understand how and why.

At his informative and highly respected blog DoshDosh, Maki has posted an impressive, detailed listing of forty-seven new social media sites. Brandon Fritz, writer for Kolbrener, has also assembled an amazing list of fifty social media sites further categorized by market. These social networking site lists will continue to grow and change over time.

Certainly, as is being proven with the current political drama unfolding in cyberspace: Marketing and the timely dissemination of relevant information is evolving beyond anything previously available or conceivable, and will continue its development.

Social networking is now viewed as a legitimate means of strategic marketing. How will your sales be impacted by the development of new social media and viral marketing tools?

We need to be paying attention to these revolutionary developments, learning new selling skills to take advantage of this growing phenomenon as the sales cycle in most industries is certainly being impacted.

Sales strategies are becoming more conversational as social media marketing unfolds. Perhaps the marketing mainstream is finally grasping what he direct marketers have known for some time; that selling is most effective when it is made to be personal and conversational.

Relationships continue to win sales. Salespeople who make the time to understand their customers and their needs, connecting with them, will sell more and have many more satisfied, referral-providing, long-term customers than those who look only for a quick sale. Which path are you following?