Social Media on Consumer Buying Behaviour Essay Example

Social Media on Consumer Buying Behaviour Essay Social media is a social instrument which is used as a tool where people communicate with each other. According to Evans, social media in not only about people reading and disseminating information, but also how they share and create content for others to participate. The use of social media is growing rapidly today as it helps connect people living in any part of the world, through various social networking sites. Social media has enabled people to exchange their views about products and services among each other and also has encouraged companies to market their products and services thus indulging in social media marketing. Social media marketing refers to capturing the attention of the people on social media sites towards a brand or products and services of an organization. Social media has become an excellent channel for marketers to reach consumers. It has led to the consumers being more associated with a product and also in influencing the goodwill and reputation of the organization. The article titled, â€Å"Expand your Brand Community Online† states that social media is important for marketers because it allows them to dialogue directly with consumers, which in turn engages consumers directly with company brands (Hanlon, Patrick, Hawkins, amp; Josh, January 2008). Social media thus supports the buying cycle by providing a platform to the consumers to discover information they need to make purchase decisions. We will write a custom essay sample on Social Media on Consumer Buying Behaviour specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Social Media on Consumer Buying Behaviour specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Social Media on Consumer Buying Behaviour specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It has been found that India is the world’s 7th largest internet market growing at 11. 2% (ComScore). According to Khushbu Pandya (2012), there are 21 million people in India who are estimated to visit social media sites regularly, which is 60. 3% of the total active Indian internet audience. (Cruz B. and Mendelsohn J. , 2010) More than 90% of Indian online users belong to 18 -45 age group, which has high purchase power and high disposable income. Social media influences consumer purchase to a large extent. Consumers trust more the information obtained from a fellow consumer than from or created by an organization. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: With the increase in the internet usage, the various social media marketing strategies influence the buying behavior customers need to be explored. Studies have shown social media is being considered playing an important role in customer buying decisions. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of social-media on the buying behavior of the consumers in Mumbai. This study will provide as a base for entrepreneurs and marketers to evaluate the consumer behavior and carry out marketing strategies accordingly to capture the attention and further introduce or increase the sales of their product. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: In order to achieve the aim of the research the objectives set forward for conducting the research were: 1. To know the perception of the people in Mumbai regarding their shopping preferences. 2. To know the website preferences of the respondents in respect to the social media sites. 3. To understand how social media influences the buying behavior of the consumers living in Mumbai. HYPOTHESIS: H0: There is no significant relationship between social media and consumer buying behavior in Mumbai. H1: There is a significant relationship between social media and consumer buying behavior in Mumbai. LITERATURE REVIEW: According to Sampad Swain (2009), due to the increasing use of social media websites by the consumers, social media outreach by brands and companies, especially if this outreach is done by a personal online representative, can be much more influential on consumer behavior than ads or other promotional devices. As a result, companies that utilize social media engage directly with consumers and thus they have a great opportunity to reach more customers and also increase their likelihood of making a purchase. According to Mathur Pooja, Black Jennifer E. , et all (2012), â€Å"The Impact of Social Media Usage on Consumer Buying Behavior†, Media sites for which frequency of visits related to influence did not differ whether the main aspect of the influence of the social media was induced by advertising, by a friends comments or blogs, or not by a direct visit to social media, but rather, a friend who is a fan or follower of the product or service. According to Rajiv Kaushik, â€Å"Impact of Social Media Marketing† As the popularity of social media is growing and there is no turning back it seems social media will overtake to other functional areas of marketing to a large extent. Social media is trying to fill the gap between marketers and consumers through continual dialogue, building trust and interacting with right audience in right way, as fast as possible. METHODOLOGY The study is analytical based on collection of data from both primary and secondary sources. The study is mainly based on primary data and the tool implemented is a non-structured questionnaire. A sample of 200 respondents will be selected for the study. CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF SAMPLES: * Age group between 18 to 45 years. * Respondents living in Mumbai. * Member of atleast one social media site. SAMPLING METHOD: * Purposive sampling method. Necessary secondary data have also been collected from sources like books, magazines and internet. ANALYSIS OF DATA This analysis will be helpful in studying what variables of social media will have an impact on the purchasing power of the consumers in Mumbai. This impact will be measured on a scale of 1 to 10 with one being the lowest impact and 10 being the highest impact. ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The anticipated results of the data collected will show that there is an impact of social media on the consumer buying behaviour in Mumbai and 68% of the respondents are greatly influenced towards a product by seeing their friend’s views and likes about that product on the social media sites, thus resulting to the null hypothesis being rejected and the alternate hypothesis being selected. CONCLUSION: Considering the anticipated results, the data collected will shows that there is a huge impact of social media and the buying behavior of the consumers in Mumbai. The results will also indicate that the consumers falling in the age group of 18 to 25 were comparatively greatly influenced by their friend’s suggestions and likes as compared to advertising and other social media sites. Also the results will reveal that the respondents use social media as a medium of gaining complete information and reviews by the existing users of the product before purchasing it. 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