Viral marketing is the newest member of Internet marketing and it is considered by many to be a very efficient method for advertising on the web. The most influential viral marketing technique would be that of Hotmail.com, which is one of the first free web-based e-mail services. The strategy of the Hotmail.com is:

•Gives away a no-cost e-mail address services

•Attaches a simple tag at the bottom of every free e-mail that says “Get your private, free e-mail at http://www.hotmail.com"

•Waits while people e-mail their own network of friends and associates

•Reaps the benefit when friends of the original email user see the message and sign-up for their own free e-mail account

•Then, the new users ultimately send the tag to an even wider group of friends who sign-up for the service as well.

Of course, some viral marketing strategies work better than others, and only a small percentage of them work as well as the Hotmail.com strategy. If a marketer wants to start a viral marketing campaign she must include the following 6 basic elements:

•Give away services or products. Use the word “free," which is one of the strongest words in a marketer’s vocabulary. Most of the viral marketing campaigns offer valuable products or services for free in order to attract users.

•Provide an effortless transfer to others. The reason why viral marketing works very well on the Internet is because there is an instant communication among people which is not only easy but also inexpensive. From a marketing standpoint, the message must be as simple as possible that that it will be understood by everyone.

•Scale easily from a small user-base to a large user-base. A clever marketer must take understand common human motivations and must design a marketing plan that is built upon the common motivations and behaviors of the target market.

•Utilize existing communication networks. Just like in interpersonal life, people over the Internet develop networks of relationships. These relationships include a form of communication, such as e-mail addresses. Viral marketing programs take advantage of these networks by inserting their message into these existing online networks.

•Allow other people and companies to take advantage of your resources. Let other people use your resources for their benefit. For example, authors of articles will provide content to website owners in exchange for position on their website. A basic news release can be picked up by up hundreds of periodicals.