ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a background for social media trends, a theoretical framework of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), the engagement of brand communities in this social media age, and possibilities for building on social media opportunities in emerging markets. Social media facilitates and shapes eWOM in the marketplace. The goal of social media marketing is to create content that users will share with their social networks and thereby help boost brand exposure and increase customer reach. Two notable changes in consumer behaviour have become a reality: increased engagement and networked interconnectedness. Social media has changed marketing from a monologue to a multilogue. 'Companies can now talk to customers and customers to companies, but customers can also talk to other customers, prospects, and the public in general'. Social media is a new experience in emerging markets and less saturated than in the US and Europe, but as the world's fastest growing, content-hungry consumer base, these markets are becoming e-Commerce goldmines.
