Brand management with social media in service industry

The deliberately designed social media campaigns can help the firms to generate brand awareness and brand loyalty with the help of the social media tools such as Facebook social networks

Anchor Academic Publishing

disseminate knowledge

In Service Industry

Brand Management with Social MediaShahriyar Humbatov

Humbatov, Shahriyar: Brand Management with Social Media: In Service Industry Hamburg, Anchor Academic Publishing 2015

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I ABSTRACT

It is highly important to highlight that nowadays the digital age drives the enterprises to focus more on the social media platforms, because the social media has enabled the customers to engage with the brand products / services The social media platforms such as social networks, blogging, microblogging, photo and video sharing support brand managers to create relevant contents to promote the brand facilities / amenities The deliberately designed social media campaigns can help the firms to generate brand awareness and brand loyalty with the help of the social media tools such as Facebook (social networks), Twitter (microblogging), Instagram (photo sharing), YouTube (video sharing) and WordPress (blogging)

The fundamental purpose of the chosen thesis topic is to validate whether the social media platforms / tools can in fact be effective as a marketing tool or not

To be more precise, this study aims to shed light on and investigate the relationship between the social media and brand equity, especially brand awareness and brand loyalty The interest to uncover above mentioned relationship led to build overarching research question and sub-questions, which permit to dig deeper to discover the impact of the social media platforms / tools on raising brand awareness and loyalty:

MQ How to manage brand awareness and brand loyalty through social media effectively in the hospitality industry?

SQ1 What are the roles of social media tools in creating brand awareness? SQ2 How to build brand loyalty through the social media platforms?

Based on these research questions exploratory and explanatory approaches have been taken into consideration The qualitative research methodology and case study method has been chosen to answer these questions Certainly, without the data collection method the necessary information could not be gathered The secondary data was collected from available literature in the academic world The designed questionnaire is used to gather primary data The information, which questionnaire disclosed, helped the author to compare

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the findings of secondary data with the primary data In the first phase, the data

is analysed in order to find the influence of social media platforms on brand awareness and loyalty In the second phase, the designed models are compared with the results of the case company’s activities on the social web

As a result, it was found out that in fact the social media platforms / tools have

an impact on generating the brand awareness and loyalty as well as they can

be immensely effective tools to design social media strategy Moreover, it has been depicted that the social media supports businesses to create relevant content and attract people to engage with brand product / service and with this way to expand the visibility of the brand to make customers aware about brand presence in the market Furthermore, to keep customers loyal to the brand companies should use the power of social media to create powerful content to engage with customers and allow them to experience the brand product / service in an online The results of analyses also exposed that rewards (financial or nonfinancial) can boost the revisit of the brand followers back to website and engage with the brand product / service

Keywords: Brand, service brand, brand equity, brand awareness, brand loyalty,

social media, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, WordPress, Fairmont Baku, content strategy, engagement, visibility, customer experience, loyalty program

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II TABLE OF CONTENTS

I ABSTRACT 1

II TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

III LIST OF FIGURES AND GRAPHS 6

IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 7

1 INTRODUCTION 8

1.1 Scope of the research 9

1.1.1 Purpose of the study 10

1.1.2 Research questions 10

1.2 Structure of the study 10

1.3 Delimitations 12

1.4 Introduction to methodology 13

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 13

2.1 What is a Brand? 14

2.2 Brand equity as an asset 16

2.2.1 Brand awareness 19

2.2.2 Brand loyalty 21

2.3 Service brand theory 26

2.3.1 Concept and characteristics of services 26

2.4 Social media defined 31

2.5 Social media platforms 35

2.5.1 Social networks 35

2.5.2 Microblogging 39

2.5.3 Photo sharing 42

2.5.4 Video sharing 44

2.5.5 Blogging 47

2.6 Brand awareness and social media 49

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2.7 Brand loyalty and social media 50

3 METHODOLOGY 52

3.1 Research design 54

3.1.1 Research approach 54

3.1.1.1 Exploratory approach 55

3.1.1.2 Explanatory approach 55

3.1.2 Research methodology 55

3.1.2.1 Qualitative 56

3.1.3 Research strategy 57

3.1.3.1 Case study method 58

3.1.4 Data collection 59

3.1.4.1 Secondary data and empirical material sources 60

3.1.4.2 Primary data and empirical material sources 61

4 DATA ANALYSIS 62

4.1 The impact of social media platforms on brand awareness 62

4.1.1 Facebook as a tool 63

4.1.2 Twitter as a tool 65

4.1.3 Instagram as a tool 66

4.1.4 YouTube as a tool 68

4.1.5 WordPress as a tool 70

4.2 The impact of social media platforms on brand loyalty 71

4.2.1 Facebook as a tool 72

4.2.2 Twitter as a tool 73

4.2.3 Instagram as a tool 74

4.2.4 YouTube as a tool 75

4.2.5 WordPress as a tool 76

5 CASE COMPANY 78

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5.1 The moments to the memories 79

5.1.1 Philosophy 79

5.1.2 History 80

5.1.3 Corporate responsibility 81

5.2 Social media activities 82

6 THE CASE COMPANY ANALYSIS 83

6.1 Usage of social media platforms in creating brand awareness 84

6.2 Usage of social media platforms in building brand loyalty 87

7 CONCLUSION 90

7.1 Study findings 90

7.2 Conclusion 92

7.3 Future research suggestions 94

7.4 Recommendations 95

8 LIST OF REFERENCES 97

Books, articles and essays 97

Internet sources 99

V APPENDIX 117

VI STATUTORY DECLARATION 122

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III LIST OF FIGURES AND GRAPHS

Table 1: Brand functions 15

Table 2: Different approaches to measuring brand equity 17

Figure 1: The Loyalty Pyramid 23

Figure 2: Outcome of customer loyalty 26

Table 3: Comparing goods and services 27

Figure 3: Four services characteristics 29

Table 4: Major differences between traditional and social media 32

Figure 4: Social media penetration 34

Figure 5: Attention levels on TV and YouTube 46

Table 5: The differences between qualitative and quantitative methodology 56

Figure 6: Sources of secondary data 60

Graph 1: In-stream and in-display ads 69

Graph 2: Linde Werdelin on Instagram 74

Graph 3: WordPress Appearance sidebar 77

Graph 4: WordPress Media and Links sidebar 77

Graph 5: Panoramic view of Fairmont Baku and Baku city 80

Graph 6: Fairmont Baku and old Inner City 81

Graph X: Fairmont Baku and Caspian Sea 81

Graph 8: Name this location option on Fairmont Baku Instagram account 86

Figure 7: Brand awareness and social media relations 90

Figure X: Brand loyalty and social media relations 91

Figure 9: Brand awareness and social media relations, Fairmont Baku 91

Figure 10: Brand loyalty and social media relations, Fairmont Baku 92

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IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AMA American Marketing Association

