Marketing For The Future November 2016 | Page 28

Social media facilitates the interaction with customers and potential customers (Mount & Garcia Martinez, 2014), and Andzulis, Panagopoulus & Rapp (2009) indicated that the potential customers who can be reached through Social Media is of great importance. Loyalty & trust Bell, Auh & Smalley (2005) described Customer loyalty as a consumer’s intent to stay with an organization. It represents a commitment by the customer to purchase products from the same business in order to help it grow successfully (Bell, Auh, & Smalley, 2005). Customer loyalty is seen as a fundamental tool for a business’s success. Loyalty was interpreted as a type of customer behavior towards a particular brand over time. Loyalty behavior includes, for example, buying repeatedly from the same seller or an improvement in the strength of the relationship with the same supplier. Loyalty may be described in three different ways: loyalty as a behavior; loyalty as an attitude; and loyalty as a cognitive process. According to Yulin et al. (2014), trust is the confidence in the exchange of a partner’s reliability and integrity, and it is considere d to be very important in trading relationships. Trust is also defined as the desire to rely on a trading partner in whom one has confidence and can 28 Marketing For The Future depend on. Therefore, trust requires believing that the other party is skilled enough to fulfill the promise made towards them, and that they are also have the ability to do this. Among the many influencing factors, trust has been found to be a key predictor for customer retention (Yulin, et al., 2014) . Customer’s Satisfaction Haumann, Quaiser, Wieseke, & Rese (2014) stated that customer satisfaction is fundamental in marketing. According Haumann, Quaiser, Wieseke, & Rese (2014) customer satisfaction positively affects important customer results, such as customer loyalty and customer desire to pay. Therefore, not surprisingly, customer satisfaction also plays a primary role in marketing practice (Haumann, Quaiser, Wieseke, & Rese, 2014). According to Fornell, Rust & Dekimpe (2010) satisfied customers are willing to pay more. Satisfied consumers also cause a positive Word of Mouth (WOM) and improved product usage, which in time will promote future consumer spending (Fornell, Rust, & Dekimpe, 2010). This could result in more profit for the business. Variables that can influence the customer satisfaction include price, need, service quality and expectation of a product or service Social media facilitates the interaction with customers and potential customers (Mount & Garcia Martinez, 2014), and