Posts Tagged ‘measureable’
Social Media
Is there such a thing as TOO viral?
posted by Jason Fleck @ January 16th, 2009
Well, apparently Carl’s Jr. thinks so. I, however, do not and here’s why.
As the saying goes, “any publicity is good publicity.” Carl’s Jr. released an online coupon to 276 lucky contestants to receive a free burger. This coupon was then passed around online through HUNDREDS of message boards and bargain-hunting websites until Carl’s Jr. had to shut down the promotion from too large a response. Finally the story ended up on Wired.
That’s WIRED.com people - A HUGE News site and magazine that covers technology, culture, business and politics. And it’s Google PR (page rank) is 9/10.
The reason Carl’s Jr. ended the promotion was because they were afraid to run out of burgers. And my response: SO? How many of those coming in with coupons for a free burger purchased a drink and fries? So what if they ended up giving out more free burgers than they had originally intended - even though I’m sure meat is the most expensive product to give away for free…
To capture the amount of exposure they received would have cost them millions in advertising. If they would have ran with the idea, it would have been a great way to introduce new customers to a product they probably wouldn’t have tried before. I mean if the burgers sucked, why would anyone want to copy the coupon?
The problem with their situation is they should have anticipated the ‘viralness’ (see I can make up words) of their offer. Who’s going to want a free burger? Answer: everyone. In the future, they’ll have to tailor their campaigns to fit their goals.
Even though they discontinued the promotion, they still received great exposure. Good for them. Now how is this measured? Did this accidental viral campaign increase their sales or customer count? Only time will tell, but I guarantee it didn’t hurt and those numbers are definitely measurable.
In our current economic climate, this is the kind of advertising businesses need to focus on. Let your customers advertise for you for FREE. Maybe you’re not giving away free burgers, but is there an incentive you can offer to your clients or potential clients? I bet there is.
So what do you think? Is there such a thing as TOO viral?
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