Today’s guest post comes from Jeremy Epstein, founder and chief marketing navigator at Never Stop Marketing, a strategic marketing firm based in Washington, D.C., with clients including Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson and New York Times best-selling author Dan Pink. You can subscribe by e-mail or RSS to the Never Stop Marketing Blog, follow Jeremy on Twitter or join the NSM Facebook fan page.

Sure, you want to think about using Facebook and Twitter or how to leverage your raving fans through a community-driven marketing strategy.

But what should you really be thinking about as social media becomes more and more a “given?”

Forward-thinking organizations are thinking about flowers.

In particular, dandelions.

In his excellent book, “Free: The Future of a Radical Price,” Chris Anderson introduces us to the idea that the best way for nature to “fully explore [a] potential space,” is through a “scattershot strategy.” A strategy epitomized by, yes, the dandelion.

You see, the dandelion’s objective is to create really low-cost seeds that can be spread to as many places as possible and thereby maximize growth and the chance for future survival.

Marketing in a social media world means you are trying to have your message spread while competing with a billion other channels for attention. At any given time, you don’t know where your potential customers are or what they might see. What’s more, you cannot predict what will “go viral,” which is the goal of your efforts, right?

There are a slew of variables outside of your control that affect a viral success or failure. However, there are a few things that you can do.

If you want to increase your odds of having your activities “go viral,” you’ll want to understand the six components of creating a “Dandelion Marketing Culture.”

1. Know the Commander’s Intent.
2. EVERYONE is in marketing.
3. Brand: Feel Over Look.
4. Agile Marketing Development
5. High Fault Tolerance.
6. Rapid Feedback Loops.

Now, if you are ready to begin this journey, download the free eBook — Dandelion Marketing: How to Increase Your Odds of “Going Viral.”

Then, act like a dandelion and share it with your friends!

Image credit, caracterdesign, via iStock

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3. Viral does not always equal video