MIPIM Le marché international des professionnels de l’immobilier

P&G Procter and Gamble

SME Small and medium enterprises

USA The United States of America

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1 INTRODUCTION

Brands with the higher product / service components, as per Professor Leslie

de Chernatony (cited in Pickton and Broderick, 2005), consist of the strength of the brands which are the essential prosperity of the organisation Brands create

a value for both customers and firms (Keller, 2008) According to Clifton et al (2009), strong brand positioning creates unique competitive advantages and helps organisations to work effectively and efficiently

In Fortune Magazine, which is published in 1997 (cited in Clifton et al., 2009, p 17) the future importance of branding has already been mentioned as follow: ‘In the twenty-first century, branding ultimately will be the only unique differentiator between companies Brand equity is now a key asset’ Brand equity is highly important, because it significantly increases profitability (Kim and Kim, 2005 cited in Kayaman and Arasli, 2007) and it has a great potential to create the value to customers in building confidence, boosting buying capability as well as

to create the value to enterprises by building brand loyalty, developing effective and efficient marketing position, improving profit margins and so on (Bagozzi, Rosa, Celly and Coronel, 1998 cited in Pekka, 1999) Aaker (1996, pp 7-8) defines brand equity as ‘a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol, that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and / or to the firm's customers’ As per Aaker (1991) brand equity has following assets and liabilities: brand awareness, perceived quality, brand associations, brand loyalty, other proprietary brand assets All these categories provide the value for customers as well as firms (Aaker, 1991)

Brand awareness, being the first component of brand equity, has a great impact

on the presence in the consumer’s mind (Aaker, 1996) and replacing the brand

in and selecting the brand from the consideration set (Macdonald and Sharp,

2000, 2003) It is believed that the retention of existing customer is less costly than acquiring the new one That is why the strategic approach is necessary in order to build a relationship between customer and firm which the former later

on turns to be a loyal consumer to the brand The loyal customer creates brand

loyalty According to Aaker (1991, 1996), brand loyalty, by being basis of brand equity, generates profit and sales to the firm According to one study, both brand awareness and brand loyalty have a strong positive association with purchase (Malik et al., 2013) and revisit intentions (Kim, Jin-Sun and Kim, 2008)

Research carried by Nielsen highlights that the number of online users, who are willing to take a purchasing decision, is seeking for online product reviews, recommendations from discussion forums or feedback from social media sites are more than two-thirds of overall global internet users (Interbrand, 2012) By supporting this idea Rubbinstein and Griffiths (Interbrand, 2012) argue about the impact of social media on building a brand personality and creating a constant relationship between business and consumer

In order to build and sustain brand loyalty online, companies should understand and manage digital conversations, reviews and create true experience online for consumers (Interbrand, 2012) According to The AMA Marketing Watch (2013), social media channels such as video and photo sharing, blogs, microblogs, email, social networks, etc are the main tools to enhance overall brand awareness

1.1 Scope of the research

The social media with the hundreds of millions of internet users has a great potential to reach to a large audience in order to establish brand awareness This study intends to show the impact of social software applications those are essential in building loyalty between the customer and the company Furthermore, social media is a virtual space where people search for entertainment, fun and valuable information to share with the others Therefore, social software applications are essential in building loyalty between the customer and the company by providing what consumers demand

1.1.1 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to examine how social media platforms influence the brand loyalty and awareness The careful investigation of social media channels and the results of the study aim to be applied to case company, a Fairmont Baku hotel, in order to create brand awareness and build brand loyalty First of all the social media platforms / tools will be analysed and applied

to create brand awareness Secondly, the social media platforms / tools will be chosen to build consumer loyalty in relation to the brand Thirdly, the hotel’s existing online brand strategy will be analysed Afterwards, the results of the first two analyses will be compared and applied to the third study

1.1.2 Research questions

The easy accessibility of the internet enables to grasp the consumer groups and create brand awareness for those target groups who are tough to reach offline (Keller, 2009 cited in Zailskaite-Jakštė and Kuvykaitė, 2013) Nowadays, it is obviously hard to set branding campaign without taking into consideration of the importance of social media and its tools Therefore, this research aims to understand how brand awareness and brand loyalty are created by the help of the social media platforms / tools, centred on the following main research question:

MQ How to manage brand awareness and brand loyalty through social media effectively in the hospitality industry?

Some sub-questions are mandatory to answer the main question:

SQ1 What are the roles of social media tools in creating brand awareness? SQ2 How to build brand loyalty through the social media platforms?

1.2 Structure of the study

This master thesis consists of seven chapters The first chapter is designed to give insight to the topic In the scope sub-chapter of introduction part the

purpose of study as well as research questions are described Prior to giving a quick introduction about the methodology thesis delimitations are going to be described

In the second chapter, the relevant literature is going to be reviewed It mainly encompasses brand and brand equity, service brand theory and social media Respectively, brand equity components such as brand awareness and brand loyalty are introduced In addition, social networks, microblogs and blogs, video and photo sharing social media platforms are going to be defined and lined up Successively, the chapter will be concluded by taking a deep look into the social media platforms from brand awareness and brand loyalty point of view

The core intention of the third chapter is to illustrate a scientific approach to the topic Thus, research approaches, relevant research methodologies and strategies, data collection methods as well as researchers perspective are going to be selected according to the chosen topic

The fourth chapter is mainly devoted to the analysis of the reviewed literature of the social media impact on brand awareness and brand loyalty indeed

The case company is going to be presented in the following fifth chapter Firstly, the overall information about case company is going to be provided Lately, the social media strategy of the case company will be elucidated

In the sixth chapter, the case company’s social media strategy usage in building brand awareness and brand loyalty will be analysed

The conclusion part thoroughly will be culminated in the seventh chapter The study findings, conclusion, the future research suggestions as well as recommendations for case company will be the main focus of this chapter

The sources which are going to be utilized in this master thesis will be listed in the last chapter eight

1.3 Delimitations

It is already mentioned in the chapter 1.1.1 that the main purpose of this master thesis is to analyse the effects of the social media platforms in building brand awareness and brand loyalty The brand management as a topic is an intensely vast area of research By considering this, the author narrows topic down to the specific part ‘Brand Equity’ The brand equity by itself is also a broad topic Previously (see chapter 1) mentioned, brand equity has five components, yet two of them, brand awareness and brand loyalty, are going to be the focal point

of this research The brand awareness has been chosen because of the familiarity and recognition effect it creates (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 2008) On the other hand, targeting new customer is the way more expensive than retaining the existing one The customer who is loyal to the brand can attract the stream

of the profit to the enterprise (Aaker, 1991, 1996)

