LinkBait Could be the New Viral Marketing

According to Lee Odden of searchnewz.com, viral marketing is fading out while "linkbaiting" is coming more into play.

The difference, he explains, is the following:

Linkbaiting at its simplest form is creating compelling content that encourages people share that content and also link to it. With viral marketing, it had more to do with the sharing of the content - via word of mouth and email mostly. Links drive traffic and can also affect link popularity - a significant influence on search engine rankings. Linkbait can come in virtually any creative form, including (but not limited to): tools, contests, awards, lists, polls, controversy, and any other form of content that encourages linking.

Eric Ward has been doing content publicity and link building since 1994. His resume includes ABC, PBS, and Amazon. For $2,000, this linkbait expert promises four things:

1)A proprietary "Link Opportunity Audit" for your site
2)Creation of a strategic link bait strategy for your site
3)Two hours of private phone discussion with Eric Ward
4)Training on promotion and link building for the new content

Seomoz.org says their linkbait services have a more intense pricing structure.

Linkbait Design - $5,000 - $15,000
Linkbait Development - $8,000 - $20,000
Linkbait Promotion - $5,000 - $10,000
All Linkbait Services Combined - $20,000 - $50,000

Odden says he would like to see more case studies from companies that offer such services. He realizes people don't want to give away any trade secrets, but notes there are plenty of ways to explain a problem/solution case study without getting into the details. Perhaps this is something the industry can undertake within the next couple of months.

I feel linkbaiting and viral marketing work hand-in-hand. Contests, awards, lists, polls, and controversy - used as examples of linkbaiting in the third italicized paragraph - are viral marketing tactics as well. Many times viral marketing is a creative buzz making tactic that draws users to click a link to send to a friend. While viral marketing also tries to generate word-of-mouth, linkbaiting seems like a way of measuring how effective that is. For example if there is a campaign for shampoo, and the company encourages viewers to see a video on their Web site, the link to the video can be a linkbait. From that bait, the company can measure how many people clicked on the link thus assessing how effective their encouragement to watch the video was. So I don't think viral marketing will fade, but will be more encouraged to collaborate with linkbaiting tools.

If I based everything on what these professionals say, I would be worried that my blog would eventually have to be one about the popular trends of "linkbaiting!" But I enjoy viral marketing and I think others do too, I'm not worried, the viral concept is going to stick around!