Abstract of Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumers

It is practically difficult to design a marketing strategy without considering social networks. Social media have become an essential factor in today’s marketing mix. Social media has changed the way of interaction among individuals and improve communication as well. Community websites such as Twitter and Facebook have guided the world into a new era of social media. This study demonstrates the links between social media marketing and its effects on the consumer by analyzing various scientific articles. In this article, it is also discussed that the importance of social media for both consumers and marketers and different strategies used while promoting the products and services through social media. The influence of the marketing campaign on the consumers is also discussed in this article by using a different and authentic source of information. The selected research articles have further evaluated and analyzed to understand the impact of social media marketing on the consumer. Social media has become an essential central point in initiating a relationship between companies and consumers. Social networking sites have a positive impact on the respondent's perception of online marketing. This research paper aims to answer the research question of the impact of social media marketing on consumers from different contexts. The research study results can help find out various strategies to attract different types of consumers for maximizing the impact of online marketing strategy. 

Keywords: Social media, Social media marketing, Impact on consumer, Social networking sites.

1 Introduction of Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumers

Social media have changed the interaction between consumers and marketers (Vinerean, Cetina, Dumitrescu, & Tichindelean, 2013). Over the past few decades, social media have assisted in the business expansion worldwide so that users can check, select and buy products and services from businesses all over the world (Al Kailani & Kumar, 2011). In recent years, social networking sites (SNSs) have attracted millions of users, and the number of users is increasing every year. Facebook is one of the most noted SNS, and the number of international brands using Facebook as a marketing platform is increasing day by day.

SNS attracts both users and business partners in different companies ranging from national and international brands, private businesses, and governmental organizations. Social media has become a popular medium that makes customer relationships stronger with products and services (Gandomi & Haider, 2015). Nowadays, companies and businesses take consideration and create strategies only after analyzing consumer demands, needs and preferences through social media (Gandomi & Haider, 2015). Social media allows brands to communicate better with their customers and strengthen their relationship with them (Saravana Kumar & Sugantha Lakshmi, 2012). Peer communication through social media has impacted the consumer-based decision making as well as marketing strategies (Vinerean et al., 2013).

More than fifty percent of internet users are using Facebook (Yadav & Rahman, 2018). Due to this reason, social media marketing is famous not only among users but also among the companies to widen their business scope (Yadav & Rahman, 2018). Most of the companies have integrated links to social media sites to build better customer relationships (Choi et al., 2016; Yadav & Rahman, 2018). Through social media, it is possible to discover the likes and preferences of consumers as well as the latest trends adopted by the public. Social media provides an opportunity for marketers to connect directly with consumers, establish secure communication with consumers (Yadav & Rahman, 2018). Social media marketing refers to the promotion of a product or service through various social networking sites (Broker, 2014). This paper aims at the research question of how social media marketing impacts consumers. Therefore, it is essential to understand the importance of social media marketing for marketers as well as consumers, in order to gather information on how they utilize social media platform and how these marketing campaigns have an influence on consumers in different contexts.

In this article, in order to discuss the importance of social media for both consumers and marketers and different strategies used for promoting the products and services through social media extensive literature review has been performed. Through an extensive literature review, the work of other researchers is analyzed and the research gap is identified. The selected research articles have further evaluated and analyzed to understand the impact of social media marketing on the consumer. Social media has become an essential central point in initiating a relationship between companies and consumers

Research Aim of Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumers

·         To identify the positive impact of social media marketing on the consumers

·         To highlight the importance & usefulness of social media marketing for marketers and consumers

·         To determine information about the ways and strategies used by marketers while using social media marketing

·         To analyze the marketing campaigns and strategies that have a major influence on the consumers

Research Questions of Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumers

·         What is the positive impact of social media marketing on consumers?

·         What is the importance & usefulness of social media marketing for marketers and consumers?

·         What kind of marketing strategies used by marketers while using social media marketing?

·         Which marketing campaigns & strategies have a major influence on consumers?

2 Literature Review of Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumers

According to Castells (1996), society has entered a situation where it can no longer represent without considering technology. Nair and Aram (2014) claim that due to the widespread of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in all aspects of life, there will naturally be an impact on society and the individual. Moreover, ICT has resulted in the emergence of social networking sites that are user-friendly and cheap. According to Kwon and Wen (2010), the ease of use and usefulness attributes positively connected to SNS operation. Lin and Lu’s (2011) study also supports the fact that perceived effectiveness is an essential factor for continued SNS use. Perceived ease of use has an impact on user acceptance of information systems (Lee and Cho, 2011).

Social media can be defined as activities, practices, and ways of behaving among groups of people who meet online to share information, knowledge, and viewpoint using informal media (Safko & Brake, 2009). Social media is all about the participation of people in social networking sites and through applications, which in turn can be used for information sharing and discussion. Bashar et al. (2012) describes social media as the involvement of people in various activities in the creation of content, sharing, and networking at an exceptional rate.

Weinberg (2009) defines social media marketing as the process that permits individuals to promote their websites, products, or services through online social channels that may not have been accessible via conventional channels. Social networking sites put firms and consumers under one platform and is different from traditional marketing. Social media marketing helps in establishing a relationship between companies and consumers (Weinberg, 2009). Social media marketing makes marketing messages more likely to deepen with the audience due to its appearance from a trusted third-party source (Broker, 2014).