Nowadays, the social media are changing the way how marketers react to the existing market Therefore, the social media plays a very important role in branding However, the social media is also an immensely wide topic to research The author focuses mainly on the specific platforms, such as social networks, blogs, microblogs, video and photo sharing Additionally, it is important to mention that all these platforms consist of different kind of tools In order to limit the research scope, the author selected one tool from each platform For example, Facebook from social networks, Twitter from microblogs, WordPress from blogs, YouTube from video sharing and Instagram from photo sharing platforms (Evans, 2008)

In addition, this research focuses on building brand awareness and brand loyalty through the social media platforms Therefore, measuring the effectiveness of the influence of the social media platforms on creating brand awareness and brand loyalty is beyond the frame of this study

Finally, the findings of this research will be compared and applied to the case company The case company, a Fairmont Baku hotel, is a Canadian based luxury, chain hotel situated in Azerbaijan That is why, the result of the comparison must not to be generalised to the whole service industry as well as

other countries Because different companies use various social media tools and some might have a social media strategy based on the target group as well

as the region

1.4 Introduction to methodology

Prior to reviewing the literature in the following chapter, the author hereby poses

a concise introduction to the methodology (see chapter 3 for a detailed description) The research question(s) define(s) the way researcher is going to uncover the facts those will help to gain the replies to the designed question(s) The research design is intensely vital in guiding to achieve the research goal It

is like a paved road in the uneven environment First of all, the right approach(s) should be developed to define the proper research methodology (qualitative or quantitative) Meanwhile, the research strategy (case study method) helps to focus on specific case to probe the research topic in depth Finally, to assemble the necessary information to answer the question(s), secondary as well as primary sources have been used in this study The designed questionnaire as the primary source has been sent to the case company

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This section of the study is going to review literatures which are written in the area of the following subjects: brand, service brands, brand equity, brand awareness, brand loyalty, social media, social media platforms and the relationships between social media and brand awareness and loyalty The essential intention of the literature review is to fully understand all the concepts and perspectives about the below mentioned subjects which are going to contribute great comprehension about the research topic

2.1 What is a Brand?

Obviously, nowadays the role of the brand is undeniably important in the company’s business portfolio According to Clifton et al (2009, p 18), ‘[b] rands can generate high-quality earnings that can directly affect the overall performance of the business and thus influence the share price’

Historically, the meaning of brand derives from Old Norse of North Germanic

language which original form was brandr – means to burn The initial use of

brand utilized in Anglo-Saxon The symbol of the owner was stamped on the livestock The emblems which had a high quality reputation among the others were respectful and more searched ones In ancient civilisations symbols are also used to differentiate brands Especially, potters were using private symbols under their product to be identified easily by others Obviously, it drives us to believe that symbols were the earliest form of the brand (Clifton et al., 2009)

As stated in American Marketing Association (AMA), ‘brand’ and ‘Brand’ have different implications As it is highlighted ‘brand’ is a ‘[n] ame, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers’ (AMA dictionary, 2014b) On the other hand,

‘Brand’ means ‘[…] a customer experience represented by a collection of images and ideas; often, it refers to a symbol such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary.’ (AMA dictionary, 2014a) Hence, a brand has prosperous imagery and definitions that in the consumer’s perception occupies in various identified functions (Mooradian, Matzler and Ring, 2012)

As per Pickton and Broderick (2005, p 242), ‘[…] a brand is a set of attributes, that have a meaning, an image and produce associations with the product when

a person is considering that brand of product’ Chernatony (in Pickton and Broderick, 2005) explains brand as an added value to the product in comparison to its equivalent commodity form King (cited in Aaker, 1991) differentiate products from the brand by mentioning their functions in the

enterprise As per him, a product is an item which can be copied by competitors and is produced by an industrial way and briskly deteriorates Contrary to that, the brand is a feeling purchased by the customer in a unique and timeless manner Therefore, the brand is considered more than a product in a way that it satisfies the same need which other products lack to display (Keller, 2008) Keller (2008) explains these differences as rational and tangible, in a form of product performance of the brand and symbolic, emotional, and intangible, in a way brand poses

‘Atomic model’ of the brand by de Chernatony (1993a, 1993b cited in de Chernatony and Riley, 1998) integrates tangible and intangible relationship within nine elements: 1) functional capability; 2) symbolic feature; 3) service; 4) distinctive name; 5) ownership; 6) shorthand notation; 7) legal protection; 8) risk reducer; and 9) strategic direction

As reported by Wood (2000, p 666) ‘[a] brand is a mechanism for achieving competitive advantage for firms, through differentiation (purpose) The attributes that differentiate a brand provide the customer with satisfaction and benefits for which they are willing to pay (mechanism)’ It can be implied that brand creates competitive advantage and provides income to the company

By supporting the Wood’s idea it could be relevant to mention and compare brands’ benefits for consumers as well as for companies highlighted in table 1:

Table 1: Brand functions

x Signalling: Brands signal quality and

security, and ensure expected

satisfaction with the product

x Reducing risk: Brands reduce the

perceived risk for customers, which

is particularly important on the

internet (Rubinstein and Griffiths,

2001, p 397)

x Facilitating purchase: Buyers can

easily choose the same service or

product again if they were satisfied

x Customer loyalty

x Higher willingness to pay

x Securing competitive advantage

x Competitive protection

x Legal protection

x Protection from copying

x Increasing marketing communication efficiencies

x Attracting higher-quality employees

x Stronger support from supply chain partners

x Simplifying choice (Rubnstein and

Griffiths, 2001, p 396)

x Growth opportunities (brand extensions)

x Customer and market segmentation

Source: Lis and Berz, 2011, pp 198-199

Overall, it becomes apparent that the term brand has several meanings

according to different thoughts produced by scholars However, one is obvious that the brand is an inseparable part of the company indeed It could be also summed that brands are the core competency of the all types of enterprises and should be considered as a main competitive advantage of the strategy It is highlighted that brands were very important to build a reputation among competitors and it is essentially up to these days as well Although the brand is

a commodity like a product, it differs from others by the value which it adds to the brand

2.2 Brand equity as an asset

Brand equity, as a concept, emerges in 1980s and is a widely discussed term in business as well as the academic world since those times There are lots of different explanations about brand equity For example, one of the popular definitions created by Aaker (1991, p 15) ‘[b] rand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol, that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and / or to that firm’s customers’ Keller sites the brand equity as ‘the differential effect of brand knowledge in customer’s response to the marketing of a brand’ (cited in Nam, Ekinci and Whyatt, 2011, p 1010) Cooper and Simons define brand equity as

‘the strength, currency and value of the brand […] the description, and assessment of the appeal, of a brand to all target audiences who interact with it’ (cited in Pickton and Broderick, 2005, p 254) As stated in Kotler (2000) brand equity is measured by the number of the satisfied customers, the value given by customers and the customer dedication to the brand

