The Impact of Social Media on Consumer Behavior: A Research Report

This research report investigates the significant impact of social media on consumer buying behavior. It begins with an introduction outlining the background, aims, objectives, and rationale of the study, followed by a comprehensive literature review that explores the consumer purchasing decision process, different types of social media sites, and the influence of social media on consumer buying behavior. The methodology section details the research approach, philosophy, design, data collection methods (including questionnaires), and analysis techniques, including both primary and secondary data sources. The findings, derived from data analysis, reveal key themes such as the frequency of social media usage (particularly Facebook), time spent on platforms, and the perceived influence of social media on purchasing decisions. The report concludes by summarizing the key insights and implications of the research, emphasizing the significant role of social media in shaping consumer behavior and offering recommendations for businesses looking to leverage these platforms. References and an appendix with the questionnaire are included to support the findings.

Research Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
BACKGROUND.........................................................................................................................1
AIMS...........................................................................................................................................1
OBJECTIVE...............................................................................................................................1
RATIONAL................................................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................1
The consumer purchasing decisions process...............................................................................1
Different type of social media sites ............................................................................................3
The influence of social media on buying behavior of consumers...............................................3
The social media as a mean of giving consumer a voice............................................................4
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................4
Data analysis ...................................................................................................................................5
Findings............................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................10
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND
In the recent years there have been increase in the number of Internet users. In order to
expand the business most of the traditional companies are now eager to online market as they are
aware that this is not only a trend now-a-days but also competitive necessity(Hudson and
Hudson, 2015.). In order to promote their products and services companies need to develop
different marketing strategies .Many companies are attracted towards the social media to employ
social media platform for online marketing. To attract more number of customers and exploit
new sources the social media platforms have become the best and efficient source.
AIMS
“To study the impact of social media on customers buying behaviour”
OBJECTIVE
 To analyse the consumer purchasing decisions process
 To examine different type of social media sites
 To evaluate the influence of social media on buying behaviour of consumers
 To study the social media as a mean of giving consumer a voice
.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The consumer purchasing decisions process
The decision making process is profoundly influenced by the accessibility and
transparency of the information. So, it is necessary to analyse the obstacles that holds the
prospects of becoming consumers or keeps the consumers hesitating from repurchasing. As per
Dessart, Veloutsou and Morgan-Thomas, (2015), in order to deal with a ultimate consumer
behaviours a comprehensive model is presented.
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This models helps to show the critical aspects of individual's consumer behaviour. In the
five stages that is recognition of problem, information search, evaluation of other alternatives,
purchasing decision and post-purchased behaviour this model interprets behaviour of consumer.
Whenever the consumer identifies a significance difference in between the desired and the actual
state of affairs then the problem recognition takes place. Before any typical buying action the
information is searched after the realization of a problem. For an example after watching an
advertisement in the TV the idea or thoughts are being triggered about the possibility of making
purchase. According to Godey and Singh , (2016), before carrying out any action the prospects
of through the various steps in order to make purchase information. All the available option is
identified by them , they also study information of the selected option. After the accumulation of
sufficient information once an option is recognized as the best suitable solution then they will
also undertake the alternative evaluation. A criteria for evaluating choice alternatives is been
established by the consumer depending in their motives and goals as per Hudson and Hudson,
(2015). During the course of evaluation the preferences is being formed by the consumers
among the brands in their choice desk. The certain levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction is
being experienced by the consumer after the consumption and the wisdom of the choices that are
made in selection of alternative are then evaluated by them in post-purchase decisions (How
Does Social Media Influence the Buying Behavior of Consumers, 2017).
2
Illustration 1: 5 stages of consumer decision-making process
(Source:IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, 2017. )

