The Role of Social Influence and Persuasion in Marketing Promotion

This report investigates the significant role of social influence and persuasion as modifiers of behavior in marketing communication, specifically within the context of buzz marketing. It explores how these psychological aspects influence consumer behavior and marketing strategies, referencing Kelman's theory of social influence and persuasion theory. The study examines the positive and negative impacts of social influence and persuasion on marketing promotion, highlighting the connection between social influence, behavior change, and buzz marketing. It delves into the processes of identification, compliance, and internalization, as well as the persuasive techniques used in marketing. The report analyzes buzz marketing as a form of viral marketing, emphasizing the impact of social media, influencers, and word-of-mouth on consumer decisions. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of social influence in shaping brand image and driving consumer behavior. It also analyzes the impact of persuasion techniques and the effect on consumer behavior. The role of marketers and social media in shaping consumer choices is also discussed.

Running head: Role Of Social Influence And Persuasion In Marketing
ROLE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE AND PERSUASION IN
MARKETING

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Role Of Social Influence And Persuasion In Marketing
Social influence and persuasion are one of those significant factors that work as modifiers
of behaviour patterns in human beings. Changing behaviours play an important role in shaping
consumer behaviour. Thus, it can be said that the social psychological concepts of social
influence and persuasion also poses as two relevant aspects of marketing communication. In
order to be more specific, these two particular psychological aspects influence a particular kind
of marketing strategy namely buzz marketing. Buzz marketing, or popularly known as viral
marketing, is an integral part of marketing communication and is related to the field of
promotion. So, this study aims at investigating how social influence and persuasion contribute to
behavioural change in influencing consumers and consequently shaping buzz marketing. For that
reason, Kelman’s theory of social influence has been discussed in the study along with a
discussion of persuasion theory. Moreover, both positive and negative impact of social influence
and persuasion in marketing promotion has been illuminated while exploring a connection
among social influence, behaviour change and buzz marketing.
` Social influence refers to that situation when emotions, behaviours or opinions of an
individual or a group of people get affected or modified by opinions or decisions of other people
in the society. This notion of social influence can be transferred from one person to another
through various processes such as socialization, obedience, following and more. According to
Kelman’s social influence theory, behaviours of people can be affected by the process of social
influence via three steps or further processes such as identification, compliance and
internalization (Kelman, 2017). The process of identification occurs when certain people get
influenced by other people or follow their decisions in order to maintain a beneficial or positive
relationship with those people. This can be understood by how friends influence each other to do
something or to choose a certain brand over others.
On the other hand, compliance happens when people get influenced by others in order to
get some reward in return (Risselada, Verhoef & Bijmolt, 2014). For example, an individual gets
influenced by reviews, given by other people, about a certain company and then decides to
purchase their products. Social influence can be shaped if someone follows others knowing that
the result of taking that decision would bring benefits. This happens when people hear good
things about a particular organization and their services or products and decides to buy them with

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Role Of Social Influence And Persuasion In Marketing
the expectation of getting satisfying services (Hajli, 2014). Apart from the positive effects of
social influence, people can also be manipulated or controlled through this process. However,
that aspect is not that important in the context of marketing communication because each and
every outcome of social influence that influences a person to choose one organization or
company over others can be termed as beneficial in the context of marketing communication.
Persuasion is a narrowed down form of social influence. This process also works through
social interaction and communication. Behaviour patterns of people can be affected by getting
persuaded. According to Chang, Yu & Lu (2015), persuasion can be termed as manipulation that
can be done both directly and indirectly, consciously or subconsciously. So, this can be said that
be4hvaiors patterns of people can be conditioned using this strategy. In marketing
communication, promotions or advertisements can be highly benefitted by the process of
persuasion. For example, many brands use various mediums to promote their products and
services and the purpose of it is to drag the attention of the potential customers towards their
brands.
For that reason, many advertising campaigns study the emotions and preferences and
thought process of people in order to come up with certain commercials or other promotional
strategies that satisfy the psyche of the people (Sparks, Perkins & Buckley, 2013). However,
persuasion too has both positive and negative impact on people and on marketing
communication too. This is because people can be persuaded not only by the direct marketing
promotion strategies used by the companies but also through opinions and decisions of other
people. In that case, they can choose one company over others just by getting influenced or
manipulated by their friends or peers or their favourite celebrities.
Marketing buzz or buzz marketing is a marketing promotional strategy that is mainly
dependant on the customers and how they behave being members of a society. This kind of
marketing is a small part of the broader term namely viral marketing. According to Behal &
Sareen (2014), viral marketing refers to a marketing or promotional strategy that utilizes mainly
social media or networks in order to promote a certain product or the whole company. This can
both be systematic and planned and unplanned on the part of the company marketing team. This
implies that a company may use strategies to make their products viral or people can do that by

