Disadvantages of viral marketing
- The problem with viral marketing is that you have no control over your branding. You don't know ahead of time whom an individual is going to contact. As a result, many of your messages may end up with people outside the target audience. Moreover, in some cases, individuals may modify the message or add something to it. This leads to variability in how your brand is perceived, something you don't want.
- Viral marketing appears to be an open invitation to spammers to make some quick money by using friendship to sell their goods and services.
- Consumers are being overwhelmed by a significant number of viral marketing messages, campaigns and promotions.Consumers are becoming annoyed and frustrated at the number of e-mails addressed to them from viral marketers.
http://www.clickz.com/823941
http://sbaer.uca.edu/research/mma/2002/32.pdf
Disadvantages of Viral Marketing
1. Nuisance Factor
If a marketer has decided to use e-mail as a way to drive traffic to their web site, they are competing with other people who are using the same structure. They run the risk of having their message lost among all the other e-mail messages people receive on a daily basis. Being considered a spam marketer is not a good thing for any business trying to increase its web presence, the message is likely to be deleted or ignored instead of being passed on to other people.
2. Negative Buzz
Human nature being are more likely to talk about something they don't like with their friends, family members and colleagues than to share something positive. If a few people start posting negative feedback or information about particular venture on blogs or discussion forums, very few people will take the time to investigate for themselves to figure out whether this negative buzz is warranted. Instead, they will take what is being discussed as true.
3. Does Not Convert Well & Difficult to Measure
Few visitors brought by rival marketing are in your target market, it is just like mass marketing compared to target marketing, you have to reach thousands of people to get one that's a potential customer. Also, any internet marketing campaign should be measurable, so business owners and managers can determine whether it is effective. Unless the campaign is being handled by experienced individuals, it can be very difficult to determine if it is a worthwhile proposition.
