IntroductionBusinesses use a number of strategies to spread information about their products or services, viral and social media marketing is one such strategy, companies are quickly discovering the need to use them in their commercial cause. .Definitions and History of Viral and Social Media MarketingViral marketing incentivizes websites or users to pass along a marketing message to other sites or users, creating potentially exponential growth in visibility and effect of the message according to Rouse (2007). Viral marketing therefore quickly spreads a company's cause via the Internet, for example via multimedia sites such as text messages, e-books, video clips, emails or websites. Social media marketing is a strategy that allows businesses to expand their reach. more customers, which helps businesses exploit their customers' interest Kim (2007-2014), examples of social media used by businesses are Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, etc. The history of social media is relatively new as a large number of people were exposed to it through the two most popular media sites (Twitter and Facebook), but it dates back to 1969 when CompuServe was one of the first major Internet providers commercial in the United States, they used technology known as dial-up to connect to the Web. according to Le Didelot (2013). The first email was sent in 1971 Borges (2012), social media marketing has continued to grow since then with other social media sites building a closer relationship between consumers and businesses. The two largest social networks Facebook and Twitter were invented in February 2004 and March 2006, respectively. In 2005, there were over 8 million web pages, this period was known as "after dawn" and Facebook...... middle of paper ...... history history of social media », (accessed May 12, 2013), (http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SocialMedia/SocialMediaHistory.html)Chapman, Cameron (2009), “The History and Evolution of Social Media” , (accessed May 12, 2013). 2014), (http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/10/the-history-and-evolution-of-social-media/)SocialF5 (2011), “The effect of social media on the global economy », (accessed on May 12, 2014), (http://www.socialf5.com/blog/2011/06/social-medias-effect-on-world-economy/)Mullaney, Tim (2012), « The media reinvent 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 May 12, 2014), (http://www.krusecontrolinc.com/invest-in-social -media-necessity- luxury/)