IntroductionBusinesses use a number of strategies to spread information about their products or services, viral and social network marketing is one of the strategies, businesses are quickly discovering the need to use them in their cause business Definitions and history of viral and social network marketing Viral marketing induces websites or users to broadcast a marketing message to other sites or users, creating potentially exponential growth in the visibility and effect of the message according to Rouse (2007) . Viral marketing then quickly spreads a company's cause via the Internet, for example via multimedia sites such as text messages, eBooks, video clips, emails or websites. Social network marketing is a strategy that allows companies to expand its reach more customers, which helps companies tap into the interest of their customers Kim (2007-2014), examples of social networks used by companies are Facebook, Twitter, Friendster etc. The history of social media is relatively new because large numbers of people have been exposed to it via the two most popular media sites (Twitter and Facebook), but it dates back to 1969, when CompuServe was one of the first large commercial Internet service providers in the United States. United, used technology known as dial-up to connect to the web according to The Didelot (2013). The first email was sent in 1971 Borges (2012), social media marketing has continued to grow thereafter with other social media sites building a closer relationship between consumers and businesses the two largest social networks Facebook and Twitter they were invented in February 2004 and March 2006, respectively. In 2005 there were more than 8 million web pages, this period was known as “after the dawn” and Facebook...... middle of paper ...... brief History of Social Media”, (visited May 12, 2013),(http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SocialMedia/SocialMediaHistory.html)Chapman, Cameron (2009), “The History and Evolution of Social Media”, (accessed on 12 May 2013) 2014), (http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/10/the-history-and-evolution-of-social-media/)SocialF5 (2011), “Social media's effect on world economy” , (accessed on 12 May 2014), (http://www.socialf5.com/blog/2011/06/social-medias-effect-on-world-economy/)Mullaney, Tim (2012), “Social media they are reinventing the way business is done,” (accessed May 12, 2014), (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2012-05-14/social-media-economy-companies /55029088/1) Kruse, Kathi (2014), “Social Media 2014: Investment is a Necessity, Not a Luxury”, (accessed 12 May 2014), (http://www.krusecontrolinc.com/invest-in- social-media-necessity- luxury/)