Haven’t you Heard: Viral Marketing in Library?

Vrana, Radovan. (2014). Haven’t you Heard: Viral Marketing in Library?. Arhivi, knjižnice, muzeji : mogućnosti suradnje u okruženju globalne informacijske infrastrukture, 17. pp. 193-207. ISSN 1849-4080

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Abstract

To retain existing users and attract new ones in financially challenging time, libraries are employing different management methods including marketing. One of the newer marketing methods, viral marketing is a tactics of creating a process in which interested people share with each other informa tion about services and products they use. Viral marketing is a successor of word of mouth communication, one of the oldest communication channels. It has been used in libraries for a long time among users who share with their friends and relatives good and bad experiences in using library services and products. When using viral marketing, libraries use social media to reach more current and potential users. Social media have several advantages over other media: accessibility 0-24, wider audience, new types of relationships among users, low costs. Use of social media for viral marketing has its downsides too: weak control over communication in social media, unforeseeable results of viral marketing campaigns and low measurability of viral marketing campaigns. Despite downsides, viral marketing remains an important, interesting and usable tool for promotion of library services and products. Consequently, goals of this paper have their origins in necessity of implementation of viral marketing in libraries including: elaboration of the term viral marketing as well as pointing out its advantages and disadvantages and its role in library management.

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