Media Matters – SFU Business in the News – July 17
Jul 24, 2009
How SFU Business fared in the news for the week ending July 17, 2009.
National News
- The Financial Post section of National Post carried a feature on viral marketing and the success of viral campaigns that take off and reach millions. So, how does one make such a campaign work?
“‘If we knew how to do it, it wouldn’t be viral marketing,” says Leyland Pitt, professor of commerce at Simon Fraser University. ‘It tends to rely on someone with really creative insight. And sometimes it just works without us knowing how. It can be incredibly effective. But can I tell you how to do it? There are some principles that seem to be apparent, but the answer is, no, not really.’”
In a sidebar story, Pitt said that if a business can use the internet to reach out to a few hundred people, and get half a dozen serious customers, that’s good use of the web. “If you’re a small business especially, you need to understand how the social networks work. If you can understand that you can make them work for you.”