Different scholars and research institutes have own radical approaches to the brand equity It is clearly displayed in table 2:

Table 2: Different approaches to measuring brand equity

x Presence (e.g familiarity)

x Relevance to consumer needs

valuator

x Differentiation + Relevance = Strength

x Esteem and Knowledge = Stature

ƒ Brand awareness

ƒ Brand image

Source: Own illustration based on Pickton and Broderick, 2005, p 255

The brand equity consists of two parts: organisational brand equity and customer brand equity (Capon, Berthon, Hulbert and Pitt, 2001) The financial values such as tangible assets – manufacturing assets, land and buildings, receivables and investments; intangible assets – return on investment (ROI), measures of price relatives (Clifton et al., 2009) are the base of the organisational brand equity On the other hand, the customer brand equity focuses on the social values which depend on wealth creation such as health,

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education, living standards (Clifton et al., 2009) The second value created by customer brand equity pinpoints consumer’s comprehension, attachment, attitude, preference, loyalty, awareness and so on about the brand (Aaker,

1991, 1996; Agawal and Rao, 1996; Blackstone, 1995; Dyson, Farr and Hollis, 1996; Keller, 1993; Lassar, Mittal and Sharma, 1995; Vazquez, Del Rio and Iglesias, 2002; Yoo and Donthu, 2001; Yoo, Donthu and Lee, 2000 cited in Kim, Jin-Sun and Kim, 2008)

The focal point of brand equity research in marketing and branding field is a customer viewpoint about the brand (Aaker, 1991, 1996; Keller, 2008; Kim, Jin-Sun and Kim, 2008; Macdonald and Sharp, 2000, 2003; Nam, Ekinci and Whyatt, 2011; Tuominen, 1999) Particularly, ‘the power of a brand lies in what resides in the minds of customers’ (Keller, 2008, p 48)

According to Keller (1993 cited in Wood, 2000), customer-based brand equity happens when the customer adds the brand into their mindset, which in itself creates some favourable, strong and unique brand associations Keller (2008,

p 48) stresses customer-based brand equity as ‘the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand’

As it is mentioned in table 2, Aaker (1991, 1996) divides customer-based brand equity into following asset categories: brand awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand associations and other proprietary brand assets

Brand awareness as per Rossiter and Perey (1987 cited in Macdonald and Sharp, 2003) is essential for forming the basic communication which is the basis of all other considered steps in branding

In accordance with Newman and Werbel (1973 cited in Rai and Srivastava, 2012), brand loyalty appears when the same customer is choosing the same brand without searching for any information related to it

Perceived quality is considered as a financial performance driver for the business as well as the overall quality and excellence of a product / service in pursuance of its intended purpose (Aaker, 1991, 1996)

When customer links some characteristics, symbols, images and etc with the brand in their memory, then it calls the brand associations (Aaker, 1991, 1996)

Aaker (1991) remarks patents, trademarks, and channel relationships in other proprietary brand assets category

By sticking to the frame of this study, in the following sub-chapters deep insight and different approaches about brand awareness and brand loyalty are going to

be presented

2.2.1 Brand awareness

The brand awareness in AMA Dictionary (2014c) is explained as follows: ‘[b] rand awareness is a marketing concept that enables marketers to quantify levels and trends in consumer knowledge and awareness of a brand's existence’ As per Aaker (1991, 1996), awareness is all about brand existence in the consumer’s perception According to Stokes (1985 cited in Macdonald and Sharp, 2003),

based on the memory theory brand awareness creates the bundle of

associations linked to brand in memory A brand that has some level of brand awareness is significantly more inclined to be considered and along these lines picked, rather than the brands which the customer is uninformed of (Macdonald and Sharp, 2003) Brand awareness plays a crucial part in the consumer’s consideration set which is important during purchasing phase (Howard and Sheth, 1969; Narayana and Markin, 1975 cited in Macdonald and Sharp, 2003) Aaker (1991, 1996) defines brand awareness as a main asset category of brand equity However, Keller (2008) adds brand awareness into the brand knowledge which by itself is the key component of brand equity In general, it is worth to say that both scholars divide brand awareness into brand recognition and brand recall performance (Aaker, 1991, 1996; Keller, 2008)

Brand recognition happens when a past exposure to the brand is gained by the customer (Aaker, 1996; Keller, 2008) Brand recognition is the basic and first step in the communication task within the brand awareness and it simply includes remembering basic components of the brand, even though it should not necessarily be strong (Aaker, 1991, 1996)

Researches in psychology and marketing have shown that brand recognition creates positive feelings as well as a familiar brand has more chances to be selected than the unknown brands respectively (Aaker, 1996)

It is obvious that enterprises do not spend money on advertising poor products / services Therefore, when the customer sees and remembers the brand, it certainly is a signal that the brand is worth to purchase (Aaker, 1996)

Secondly, brand recall different than brand recognition occurs by the consumer’s information resurgence of one brand over the other ones in the same category (Aaker, 1996; Keller, 2008) Keller (2008, p 54) clarifies brand recall as ‘consumers’ ability to retrieve the brand from memory when given the product category, the needs fulfilled by the category, or a purchase or usage situation as a cue’

Keller (2008) discusses that brand recognition is important when the consumer selects the product (physically visible and touchable) at the point of purchase

On the other hand, if the consumer takes a decision apart from the point of purchase then brand recall is happening Thus, building brand recall is essential

to service and online brands

Macdonald and Sharp (2003, p 3) argue that ‘brand recognition occurs in stimulus-based situations and recall occurs in memory-based situations Both types of awareness would occur in mixed-choice situations’ In consideration of the fact that stimulus-based situation happens when all the brand nodes are physically available and memory-based situation occurs when all the related information about brand recalled from memory and lastly, when the brand is physically present and recallable from memory then mix-based situation takes place (Lynch and Srull, 1982 cited in Macdonald and Sharp, 2003)

According to scholars (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 2008; Macdonald and Sharp, 2003), creating brand awareness has several benefits Based on Keller’s concept (2008, pp 54-55) it would be relevant to mention that brand awareness has the following learning, consideration and choice advantages

Learning advantages can be achieved by attaching brand node such as, brand attributes, associations and image in the consumer’s perception (Aaker, 1991)

