What are the disadvantages of viral marketing?

Answer 1

1. Not all products or services are viral. One needs to verify first if the product or service falls into this criteria.

2.Viral Marketing campaigns once unleashed are not controllable. The downside is: If you did it wrong or bad you might have hundreds of thousands of users in the internet hating your stuff and posting negative remarks about it everywhere.

3.You need to reach the critical mass (10%) of your target group/segment in order to go viral addressing primarly opinion leaders or also called e-fluentials. That can be quite a huge number and therefore more costly in campaign costs.

Answer 2

Social media marketing carries several risks. Unless you have someone check your social media accounts several times a day, disgruntled customers or employees can publish negative comments that are not always removable. For example, every post on Twitter is public and you have no control over what people say. Bad news can go viral as easily as good news and can do your business irreparable harm. IT governance group the Information Systems Audit and Control Association released a report in June 2010 ranking viruses and malware, brand hijacking, lack of control over corporate content, unrealistic customer expectations and non-compliance with records management regulations as the top five risks of social media.