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Role Of Social Influence And Persuasion In Marketing
themselves too (Mohr, 2017). The later type of viral marketing occurs when the consumers
collectively spread information regarding a company or a product to others through various
social networks. These social networks may include social media platforms like Facebook,
Twitter and this may also include blogs, official websites of companies and more (Haryani &
Motwani, 2015). Information regarding a product or a company can transfer from one person to
another through face-to-face conversation or family traditions or even through trend setters like
celebrities.
However, in the age of digitalization, digital media is one of the most suitable platforms
for viral marketing (Ashley & Tuten, 2015). As mentioned earlier, buzz marketing is a narrowed
down version of viral marketing where the role of marketing team of a company is as important
as the strength of social interactive chains. According to Bao & Chang (2014), buzz marketing
can be termed as technique that helps the strategy of viral marketing to flourish. People have a
tendency of relying on the word-of-mouth marketing. In other words, consumers tend to believe
what other people have to say about a certain product or a company (Boyer, Edmondson, Baker
& Solomon, 2015). There are many companies that count buzz marketing as one of the intended
marketing technique.
For example, any company belonging to any industry can use this technique by hosting
any promotional event, campaigns or advertisements to reach as much consumers as possible
(Falk et al. 2013). On the other hand, buzz marketing can be generated through social
influencers, bloggers, celebrities, families, friends or a vast majority of people that affects the
decision making of other people in the society (Coker & Altobello, 2016). One of the popular
forms of buzz marketing is social media marketing that shapes consumer communities. This kind
of communities can become so large that they can control the contents of certain services. As a
result, buzz marketing can control the profit and sales of companies whether they want it this
way or not. However, buzz marketing is an advanced form of viral marketing that turns the
modes of traditional marketing upside down using digital media as its ultimate weapon.
As per the above mentioned information, it is clear that the role of the society is more
significant than the role of the marketers in generating the content regarding the services a
company provides. This, on the other hand, is a very important tool in shaping brand image. For

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Role Of Social Influence And Persuasion In Marketing
example, if most of the products of a certain company are highly rated and are positively
reviewed by many customers on their websites then it can be assumed that more people will be
attracted towards the company and buy their products. Thus, the role of behaviour patterns of the
consumers is highly important here. This behaviour pattern can be very much affected by social
influence that ultimately shapes buzz marketing. According to Mourali & Yang (2013), people
behave by getting either influenced or pressurized by other social beings.
The main strength of social influence is that it has a strong base of sources. Sources of
social influence are the people who spread information about a company to others (Kumar, Mann
& Gilovich, 2014). However, sources can be of two types such as non-marketer sources and
marketer sources. Marketer sources include advertising and non marketer sources include media,
family, friends and many more. Social influencers or opinion leaders are one of the easiest
examples of imposing social influence on others (Laroche, Kiani, Economakis & Richard, 2013).
For example, there are many You Tubers who voluntarily reviews various kinds if products on
their channels that reach a wide range of people at the same time if they have a strong base of
followers. Many people trusts what the You Tubers has to say about certain products and decides
to buy them without relying on any other credible source in order to verify whether their reviews
are reliable or not.
Similar tactics used to be utilized by traditional advertising strategies where many
popular faces were made ambassadors of a company with the hope that their fans would become
loyal customers of the companies (Kang & Schuett, 2013). The reason behind relying onto the
opinions of the influencers or opinion leaders can be that they know more about the company or
their products because of their experiences of using the products. On the other hand, friends and
family can also influence others that ultimately lead to increased consumer base for a particular
company.
This influence can be spontaneous. On the other hand, people can be influenced in order
to maintain their social status (Ioanăs & Stoica, 2014). Another reason of getting influenced is to
live a certain culture. For example, after the popularity of the Korean singing band namely BTS,
many fans belonging from other ends of the world, are buying Korean products such as Korean
face mask and other products that has no connection with the singing band itself. So, in this case,

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Role Of Social Influence And Persuasion In Marketing
people have become the sole members who controls the growth of any company and that
depends on how social influence works.
Persuasion is also a form of social influence but here the role of marketers becomes more
heightened. For example, once Conan O’Brien, the famous comedian and TV show host, posted
on twitter about his upcoming world tour. What happened was that all the tickets of the show
were sold out within two hours from the airing of that post on social media (Cohen, 2019). This
example can easily explain the importance of persuasion in marketing. This persuasion can also
come from people who are widely admired by a majority of social beings. Moreover, the
aftermaths of both social influence and persuasion is that they modify the behaviour of the
people that affects their purchasing decisions.
Social and influence and persuasion have both positive and negative impact on the
company. One of the most common positive impacts of them is that the endorsement bars have
been decreased and this has happened after the wide access to internet or digital media by a wide
range of people across the whole world. For example, it can be seen that an American TV show
starts to gather more viewers belonging from other countries where they do not even promote
their show. Social media has become the ultimate source or medium of spreading the word of
mouth marketing and increasing the effect of social influence. Due to social influence, many
products or services can be hyped without having any ingredients for getting that kind of
marketing advantage at all (Tucker, 2016). On the other hand, social influence can also backfire
if a company gets negative reviews for any particular reason even if their products are of high
class.
Moreover, this study has revolved around exploring the role of social influence and
persuasion in shaping buzz marketing. For that reason, the study has explored the concepts of
social influence and persuasion and it has been found that behaviour patterns of people can be
affected by persuasion and social influence. It has also been found that social influence has a
mostly positive impact on consumer behaviour and in turn, on the profitability of a company.
However, negative publicity is capable of ruining the brand image or the growth of a company
too. Thus, it is recommended that companies wisely and systematically use the strategy and

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Role Of Social Influence And Persuasion In Marketing
pattern of social influence and persuasion strategies in order to control consumer behaviour in a
more linear way.

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Role Of Social Influence And Persuasion In Marketing
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