In other words, to establish the brand in the consumer’s mind

Secondly, it is believed that the strength of brand awareness is highly associated with a consideration set (Macdonald and Sharp, 2003) Therefore, the brand that is not considered cannot be opted (Baker et al., 1986 cited in Macdonald and Sharp, 2003) Recognition creates familiarity factor and people prefer to buy the familiar brands (Aaker, 1991) In agreement with Keller (2008),

it is more likely to mention that the consumer is buying those brands which have already resided in his / her consideration set Hence, as a first step familiarity factor ignites brand node in mind and in a second step brand recall helps brand

to enter consideration set

Thirdly, the brand awareness can affect a consumer’s choice about the brand in their consideration set (Hoyer and Brown, 1990; Keller, 2008) It can even happen in the low involvement The low involvement could occur while the enterprises leave the consumers unmotivated about the product / service choice

or the consumer will use shortcuts (familiarity and awareness of product / service) to decide which product / service to purchase (Keller, 2008)

Above all, to bring all the findings together, it is worth to mention that the brand awareness, by being the first step of brand equity, exists in brand recognition and brand recall form and creates familiarity and liking effect on the consumer’s mind which leads to a directly consideration set of brand choice

2.2.2 Brand loyalty

According to several studies, brand loyalty has both revisit and (re) purchase intentions (Day, 1969; Newman and Werbel, 1973; Dwyer, Schurr and Oh, 1987; Fornell, 1992; Zeithaml et al., 1996; Dick and Basu, 1994; Oliver, 1999; Jaishankar, Arnold and Kristy, 2000; Sirdeshmukh et al., 2002; Kim, Jin-Sun and Kim, 2008; Malik et al., 2013 cited in Rai and Srivastava, 2012) The brand loyal customers are the strategic asset of the companies and help the expansion of the repeat business (Kim, Jin-Sun and Kim, 2008; Pekka, 1999)

The term loyalty in Oxford Dictionaries (2014a) is characterised as ‘[t] he quality

of being loyal to someone or something’ Oliver (1999, p 34) approaches to loyalty from a wide aspect of defining it as ‘a deeply held commitment to re-buy

or re-patronize a preferred product / service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same-brand or same brand-set purchasing, despite situational influences and marketing efforts having the potential to cause switching behaviour’

Brand loyalty, by referring to various studies, has been defined as a repeat purchase from the service / product provider According to AMA Dictionary (2014d), firstly brand loyalty is ‘[t] he situation in which a consumer generally buys the same manufacturer-originated product or service repeatedly over time rather than buying from multiple suppliers within the category’ Secondly, it is ‘[t]

he degree to which a consumer consistently purchases the same brand within a product class’ Aaker (1991) stresses out that the brand loyalty is measured by the customer attachment to the brand Assael (1992) opined that the brand loyalty serves a great disposition to the brand which as a result shows that the customer is only satisfied with the particular brand

The brand loyalty is a complex phenomenon and all people have different buying and engaging experiences with the brand Subsequently, after purchasing the brand product / service some customers can dislike, like or stay loyal to the brand Meanwhile, Aaker (1991) depicts five levels of the brand loyalty, according to the various types of customers

The first level of the brand loyalty is non-loyal customers This type of people is accepted as switchers or price buyers In marketing, it is useless to make an effort to gain those consumers The customers who are satisfied with product / service are included in the second level of the loyalty Namely, in the marketing industry, they are called habitual buyers It is worth to address the marketing efforts to gain those customers because at least there is no any reason for them

to change the brand

Figure 1: The Loyalty Pyramid

Source: Aaker, 1991, pp 39-41

Third level loyal customers are those people who are satisfied with the product / service but have switching costs These types of consumers are very hard to adopt by competitors In order to entice those customers, competitors should offer some benefits to compensate their switching costs such as costs in time, money or performance risk associated with switching from one brand to another Following the level of loyalty is linked to be a friend of the brand At this level, the customer develops his / her liking feeling towards the brand and sometimes they accept the brand by its associations such as a symbol, a set of user experiences, or a higher perceived quality The last and top level of the pyramid (see figure 1) developed by Aaker is taken by the committed customers who are proud of being a highly welcomed and respected user and member of the brand In this stage the customer is impressively satisfied with the product / service of the enterprise that is going to offer to other people indeed As an example to the committed buyer it could be the Harley Davidson rider who tattoos the company’s brand name or associated symbols to his / her body Dickson (1994 cited in Tuominen, 1999) by going further depicts seven levels of the brand loyal customers: emotional, identity, differentiated, contract, switching cost, familiarity and convenience loyalty All these types have special characteristics and vary by the habits of the customer In order to set effective

Switchers/Price Sensitive Indifferent - No Brand Loyalty

marketing campaign enterprises should depict their customer loyalty level and target them to leverage customer attachment to the brand

The brand loyalty is intensely essential and interesting topic as well as the business element that the academics and companies take it deeply into consideration respectively That is why there are several approaches available

in the marketing literature in relation to the brand loyalty As per Assael (1992) there are two approaches exist: a behavioural and an attitudinal Besides those two approaches, there is a cognitive loyalty (Bloemer et al., 1999; de Ruyter et al., 1998; Oliver, 1999 cited in Rai and Srivastava, 2012) available as well Assael (1992) and Jones and Taylor (2007 cited in Rai and Srivastava) mention that the behavioural approach is the main stimulator of the repeat purchase as

well as reinforcement and a healthy stimulus-to-response link (Assel, 1992, p

87) between the customer and the brand The brand loyalty, in a behavioural approach, for Peter and Olson (1996) is simply the repeat purchase behaviour According to marketing expert, primarily relying on behavioural approach is

‘what people do does not say anything about why they do it There is no surrogate available for talking to the consumer’ (Assael, 1992, p 88) Tucker (1964 cited in Assael, 1992, p 87) by showing clear behavioural approach explains: ‘[n] o consideration should be given to what the subject thinks or what goes in his central nervous system; his behaviour is the full statement of what brand loyalty is.’ As per Rai and Srivastava (2012, p 63), behavioural approach has the following results on loyalty: 1) Repurchasing from the same service provider (Assael, 1992; Jones et al., 2000; Zeithaml et al., 1996) 2) Lower switching intentions (Bansal and Taylor, 1999; Dabholkar and Walls, 1999) 3) Making all purchases in a particular category from a single service provider (Reynolds and Arnold, 2000; Reynolds and Beatty, 1999)

Secondly, in contrast to the behavioural researchers, the attitudinal researchers believe that repeat purchases of the brand occur in several attitudinal causes (Li and Petrick, 2010 cited in Suhartanto and Noor, 2013) The researchers in the brand loyalty field utilize the attitudinal approach to focus on beliefs, attitudes and opinions in relation to the consumer buying behaviour (Back, 2005 cited in Suhartanto and Noor, 2013) Jacoby (1971 cited in Assael, 1992, p 87) by taking a strongly attitudinal view explains: ‘[t] o exhibit brand loyalty implies

repeat purchasing behaviour based on cognitive, affective, evaluative and predispositional factors – the classical primary components of an attitude’ Jones and Taylor (2007 cited in Rai and Srivastava, 2012, p 63) describe emotion based brand assessment (attitudinal approach) as follows: 1) Recommending the service provider to others (Butcher et al., 2001; Javalgi and Moberg, 1997) 2) Strong preference to the service provider (Mitra and Lynch, 1995) 3) Feeling a sense of affiliation with the product, service, or, organisation (Fournier, 1998) 4) Altruistic behaviour which includes helping the service provider or other customers for better service delivery (Patterson and Ward, 2000; Price et al., 1995)

