The Application of Social Networking as a Marketing Platform to Young Adults - Adoption, Usage, and Global Impact of Broadband Technologies - page 195

as any positive viral campaign… possibly even
more so. It is important for companies to remember
that they are engaging with the consumers on a
personal level and any dishonesty will certainly
prove to be crippling for the campaign and pos-
sibly the company involved as well (Brier, 2005).
Did you have fun? One of the major factors
regarding viral adoption is that the consumers
must be engaged in the message. For this to be
truly achieved it is advised that the marketers
make the experience of creating the campaign as
enjoyable as possible to allow the consumers to
feed off their enjoyment and be attracted to the
campaign, and thus distribute the message through
a viral format. This aspect of viral marketing falls
under the premise that if the marketer didn't enjoy
creating the campaign then there is little chance
that the consumer will enjoy experiencing the
campaign and, hence, not distribute the message
(Brier, 2005).

• result in the formation of brand specific

communities and company blogs which
exhibit the qualities of honesty and
transparency

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Inspiration and some material for this chapter was
drawn from a UCT Marketing Honours (2007)
project by M. Coppin, N. Howarth and J. McK-
illop. The research programme was convened by
the author of this article

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Beeching, P. (2006). How to win friends and
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Brier, N. (2005). Viral Marketing: Making the
Right Connection. Admap Magazine , 465, Oc-
tober.

CONCLUSION

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In terms of managerial implications for WOM
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• maintain a predominant factor of

entertainment

• refrain from being intrusive in any manner

• use incentives to attract consumers to pass

along the message

Carson, J. (2005) Word of mouth marketing: A
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• promote friendship generation or group

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• encourage self-enhancement through as-

sisting online social networkers in gener-
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