Viral marketing. It's all the rage today, and sometimes it seems like everybody's going viral. But what exactly is viral marketing? How does it work? And when should you try to employ it?

Contrary to popular belief, viral marketing has been around forever. It's basically word-of-mouth, only instead of the "virus" spreading through conversation it's spread through user groups, websites, email, instant messaging and a host of other technologies.

There are two main differences between today's viral efforts and yesterday's word-of-mouth marketing: intent and intensity:

• First, intent. Word of mouth has always been the most valuable form of marketing, for the simple reason that when a trusted friend or colleague recommends a product or service, a) they have a level of one-on-one intimacy with the "target audience" (typically a friend or family member) that no marketer could replicate, and b) they have no ulterior motives. That makes their recommendations personal and trustworthy.
  
  But while companies have always respected and valued word of mouth marketing, for most of recorded history they had no way of generating it beyond providing quality customer experiences. If they did a good job people would spread the word, and if they let customers down the same would happen. While the ...

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