Different type of social media sites
The unique features and experiences to the individual and entities is being proved by different
categories of social media .Some oft hem are as follows-:
Social networking sites – In this the consumers will be bale to interact with others. Some of its
examples are Facebook and Myspace. As per Kedzior, Alle and Schroeder, (2016), within
similar background and interest the social networking sites can be used to connect users. The
interactive and customized profiles are been created by the users .In order to establish a clear
relationship with the brand the social marketing site are wealth opportunities for the consumers.
Social new sites and social bookmarketing sites- In the online community the Digg, Reddit and
Scoop.it are very much in trend. As stated by Kumar and Kannan, ( 2016), around the web the
social news enables the users not only to be in charge of their new streams but also them to
submit and vote on content. The control is being given to individuals in order control through
new streams.
Blogs
By individual or groups the blogs are typically monitored and for a larger group of audience the
ideas are being featured. According to Ngai,Tao and Moon, (2015), for other social marketing
tools the good hubs are being created by the blogs. A variety of other features such as comments,
blogrolls , trackbacks etc are also being provided by the blogs.
The influence of social media on buying behavior of consumers
Reviews- As per Oh and Hu, (2017), when the business is being looked up by the
consumer through search engine then they often discover review online. By the shoppers if the
first review is being read is negative then this will turn the consumers off to the business and
they will search for another business for a same needs.
Search engines- Since the internet and social media are fast so it so effective for consumers. A
means to keep the content fresh, alive and active is being provided by the social media sites.
Deals- For deal the shoppers make use of social media sites. In response to the social media
content the shopping behaviour of the consumers can be changed. In order promote sales the
businesses must use the platforms. In the fresh content and coupons that are posted online in the
social medials sites the companies need to invest as stated by Schivinski and Dabrowski, (2016).
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The rewards need to be given to the customers for signing up for alerts and also about giving
personal information about their shopping trends.
Referrals- A new and global fence is being given by the social media over which they can talk
with their friends. From a contact on their social media sites consumers who have received a
recommendation have purchased a product that was recommended to them. These
recommendation are also being made by friends and family.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Approach
In order to conduct this research the inductive research will be used as this will focus on
the objectives that is been for their research. With the observation this approach will start.
However the other type of research approach is deductive research .With the proposition of
hypotheses this research starts. The inductive approach will be sued as in this the research will
be free to alter the direction of the study(Lewis, 2015.) .
Research philosophy
The research philosophy are of two types that is positivism and interpretivism. In this
research the interpretivism philosophy will be used as with this different aspects of the reality
can be accessed and also through this the in depth knowledge will be gained on the reach topic.
Research design
In this the descriptor design will be used. This will present the characteristic of certain
groups and in a population it will estimate proportion of people and will also make directional
prediction.
Data collection
In this research both primary and secondary data collection methods are being used. In
order to conduct primary data collection the questioner was made and distributed among the
sample size. And the newspaper, magazines, books, journals, the Internet are some of the sources
of secondary data collection methods that are used in this research .
Research analysis
In this research the qualitative research was used as the data was gathered from the
participant observation. And the thematic style was applied to the information that is collected .
However in quantitative research the data is analysed in the form of numerical and statistical
(Vaioleti, 2016).
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Sample size
In order to conduct this research the questionnaire was made and was distributed among
20 consumers randomly .The questioner was made in order to understand the influence of social
media on their purchasing decision.
Ethical consideration
In this research the privacy was maintained and no information about any respondent was
disclosed to other respondents. And the right to freedom to every participant was given to
represent their idea or view point and no such content is sued to cause any harm to any
participant or other people in the research (Choy, 2014).
Data analysis
Theme 1 :Most of the consumers make use of Facebook on daily basis
On a daily basis which of the following social
media sites are used by you?
Frequency
Blogs 4
Facebook 8
YouTube 5
Social book marketing sites 3
5
Blogs
Facebook
YouTube
Social book marketing sites

Interpretation- About 8 consumers make use of Facebook on daily basis. The information that is
being given by the company about its product and services is been analyzed by the customers on
the Facebook and other social media.
Theme 2 :Most of the consumers pent about 7- 8 hours on social media sites on week basis
On these social media sites the time that is
spent by you per week?
Frequency
0 hour 1
1-3 hour 2
7-8 hour 8
9-hour or more 4
4-5 hour 5
6

Interpretation – On a weekly basis about 8 consumers spent about 7-8 hours on social media so it
can be found that there purchasing decision is made by the consumers through social media
Theme 3 :Most of the consumers strongly believe that information about any product can be
gained through social media sites
Do you believe with the use of social medial
sites one can obtain the information about the
Frequency
7
0 hour
1-3 hour
7-8 hour
9-hour or more
4-5 hour

product and services
Agree 6
Strongly agree 8
Both agree and disagree 3
Disagree 2
Strongly Disagree 1
Interpretation – About 8 consumers strongly agree that a lot of information can be gained
through social media related to any product that is offered by the company. They can also see
the ratings that is being given to that particular product based on that decisions can be made by
them.
8
Agree
Strongly agree
Both agree and disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

Theme 4:Most of the consumers think that purchasing decision is being triggered by the social
media.
Do you agree that social media trigger you to
buy a product or services?
Frequency
Yes 9
No 6
Not sure 5
9
Yes
No
Not sure

Interpretation – About 9 consumers think that purchasing decision is triggers by the social
media . By seeing the particular product on social media platform the customers get attracted
towards it and their buying behaviour is then made based on it.
Theme 5: Most of the consumers find the advertisement attractive
Do you find the advertisement on mass media
attractive ?
Frequency
Yes 14
No 6
10
Yes
No