Lastly, cognitive loyalty, as per Lee and Cunningham (2001 cited in Rai and Srivastava, 2012), is a cognitive assessment of a brand and its attributes, advantages and disadvantages of the repurchasing which makes the consumer

to choose one service provider over the others (Dwyer et al., 1987 cited in Rai and Srivastava, 2012) Jones and Taylor (2007 cited in Rai and Srivastava,

2012, p 64) explain the brand loyal customers from cognitive aspect as following: 1) Occupying a prominent space in the mind of the customer (Dwyer

et al., 1987) 2) Being the first preference of the customer (Ostrowski et al., 1993) 3) Lesser sensitivity towards price fluctuation (Anderson, 1996; de Rutyer

et al., 1998) 4) Granting a service provider exclusively for a particular service (Gremler and Brown, 1996) 5) Identifying a service provider as an extension of

one’s self and accepting this by using terms such as my service provider, or by including oneself with the service provider and referring collectively with us and

we (Butcher et al., 2001)

All above mentioned approaches could be culminated in figure 2 The outcomes

of these approaches can be effectively used in the customer segmentation by marketers

Figure 2: Outcome of customer loyalty

Source: Rai and Srivastava, 2012, p 65

To sum up, the consumer brand loyalty plays a more imperative part in the cutting edge worldwide marketing To augment a benefit, the individuals attempt diverse methodologies, among which, a loyalty is perceived by a lot of scholars and companies On the other hand, some may affirm that it is a test to accomplish it Above all, by discovering the right levels of loyalty and choosing the proper approach can impact on the consumer loyalty Hence businesspeople may better comprehend the buyer’s repeat visit and purchase over time Consequently, by performing the above mentioned actions the enterprises can build long-lasting and reliable relationship with the customer and can bring profit

to the budget

2.3 Service brand theory

2.3.1 Concept and characteristics of services

The concept of services appears to be a more interesting topic for the

researchers more than two centuries (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2011) In the most contemporary dictionaries service is explained as ‘an act of helpful activity; help; aid; the action of helping or doing work for someone; the act of dealing with a

Customer Loyalty

Behavioural

Outcomes

Repurchase Intentions

Switching Intentions

Exclusive Intentions

Attitudinal Outcomes

Relative Attitude

Willingness to Recommend

Altruism

Cognitive Outcomes

Willingnes to pay more

Exclusive Consdieration

Identification

customer in a shop, restaurant, or hotel by taking their order, showing or selling them goods, etc.’ (Dictionary, 2014; Cambridge University Press, 2014a; Oxford University Press, 2014b) According to Zeithalm, Bitner and Gremler (2013, p 3) services are ‘deeds, processes, and performances provided or coproduced

by one entity or person for another entity or person’ However, Lovelock and Wirtz (2011, p 37) describe the services as ‘economic activities offered by one party to another Often time-based, performances bring about desired results to recipients, objects, or other assets for which purchasers have a responsibility’

Table 3: Comparing goods and services

Tangible Intangible Services cannot be inventoried

Services cannot be easily patented

Services cannot be readily displayed or communicated Pricing is difficult

Standardized Heterogeneous Service delivery and customer satisfaction depend on

employee and customer actions

Service quality depends on many uncontrollable factors There is no sure knowledge that the service delivered matches what was planned and promoted

Production separate

from consumption

Simultaneous production and consumption

Customers participate in and affect the transaction Customers affect each other

Employees affect the service outcome

Decentralization may be essential

Mass production is difficult

Non-perishable Perishable It is difficult to synchronize supply and demand with

services

Services cannot be returned or resold

Source: Own illustration based on Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985, pp 41-50

in Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2013, p 20

In fact, there is the unanimity in the differences between goods and services among scholars (Lovelock and Gummesson, 2004; Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry, 1985 cited in Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2013; Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 2010) and it can easily be noticed in table 3 There are four distinct

characteristics of services: intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability (see figure 3)

Intangibility – services can be distinguished by their unique nature of being intangible Services, different than objects, are based on the performances or the actions In that mean they cannot be seen, felt, tasted or touched as it is possible in tangible goods (Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 2010; Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2013) The services provided by the hotels can be sensed after a guest experiences it, even though he / she cannot feel, taste or touch it The acquired experiences are saved in the subconscious part of the brain as a remembrance For example, hotels in order to etch the experiences into the memory offer trips in the vicinity areas to create the memorable guest experiences which turn to be a good motivation to return back to that hotel Inseparability – ‘simultaneous production and consumption’ (Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2013, pp 21-22) as well as ‘participation of both the service provider and the customer at the present time’ (Kotler, Bowen and Makens,

2010, pp 36-37) make the services to be inseparable For instance, the quality

of food and employee professionalism should be thorough to provide an unforgettable time for the customer, vice versa will lead to the customer dissatisfaction According to Kotler (2010), whether the customer should involve

in the realisation of service, then he / she is the part of product which is also serviced inseparability As an example, it is relevant to mention that the restaurant administrators must be well educated to manage every type of customers to fulfil their needs and farewell them in a satisfied mood

Heterogeneity – it is, in fact, obvious that services are not alike The services provider and the customer are the main dependents of service heterogeneity Neither all the enterprises provide the same services, nor the customers demand in the same manner as they interact with services (Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2013) Service variability is the result of some factors Firstly, the quality issue of services spring while services are produced and consumed synchronously The distinct consumer demand makes the services providers to face difficulties at the peak time of work Other service heterogeneity appears when miscommunication between the host and the guest present and diverse guest expectations are hard to reckon (Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 2010)

Figure 3: Four services characteristics

Source: Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 2010, p 35

Perishability – as a matter of fact services cannot be saved, stored, resold or returned, so the consistency of services is under question and that is why scholars approve that services are perishable (Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 2010; Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2013) A hotel with 120 rooms divisions cannot sell 70 rooms and save another 50 rooms for a next day and sell 170 rooms all together The income from those unused rooms vanished forever (Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 2010)

2.3.2 Service brand theory and characteristics

In fact, in the consumption of services the customer involvement is greater than

in the product consumption, then in the case of branding services it is more based on intangibility rather than a tangible physical good in the product branding Grönroos (2000b, p 290 cited in Pekka, 2006, p 4) has proposed that ‘a service brand is created in dynamic brand relationships—whereby the customer forms a differentiating image of the service on the basis various brand contacts to which the customer is exposed’ The service is the one of the nine elements of ‘atomic model’ of the brand designed by de Chernatony and Riley (1998) According Chen (2001 cited in Yi, Trigo and Shiming, 2012, pp 28-29),

