Exploring the role of

Emotions in Viral

MarketingBy

Maha Khalid

Research Supervisor: Shamila Nabi

MBA in Marketing and Finance

2014

Table of Content

• Introduction

• Literature Review

• Methodology

• Analysis and Findings

• Future Research Direction

• Managerial ImplicationsExploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Introduction

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

• Viral advertising - marketing technique that use pre-

existing social networking services to create surges in

brand awareness or to attain other marketing

objectives.

• Communicated by word of mouth or enhanced by

the network effects of the Internet and mobile

networks.

Introduction

• A good viral marketing campaign depends upon twostrong assets: excellent content and outstanding socialnetworking skills.

• Social media has become a powerful tool for decisionmakers and marketers.

• Its manipulation and use is fully intended to draw inconsumers and to invoke and arouse brand loyalty andincrease brand equity.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Contribution of Study

• The scope of study is to test social media’s effectiveness on

emotional impact of audiences.

• What is the relationship between viral marketing and effective

social media marketing?

• Which social media tools are used by marketers?

• How consumers respond and use social media?

• Socio-psychological elements contributing to construction of

an effective viral marketing strategy?

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Literature Review

• The value proposition of viral marketing is fundamentallyrelated to its use of existing digital networks, which arecomparatively low-cost, quick, and easy to use, and frequentlyinclude a global viewership (Thevenot, C. and Watier, K.)

• Subramani, M. and Rajagopalan, B. defined viral marketingas the tactic of creating a process where interested people canmarket to each other, therefore developing into an importantmeans to spread-the-word and stimulate the trial, acceptance,and use of products & services.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Literature Review

• Brennan, L. presented results from a qualitative study of

income support recipients with regards to how they feel about

advertising which overtly appeals to their sense of fear, guilt

and shame.

• Eckler, P. & Bolls, P. stated viral advertising as growingly

attractive to advertisers in recent years, exploring how the

emotional tone (pleasant, unpleasant, coactive) of viral video

ads affects attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand,

and forwarding intentions.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Literature Review

• Grifoni1, P. Andrea1, A.D. & Ferri, F. explained

that internet marketing includes a mix of methods; e-

marketing, social networks, viral marketing etc to

create awareness for the company’s brand, products

and services.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Methodology

• The main aim is to comprehend viral marketing as a

marketing process from a marketers’ stance, to

understand consumer’s online psyche.

• Data collection and information is retrieved via

survey questionnaire.

• A stratified random sample is tested to answer

research questions.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Methodology

• Target respondents are

− Internet users

− Marketing professionals

− Students of LSE, LUMS, BNU, Kanaird, UCL, Punjab University

• Sample size - 200 respondents

• The Survey questionnaire has been previously published by Low Jiun Wee Xavier and Goh Yun Shuang Summer (2009)

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Research Objectives

To study the relationship of

Emotional appeal of social media

advertisement and effective viral

marketing

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Research Questions

1. What is the role of viral marketing in relation tosuccessful and effective social media marketingcampaign?

2. How viral marketing can be used to make socialmedia marketing successful?

3. How Emotional appeal in any social media ad cantrigger viral marketing?

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Research Framework

• The scope of study is to test social media’s

effectiveness on audience’s emotional impact.

• Organizations have to select and design

message content in a way that invokes a

desired emotional state in the target audience.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Research Framework

• There are a few internal and external factors that may

impact the message content shared by

companies/organizations, for instance, a product’s

brand positioning or competition in the market place

• Company strategies about advertisements as well as

available resources play an important role

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Research Framework

Message

Content

Social Media

Brand

Attitude

Towards

Brand

Emotional

Tone of

MessageForwarding

IntensionsViral

Marketing

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Results

• Our sample size consists of 200 respondents

• 45% of respondents were Female and 55% were Male

• Majority of the respondents that is 48% belongs to the agegroup of 21-30

• The general trend of time spent on the internet turned out tobe less than 10 hours per week

• On average our respondents spend 14.5 Hours per week oninternet

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Results

• Majority of respondents do not want to be the first

ones trying out a new product or a service.

