Almost every marketing publication has a different definition for the term “marketing”. According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), they define marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large” (American Marketing Association, 2010).
A similar definition by Chernev & Kotler (2012), is that “Marketing is the art and science of creating value by designing and managing successful exchanges”, meaning that its emphasis is on the exchange of goods and services as well as ideas.
2.3 Branding
As much as a third of the value of a company is its brand value. Kotler, Keller, Brady, Goodman
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In 2009 Wheeler pointed out that branding is the process used to strengthen customer loyalty but also to extend the awareness of the brand and to seize every opportunity to communicate why a brand should be chosen over another. Kotler and Keller (2009) refer to a study done in 2005 where it revealed that a company that has a strong brand focus has on average higher operational profits, and through that all marketing activities should support the brand.
2.4 Social media
According to the CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) in the United Kingdom, “social media is the term commonly given to internet and mobile-based channels and tools that allow users to interact with each other and share opinions and content”. As the name implies, and according to the Encyclopaedia of Social Media and Politics (2014), “social media involves the building of communities or networks and encouraging participation and
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Consumers enjoy the interaction and communication with each other and like to receive feedback or advice about different products or services, be it either positive or negative; these so called virtual communities have an influence on consumers’ buying decisions (Evans, Jamal & Foxall, 2009).
Figure 2: Facebook visits by consumers According to Mayfield (2008) eBook, iCrossing – What is Social Media, he defines the various popular social media platforms as follows:
• Facebook: Originated in US colleges in 2004, this is a social network site which allows people to build personal web pages and connect to and communicate with friends
• LinkedIn: LinkedIn in most popularly known as the “grown up” social network. This social media platform allows users to build professional relationships in online environments
• Blogs: These are online journals which allow participants to share their thoughts via journal entries. Blogs often allow other users to comment on journal