“Sustainable viral marketing depends on three critical variables. The incubation period of the message, the scope of the target audience (people who would be excited to hear about it), and the variety of new forms the same idea could take on.
If the message has universal appeal and delivers an instant payoff, the message will have a short incubation period. You’ll tell your friends about it, they’ll tell their friends, and the whole world will know. Then, life will go on and it’s game over.
An example of this happens every time there’s a new Hollywood scandal. The appeal isn’t quite universal, but it’s close enough that it doesn’t matter. The instant payoff happens for the people who get vicarious thrills from spreading dirt on the people who’s lives they wish they had. Then, the thrill’s over and it’s back to reality.”
- Dave Baldwin, MLM Witer