Interpretation – About 14 consumer said that advertisement also attract them to purchase
products and services and about 6 consumers do not think so.
Theme 6:The consumers strongly believe that effective platform is being provided by social
media to attraction of customers
Do you believe that in order to draw
consumers attention the social media have
provided more effective platform?
Frequency
Agree 7
Strongly agree 9
Both agree and disagree 3
Disagree 2
Strongly Disagree 0
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Interpretation – About 9 consumers think that by seeing review, feedbacks, ratings etc on social
media the attention of customers can be draw towards company's product and services. The
company can also conduct promotion of its product on this platform.
Theme 7:The consumers always rely on social media in case of any uncertainties that is being
faced by them
In case if you have any uncertainties
regarding purchasing do you rely on
information available on social media ?
Frequency
Always 10
Often 2
Sometimes 6
Rarely 2
Never 0
12
Agree
Strongly agree
Both agree and disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

Interpretation – About 10 consumers said that in case of any uncertainties they rely on social
media as they think all the information they will be getting will be accurate and correct from this
social sites.
Theme 8: The consumers think that purchasing decision is being affected due to feedback given
on social media
Do you believe that purchasing decision is
affected due to feedback on social media?
Frequency
Agree 6
Strongly agree 10
Both agree and disagree 3
Disagree 1
Strongly Disagree 0
13
Always
Often
Sometimes
Rarely
Never

Interpretation – About 10 consumers strongly believe that purchasing decision is affected due to
feedbacks that is being given by other customers on social of media. If the feedback will be
good then that product will be purchased by customers else it will not be.
Findings
There is a great impact of social media on the consumer behaviour. The decision to
whether to purchase a product or not is mainly made by them through these social media
platforms such as Facebook, twitter etc and all the other alternatives or option is checked by
customers on these sites before making decision to buy a product or services . Also they review
the ratings, feedback etc then only they buy the product.
14
Agree
Strongly agree
Both agree and disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Choy, L.T., 2014. The strengths and weaknesses of research methodology: Comparison and
complimentary between qualitative and quantitative approaches. IOSR Journal of
Humanities and Social Science, 19(4), pp.99-104.
Dessart, L., Veloutsou, C. and Morgan-Thomas, A., 2015. Consumer engagement in online
brand communities: a social media perspective. Journal of Product & Brand
Management, 24(1), pp.28-42.
Godey, B. and Singh, R., 2016. Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on
brand equity and consumer behavior. Journal of business research, 69(12), pp.5833-5841.
Hudson, S. and Hudson, R., 2015. The effects of social media on emotions, brand relationship
quality, and word of mouth: An empirical study of music festival attendees. Tourism
Management, 47, pp.68-76.
Kedzior, R., Allen, D.E. and Schroeder, J., 2016. The selfie phenomenon–consumer identities in
the social media marketplace. European Journal of Marketing, 50(9/10), pp.1767-1772.
Kumar, A. and Kannan, P.K., 2016. From social to sale: The effects of firm-generated content in
social media on customer behavior. Journal of Marketing, 80(1), pp.7-25.
Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches.
Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475.
Ngai, E.W., Tao, S.S. and Moon, K.K., 2015. Social media research: Theories, constructs, and
conceptual frameworks. International Journal of Information Management, 35(1), pp.33-
44.
Oh, C. and Hu, H.F., 2017. Beyond likes and tweets: Consumer engagement behavior and movie
box office in social media. Information & Management, 54(1), pp.25-37.
Schivinski, B. and Dabrowski, D., 2016. The effect of social media communication on consumer
perceptions of brands. Journal of Marketing Communications, 22(2), pp.189-214.
Vaioleti, T.M., 2016. Talanoa research methodology: A developing position on Pacific research.
Waikato Journal of Education, 12(1).
Xiang, Z., Magnini, V.P. and Fesenmaier, D.R., 2015. Information technology and consumer
behavior in travel and tourism: Insights from travel planning using the internet. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services, 22, pp.244-249.
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Online
How Does Social Media Influence the Buying Behavior of Consumers?. 2017. [Online]
Available through: <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/social-media-influence-buying-behavior-
consumers-61504.html/>
IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR. 2017. [PDF] Available through:
<https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/62367/Lee_Ethel.pdf?sequence=1/>
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APPENDIX
Questionnaire
NAME-
AGE-
EMAIL-ID
GENDER-
1. On a daily basis which of the following social media sites are used by you?
 Facebook
 You tube
 Blogs
 Social book marketing sites
2. On these social media sites the time that is spent by you per week?
 0 hour
 1-3 hours
 7-8 hours
 9 and more
 4-5 hours
3. Do you believe with the use of social medial sites one can obtain the information about the
product and services?
 Agree
 Strongly agree
 Both agree and disagree
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree
4. Do you agree that social media trigger you to buy a product or services?
 Yes
 No
5. Do you find the advertisement on mass media attractive ?
 Yes
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 No
6. Do you believe that in order to draw consumers attention the social media have provided
more effective platform?
 Agree
 Strongly agree
 Both agree and disagree
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree
7. In case if you have any uncertainties regarding purchasing do you rely on information
available on social media ?
 Always
 Sometimes
 Often
 Rarely never
8. Do you believe that purchasing decision is affected due to feedback on social media?
 Agree
 Strongly agree
 Both agree and disagree
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree
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