‘Infected’ is a weekly column by Venntertainment.com documenting Pop Culture in Viral Marketing. ‘Infected’ will also include sporadic ramblings on other random ‘viral’ topics…watch this space!

Last week’s article gave a very good example of how a struggling music industry can move its marketing tactics cleverly towards interacting effectively with its customers. Trent Reznor was the example. Reznor has taken the position of Leader of the Nine Inch Nails ‘Tribe’, and has used many innovative methods, both new and old, in order to create a community of followers who are increasingly engaged with what he is producing in terms of musical/artistic output.

Week Two:

Infected -

How to Infect Zombies with your Ideas

Zombies and The Power of Context

Connecting The Walking Dead

Most people will have heard of the Kitty Genovese story. She was stabbed to death in New York in 1964 by a serial rapist and murderer. The murder took place over a period of about thirty minutes, during which dozens of alleged “witnesses” failed to help the victim. Over thirty eight people stood and watched from their windows, but nobody called the police.

This has been named the ‘Bystander Effect’. (You can check this story out here) I call these Bystanders: Zombies.

Malcolm Gladwell discussed the Genovese case in his 2000 book ‘The Tipping Point’ and he says that: ‘When people are in a group, responsibility for acting is diffused’. We’ve all seen this happen. A city is a big, anonymous place. A bit like Web 2.0 don’t you think? Web 2.0 is full of Zombies just waiting to be rounded up…

Rounding up Your Zombies

What makes people react in emergencies like the Genovese case above? Well, it usually takes one big, loud individual to start barking orders at others. People want to be engaged in a scenario. They want responsibility. They want to be involved.

Seth Godin’s new book, ‘Tribes’ discusses the need for leadership in today’s environment. Zombies are crying out for leadership in all walks of life. Marketers should be using their unique position to target people effectively and to lead them.

Gladwell’s, ‘The Tipping Point’ talks about ‘The Law of the Few’ and ‘Connectors’. In today’s world, effective Marketers are Connectors and Tribe Leaders. Conor Lynch at Connector.ie understands this concept and that’s why his blog and ideas are going to work.

With a platform like Web 2.0/3.0 at your disposal, and a voice that is targeting a niche or a community, a group of people with a common interest, want or goal, you have all that you need to connect your Zombies and get your message out to them.

Zombies and The Flea Factor

What’s the final ingredient? It’s what I call the ‘Flea Factor’. It’s all about attention span. David Meerman-Scott discusses the importance of design and professionalism in his book, ‘World Wide Rave’.

Zombies make up their mind pretty quickly these days, particularly when they are browsing the web (if they can even do that). Sloppy design, or poorly constructed content will turn Zombies off in the blink of an eye.

Zombies don’t have an attention span (that of the flea comes to mind). Even if you have your message and your audience connected, it won’t matter unless you engage them with compelling design and content. Be clever!

To summarize: Want to spread your ideas? Target your zombies, connect them and lead them with well designed material and engaging interactive content.

Thoughts and suggestions appreciated as always.

More Infected Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel next week.