‘service brand is the name or other mark symbol of service institution or

other service department, service post, service personnel, service production line, service activity, service environment, service facility, service tool and service object It is a concept that covers a wide area’

Effective branding services consist of the following steps, according to Dobree and Page (1990 cited in Ozretić-Došen, 2007, p 148), building a brand proposition, overcoming internal barriers, measuring delivery against the proposition, continual improvement and expansion As stated in Pekka (2006, p 29), ‘[s] ervice brand is externally manifested the personal logo, name or symbol

of the company service system, and internally, shows the sum of customers’ perception of the visible part and the experience of the service process’ Kapferer (2008) argues that there is no distinction between external and internal Different than the product which is produced in one place and consumed in another, the service is produced and consumed in the same destination

Kapferer (2008) states that branding in the service industry embraces two recognitions Firstly, it happens within the enterprise where the employees must recognise the brand values as their own as well as stimulating the self-discover how these values have an impact on them Secondly, at the customer level, those values should be recognised and accepted by the customer in the process of purchase

The service brand mainly has the following characteristics (de Chernatony et al., 2003 cited in Yi, Trigo and Shiming, 2012, pp 30-31)

a) Service enterprise takes the responsibility of ‘concretising the intangible service’ Because of the intangibility of service, enterprise must use brand proof or tangible service clue, including the core service, personal service, brand name, cost performance, self-image and advertising promotion to convey brand value, and influence customers’ attitude and behaviour toward service brand

b) The basis of service brand is a brand name created by the enterprise The functional and emotional values of customer can be established by unanimously accepted enterprise brand The brand image is the essential attribute to bond the customer to the enterprise

c) The customer plays an essential role in service brand building In fact, the customer experiences the service in the consumption process, then the interaction between customer and service personnel, enterprise’s tangible belongings is inevitable As a matter of fact that the needs of costumers are unique, that is why during participation in service brand building different outcomes should be expected

d) In the marketing literature, it is commonly accepted that employees are the main source of marketing the product / service It is, in fact, certain in branding services as well The employees are the service providers The customer’s experience is based on employees’ attitude and knowledge about service The good and bad memories last in the customer’s mind are the results of the employees’ behaviour and the level of intensive care of the customer The enterprise should be very careful in the selection process of service candidates and constantly train its staff and teach them how to be prepared for the unexpected situations while serving customers

2.4 Social media defined

Throughout the most recent decade, the social media has changed correspondences, moving the way we expend, deliver and cooperate with data, taking into account touchy relocation to the web Social media has changed our view about the relationship between the companies, customers and other stakeholders by shortening the time gap and allowing easy communication Safko (2010, p 5) explains social media as ‘a fundamental shift in power’ which means besides company generated and controlled content, customer generated and controlled content is available indeed Social media pushed companies first

to listen and understand what the customer says and demands, hence respond them properly

As a new epithet, the social media has several meanings, but not much that is

needed to be studied Safko (2010) explains the deep meaning, by dividing the

social media into parts such as social and media Cambridge University Online

Dictionary (2014b) defines social as ‘relating to activities in which you meet and

spend time with other people and that happen during the time when you are not working.’ The people have a need to socialise and share their thoughts, ideas

and experiences The second part of this term is media The definition of the

media in Cambridge University Online Dictionary (2014c) is as follows: ‘the

internet, newspapers, magazines, television, etc., considered as a group.’ The people are using the media as a communication tool among each other Lastly,

he brings these two terminologies together (social media) and clarifies: ‘[s] ocial media is an effective use of technologies to reach out and connect with other humans, create a relationship, build trust, and be there when the people in those relationships are ready to purchase our product offering’ (Safko, 2010, p 4)

Handley (cited in Cohen, 2011) explains the social media as ‘an ever-growing and evolving collection of online tools and toys, platforms and applications that enable all of us to interact with and share information Increasingly, it’s both the connective tissue and neural net of the Web.’ As per Schottmuller (cited in Cohen 2011), social media is ‘communication channels or tools used to store, aggregate, share, discuss or deliver information within online communities The focus is on interaction and relationships, not the almighty dollar’ To arrive at a result about the above mentioned social media definitions, it is highly possible

to highlight that the social media is a two-way communication tool which consists of different platforms and tools which are the main components of platforms to build strong relation between the company and the customer and to lead for better comprehension of customer needs, demands and wishes and respond them responsibly and sufficiently

Table 4: Major differences between traditional and social media

Two-way conversation One-way conversation

One-on-one marketing Mass marketing

Brand and User-generated Content Professional content

Authentic content Polished content

Metric: Engagement Metric: Reach / frequency

Actors: Users / Influencers Actors / Celebrities

Community decision-making Economic decision-making

Unstructured communication Controlled communication

Real time creation Pre-produced / scheduled

Bottom-up strategy Top-down strategy

Active involvement Passive involvement

Source: Hausman, 2012

It is obvious that the social media with its effective results has been a number one choice of the marketers To be frank, the social media marketing displays the different approach to marketing the product / service rather than traditional media does The irreplaceable power of the social media has been detected by Mexican grill chain restaurant Chipotle (Kotler et al., 2010) when they decided

to start an advertising campaign on the social media platforms It is unbelievable, but the result led them to cut advertising costs by reducing it to one percent, whereas other restaurant chains were spending average four percent It could be erroneous not to mention the limited role of the traditional media in marketing in this globalised world However, the effects of both marketing tools are incomparable The difference between traditional and social media marketing could be found in table 4

In 2011, Ernst & Young (2012) conducted research in the United Kingdom (UK) and as per result of the study the social media for 80 percent of the internet users are a tool to connect with friends and family, read the reviews and ratings

as well as comment and share their opinion about a product / service with their peers The study shows that the social media has an impact on purchasing decision of the people, indeed The same study displays that the social media shapes buying behaviour of consumer as well as intensifies the capacity, repetitiveness and influence of word-of-mouth marketing

Since it has been in use until nowadays, the social media effect on the people is boosting This leads easy access to the consumer data as well as an effective promotion of the product / service to specific buyer’s age groups Referring to figure 4, it can easily be noticed that the social media hugely penetrated into the daily life of the people aged between 18 and 29 This statistic shows that day-by-day more and more people are going to use the social media services and from the marketing point of view more and more data will be stored in a virtual world to analyse and target them

