ESL商务英语: ESL Podcast 280 – Viral Marketing

ESL Podcast 280 – Viral Marketing

GLOSSARY

buzz – excitement and interest about something* In the early part of this year, there was a lot of buzz about a new computer thatcould do everything!

viral marketing – the ways that a company gets people to share its marketingmessages with other people by using existing networks or connections betweenpeople* Viral marketing is inexpensive for companies because they can get theirmarketing messages to many people without have to pay for television or radioadvertisements.

to spread (something) – to make something become known by more people; tomake something familiar to more people* The use of cell phones is spreading across Africa very quickly.

to get plugged into (something) – to become involved in something; to becomeinvolved in a group of people* If you want to make more friends at the university, you can get plugged intosome of the student organizations.

social network – an online community where each person has a profile pageand can share information and communicate with other people within thecommunity* MySpace and Friendster are two examples of popular social networks.

blogger – a person who writes a blog, an online journal that has many entries written by one person* Many companies are worried that their employees will become bloggers andsay bad things about the place where they work.

in turn – one after another; as a result of something else* The teacher said to his class:  If you are nice to other people, they, in turn, willbe nice to you.

so on – et cetera (etc.); used at the end of a list to show that there are otherthings that could be listed but are not* Sheldon wants to find a boyfriend who is intelligent, successful, kind, loving,and so on.

low-cost – inexpensive; cheap* Compared to television, radio is a low-cost way to advertise.

word of mouth – people learning about something because they hear otherpeople talking about it* Dr. Rodriguez finds a lot of new patients though word of mouth, because herpatients tell their friends and relatives how good she is.

promising – having a lot of promise and potential; likely to be good or helpful* The department is being led by a promising new manager.  Everyone thinks she’ll do a good job.

to transform – to change something in a significant way; to make somethingdifferent* Jack transformed the company from a family business into a global corporationin just 10 years.

enthusiasm – energy and excitement; eagerness to do something* Everyone likes working with Diego, because he has a lot of enthusiasm for his work.

to go over – to be accepted or rejected; to be received and reacted to by someone in a particular way* How did it go over when you told your parents that you wanted to get marriednext week?

sure thing – a phrase used to show that one agrees with something or is willingto do something* When Byron asked Zia to lead the project, he said, “Sure thing!” and startedworking on it immediately.

English as a Second Language Podcastwww.eslpod.comESL Podcast 280 – Viral MarketingThese materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007).  Posting ofthese materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

3COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS1.  Why is viral marketing low-cost?

a)  Because it sounds very promising.

b)  Because it relies on people sharing information.

c)  Because it is put in people’s mouths.

2.  Why does Maksym want Jayna to make a presentation on Friday?

a)  Because he wants Jayna to transform the way they reach customers.

b)  Because he wants everyone to appreciate Jayna’s enthusiasm.

c)  Because he wants to know what the rest of the department thinks about it.

______________WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

buzzThe word “buzz,” in this podcast, means excitement and interest aboutsomething: “Have you heard all the buzz about the new store that’s opening?” The word “buzz” is also used to describe a continuous sounds, like an alarm, abee, or a lot of conversations: “I didn’t hear the buzz from the oven timer, so thecake burned.”  Or, “The vacuum cleaner made such a loud buzz that I didn’t hearthe phone ring.”  A “buzzer” is a button that is pushed to make a noise: “Pleaseturn off the buzzer on your alarm clock!”  As a verb, “to buzz” means to make acontinuous sound: “The bees were buzzing around the flowers.”  The verb “tobuzz around” means to do many things and move around a lot: “Clarence was buzzing around the office, trying to organize everything for the interview.”

to spreadIn this podcast, the verb “to spread” means to make something become knownby more people: “The police can spread information very quickly by usingtelevision.”  The verb “to spread” also means to move and cover a larger area:

“The spilled milk quickly spread over the table and onto the floor.”  “To spread”

can also mean to unfold something and lay in down flat: “Let’s spread a blanketon the grass and look at the stars.”  Another meaning of “to spread” is to moveone’s legs, arms, fingers, or toes away from each other: “Camille spread herarms for better balance while she was crossing the river.”  Finally, “to spread”

can mean to put a layer of something onto something else, usually food: “Here’s a knife so you can spread butter onto your bread.”

CULTURE NOTEThe Internet makes viral marketing much easier and inexpensive for companies that want to sell a product or service.  Viral marketing happens whenever people“refer” (recommend) a company’s products or services to other people.  If acompany has a fun and interesting website, online video, or email, then it is very easy for people to “forward” (re-send) these things to their friends and family members.  When those people enjoy what they see, they often choose to forwardit to their own friends.  In this way, the viral marketing “scheme” (plan) grows very quickly and reaches many people.

