Data Interpretation of Social Media Marketing & Consumer Behavior

This report presents an analysis of primary data collected through an online survey questionnaire, focusing on social media marketing and consumer behavior. The study examines various aspects of internet usage, social media preferences, online shopping habits, and factors influencing consumer decisions. Key findings include the dominance of Facebook among social networks, the prevalence of online shopping for flight tickets and hotel bookings, and the preference for credit/debit cards as the primary payment method. The report also identifies factors discouraging online shopping, such as the inability to try products and distrust in e-commerce websites. The data provides insights into how companies can leverage social media for marketing purposes, considering consumer satisfaction and concerns.

Running head: DATA INTERPRETATION ASSIGNMENT
DATA INTERPRETATION ASSIGNMENT
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Question 1:...................................................................................................................................4
Question 2:...................................................................................................................................5
Question 3:...................................................................................................................................6
Question 4:...................................................................................................................................9
Question 5:.................................................................................................................................10
Question 6:.................................................................................................................................11
Question 7:.................................................................................................................................12
Question 9:.................................................................................................................................14
Question 10:...............................................................................................................................15
Question 11:...............................................................................................................................16
Question 12:...............................................................................................................................18
Question 13:...............................................................................................................................19
Question 14:...............................................................................................................................20
Question 15:...............................................................................................................................21
Question 16:...............................................................................................................................23

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Question 17:...............................................................................................................................24
Question 18................................................................................................................................26
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................28
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................30
References......................................................................................................................................31

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Introduction
Social media marketing is a tool that has been powering companies and brands to reach
more customers as consumers are increasingly spending more and more time online. It is a topic
which has drawn attention to much interest and research owing to the vast potential it poses for
business and developing business intelligence. Social media has not only empowered brands in
reaching out to more people but it has allowed consumers with knowledge and more options
making for stiff competition in the markets. This paper focuses on primary and secondary data to
present a study of how social media marketing has evolved and the opportunities it holds for the
future.
Discussion
The following are the results of the online survey questionnaire used to collect data for
the study.
Question 1:
What is your Gender?

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Figure 1
Table 1
The first question inquires about the gender of the respondent. It has been found that out
of the total 130 respondents 57.89% were female and 4.31% were males.
Question 2:
Tick the option that corresponds to your range of monthly household income.
Figure 2

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Table 2
34.62% of the respondents of the survey revealed that their monthly household income is
within 5000 Dhs, 16.15% of the respondents said that it is between 5000 Dhs and 10,000 Dhs,
15.38% of the respondents earn between 10,000 Dhs and 20,000 Dhs, 21.54% of the respondents
earn above 20,000 Dhs and the remaining 12.31% do not have a monthly income whatsoever.
Thus the modal class is the interval of monthly income of income being more than 0 and less
than equal to $5000 Dhs.
Question 3:
In a typical month, what do you most often use the internet for?

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Figure 3

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Table 3
The survey revealed that in a typical month the activity that the respondents used the
internet for the most was to send emails and purchase some products or services.80% of all
respondents listed sending emails as an activity they use the internet for in a typical month and
61.54% had listed purchasing some products as the same. Other activities listed by the
respondents were to keep in touch with friends at 57.69%, 54.62% selected getting directions as
a reason and 52.31% selected keeping up with current events as a reason. Instant messaging,
sharing photos and social networking, each were selected by 49.23% of the respondents. 36.15%
selected sharing videos as a reason for using social media, 26.92% selected reading other
people’s comments, blogs and news stories, 21.54% selected finding other people as a reason
and 10.77% selected making new friends. 6.15% selected starting new dating relationships and
7.69% selected all of the above mentioned reasons. 9.23% had selected others. The mode was
therefore “using emails” which has highest frequency.

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Question 4:
How long have you been an internet user?
Figure 4
Table 4
92.31% of the respondents of the online survey were found to have been users of the
internet for more than 5 years, 4.62% had been internet users for between two to five years,
2.31% were the same for less than two years and only 0.77% had been users for less than a year.
The mode is therefore greater than five.

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Question 5:
With what frequency do you use the internet?
Figure 5
Table 5
74.62% of the respondents of the online survey had responded that they use the internet
many times during the day, 14.62% of the respondents had responded that they used the internet
2 to 3 times during the day,7.69% of the respondents selected once a week that they used the
internet and 0.77% responded that they used the internet only once a month. The mode is
therefore “many times”.

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Question 6:
What is the average time that you spend on the internet?
Figure 6
Table 6
55.38% of the respondents of the survey revealed that they used the internet for a period
of between 1 to 5 hours a day, 27.69% revealed that they spent between 6 to 12 hours per day on
the internet, 10% revealed that they spent more than 12 hour a day on the internet and 6.92%
spent less than an hour per day. The mode is thus “between 1 to 5 hours per day”.

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Question 7:
List with numbers in order of importance to you, which social network do you use most
often? (Weighted average score of social networking sites used most often)
Table 7
The respondents were asked to rate social networks as per order of importance to them,
reflecting their usage of the networking sites. The weighted average of the scores for each of the
sites reveals that Facebook occupies the first position with 50.77% score, Instagram scored
11.54%, followed by Snapchat with 7.69% and twitter and Linkedin both having 4.62% score.
Question 8:
Do you search for additional information on the product or service after viewing a
marketing campaign about it on social media?

