Viral Marketing; Indie Writers', Singers' and Artists' Best Friend

When I first began marketing, there was no such thing as viral marketing, social media marketing or the Internet, as we know it today.
Getting the word out about your products and services was costly and, oftentimes, not very effective.
Authors, artists, indie songwriters and the like often went unnoticed, simply because they didn’t have the knowledge or financial resources to do effective marketing campaigns.
Fast forward to 2014. The marketing playing field has definitely leveled. Now virtually anyone can gain massive visibility for his or her work. Whether it be eBooks, teleseminars, webinars, music, videos or art shows, opportunity is limited merely by one’s desire to put the effort into spreading the word about his or her work.
It’s all about viral marketing. Viral marketing is a method of Internet marketing that attempts to make advertisements, postings, articles, and virtually anything that can be sent to someone else so interesting that viewers will pass them along to others.
In many cases, the process takes on a life of its own. Take the case of fine artist, Lorraine Lawson. Recently, Lorraine’s artwork was displayed in Gallery 85.
Gallery 85, an exclusive art gallery in Santana Row in San Jose, California, is owned by 49er football great, Vernon Davis.

Gallery 85 offers a wide range of visual artists a venue for high-end exposure for their work, while raising funds for the Vernon Davis Foundation for the Arts, which promotes arts education and art appreciation for at-risk youth and awards college art school scholarships for talented inner-city youth.

Whenever there is a show at the gallery, there is always a ton of regional press. Not only in the San Jose market, but also the entire Bay Area, due to Vernon Davis’ fame.

But the benefit to the artists is unparalleled due to their work being displayed in such a visible gallery. Most artists would be happy with the local media press, but add to that what is possible on social media, and a global audience is viewing the artists' work, if the artist is proactive in being a self-promoter.

Smart artists, as well as smart authors, are well served to take the viral power of social media into their own hands.

Once there is even one mention online, it is simple to gain traction in a number of locations such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and even YouTube.

Here’s a simple plan to get the most out of the initial mention.

• Blog about the event, music or information product.
• Add images to the blog.
• Create 10 - 13 tweets taking content from the blog post and add in the permalink to the blog post. The permalink is the permanent static hyperlink to a particular web page or entry in a blog.
• Create an image to add to Pinterest with the permalink to the blog post in the description.
• Add the image to Google+ with a short description. You can add in a web address.
• Post the image on Facebook and ask friends to share.

There’s plenty more that can be done, but as you can see, with a little bit of effort you can get some great traction for your work.

The best thing to do is have an actual checklist of what needs to be done every time you want to proactively market your work.

Although a very simple checklist, what you see below is a great place to start your viral marketing process. To have something this simple is better than having nothing. You can get more elaborate as you get more comfortable with the process of doing all you can to get on the viral train.

 Blog post
 Facebook
 Twitter
 LinkedIn
 Pinterest
 Slideshare
 Google+
 YouTube Video

In the past, indie artists, writers and singers had to depend on limited avenues to get their work out. Today, it’s merely a matter of focus, commitment and proudly saying to the world: “Hey, I’ve got some creative content here. Listen (look) up. You’re going to love this.”