For example, the company Hotmail used viral marketing very successfully.  Thecompany had few users, but it started putting “To get your FREE email accountgo to www.hotmail.com” at the bottom of its users’ emails.  As more peopleclicked on the link and opened their own accounts, the message was sent toeven more people and the company grew so quickly that Microsoft decided tobuy it.

Gmail is another email program that is using a viral marketing scheme.  Originally only a small number of people had Gmail accounts.  The only way to open aGmail account was to be invited by a Gmail user.  This created a lot of buzz about the new email program – so much buzz, in fact, that some people beganselling their Gmail invitations!

Viral marketing can be used for other things too, including movies.  The movieSnakes on a Plane allowed people to create messages in the voice of themovie’s “star” (main actor), Samuel L. Jackson.  Then they could send thosemessages to any telephone number.  When other people received the message,they learned a little bit about the movie, and then many of those people createdtheir own messages, which let even more people learn about the movie.

______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers:  1 – b; 2 – c

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTWelcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 280: ViralMarketing.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 280.  I'm your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

If you haven't visited our website recently, please go to eslpod.com and take alook at some of the new features on our website.  While you're there, you candownload a Learning Guide for this episode, that contains all of the vocabulary,definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions not included on the podcast,cultural notes, and a complete transcript of this episode.

This episode is called “Viral Marketing.”  “Marketing” is a way that companies letother people know about their products and services – what they are selling. Let's get started.

[start of story]

Jayna:  I have an idea for creating buzz about our new product. Maksym:  What is it?

Jayna:  I think we should use viral marketing.  We can spread information aboutthe product quickly and among the most likely customers.

Maksym:  I really don’t understand it.  How would we do viral marketing? Jayna:  Well, the key is to get plugged into a few people who have large socialnetworks already, such as bloggers and other people with popular websites.  Weget them talking about the product on their websites and people who visit thosewebsites will tell their friends about it, and they will in turn tell their friends, and soon.  If we use these existing social networks, news about our product will spreadvery quickly. Maksym:  What about the cost?

Jayna:  That’s just it.  It’s very low-cost because it works through word of mouth.  

Maksym:  That sounds promising.  Why don’t you put together a shortpresentation about it to present at the department meeting on Friday?

Jayna:  Great.  I’ll get working on it right away.  I think it’s going to transform theway we reach our customers.

Maksym:  I appreciate your enthusiasm, but let’s see how it goes over with therest of the department on Friday.

Jayna:  Sure thing.

[end of story]

Our dialogue between Jayna and Maksym is about viral marketing.  The word“viral” (viral) comes from the word “virus” (virus), a noun.  A “virus” is usually aword you will see in medicine to talk about something that spreads, or takes acertain kind of disease from one person to another.  We would say it is something that “infects” the other person.  “To infect someone” means to givesomeone a sickness or a disease.  You may have heard of the expression “acomputer virus.”  This is a program or something that makes your computer sick,that is, does damage to your computer.

The word “viral,” as an adjective, means to spread quickly.  Just like you canhave a virus spread or move quickly from one person to another, the adjective“viral” refers to that same idea of having something move very quickly.

The term “viral marketing” means to get your message out, as a company, to getother people to share and to spread the news about your product or service.  So,viral marketing it is not a negative thing.  A virus is usually a negative thing, butviral marketing is just a way that companies use existing connections amongpeople to get their message out – to get people to know about their product.

Jayna begins by saying, “I have an idea for creating buzz (buzz) about our newproduct.”  “Buzz” means excitement about something.  Someone may say,“What's the buzz on that new movie,” meaning what are people saying about it –what are the exciting or interesting things that people are saying.  “Buzz” has acouple of different meanings; take a look at our Learning Guide for this episodefor some additional explanations of how to use that word.

Maksym says, “What is it,” meaning what is your idea.  Jayna says, “I think weshould use viral marketing.  We can spread information about the product quickly and among the most likely customers,” the customers who are most likely to buy the product – most probable to buy the product.  “To spread (spread) something”

means to make something known to other people.  There are some otherdefinitions of that word, “to spread,” that verb; take a look at our Learning Guide,again, for some additional explanations.

Maksym then says, “I really don’t understand it” – I don't understand viralmarketing, how do we do it?  Jayna then explains: “Well, the key,” or the mostimportant thing, “is to get plugged into a few people who have large socialnetworks already.”  “To be plugged,” or “to get plugged into something” means toget or become involved in something, to become involved in a group of people toget information to that group of people.

