IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR
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IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR
1.1 Introduction
New technical breakthroughs can have a significant impact on organisations by helping to modify the social environment while also accelerating information transfer and the development of new ideas. (Kling et al. 2005).
Social media will serve as an excellent illustration of new technical innovation that is having a significant impact on today’s organisations.
In the past, social media-inspired innovations were viewed as a chapter. But time has proven them wrong. We have seen the world being revolutionised on a daily basis by these new communal technologies, which are providing organisations with previously unimaginable impacts.
Most organisations nowadays are primarily interested in implementing social media into their business structures, but they lack a thorough understanding of what social media entails. They also lack a clear means of determining the benefits that these technologies can provide.
According to a 2009 McKinsey & Company report, many organisations were able to gain from each other in areas such as idea exchange, improved communication, and an improved workplace atmosphere through the proper use of social media.
The value that social media offers to organisations is enormous, as an increasing number of organisations are already endorsing and leveraging the numerous prospects in social media technical innovation. This allows them to seek support for their diverse organisational and business methods (Starmark, 2008).
Understanding how to use social media and its impact in an organisational environment is crucial, in addition to its practical applications in real-world projects. Organisations nowadays should examine questions such as how employees can use social media technology to conduct their jobs and what impact these have on them.
These should be critical questions for modern organisations. These questions might assist organisations understand how social media technologies perform well in the workplace.
As a result, it allows them to review and comprehend how to use what it has to offer, as well as the impact it has on how people connect and collaborate, as previously described.
Hill (2009) described globalisation as a shift towards a more unified and interdependent economy that has historically merged many national marketplaces into a single worldwide huge marketplace.
According to the Economic Intelligence Unit (2009), the global market was swamped by changes in currency rates, consumer purchasing behaviour, and inflation during the 2007 crisis.
These economic trends have compelled organisations to redesign their business strategies in order to better express their brands. Davis (2001) states that brand is one of an organization’s most valuable assets,
implying that there is a need for today’s organisations to appreciate the importance of capitalising on their brand. This can help them continue profitable expansion and meet long-term profitability goals.
Building brands can take many forms, including advertising, meeting specific customer needs, attaching a specific image to a service or product, identifying and meeting a need that competitors are trying to identify, combative communication, and pricing strategy (Burger et al, 2009).
As recessions have risen in recent years, it has become critical for organisations to maintain an honest, clear medium of communication and a positive image in a cost-effective manner (Unit for Economic Intelligence, 2009). During the recession, social media marketing was one of the most popular channels for organisations to express their brands.
Some of these mediums include online electronic media, which promotes engagement, responsiveness, consultation, connectedness, and networking among online end users (Mayfield, 2008).
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and other dynamic platforms have helped enhance online relationships (Golden, 2011). It is a low-cost marketing strategy that allows organisations to interact direct end-users via their relationships (Heinlein and Kaplan, 2010).
Given the options available to customers and the major role of social media marketing in influencing the economy, brands and consumers play a shifting role in the organization’s strategy (Mayfield 2004, Lindeman 2008).
Brands have a significant impact on customer preferences, and customers influence other customers. These occurrences have an impact on repurchases, which in turn affect future profitability and organisational continuity (Oliveira and Sullivan, 2003).
As a result, a dominant brand frequently influences consumers’ purchasing decisions. This value is created by increasing demand (via repurchases) and safeguarding the organization’s future earnings (Sullivan and Oliveira, 2003).
As a result, social media marketing provides communication chances and relies on novel thought processes (Heinlein and Kaplan, 2010; Kweskin, 2008). This improves the customer’s product and brand experience.
This new era of digital communication and social involvement is ideal for corporate strategy development. As organisations become increasingly competitive on a global scale, it is critical that they explore marketing strategy in a more engaging and inventive manner in order to attract a bigger number of customers (Rockendorf, 2011).
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT.
The introduction of the Internet and public acceptance of it have significantly transformed how organisations sell their services and goods, as well as the channels of contact between them and their clients.
This is evident in the way companies market and communicate their brands and products nowadays, which is becoming a difficult task.
Customers are bombarded with marketing messages and promotional events. Customers’ ability to become enthused about promotional events is waning, and consumers are beginning to oppose some companies’ marketing efforts.
Some organisations primarily focus their promotional efforts on traditional mass media advertising, which includes television commercials, radio jingles, print advertisements in newspapers and magazines, as well as billboard placements.
It is now widely acknowledged that, as the Internet rapidly advances in the global marketplace, the effectiveness of traditional mass media is rapidly declining.
1.3 Research Objectives
The primary goal of this research is to look into how social media affects consumer purchasing behaviour. The specific aims of the study are:
To investigate students’ attitudes regarding shopping online.
To investigate what motivates student purchasers to shop on social media platforms.
To investigate how social media channels have influenced the purchasing behaviour of Lagos State University students.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
What is students’ impression of online shopping?
What variables drive student customers to shop on social media platforms?
How have social media channels influenced the purchasing habits of Lagos State University students?
1.5 Research Hypothesis
1. HO: Students have a poor opinion of online purchasing.
Hello: Students have a positive attitude towards online buying.
2. Ho: There is no statistically significant association between social media outlets and consumer purchasing behaviour.
Ho: There is a considerable association between social media outlets and consumer purchasing behaviour.
1.6 SCOPE OF RESEARCH
Regarding the aims, conducting the research from the standpoint of consumers would be a far more appropriate method. The researcher recognises that there are several publications and studies available that try to help businesses obtain a better knowledge of social media marketing rather than to assist consumers in determining why social media has impacted their decision-making process.
Because the goal of marketing is, in the end, about the consumer, new insights can be gained by starting with consumer perceptions and gathering data from consumers’ perspectives.
The study also intends to serve as a signal to potential readers (businesses) about how they might participate in the decision-making process using social media platforms.
The study focuses on the behaviour of end customers (individuals), specifically in the retail industry, such as apparel, food and beverage, consumer electronics, and so on.
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