• Over 50 respondents agreed that through internet’s

word of mouth they learned a great deal about

branded products and services.

• Majority of respondents believe that internet’s word

of mouth promotes band awareness and loyalty.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Results

• Majority of respondents also view the messages,

video links or posts recommended by family or

friends.

• Approximately 70% of respondents do not open

unknown emails.

• A majority of respondents strongly agree that funny

content help them remember a brand better.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Analysis and Findings

• Independent variables were seen to positively

correlate to the dependent variable of viral

marketing.

• The hypothesis was proven true regarding the

connection between emotional arousal and

sharing online content.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Analysis and Findings

• H1: Message Content, Social Media and brand have asignificant relationship with emotional tone of themessage being sent

• H2: The emotional tone has a statistically significantimpact on forwarding intentions

• H3: The forwarding intentions have statistically significantimpact on viral marketing

• Reliability & Correlation Test: Cronbach’s Alpha,AMOS path analysis and Pearson Correlation Analysis.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Analysis and Findings

• The main motivator for sharing content online is fun

or provocative content (e.g. humor, controversy).

• Majority of respondents share the common interest

of sharing online content that is funny or

provocative.

• Funny or provocative content invokes an emotional

response of excitement or happiness, as the results

of the research suggest.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Analysis and Findings

• Internet word of mouth is perceived to be aninfluential marketing tactic.

• Respondents are more likely to purchase products ifthe information has been shared by people theyknow, then viral marketing has become anunintentional social phenomenon, that connectspeople of similar emotional arousal states togetheronline.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Discussion

• An appealing advertisement has the ability to enthrall

audiences. However, if an advertisement focuses on

incurring an emotional arousal state, it has the ingredients to

become a viral campaign.

• A great viral campaign is in the planning and thinking and

the strategy which a "State of the Art" viral marketing

agency can give you. Good viral campaigns use social media

and consistently have a smart-phone mobile component

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Discussion

• With content marketing, communication is the virus,

the transferals are viewers and a solid emotional

linking to the message is the promoter.

• Provoking an emotional reaction is a vital component

of all successful viral content marketing campaigns.

It’s human nature; individuals want to share the

experiences that stimulate their emotions by

interacting and sharing them with othersExploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Discussion

• When people cultivate profound feelings of surprise, anger,

fear, disgust, sadness or joy, the experience of communication

becomes an impulsive social distribution

• According to research conducted by Jonah Berger and

Katherine L. Milkman of the Wharton Business School in 2010,

in their report, “Social Transmission, Emotion, and the Virality

of Online Content”, there is a strong relationship between

emotion and virility regardless of whether it is positive or

negative.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Future Research Direction

• Further research can be done on the marketing mix

for on-line content to see what other mediums play a

significant role in attracting consumers on-line to

viral it.

• How to entail the applications of interest that users

download on the cellular phones. It will ascertain the

interest and likes of target market consumers of

products.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Managerial Implications

• In light of the findings, it should not be surprising

that while emotions are triggered by content that is

worthy of virility, the continuous chain of virility also

depends on the relationship those individuals have

with the ones that came across viral content (such

that viral through email).

• On the other hand, those that filled the survey

questionnaire were friends of friends.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Managerial Implications

• Hence, research suggests to online marketers that not

only is content that triggers emotions worthy of

virility important, but also the type of social network

it is shared on is equally effective in harnessing the

potential of content virility.

• The emotions individuals attach to different

mediums also goes into play whence taking into

account the success or failure of content virility

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Managerial Implications

• Demographic similarity of respondents may play a

vital role in the results of findings, however if the

same study took place in a more mature market the

results may differ.

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14

Exploring the role of Emotions in Viral Marketing - Thesis by Maha Khalid PMBA'14