Influence of Social Media Marketing on Customer

Abstract

Chapter 1: This chapter contain the detail about the influence of the social media marketing on the purchase behavior of the consumer. This chapter contain the introduction, research of the background and the aims and objective. The aim and objective of the research is discussed in the chapter. This has also include the significance of the research and the summery for the introduction.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction. 6

1.1 Introduction to the chapter. 6

1.2 Background of the research. 6

1.3 Research Rationale. 6

1.4 Aims and Objective. 7

1.5 Research Question. 7

1.6 Significance of Study. 8

1.7 Structure of the Dissertation. 8

1.8 Summary of the chapter. 8

Chapter 2: Literature review.. 9

2.1. Introduction. 9

2.2. Impact of social media marketing on the purchasing behaviour of the customer. 9

2.3. The different social media platforms used for marketing. 10

2.4. Building product awareness through social media marketing. 11

2.5. Impact of social proof on the buying decision of the consumers. 12

2.6. Influence of promotions and discounts. 13

2.7. The role social media influencers in determining the purchasing behaviour of the consumers 13

2.8. Consumer behaviour theory. 13

2.9. Literature Gap. 14

2.10. Conceptual framework. 14

2.11. Summary. 16

Chapter 3: Research methodology. 16

3.1 Introduction. 16

3.2 Research epistemology. 16

3.2 Research theory. 17

3.4 Research ontology. 17

3.5 Research strategy. 18

3.6 Data collection and analysis method. 18

3.7 Sampling process. 19

Appendix 1: Ethics Form.. 24

List of Figures

Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1 Introduction to the chapter

Social Media Marketing is the modern tactic for an increment to influence the customer for the purchase of the Goods and services. Social Media Marketing is a new way to connect with the buyer or customer. This is the new part of the marketing strategies which is playing an important role in increasing the number of customers to the company and better connection with them. In modern times, the customer is more influenced by social media for purchasing any product(Gautam and Sharma, 2017). In fact, consumers who are more addicted to the use of social media can more like to purchase goods and services before buying any product. Marketing management of the company is more focused on social media marketing to increase the profit of the company.

In this research, the main focus of the researcher is on the factors of social media that influence the customers to buy the goods and services. The introduction part contains the aim and objective of the research, rationale, significance, and structure of the Dissertation.

1.2 Background of the research

Marketing strategies can be defined as the steps that are taken by companies to reach and further mark their presence in front of their target market. In addition to collecting and delivering information about products and services to the customers, marketing strategies also deal with pricing, physical presence, and methods of promotion (Sun and Wang, 2019). Every company in the UK can have mainly focused on influencing the customers with the use of the Social Media Account. As per the view of Tajvidi and Karami (2021), the proportion of the social media account that is used to influence the customer is more important in the smooth drive of the purchase of goods in company. It is very important for every company to find out the modern marketing strategies that are influenced to the customers to spend money on a product. As per the view of Nash (2019), company needs to implement these strategies and used them in the appropriate manner to deal with the issues in the implementation of social media marketing to influence the Customer’s behavior. As per the view of Zollo et al. (2019), reduce the threats and risk from the company that is created by the implementation of social media and make an effective outcome for businesses.

1.3 Research Rationale

Issue

The company can use social media strategies to influence consumer buying behavior and in this process, the company has to face the issue of safety for the information as well competition in the market. It can be an issue as well as a threat for the company. As per the view of Lim et al. (2017), it is important to make better strategies in comparison to competitors to influence the customer buying behavior toward our company.

Reason for the issue

The safety of information and competitor is the main issue and reason behind that the increasing number of competitor in the market. It has less privacy in social media and this is the reason behind the safety of the information and data of the company (Gautam and Sharma, 2017).

Why is it an issue now?

Safety is a serious issue because all competitors can see the strategies that are used by the company to influence the consumer for buying the product (Chen and Lin, 2019). It cannot control that the increasing competition in the market. So, in the current time, the increasing number of the competition is the serious issue.

What does the Research shade light on?

This research shades light on the influencing behavior of the consumer with the social media strategies by the company. The effectiveness of the changed behavior of the customers for buying the product with the help of social media strategies can be identified in this research (Sun and Wang, 2019). The issues in the social media strategies can be described with the use of these strategies on the process of the company.

