Viral Spike Marketing's Blog

Explore the Viral Spike Marketing blog for expert insights on digital marketing, social media trends, and proven strategies to make your brand go viral.

Latest Articles

What Is a PR Stunt? Definition, Real Examples, and How to Plan One in 2026Marketing Insights

What Is a PR Stunt? Definition, Real Examples, and How to Plan One in 2026

A PR stunt is a planned, unusual event staged to earn media coverage without paying for ads. Definition, 2007–2026 examples with sources, costs, how to pitch one, legal checks, and an idea generator.

November 2, 202635 min read

Erase.com Mugshot Removal: Reviews, Alternatives and What to Check Before You PayOnline Reputation

Erase.com Mugshot Removal: Reviews, Alternatives and What to Check Before You Pay

What Erase.com verifiably offers for mugshot removal, what its reviewers report, the contract terms you cannot see, how alternatives compare, and the checklist to run before paying anyone.

November 2, 202612 min read

Sponsored Content vs. Editorial Coverage for AI Visibility: What Brands Need to KnowAI Search

Sponsored Content vs. Editorial Coverage for AI Visibility: What Brands Need to Know

What sponsored content, earned media, pay-per-click campaigns and guaranteed placements each do for AI visibility, with FTC and Google rules and the citation evidence.

November 2, 202613 min read

Best AI Visibility and GEO Agencies and Tools in 2026: An Independent ComparisonAI Search

Best AI Visibility and GEO Agencies and Tools in 2026: An Independent Comparison

Independent comparison of AI visibility monitoring tools, GEO agencies, Linkby and PR placement services, with verified pricing and which fits your business.

November 2, 202614 min read

How to Get Press in New Jersey Local News Outlets: Who Covers What, How to Pitch, and WhenMarketing Insights

How to Get Press in New Jersey Local News Outlets: Who Covers What, How to Pitch, and When

New Jersey press coverage starts with knowing who covers what: NJ.com, NJBIZ, TAPinto, Patch, News 12 and radio, how each newsroom takes tips, when to pitch.

October 18, 202616 min read

PR for Restaurants: Opening Timelines, Local Food Press, Critics, Influencer Meals and ReviewsMarketing Insights

PR for Restaurants: Opening Timelines, Local Food Press, Critics, Influencer Meals and Reviews

PR for restaurants: a 12-week opening timeline, how local food press and critics work, influencer meals under FTC disclosure rules, reviews and placements.

October 18, 202616 min read

Does Meta Verified Help You Recover a Hacked or Disabled Account? What the Subscription Includes, What It Cannot Do, and the Real Recovery RoutesSocial Media Guides

Does Meta Verified Help You Recover a Hacked or Disabled Account? What the Subscription Includes, What It Cannot Do, and the Real Recovery Routes

Meta Verified support helps secure a hacked account you still own. It cannot be bought for a disabled account or override an appeal. What it includes.

October 18, 202615 min read

PR for Real Estate Agents and Brokers: Local Press, Market Commentary, Expert Quotes and Fair Housing RulesMarketing Insights

PR for Real Estate Agents and Brokers: Local Press, Market Commentary, Expert Quotes and Fair Housing Rules

PR for real estate agents: how to get quoted in local press with market-data commentary, expert-request platforms, contributor bylines and fair housing rules.

October 18, 202616 min read

How to Remove Facebook Reviews and Recommendations: Reporting, Turning Recommendations Off, and What to Do When a Page Is AttackedOnline Reputation

How to Remove Facebook Reviews and Recommendations: Reporting, Turning Recommendations Off, and What to Do When a Page Is Attacked

How to remove Facebook reviews: report a Recommendation that breaks Meta's Community Standards, or turn Recommendations off and lose the rating. Steps, costs.

October 18, 202615 min read

Reputation Management for Hotels and Restaurants: Reviews at Scale, Response SLAs, Staff Playbooks and Removal Routes by PlatformOnline Reputation

Reputation Management for Hotels and Restaurants: Reviews at Scale, Response SLAs, Staff Playbooks and Removal Routes by Platform

Reputation management for hotels and restaurants: reviews at scale across Google, Tripadvisor, Yelp and OTAs, response SLAs, staff playbooks and removal routes.

October 18, 202615 min read

How to Measure PR Results: The Metrics That Matter, Why AVE Is Rejected, and a Reporting FrameworkMarketing Insights

How to Measure PR Results: The Metrics That Matter, Why AVE Is Rejected, and a Reporting Framework

How to measure PR results: the eight metrics that matter, why PRSA and AMEC reject advertising value equivalency, a framework table and a reporting cadence.

October 18, 202615 min read

How to Remove Google Reviews: Step by Step Through Flagging, the Reviews Management Tool, Appeals and Legal RequestsOnline Reputation

How to Remove Google Reviews: Step by Step Through Flagging, the Reviews Management Tool, Appeals and Legal Requests

How to remove Google reviews: match the review to a content policy, report it in Maps or the Reviews Management Tool, use the one appeal, then go legal.

