The beginnings of viral marketing can be traced to strategic use of email. Since that long ago day, viral marketing has gone from a marketing strategy to an art form and there are many ways to accomplish the objective of creating a successful viral marketing campaign.  Seven of those ways are as follows:

E-mail: It may have been first, but it is still around and is still used. It is, however, getting a little harder to use as more and more government restrictions are placed on the use of email as it relates to spam. Still, it does work.

Newsletters: This is an extension of e-mail but it is a very effective tool. If you include enough timely and valuable information, a good newsletter can drive up the number of visits to your website.

Blogging: Providing the tools on your website to enable bloggers to interact with one another is a terrific way to get the message about your product of service out there and being talked about. Bloggers have their ears to the ground for new products and services.

Chat Rooms: A chat room on your website can and does encourage interaction among your customers and that can't be a bad thing. Also, you can use the chat room to schedule special events like having an expert available to answer questions on a given day at a given time.

Tell-a-friend Script: If you add this with a statement saying that e-mail addresses supplied will never be shared with third parties, you can increase your potential customer list greatly.

Video Clips: Including cool video clips on your website will keep the interest up and increase traffic.

Flash Games: Although they are a little costly to start, they are an extremely effective tool to get your viral marketing campaign going. Once they are launched, they require nothing more from you.

These are just a few of the ways you can start a viral marketing campaign. Be creative and you'll be surprised at the results you achieve.