Effects of Social Media on a Consumer’s Buying Behaviour
Abstract
Traditional marketing strategies have proven to not be enough, especially in the current times. The introduction of social media has become the latest trend in marketing. With the increment in social media use, businesses are making an effort to keep up with the pace to benefit from it. Social media is used by many organizations to reach out to their customers and communicate with them and attract more potential customers. Social media marketing is a replacement for traditional marketing that has been in existence in the business field. This paper aims to analyze the part social media plays in the growth of an organization. Right social media strategies have positively impacted many businesses by increasing their sales. Sales increment is achieved by creating awareness of the company, which gets more people to talk about the business, thus disclosing their products to a broader audience.
Introduction
Consumer buying behaviour refers to studying the undertakings done by a consumer associated with the purchase, utilization and doing away with goods and services. These activities may include gathering information relevant to the consumer’s needs, wants and preferences. Various factors can influence consumer buying behaviour, namely; social factors which are inclusive of friends, colleagues, socioeconomic classes and influence from social media, psychological factors that are built from discernment, attitude and the viewpoint of their needs and lastly, personal factors which consist of a person’s attractions, interests and beliefs. While these factors contribute a lot towards the purchases people make, everyone has to go through the purchasing process. Social media can impact a potential customer from the start to the purchasing stage.
Effects of Social Media
Social media can be used by individuals and organizations when trying to build awareness about a specific product. The current generation is perceived to spend most of their time inline. Therefore, there is a high probability of a particular advertisement attracting their attention. Before deciding to purchase, they will use digital platforms to search for the product. Hence social media is put in a prime position for using it as a tool in creating awareness of a product.
Maybe the most important thing social media can contribute to a business is allowing it to communicate with its customers. Social media allows you to be in communication with your customers and to form a bond with them. The bond is formed by replying to your customers’ inquiries and requesting their feedback, thus enhancing customer satisfaction (Agnihotri, Dingus, & Krush, 2016).
An excellent social media strategy does have a positive impact on your business’s sales as it creates more awareness of your business, which gets people to talk about your business. Thus your products and services are exposed to a broader audience. The social media strategy will require an investment either small or large; however, the ROI (return on investment) makes it worthwhile.
Conclusion
Social media, which includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google plus, can influence a consumer’s buying behaviour. Social media significantly impacts all elements of an organization’s performance. Moreover, businesses that use social media marketing have displayed better achievement than those using traditional marketing strategies.
References
Agnihotri, R., Dingus, R., Hu, M. Y., & Krush, M. T. (2016). Social media: Influencing customer satisfaction in B2B sales. Industrial Marketing Management, 53, 172-180.