October 18, 202615 min read

How to Get ChatGPT to Recommend Your Local Business (and Show Up in Google AI Mode)AI Search

How to Get ChatGPT to Recommend Your Local Business (and Show Up in Google AI Mode)

How to get ChatGPT to recommend your local business: complete your Google and Bing profiles, earn reviews, get local press, and keep business data consistent.

October 18, 202616 min read

Press Kit vs Media Kit: What to Include, a Template You Can Copy, and the Mistakes That Get Yours IgnoredMarketing Insights

Press Kit vs Media Kit: What to Include, a Template You Can Copy, and the Mistakes That Get Yours Ignored

Press kit template: what a press kit contains, how it differs from a media kit, the six files reporters actually open, a checklist table and where to host it.

October 18, 202615 min read

Reputation Management Software vs Agency: Which Do You Need? An Honest ComparisonOnline Reputation

Reputation Management Software vs Agency: Which Do You Need? An Honest Comparison

Reputation management software vs agency: software monitors, requests and drafts replies; an agency files removals, earns press, suppresses and handles crises.

October 18, 202613 min read

Answer Engine Optimization Checklist: 20 Checks to Run Before You PublishAI Search

Answer Engine Optimization Checklist: 20 Checks to Run Before You Publish

Answer engine optimization checklist: 20 pre-publish checks, from an answer-first intro and question headings to author entity, citations and AI crawler access.

October 18, 202616 min read

How to Get Featured in Billboard, Rolling Stone and Complex: Editorial Pitches, Paid Sections and Guaranteed PlacementsMusic Publicity

How to Get Featured in Billboard, Rolling Stone and Complex: Editorial Pitches, Paid Sections and Guaranteed Placements

How to get featured in Billboard, Rolling Stone or Complex: how editors choose stories, what the paid sections are, and what a music pitch needs to land.

October 18, 202615 min read

Reputation Management for Dentists: HIPAA-Safe Review Responses, Profiles That Convert, and What to Do About the One-Star RantOnline Reputation

Reputation Management for Dentists: HIPAA-Safe Review Responses, Profiles That Convert, and What to Do About the One-Star Rant

Reputation management for dentists starts with HIPAA: never confirm a reviewer is a patient. Then profiles, compliant review requests, bad reviews and press.

October 18, 202615 min read

Wikipedia, Wikidata and AI Answers: Entity SEO for Brands and ExecutivesAI Search

Wikipedia, Wikidata and AI Answers: Entity SEO for Brands and Executives

Wikidata SEO explained: how Wikidata, Wikipedia, the Knowledge Graph, schema sameAs and consistent profiles feed AI answers, and how to build an item correctly.

October 18, 202616 min read

How to Get a Google Knowledge Panel as an Artist: Music Platforms, Discography Data and Claiming the PanelMusic Publicity

How to Get a Google Knowledge Panel as an Artist: Music Platforms, Discography Data and Claiming the Panel

A Google knowledge panel for an artist is built from music platform data, open databases and press. How to feed each source, claim it and fix wrong photos.

October 18, 202617 min read

Ripoff Report Removal: What Actually Works, What Is Sold, and What to Do When the Report StaysOnline Reputation

Ripoff Report Removal: What Actually Works, What Is Sold, and What to Do When the Report Stays

Ripoff Report removal is rare: the site says it never deletes reports. What works: a rebuttal, a judgment taken to Google, and suppression that outranks it.

October 18, 202615 min read

Reddit and AI Answers: Why Reddit Shapes What ChatGPT Says About Your Brand (and How to Respond Without Astroturfing)AI Search

Reddit and AI Answers: Why Reddit Shapes What ChatGPT Says About Your Brand (and How to Respond Without Astroturfing)

Reddit AI search explained: why Reddit threads shape what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI say about your brand, and how to respond without astroturfing.

October 18, 202616 min read

How the Billboard Charts Work: Hot 100, Billboard 200 and Genre Charts Explained (and What It Takes to Get On Them)Music Publicity

How the Billboard Charts Work: Hot 100, Billboard 200 and Genre Charts Explained (and What It Takes to Get On Them)

How to get on the Billboard charts starts with how they are built: Luminate data, stream and sales weighting, bundle and bot rules, and what PR can do.

October 18, 202616 min read

How to Remove Negative Google Autocomplete Suggestions: Policy Reports, Legal Requests and SuppressionOnline Reputation

How to Remove Negative Google Autocomplete Suggestions: Policy Reports, Legal Requests and Suppression

To remove Google autocomplete suggestions you need a policy violation, a legal basis, or a change in what people search. Which route fits your prediction.

October 18, 202615 min read