Can comebody explain viral marketing to me?

[Shane]

Are social networking sites viral marketing...

Is it basically getting your brand recognised?

[GatorswithGuns]

The idea is to create something people will want to pass around and forward to their friends.

[mcollins391]

Viral marketing is when something takes on a life of its own and gets passed around well after your initial marketing effort. Examples:

1. You write a blog post that gets listed in social media sites like Digg and Fark, people start passing it around because they find it useful/interesting and you get a windfall of traffic.

2. You post a funny video on youtube that gets emailed and passed around by those who enjoy it.

3. You write a report that helps solve a problem and release it for free and let people share it and download it for free. Before you know it people are downloading it from all over the place.