The Spanish travel community Minube.com is successfully using a number of viral techniques to promote their website. In our interview, Pedro Jareño of Minube.com explained that their first priority was to make their website as useful as possible so that people would naturally want to share it. Viral elements have been developed in parallel, to help enthusiastic users get out the word.
Some of their viral strategies involve the social network Facebook. Minube.com have incorporated Facebook Connect, a Facebook application that lets users share information between their accounts on Minube.com and on Facebook. “It’s a way to share content and generate interest,” Pedro explains. In addition, they have developed a travel tool for Facebook users. “This has two benefits for us,” says Pedro. “First, it brings new users to the community. Second, when you create an application with good content on Facebook, it adds value for users and strengthens your brand.”
According to Pedro, Minube.com’s greatest viral success has been a campaign called “Around the World 2.0,” in which Minube.com management traveled around the world and wrote about their experiences on the website and on a blog they’d set up for the campaign. “We thought, if we’re travelers, why not show it?” Pedro says. The campaign generated a great deal of attention for Minube.com on blogs as well as Spanish maninstream media. “…It helped us get into places that would otherwise be hard to access and to meet people that would otherwise be difficult to meet,” Pedro says.
