#0280 – Viral Marketing, - Ang, mater, ESL Podcast McQuillan Jeff mp3+PDF
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
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 that
could do everything!
viral marketing –
the ways that a company gets people to share its marketing
messages with other people by using existing networks or connections between
people
* Viral marketing is inexpensive for companies because they can get their
marketing messages to many people without have to pay for television or radio
advertisements.
to spread (something) –
to make something become known by more people; to
make 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 become
involved in a group of people
* If you want to make more friends at the university, you can get plugged into
some of the student organizations.
social network –
an online community where each person has a profile page
and can share information and communicate with other people within the
community
* 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 and
say 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, will
be nice to you.
so on –
et cetera (etc.); used at the end of a list to show that there are other
things that could be listed but are not
* Sheldon wants to find a boyfriend who is intelligent, successful, kind, loving,
and so on.
1
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ESL Podcast 280 – Viral Marketing
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 other
people talking about it
* Dr. Rodriguez finds a lot of new patients though word of mouth, because her
patients 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 something
different
* Jack transformed the company from a family business into a global corporation
in 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 married
next week?
sure thing –
a phrase used to show that one agrees with something or is willing
to do something
* When Byron asked Zia to lead the project, he said, “Sure thing!” and started
working on it immediately.
2
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ESL Podcast 280 – Viral Marketing
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
1. 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?
buzz
The word “buzz,” in this podcast, means excitement and interest about
something: “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, a
bee, or a lot of conversations: “I didn’t hear the buzz from the oven timer, so the
cake burned.” Or, “The vacuum cleaner made such a loud buzz that I didn’t hear
the phone ring.” A “buzzer” is a button that is pushed to make a noise: “Please
turn off the buzzer on your alarm clock!” As a verb, “to buzz” means to make a
continuous sound: “The bees were buzzing around the flowers.” The verb “to
buzz 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 spread
In this podcast, the verb “to spread” means to make something become known
by more people: “The police can spread information very quickly by using
television.” 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 blanket
on the grass and look at the stars.” Another meaning of “to spread” is to move
one’s legs, arms, fingers, or toes away from each other: “Camille spread her
arms 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.”
3
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ESL Podcast 280 – Viral Marketing
CULTURE NOTE
The 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 a
company 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 forward
it 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. The
company had few users, but it started putting “To get your FREE email account
go to www.hotmail.com” at the bottom of its users’ emails. As more people
clicked on the link and opened their own accounts, the message was sent to
even more people and the company grew so quickly that Microsoft decided to
buy 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 a
Gmail 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 began
selling their Gmail invitations!
Viral marketing can be used for other things too, including movies. The movie
Snakes on a Plane
allowed people to create messages in the voice of the
movie’s “star” (main actor), Samuel L. Jackson. Then they could send those
messages to any telephone number. When other people received the message,
they learned a little bit about the movie, and then many of those people created
their own messages, which let even more people learn about the movie.
______________
Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – b; 2 – c
4
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ESL Podcast 280 – Viral Marketing
COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 280: Viral
Marketing.
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 in
beautiful Los Angeles, California.
If you haven't visited our website recently, please go to eslpod.com and take a
look at some of the new features on our website. While you're there, you can
download 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 let
other 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 about
the 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 social
networks already, such as bloggers and other people with popular websites. We
get them talking about the product on their websites and people who visit those
websites 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.
5
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]