WebProNews

Social media marketing and viral marketing isn’t limited to hitting or missing (and missing and missing) on much-touted sites like Digg.com or BoingBoing. Though exposure at these sites is good for bursts of (just-looking) traffic, the panel presenting at the Igniting Viral Campaigns track at SES Chicago recommend diversifying.

(Coverage of SES Chicago continues at WebProNews Videos.  Keep an eye on WebProNews for more notes and videos from the event this week.)

Chris Winfield, president of 10e20 recommends, in addition to blogs, social news and bookmarking sites, the good, sort of old fashioned in Internet terms, forums and message boards. Big Boards, which ranks popular forums, becomes a “very important” tool for targeting potential viral sources. These message boards are often the source of what become well-known Internet memes.

Rick-rolling, for example.

In addition to general silliness, those populating the forums are pretty much like those populating other places on the Web. Winfield recommends lists, surveys, how-to’s, tools, videos, widgets, and quizzes as popular, likely to be spread content.

Jennifer Laycock, Editor-in-Chief for Search Engine Guide, reminded the audience how one can’t just go waltzing into these places with any old content. A viral marketer first must be familiar with what his or her target audience will appreciate and, important for any life endeavor, the marketer needs to keep trying until they get it right.

Laycock offers questions to ask when brainstorming about creating a viral campaign. They are as follows:

What do customers love about us?
What do they hate?
What's the biggest challenge?
Can you do something outrageous?
Can you do something hilarious?
Holiday connection?
What do you wish people said about you?
Can you embrace controversy?
Do you have an underdog story?
Are you connected to a news story?