1.4 Aims and Objective

Aim

The aim of this research is the identification the effectiveness of Social media on the purchase decision-making of customers.

Objectives

To evaluate the role of social media in understanding the preference of the customers
To analyze the importance of Social media in advertisement on customer buying Behavior.
To evaluate the action of brand management through social media on consumer buying behavior.

1.5 Research Question

1. What is the role of Social media on Customer buying behavior?

2. What is the Role of the Different Social media branding strategies on Consumer Buying Behavior?

3. What is the role of social media with respect to engaging a large Consumer base?

1.6 Significance of Study

This research can show us the way to understand the buying behavior of the consumer and also the role of social media marketing in the company. It can guide us to understand the importance of social media marketing for the company. As per the view of Ceyhan, (2019), this research will also have the endowment to show the appropriate role of the social media branding strategies on the buying behavior of the consumer. The main significance of this research is to find out the main factors for social media marketing that influence the consumer to buy the products and services.

1.7 Structure of the Dissertation

Figure 1: Structure of the Dissertation

1.8 Summary of the chapter

This chapter will guide us to understand the influence of social media on the buying behavior of the Customer. This will show the aims and object of this research as identification of the effectiveness of social media on the purchase behavior of the customer. The main objective discussion on this research is the role of social media in understanding the preference of customers during the purchase of the product.

Chapter 2: Literature review

2.1. Introduction

The discussion is about the impact of social media in influencing the purchasing behaviour of the customer along with some supporting theories. The various social media platforms are discussed along with their efficiency in attracting the minds of the public. Product awareness can be built if social media platforms are used as a weapon to promote the products of the particular brand. Some of the companies in the market use the social marketing strategy to brand their products in the market to increase the profit margin.

The social proof has been installed as a matrix that helps in identifying the purchase behaviour of the consumers. Another important part is the social media influencers who help to promote the products using various pros and cons of it to attract the consumers. A theory is applied at last named consumer behaviour theory which could prove how social media can influence the behaviour of the customers.

2.2. Impact of social media marketing on the purchasing behaviour of the customer

Social media has a huge impact in affecting customer behaviour as it is one of the most well-known communication tools. People across the world are fond of using social platforms for their own purpose and toshare experiences. Globally, the platforms are famous for marketing along with digital marketing procedures. According to Alalwan (2018), the purpose of social media marketing is mainly conducting online campaigns and attracting the attention of the public with virtual shopping.Based on the research of Alalwan (2018), it can be stated that social media is a great influence for all the consumers at the time when they are attempting to develop awareness of any specific product. When people start facing issues, they also try to get the solutions required. However, Gautam and Sharma (2017) have argued that sometimes people do not have any idea as to which services or products are going to solve the issues. It is possible for people to have knowledge on any specific product with the help of the content that is found in social media.

Most brands nowadays use social media campaigns in order to attract consumers to increase customer demand. Social media marketing includes displaying the products through online marketing applications along with their brand and pricing details. According to Seo and Park (2018), the online campaigns are free of cost and thus the public is interested in it and at last, end up buying various products. According to Duffett (2017), social media platforms are the only way to influence the customers and mould their behaviour activities. The International brands could not come up and proceed with physical marketing thus they are using social media for promoting their brand.

According to Gómez, (2019), it has been noticed that most of the population purchases products by getting influenced by social media. There are 54% of the population who prefer to watch social media campaigns and one percent of them prefer to buy the product. As opined by Carlson et al. (2018), the potential customers are targeted by social media marketing and then reviews and recommendations of the existing customers are posted below. The public believed in going through the customer review to understand the quality of the product and online services. Content development is used by the brands to attract the first impression of the public and thus influence the buying behaviour of the customer. There are four different procedures that are followed by social media brands to attract customers and influence them to purchase the product.

2.3. The different social media platforms used for marketing

As opined by Agnihotri et al. (2017), the social media platforms that help in influencing the buying behaviour of the public are mainly Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. There is no single platform that can be targeted for marketing the products available to the public. Each and every platform has their own strategy in branding the products that are not so popular. Choosing the right one is always important as the business backgrounds are separate for all the products. The brand promotion is done with the help of Facebook as the customers are more active there than any other platform. Campaign Monitor is used as a matrix to understand the incorporation in social media and its impacts in customizing the products.