Jayna says we want “a few people who have large social networks.”  A “social(social) network) is a group of people who communicate with each other, amongthemselves.  They could do this online, for example, on a forum or bulletin board,by email.  “Social networking” is a very common term you will hear in talkingabout online services, where people who have similar interests can connect –can get together. Jayna gives some examples of this, including bloggers.  A “blogger” is a personwho writes a blog (blog).  A “blog” is a “weblog,” or an online journal that usually one person writes, often about their own life – their own experiences. Sometimes they can be about politics, sports, religion, or any other topic.

Jayna says we need to get people “talking about product on their websites andpeople who visit those sites will tell their friends about it, and they will in turn telltheir friends, and so on.”  The idea of viral marketing is you get a small group ofpeople to begin, who know a lot of other people and they spread, or give, thatinformation to a larger group of people.  Those people then give the informationto other people, and so the message is passed along – it is transmitted – it is spread.

Jayna uses the expression “in turn” (two words) to mean one after another, or as a result of something.  The expression is used when she says, “they will in turntell their friends,” meaning after these people find out about it, they'll tell otherpeople.  “And so on,” she says.  The expression “so on” means the same as “etcetera.”  It's used at the end of a list to show that there are other things that youcould list, but you're not mentioning them right now.  For example, “There are 50states in the United States: California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, andso on,” meaning I'm not going to mention all 50 states.  I could, but I won't!

Jayna says that “If we use these existing social networks, news about ourproduct will spread very quickly.”  Maksym asks what is the cost: “What about thecost,” meaning how much is this going to cost.  Jayna says, “That’s just it.”  Kindof an odd expression, “that's just it,” meaning here's the interesting thing about it– here's the good thing about it, usually.  What you say next after this expression,“that's just it,” is related to something that the person you are talking to said.  Soin this case, the question Maksym has is: “What about the cost.”  Jayna says,“That's just it,” and then she says something about the cost, related to the factthat it will not cost a lot of money.  We use this expression, “that's just it,” whenwe are, in some ways perhaps, going to surprise the other person with theinformation that is related to something they said or asked. “That’s just it.  It’s very low-cost,” meaning it's not expensive; it won't require a lotof money, because viral marketing “works through word of mouth.”  Theexpression “word of mouth,” like the mouth on your face, means people learningabout something because they hear other people talking about it.  There could begood word of mouth about ESL Podcast; other people will talk about it, and thentheir friends will find out about it, and so on, and so on.  That's what we hope,anyway, so tell all of your friends about us!

Maksym says, “That sounds promising.”  When we say something “sounds promising,” we mean it has a lot of potential.  It's probably going to be good orhelpful; it sounds like a good idea.  “Why don’t you put together a shortpresentation about it to present at the department meeting on Friday,” Maksymasks.  Jayna says, “Great.  I’ll get working on it right away.  I think it’s going totransform the way we reach our customers.”  “To transform” means to changesomething significantly.

Maksym says, “I appreciate your enthusiasm.”  “Enthusiasm” is your energy, yourexcitement about something.  “Let’s see how it goes over with the rest of thedepartment on Friday.”  The expression “to go over” means let's see if it is accepted or rejected, if people like it or hate it.  You could say, “It is going to goover very well,” or, “It went over very badly,” depending on how people react.

Jayna ends the dialogue by saying, “Sure thing.”  The phrase “sure thing” means that I agree with you, or you are willing to do something.  Someone may say,“Could you give me that piece of paper?”  You could say, “Sure thing,” as a way of saying yes, I will.  Would you like to hear the dialogue now at a normal speed? And you say, “Sure thing Jeff!”

[start of story]

Jayna:  I have an idea for creating buzz about our new product. Maksym:  What is it?

Jayna:  I think we should use viral marketing.  We can spread information aboutthe product quickly and among the most likely customers.

Maksym:  I really don’t understand it.  How would we do viral marketing? Jayna:  Well, the key is to get plugged into a few people who have large socialnetworks already, such as bloggers and other people with popular websites.  Weget them talking about the product on their websites and people who visit thosesites will tell their friends about it, and they will in turn tell their friends, and so on. If we use these existing social networks, news about our product will spread very quickly. Maksym:  What about the cost?

Jayna:  That’s just it.  It’s very low-cost because it works through word of mouth. Maksym:  That sounds promising.  Why don’t you put together a shortpresentation about it to present at the department meeting on Friday?

Jayna:  Great.  I’ll get working on it right away.  I think it’s going to transform theway we reach our customers.

Maksym:  I appreciate your enthusiasm, but let’s see how it goes over with therest of the department on Friday.

Jayna:  Sure thing.

[end of story]

The script for this podcast was written by our own Dr. Lucy Tse.  Thank youLucy! From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.  Thanks for listening.  We hopeyou'll be with us next time, here at ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan.  This podcast is copyright 2007.