Impact of Social Media Marketing on Customer Buying Behaviour: A Case Study on The Body Shop

MARKETING, PLANNING AND
STRATGIES FOR MARKETING

Table of Contents
 INTRODUCTION 3
 Aims and objectives: 3
 Literature review: 4
 Research methodology: 4
 Potential outcomes:4
 Conceptual map 4
 Gantt chart 4
 Risk register 4

INTRODUCTION
 Social media marketing refers to the techniques of marketing which uses social media
platforms for marketing various products and services.
 Social media marketing provides various techniques to the companies through which they
can engage their existing customers while attracting new customers (Jacobson, Gruzd and
Hernández-García, 2020).
 Consumers nowadays look for the reviews of the products before buying it from various
social media sites. This influences their buying behaviours in a particular way.

Aims and objectives:
Aim: To analyse the impact of social media marketing on customer buying behaviour. A case
study on The Body Shop
Objectives:
To study the concept of social media marketing and consumer buying behaviour
To analyse the impact of social media marketing on customer buying behaviours
To provide recommendations to The Body Shop for improving social media marketing
strategies that influence consumer buying behaviour

MARKETING, PLANNING
AND STRATGIES FOR
MARKETING
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Aims and objectives:...................................................................................................................3
Literature review:........................................................................................................................4
Research methodology:...............................................................................................................4
Potential outcomes:......................................................................................................................4
Conceptual map...........................................................................................................................4
Gantt chart...................................................................................................................................4
Risk register.................................................................................................................................4
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INTRODUCTION
Social media marketing refers to the techniques of marketing which uses social media
platforms for marketing various products and services. Social media marketing provides various
techniques to the companies through which they can engage their existing customers while
attracting new customers (Jacobson, Gruzd and Hernández-García, 2020). Consumers nowadays
look for the reviews of the products before buying it from various social media sites. This
influences their buying behaviours in a particular way.
The Body Shop is a British cosmetic, perfume and skin care company which was
founded by Anita Roddick in 1976. Currently the company is operating in all most all over the
globe through its multilevel marketing channels and direct sales. The research proposal will
discuss the concepts of social media marketing and consumer buying behaviours. The impact of
social media marketing used by The Body Shop on the consumer buying behaviours will also be
discussed.
Aims and objectives:
Aim: To analyse the impact of social media marketing on customer buying behaviour. A case
study on The Body Shop
Objectives:
 To study the concept of social media marketing and consumer buying behaviour
 To analyse the impact of social media marketing on customer buying behaviours
 To provide recommendations to The Body Shop for improving social media marketing
strategies that influence consumer buying behaviour
Literature review:
Social media marketing
Shareef and et.al. (2019), says that, social media marketing is a form of marketing which
uses internet for creating and sharing content on online social media platforms to attain
marketing goals. Social media marketing is done through performing activities such as posting
videos, images, graphics, text and other contents which drives audience engagement. They
further clarify that, there are a lot of companies engaging in the social media marketing. So the
companies need to engage their prospects and increase sales if they want to build their brands.
However, Chen and Lin (2019), suggested that many companies which are new or are
less known which have less knowledge, awareness or goodwill are suggested not to focus on
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social media marketing. This is because according to the author, the social media is meant for
relaxed fashion. So the companies cannot forget their core reasons for business. According to
author, social media marketing revolves around engaging with the target audience and customers
about where they are and as they socially communicate with the brand.
Consumer buying behaviour
As per the views of Tuten (2020), consumer buying behaviour is a set of actions taken by
the buyers such as engaging in social media posts, consulting search engines etc. before actually
purchasing a particular product or service. This makes the importance to understand this
procedure much more, as it can help the companies to customize their marketing plans as
through which consumers have been influenced in the past.
But Wang and Kim (2017), criticized that the consumer buying behaviour is a complex
process which includes complex decisions made by the consumers. The process does not remain
same analyse because the perceptions and tastes of the consumers get influenced from time to
time. The author also suggested that actual purchase is just the one stage of the whole consumer
buying behaviour process and not all the decisions lead to a purchase.
Impact of social media marketing on customer buying behaviour
Bilgin (2018), conducted a study in which they found that, social media marketing have
created new avenues for most of the marketers and customers who are able to communicate, sell,
purchase and exchange their ideas of a range of services and products. It has become essential
for the companies to maintain a prominent presence on the social media platforms as the
consumers browse social media to research for products and its reviews before making an actual
buying decision.
On the contrary, Dangi, Gupta and Narula (2020), said that social media marketing has
positioned itself as an important communication tool. Social media gives the access to customers
for sharing their product reviews, advices, warnings, tips for using a certain product and to
provide information about a particular product. Generally, there are thousands of people using
social media platforms therefore, it makes the information consumption by thousands of them.
This information becomes a source through which consumers and buying behaviour is
influenced. Due to this m, any people now rely on social media for information and reviews as a
guide for planning their upcoming purchases.
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