According to sources, the most suitable platform for women is Instagram as they attract the age group below 25 for shopping. As opined by Liu et al. (2019), mainly the consumers of online shopping are women as they like to shop mostly more than men. The most successful branding is done with the help of Facebook and Instagram as it connects the consumers with the professionals. The main motive of the social media platforms is to create a brand image for promoting the products to the public who are not aware of it. The social media platforms get paid by the brand so that their products are displayed with the help of screening and advertising.

Figure 2.3: Social media marketing

(Source: Liu et al.2019)

As commented by Ramanathan et al. (2017), another important platform is YouTube where videos are available about the stores and the product of the brand. On other social media platforms, only the images and reviews are posted but YouTube helps to make people understand the brand in detail. The videos are available mainly through blogs, customer experiences and others so that the buying power of the customers increases with time. Twitter is also a famous platform but the videos and blogs are not available here thus is not quite helpful when it comes to shopping.

According to Narangajavanaet al. (2017), social media platforms are mainly famous because the customer reviews are given in the comment section which is really influential. The public gets a trustful review and then thinks of purchasing the product irrespective of the price. Covid-19 has given the social media marketing platforms to open their doors in influencing potential customers and thus online shopping has gained ground (Naeem, 2021).

2.4. Building product awareness through social media marketing

Social media marketing can help in many ways to develop product awareness.According to Lim et al., (2017), it is of paramount importance to provide the social presence some required personality. The presence in social media has to look like something that other companies do not have. From the research of Müller et al. (2018), it can be stated that there are many brands that become robotic at the time of making social media presence. They start posting links or pictures or taking some hashtags. However, Gautam and Sharma (2017) have argued that there are some other things that need to be taken into account at the time of making social media presence. These include making good and eye-catching posts, tagging others for talking to them, harnessing the hashtags power, and developing the creative commenting process.

According to Yadav and Rahman (2018), social media helps to influence the consumers when awareness has to be built for making them feel interested in the product. Some brands which are new in the market could not influence the people because they are not well-known in the market. The most essential way to improve brand awareness is social media marketing as it can reach every corner of society. The entry market companies who are not so popular within the population can go with the brand promotion through social media applications. As opined by Lim et al. (2019), 31% of the brand value is increased after the instalment of social media marketing.

As opined by VoramontriandKlieb (2019), the marketing team of a company selects the social media platforms to be the most efficient way to create brand awareness. The products would be popular only if people start liking them one by one and thus profit margin could be increased further. It is important to understand that the public knows about the brand or not and if not the brand awareness is very important. For example, new markets such as sanitisers and masks are not known by the public as it is new for the population. According to Kamboj et al. (2018), the brands that provide the best quality masks and sanitizers used social media to promote their items so that a large population could be attracted. Public reviews and company procedures are followed when social media is used for brand promotions. According to Müller et al. (2018), the main concept used here is online campaigns which include all the necessary details about the popularity of the brand. The brand image depends on the products; thus, the online campaigns have various showcasing of products through which the quality can be judged by the public. The discounts and other benefits are showcased by the company through the social media platform so that the public gets influenced by it (Nash, 2019).

2.5. Impact of social proof on the buying decision of the consumers

According to Young et al. (2017), social proof acts as a great force in influencing the buying decision of the public as it has a tendency to attract the attention of the public. The customers who are happy with the products earlier post their reviews and comments on social media applications. These reviews are read up by the upcoming potential customers acting as proof for the customers. This can help to build trust and efficacy within the public and can create good brand awareness. Thus, the social media platforms have another section for posting the reviews and comments to keep them live for further times.

As commented by Chatzigeorgiou (2017), the integral part of buyers and sellers are analysing whether the products that are promoted are good or not. Sometimes, there are discounts provided by the company on social media sites but when the purchase is made the whole amount of money is charged. Thus, the social proof can help to identify whether the discounts offered are fake or not. The social proof can influence the buying behaviour as if the reviews are true and the discounts are really applied then the consumer would get attracted and buy the products.

2.6. Influence of promotions and discounts

As commented by Rehnenet al. (2017), some research says that 64% of the population are attracted to discounts and special offers on their selected goods. There is a very little number of people who do not get attracted to the discounts as they feel that these are fake reviews. Social media could influence the behavioural pattern of the population towards buying the products as various discounts are given on online purchases. During the wake of the pandemic, people were not attracted to buying things as the economic stability was not so good.