Consumer viewpoint towards marketing is an aspect considered by researchers to evaluate how good consumers will perceive social media marketing. For creating a successful marketing campaign through social media, a consumer must be convenient in using technology. Consumer technology preparedness is essential for this and defined as people's tendency to accept and use new technologies for completing home and work goals (Parasuraman, 2000). It is clear that social media not only provides a platform for individuals to connect with their family and friends but also allows consumers to learn more about companies and the products they sell. 3 Methodology of Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumers

The research topic “Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumer” is chosen from the ICIS 2019 call for papers from the track of “Social Media and Digital Collaborations”.

In this study, identify the impact of social media marketing on the consumers and data is collected from authentic sources by the secondary method. The secondary method is used, and an authentic source of information is used for the collection of different pieces of literature, articles that explain the positive impact of social media marketing. In order to find scientific articles to conduct a literature review, the majority of the searches were done on reliable scholarly databases such as Scopus, Google Scholar, and Science Direct. 

Databases: Scopus, Google Scholar, and Science Direct

Search Key Words: Social media, Social media marketing, Impact on the consumer.

After initial research, 55 articles were obtained. The articles were finalized by keeping in view the mentioned points (a) Effects of social media marketing on the consumer (b) Effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool (c) Influence of social media marketing activities on the consumer.

To further refine the obtained research articles funnel method was used to narrow down the articles to make it more specific. Thus, the six articles were selected that were more relevant to the topic; that is, the impact of social media marketing on consumers was chosen for the literature study. 

4 Results of Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumers

In this section, the findings obtained from the literature review of six papers are tabulated. Therefore, this table highlights the analysis of the literature review that defines the context of different writers about the positive impact of social media marketing on consumers using different types of study. In this regard, conceptual, empirical and analytical aspect of the study is used by focusing on the positive impact of social media marketing on consumers. The context of above-discussed kinds of literature has also described the role of social media in the life of people and its positive impact on the activities of consumers that are using social media regularly.

Table 1.  Impacts of Social Media Marketing on the Consumer

In the last, this table depicts the usage of social media users for different purposes such as entertainment, fun, blogs and used for marketing.  In this regard, marketing of social media through different websites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube that attract the people to gain maximum benefits, entertainment and provide opportunities to companies to promote their products and services through social media marketing for the ease and comfort of consumers.

5 Discussion of Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumers

Social media marketing impacts the purchase intention and behavior of the consumer positively (Basher et al., 2012). These platforms offer a massive opportunity for marketers to establish a relationship with consumers. Social media not only provides a platform for connecting with friends and family but also provides information about various companies and their selling products. Consumers gain more trust in product information from other consumers instead of manufacturer’s generated information (Cheong and Morrison, 2008). According to Bashar et al. (2012), a survey was carried out on 150 social networking site users, and most of the respondents replied that they consider individual reviews from social media before the actual buying process.

From the above analysis of works of literature, it is discussed that social media is not a limited platform but a broad platform that contains information, develop connection among people, can be used for marketing purposes. It also provides the information of users as they connected with family and friends that are lived apart from them. Companies are also used social media for the marketing of their products and services at a global level. The literature also discusses the experiences and market need of consumers by using social media based on the interest of people. Different models are also used to analyze the behavior of users of social media towards the latest technology.

According to Anderson (2007), the social media domain could be made use of, as a possible source of a platform for including the customer concerns. The objective of marketing is to provide marketers with information about market needs, customer experiences, and tendencies. According to DiPietro and Pantano (2012), research using the TAM model enables forecasting user’s behavior towards new technology. It is also observed that enjoyment is the main reason that affects consumers to use social networking sites as a platform for their buying decisions (DiPietro and Pantano,2012). The fun provided by Facebook, along with the provision for suggestions from consumers in an uncomplicated and entertaining way, motivates human beings to pay more attention to the products and services promoted on Facebook and also provides managers, a channel for communicating with individuals (Di Pietro & Pantano, 2012).

The management of time and resources is also discussed in the above table, which is good for the marketing of social media. It has a positive impact on communication among customers and companies at the time of purchasing the products and achieve brand loyalty. In this modern era, marketing strategies are also transformed from the traditional way of marketing. In this regard, social media is an excellent example of marketing based on the requirement of modern time and consumers as well. Hence, the literature review is also mentioned better purchasing decisions because of the marketing of social media. It is discussed based on the above table that the use of social media between the age of 18-28 is productive and positive because of using maximum time on social media through different activities of entertainment, informative and purchasing online. Consumers get information and reviews of the product by using social media that develop brand loyalty and excellent marketing of the products at a global level. The chances of risk are reduced, and consumers can gain trust in the quality and performance of products based on the reviews of other consumers.