Figure 4: Social media penetration

Source: Based on data from the Pew Research Centre’s Internet & American Life Project surveys, September 2008 – May 2010 All surveys of adults 18 and over stated

in Ernst &Young, 2012, p 3

The social media, by going beyond the borders, makes the collective communication possible rather than the individual There are lots of communities where internet users are contacting with each other, share their thoughts, recommend and rate some product / service The great challenges are awaiting marketers to properly control and leverage those communities and offer relevant contents to the selected masses to get an effective response from users (Weinberg, 2009)

The effective social media strategy and governance are very important to gain the specified objectives and goals of the enterprise As per Ernst & Young research paper (2012), the overall assessment of social media where the company operates a clear, brief and concise social media strategy and professional social media monitoring contains the effective social media administration

To perform all above mentioned activities the social media platforms and tools should be defined In the following chapter different types of social media platforms and the tools which consist these platforms will be shortly described

2.5 Social media platforms

Scoble (in Evans, 2008) in his Starfish model of social media describes

platforms as the channels and divides them into several parts such as blogs, photo sharing, video sharing, personal social networks, events (face to face) and event services, email, white label social networks, wikis, podcasting (audio), microblogs, SMS (texting), collaborative tools By sticking to the scope

of a thesis, in the following sub-chapters social networks, blogs, microblogs, video and photo sharing platforms and their tools are going to be unveiled

2.5.1 Social networks

The basic need of human being to connect to others did not change from the earliest time of the human existence What did change is only the technology to use to build this relationship In the earliest history of human being people used cave paintings to communicate with their peers or the same interest groups, later on the tools changed to rock drums, bells in towers, written words in books, newspapers and letters and finally the social media networking sites (Safko, 2010)

The social networks are the sites which devised to establish communication among the network users and help them to develop communities where they can easily interact with each other Weinberg (2009, pp 149-150) designates

the social networks as ‘profile-based sites that encourage users with relatively comparable backgrounds to meet and initiate relationships with one another’ and ‘as well as connecting users who have shared interests, family backgrounds, or political views, […] sexual orientation, religious beliefs or racial identities […] and similar hobbies such as common favourite TV shows, musicians and more’

The essential concept behind the social networking sites is to create personal profiles where everybody can share their information with each other The profile information does not consist of only name and birth date Depending on the site, it can be included religion, marital status, work information, hobbies, interested songs and movies, interested jobs, interested companies and so on Everyone has an option to allow his / her profile information to be seen by other users or to limit the visibility of the information Each user has an opportunity to write statuses, share videos, post valuable information in their own timeline In case if the shared information is interesting to other friends or followers then they will like, comment or share those data with their friends or followers

The social networking sites create marketer friendly environment where brand managers can create their own brand profiles and communities and by posting relevant information can attract the network users On the other hand, in order

to penetrate to wider target groups, brand managers should pay money for advertisements and other useful features

There are two types of social networks: facetious and professional Facetious

characterised social networks are more likely based on the daily activities and routine proportion of the worthy information with the friends As an example, it could be relevant to mention Facebook and Myspace On the other hand, professional oriented social network sites stand on the business related communication between experienced individuals in the same or relevant industries On these sites, both sides, employers and employees, use the opportunities these social networking sites offer LinkedIn and Xing are the sample of the professional networking sites

LinkedIn, Xing and other social networking sites with the same working principles are characterised as business-to-business (B2B) marketing sites

Inasmuch as B2B is not fitting to the research scope, it would be relevant to skip professional social networking sites and more importantly focus on the facetious ones Mainly, the idea behind all facetious types of social networking sites is to provide a virtual space for building communication and relationship However, the design of these sites is based on the region and culture For example, Facebook is very popular all over the world, Myspace is well-known in the United States, in Latin America people prefer Orkut, Asian countries use Friendster and in the United Kingdom it is Bebo (Evans, 2008) The descriptions

of these social networking tools are going to be shortly displayed in the following paragraphs

The number of Bebo users in all over the world is around 40 million, according

to AOL in 2008 (BBC, 2008) Bebo is founded in 2005 by Michael and Xochi Birch The users in Bebo create their profiles to share photos, videos, contact with their peers through direct messages and blog posts, take polls and quizzes With the help of Bebo Music, artists and musicians can create groups and directly target their fans in order to sell their songs online The same principle applies to the Bebo Authors as well AOL purchased Bebo for $850 million US dollars in 2008 (Safko, 2010)

The total Friendster users are 70 million, according to Indonesia Digest (2014)

It has been founded by Jonathan Abrams in 2002 years in California, United States (Indonesia Digest, 2014; Safko, 2010) Friendster also as a tool is used

to connect people based on the commonalities It has special features that keep people to stick to the site and use these entertaining elements such as Friendster Video, Reviews and Forums It enables other online video applications such as YouTube, Crackle, Metacafe, Break, Video Detective, and SingingFool to be watched in Friendster (Safko, 2010) It is a number one visited social networking site in the Philippines and Indonesia, according to Alexa (Indonesia Digest, 2014)

Another social networking site is Orkut, which is going to officially shut down in September 2014 by Google (2014) Orkut is launched in 2004 by the Google’s employee, a software engineer from Turkey, Orkut Büyükkökten It is ‘an online community designed to make your social life more active and stimulating’ (Safko, 2010, p 466) As a matter of fact that Orkut is the part of the Google,

without having a google account one cannot access to the website It is also highly possible that to connect google features such as Google Talk, Google Video and YouTube to the Orkut The main objective of the Orkut is to build communities where the people with the same interest circuit join the group and share the information, connect to each other and comment on the topics (Safko, 2010)

Myspace is another type of social networking tool that ‘[w] ith roots in music and social, the platform is built to empower all artists-from musicians and designers

to writers and photographers-helping them connect with audiences, collaborators, and partners to achieve their goals’ (MySpace, 2014) Myspace gives an access to 53 million tracks and videos, the world's largest digital music library, of musicians and artists (Myspace, 2014) In 2003, it has been started

by Brad Greenspan, Chris DeWolfe Josh Berman, Tom Anderson and eUniverse team (Myspace, 2014; Safko, 2010)

One of the main features of Myspace is MyAds that provides the online marketing campaign service to the users within their social network With this element anyone has an opportunity to design their own ads and target those ads to the selected groups (Safko, 2010)

One of the popular social networking sites in all over the world Facebook was established by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 (Petersen, 2010; Safko, 2010) Facebook defines its mission as ‘to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them’ (Facebook Newsroom, 2014) This mission gives a hint that Facebook is the social networking tool which enables users easily connect with friends, family, acquaintances as well as strangers This site by itself is very practical and easy to utilize that around 829 million daily active users engaging in this platform Certainly, to control all these traffics and respond to the requests of the users Facebook recruited 7,185 employees (Facebook Newsroom, 2014)

In order to be a part of Facebook, several steps should be proceeded: Name, Gender, Birthdate, Academic Major, Residence Hall, College Mailbox, High