Viral marketing or word of mouth (WOM) is a compelling way to market products and services, but its usage by marketers has largely turned out to be a hit or miss proposition.

PopularMedia hopes to change that. The company announced the commercial launch of its Pop Commerce 2.0 Platform product today.

The platform brings a scientific approach to viral marketing programs, enabling marketers to publish, manage and optimize viral marketing programs capable of driving sales, leads, subscriptions, downloads and more.

"We're way beyond buzz at this point," said Jim Calhoun, CEO of PopularMedia, Inc. "By applying science and analytics to viral marketing, we're helping companies open entirely new distribution channels simply by tapping the wisdom and power of their customer base."

The Pop Commerce platform analyzes consumer behavior in real-time, feeds results back into its publishing engine, and then makes adjustments to optimize viral programs on the fly. As a result, the platform produces reliable, sustainable results that create value for marketers.

While it can be used for brand building and generating awareness, the platform has also helped customers build new prospect databases and open new, profitable sources of revenues that take them beyond search marketing.

In business since January 2006, PopularMedia currently has more than 60 customers, which include Sephora, Gamefly.com, RedEnvelope.com, Entertainment.com, eToys and UNICEF.

To learn more about word-of-mouth marketing, read "Dispelling Myths about WOM" in which WOMMA's CEO takes issue with how many in the industry describe this marketing tactic, and explains what it's really all about.