By effectively using time and resources, social media marketing enables better communication of consumers with companies to enables brand loyalty beyond the traditional process (Jackson, 2011). Social media is different from the conventional way of marketing, as a result of which it requires more concentration for achieving brand image and loyalty. A study by infographics highlights that at least half of the Facebook and Twitter users are more likely to propose, discuss and purchase a company product after engaging with the company on social media (Jackson, 2011). Social networks can inform the effective purchasing decisions of consumers, as many users today have a firm belief in peer viewpoints more than marketing strategy (Bashar et al., 2012).

Cox (2010) investigated the correlation between age and attitude and have described how different age group users had a different approach to online marketing. The age group between 18-28 had a healthy, positive attitude towards blogs and videos related to product marketing (Cox, 2010). This demonstrates the positive impact that social media marketing creates on the consumer. Consumers use social media sites for gathering information and feedback about different products and services and the companies they like. Consumers gain more trust in product information from other consumers based on their viewpoints to lessen the risk of purchasing the wrong one (Cheong & Morrison, 2008).

Moreover, consumers can share their experiences, market needs, and preferences on social media platforms (Anderson, 2007). Social media marketing also provides marketers with information about market behavior, consumer needs, and requirements. The primary objective of any marketing program is to develop and sustain healthy relationships with consumers (Kotler & Keller, 2016).

Social media has already progressed as a unique tool for marketing. It is evident from this study that in the future, marketers and consumers will have more dependency on the social media platform for the growth of the business as well as for finding and purchasing the right product. Thus, social media will take over the conventional styles of marketing and business, and social media platforms will be utilized to produce more opportunities and convenience for everyone (Basher et al., 2012).

From the above table, it is discussed that social media marketing is a useful tool for marketers and customers as well. People of different age groups have different attention to use social media and marketing according to their interests and availability of resources. The role of social media is significant as promoting the marketing techniques as using a feedback system to analyze the need of customers and develop products and services according to demand. Nowadays, social media has changed the marketing process and become the business easy to use social media for the promotion of their products and services in a short time. The aim of marketing is also discussed in the above table to develop a healthy relationship with the customers. Also, develop the loyalty and trust of customers because of the providing quality products that enhance the purchasing behavior of consumers. In the future, the dependency of marketers and consumers is discussed that will be on social media because of its updated features and use of technology. Marketer’s dependency is due to enhance the growth of business and offering the product according to the demand of consumers. Therefore, the social media enhance the chances of opportunities for marketers as promote their business using effective strategies, contents and innovative approach.

6 Conclusion of Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumers

It is concluded from the above study that the marketing of social media has a positive impact on consumers because of using different tools and techniques. The impact of social media is positive for consumers as well as businesses. Marketing strategies are improved by using social media to attract a large number of consumers at the same time because of using social media. Purchasing products and services became easier as in short time customers can gain information about the product. Also, marketers can use different websites to promote their products on a larger scale because social media is used globally. Therefore, for a marketer, it is an excellent platform to promote the products according to the interest of consumers. With the attractive and entertainment form of advertisement attracts more customers. For example, the red bull promotes its drinks by making short videos and featuring stories to attract customers worldwide. It is the proper use of social media to promote the products in an innovative way that also has a lesson for people.

Social media marketing has become integrated into a society where technology plays a considerable role in the continued growth of businesses. It has transformed the businesses from the transactional relationship process to the social relationship process, and the marketers are utilizing this platform for creating brand value and reputation, leading to business growth. With the power of social media, it is easy for marketers to reach a more extensive consumer base.

This research paper has concentrated on studying the positive impacts of social media marketing on the consumer by providing insight through conducting different types of literature studies. The literature study on existing academic papers on this topic was systematically studied for assessing and examining the impact of social media marketing on the consumer.

By using different and innovative ways for the promotion of products and services through the marketing of social media, develops a positive impact on the growth of business and consumers as well. In this busy life, where no one has enough time to purchase the products by visiting stores, the impact of marketing of social media is positive. With the use of social media, purchasing of the product is more accessible, and companies can quickly achieve brand loyalty. The conclusion is that marketing through social media has a positive impact and businesses are also grow by offering online services. Although, some critical issues are also generated that can be managed in the future by using the latest technology like artificial intelligence and other security. The companies should maintain the privacy and security of the consumers for the development and success of the business through social media marketing. Hence, there is a need to enhance social media marketing because it has a positive influence on them as purchasing of goods and services became easy and time-saving in this busy life. In the last, with the use of efficient strategies and innovative approach, marketing of social media should be improved that would achieve the success at a global level because people preferred to use the social media in terms of gain information and knowledge, being connected with friends and family and can purchase products from the brand that offers products its services online as maintaining quality.

It is apparent from the results that social media marketing has positively and significantly impacted the consumers in different ways, based on various criteria such as trust, entertainment, user voice, effective management of time and resources, and peer viewpoints.

However, there are certain limitations to this research paper. The ethical and sustainable considerations regarding social media marketing, as well as their implications, are not discussed in this paper. Future research that focuses on the ethical and sustainable implications on social media marketing impact on consumers may be required. The ethical usage of social media marketing and its impact on the customers is not analyzed in this study. it is important to know how ethical issues in social media marketing affects the customers and what is its impact on their overall satisfaction and loyalty. Future researchers can further investigate the ethical and sustainable considerations of social media marketing.

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