As opined by Tajvidi and Karami (2021), at that time of crisis, the companies decided to apply social media marketing to make people aware of the various discounts that are applied on essential goods. The social media applications create links for the customers to go through the shopping sites and analyse whether the company is giving discounts or not. Social media marketing is used as a strategy so that the public gets attracted to the discounted product and changes their buying behaviour.

2.7. The role social media influencers in determining the purchasing behaviour of the consumers

As opined by Bilgin (2018), the customers believe in social media influencers as they provide relevant information related to the brand and the shopping ideas. It can be said that more than 49% of the population believes in social media influencers in changing their buying behaviour accordingly (Jinet al.2017), the influencers provide information along with proof by collecting the real-life experiences of the consumers. Influencer marketing can attract consumers to study the brand popularity and name which further motivates them to purchase their selected products.

2.8. Consumer behaviour theory

As opined by Guha et al. (2018), consumer behaviour theory is used to understand how the public makes a decision regarding a topic and studies it further. These views are used to predict whether the consumer would like to buy the item or not. There are some factors that are crucial to understanding the purchasing behaviour of the customers along with the traits. The behaviour could be analyzed with psychological factors which include inner thought; their perception about online purchases and what can be done to motivate them further (Shearer and Mitchell, 2021).

Figure 2.4: Consumer behaviour Theory

(Source: Guha et al.2018)

As commented by Harrigan et al. (2017), the personal and social factors are analysed with the help of consumer behaviour theory as their personal behaviour would help the brand further. Social influencing can be done with personal experiences with family members and groups of friends who could analyze whether the buyer would be preceded or not. The consumer behaviour theory is important because the business could be taken further if the marketing team could understand the personal traits of the consumers (Jain et al.2017).

2.9. Literature Gap

The discussion is about the influence of social media marketing and the influencers in modifying the buying behavior of the customers. The themes are made by analyzing various content of the buying behavior all over the time. Whereas some data were missing during the research as secondary data was not collected. The philosophy includes interviews from various buyers and sellers to understand the buying behavior of the customers. The main literature gap that has been found related to influences of social media marketing is limitation of focus and scope. There are issues regarding research questions, geography [hic coverage and participants. Not much information on the practitioners of social media have been found. There is very limited information on public relations activities, andthe issues and benefits associated with social media. There is very little information on the practitioners of social media and the process of getting involved in specific practices. Moreover, there is a lack of study on organizational learning and training on social media and the process of enacting social media in enterprises.The data collected are not retrieved properly so that the framework does not include following discussions about the data matrix.

2.10. Conceptual framework

**Figure 2.5: Conceptual framework on the impact of social media marketing on customer purchasing behavior**

(Source: Created by the researcher)

2.11. Summary

Social marketing and its impact to alter the buying behaviour of the customers are being analysed. The social media platforms are discussed along with their specifications to understand which of them can be more efficient. The public gets attracted to visual presentations and thus Facebook and YouTube are considered to be the most influential part of social media. Social media influencers play an important role to provide social proof to the consumers so that trust could be gained. The loyalty of the brand as well as the reviews of the potential customers is kept in groups so that the public could be influenced and attracted to buy the items. The consumer behaviour theory has been used to analyze the personality traits of the public and the ways to attract the consumer.

Chapter 3: Research methodology

3.1 Introduction

Research methodology is regarded as the application of useful strategies, techniques and processes that are used for collecting evidence or data for the analysis process. It is also useful for uncovering important information or creating effective understanding of the research (Queirós, Faria and Almeida, 2017). This section is responsible for describing all the actions that are undertaken for investigating any research problem and the rationale for applying important techniques and procedures for identifying, selecting, processing and analyzing important information used for comprehending the research problem. This permits the researcher in evaluating important aspects of the study (Dźwigoł, 2019). This research methodology chapter describes the data that needs to be collected for analyzing the influence of social media on customer purchasing behaviour. In addition, it also aims at developing an effective sample for the research. Moreover, important data collection tools are also taken into account. Research methodology helps the researcher in providing important details regarding the choice of the tools.

