<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p> In a viral marketing campaign organizations stimulate customers to forward marketing messages to their contacts. To optimize a viral campaign it is necessary to predict how many customers will be reached, how this reach evolves, and how it depends on promotion activities. a new Viral Branching model can provide these results. It is based on insights from epidemiology and the spread of viruses and was adapted to a marketing context and an electronic environment. The model is applied to an actual viral marketing campaign in which over 200,000 customers participated during a six-week period. The results show that the model quickly predicts the actual reach of the campaign and serves as a valuable tool to support marketing decisions related to online campaigns</p>
</abstract>

In a viral marketing campaign organizations stimulate customers to forward marketing messages to their contacts. To optimize a viral campaign it is necessary to predict how many customers will be reached, how this reach evolves, and how it depends on promotion activities. a new Viral Branching model can provide these results. It is based on insights from epidemiology and the spread of viruses and was adapted to a marketing context and an electronic environment. The model is applied to an actual viral marketing campaign in which over 200,000 customers participated during a six-week period. The results show that the model quickly predicts the actual reach of the campaign and serves as a valuable tool to support marketing decisions related to online campaigns

Seeding a Message to Harvest Reach. Predicting and Optimizing the Spread of Electronic Word-of-Mouth

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

NIM Marketing Intelligence Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

In a viral marketing campaign organizations stimulate customers to forward marketing messages to their contacts. To optimize a viral campaign it is necessary...

Seeding a Message to Harvest Reach. Predicting and Optimizing the Spread of Electronic Word-of-Mouth

Published Online: Jul 19, 2014

Page range: 32 - 41

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gfkmir-2014-0039

Keywords
Online Marketing, Viral Marketing, Word-of-Mouth, Reach, Branching Processes, Forecasting, Markov Processes

© 2014

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Seeding a Message to Harvest Reach. Predicting and Optimizing the Spread of Electronic Word-of-Mouth

Published Online: Jul 19, 2014

Page range: 32 - 41

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gfkmir-2014-0039

KeywordsOnline Marketing, Viral Marketing, Word-of-Mouth, Reach, Branching Processes, Forecasting, Markov Processes

© 2014

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Online Marketing, Viral Marketing, Word-of-Mouth, Reach, Branching Processes, Forecasting, Markov Processes