3.2 Research epistemology

For conducting the specific research, the researcher has chosen positivism research epistemology. This is because positivism uses the view that it is possible to only gain factual ideas and knowledge with the help of observations. This includes reliable measurement. In case of positivism epistemology is confined to collection and interpretation of data (Nind and Lewthwaite, 2018). In this research, the positivism epistemology has been chosen because it is dependent on quantifiable and observable data. Additionally, Positivism philosophy has been selected on account of its ability to do statistical analysis. It is important to note that positivism research epistemology follows the empiricist view that knowledge actually comes from human experience which is required in this chapter for understanding important application of communication tools that can be applied in specific social platforms for evaluating the purpose and sharing the experience.

3.2 Research theory

Deductive theory is connected with development of a hypothesis that is dependent on any existing theory (Privitera and Ahlgrim-Delzell, 2018). After that, a research strategy is designed for testing the hypothesis. Deductive indicates going from particular reasoning to general reasoning. In case, any causal link or relationship is developed by any specific theory or case study, it can become true in multiple cases. A deductive design might do the testing for viewing whether the link or relationship can help in obtaining general circumstances (Dawson, 2019). With the help of a hypothesis deductive approach can be developed. Deductive approach has been useful for forming conclusions on the basis of important propositions and premises. With the help of deductive approach, it has been possible for identifying and explaining causal links between variables and concepts regarding social media platforms applied for marketing. With the help of deductive approach, the researcher has been able to explore already known theories like consumer behaviour theory. It has also helped in testing the theory for analyzing whether the theory has validity in the circumstances given. The hypothesis has also been tested with the help of observations that can cause hypothesis confirmation or rejection.

3.4 Research ontology

The research ontology that has been selected for this research is called constructivism. The main reason behind selection of this ontology is that it supports open ended questions, image and text data and important approaches (Apuke, 2017). It has helped in positioning the researcher in the context of the effect of social media marketing on the buying behavior of the customers. Constructivism has focused on any single phenomenon or concept. It has been useful for bringing useful personal values in the research. This ontology has been accounted for researching important contexts and the setting of important respondents. Moreover, it has been responsible for validating the correctness of findings. Constructivism ontology has also aided the researcher in interpreting important data on the role of social media in evaluating purchasing behavior of the customers, influence of specific branding strategies on the purchasing behavior and the application of social media in forming a considerable customer base.

3.5 Research strategy

The strategy that has been selected for the research is predominantly quantitative. This is because this strategy applies a systematic approach for collecting important information with the help of useful sampling processes for example, questionnaires, online surveys and polls (Hayward et al., 2021). It has been collected from prospective as well as existing clients and customers. They have been depicted in numerical terms. Quantitative research has helped in measuring important variables with the help of a numerical system. It has become possible for understanding the objective of understanding, analyzing, describing and making important predictions, usage of certain social media platforms and development of product awareness. It is possible for make important predictions on the effect of social media marketing after evaluating the decisions made by the customers (Richards et al., 2019). Additionally, qualitative research has been chosen because it helps in providing important information in detail and can identify the areas where improvements have to be made. This strategy has also assisted the research investigator in providing effective balance in opinions from all the people.

3.6 Data collection and analysis method

The data collected method that has been selected for this research is called survey. The Survey method is useful for the researcher in collecting substantial information related to the research (Tomincet al., 2018). Almost all the researchers use this strategy on account of its cost effectiveness and the ability to gather huge amounts of information from different sources. For this specific research, with the help of a survey method, it has been possible for the research investigator to collect useful information by conducting a survey on 50 employees from a reputed company. The collected data have been analyzed with the help of statistical probability. It has taken into account hypotheses and deduction processes. The collected data have been represented with the help of graphs and charts in Microsoft excel.

3.7 Sampling process

Simple random sampling process has been used for this research. It has been possible to assemble the collected data properly. This has been useful for providing more effective and correct results. Probability sampling method has been chosen for this research. This is because with the help of this sampling process, the researcher has been able to give equal chances to all of the respondents to participate.

3.8 Summary

In this chapter, all the important research aspects have been discussed briefly. The tools that have been used in this chapter are useful for guiding researchers in taking important decisions that can help in evaluating the probability of success of any company in terms of applying social media marketing and evaluating customer purchasing decisions. Proper data collection method and strategy have been responsible for analyzing the broad concept of the role of social media in applying social media marketing.

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