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Figure 8
Table 8
46.15% of the respondents selected sometimes in response to being asked whether they
searched for additional information on a particular product or service after viewing a marketing
campaign about it on social media. 13.08% selected the option always, 11.54% selected the
option “many times” and 29.23% selected never. Overall, 70.77% selected that they did follow
up on additional information.
Question 9:
Using a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 means “totally disagree” and 5 means “totally agree”, in
your opinion, what are the aims that drives companies to adopt this new marketing
approach in social networks?

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Figure 9
Table 9
36.92% of the respondents selected the option of low cost of online marketing as the
primary reason that drives companies to use social media in the their marketing
approach.36.15% selected interaction with customers that online marketing through social media
allows, 34.62% selected greater accessibility of the product, 30% said that the personalization of
advertising messages is the reason and 19% selected customer concern as the reason that
companies may prefer marketing via social media.11.54% named some other reason.

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Question 10:
Using a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 means “totally unsatisfied” and 5 “totally satisfied”, how do
you rate your degree of satisfaction with the effects of web marketing?
Figure 10
Table 10
28.46% of the respondents selected the possibility to compare prices easily as the reason
for their satisfaction with web marketing, possibility to be contact the company easily and

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possibility of personalized treatment were each selected by 14.62% , 10.77% of the respondents
selected possibility to be contacted easily as their reason, 7.89% selected the option that
possibility to see the information of the products and services updated, 6.15% selected the reason
as being them being able to avail higher and better offers and 17.69% selected the reason to be
obligation to view undesired content for their dissatisfaction as the reason for why they may be
satisfied with web marketing.
Question 11:
Normally how much of your household income you spend through online shopping per
month?
Figure 11

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Table 11
60.77% of the respondents revealed that they typically spend less than 500 Dhs through
online shopping each month, 20.77% revealed to be spending between 500 Dhs and 1000 Dhs,
8.46% of the respondents revealed to be spending between 1000 Dhs and 2000 Dhs, 5.38% spent
between 5000 Dhs and 10,000 Dhs and 0.77% of the respondents spent more than 10,000 Dhs
per month for online shopping. The mode is thus “less than 500Dhs”.
Question 12:
What are the main products that you buy online?

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Figure 12
Table 12
51.54% out of all the respondents of the online survey revealed that flight tickets and
hotel bookings were the main products or services that they bought online. 46.92% selected
apparel, shoes and accessories, 40.77% selected electronic gadgets as, 42.31% primarily bought
household items, 29.23% of the respondents bought books, newspaper and journals, 28.46%
selected the option that they bought tickets for events and festivals through online shopping and
23.08% selected food items as their primary objects of purchase through online shopping
Question 13:
What is the main payment method that you use when buying online?

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Figure 13
Table 13
Credit or debit cards are found to be the option for the mode of payment through online
transactions that 75.38% of the respondents of the study selected. This was followed by Paypal
accounts, selected by 16.15% of the respondents, followed by Cash on delivery with 6.15% of

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the respondents choosing it as the mode through which they pay online. 2.31% said that they use
some other mode of payment.
Question 14:
What discourages you to shop online?
Figure 14
Table 14
49.23% of the respondents selected not being able to try the products as a reason which
might discourage them to buy a product through online shopping. Distrust in the e-commerce
websites was selected by 14.62% of the respondents as a reason that discourages them from

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making a purchase online.13.85% selected not being able to exchange the products if need be, as
a reason that might be discouraging them to shop online, 11.45% selected difficulty in making
transactions online as a reason for discouragement for online shopping and 10.77% said that their
distrust of the existing payment methods online is the reason that they are discouraged from
online shopping.
Question 15:
What is your age?
Figure 15

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Table 15
Out of all the respondents of the online survey, 26% were found to be in the age group
which is greater than sixty years of age, 29% were found to be within the age group forty five
years to sixty years of age, 27% were found to be within the age group interval of thirty to forty
four years, 18% were found to be within the age interval of eighteen to twenty nine years and no
respondents were found to be less than eighteen years of age. 30 out of 130 respondents had
skipped answering the question all together.
Question 16:
What device do you use to access social media?

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Figure 16
Table 16
49% of the respondents of the study were found to use Windows desktop or laptop as a
device to access social media. 25% of the respondents of the survey selected iOS phone or tablet
as the device that they use to access social media, 18% reported using android phone or tablet for

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social media access, 7% selected MacOS desktop or laptop as their device of choice to access
social media and 1% reported some other devices. 30 out of 130 respondents had skipped
answering the question all together.
Question 17:
What is your household Income?
Figure 17

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Table 17
Out of the 130 respondents, 30 out of the total respondents did not respond to this
particular question regarding their household income. Among the ones who responded, 12% said
that they preferred to not reveal their household income,8% said that it was between $0 to
$9999,11% said that it was between $10,000 and $24,999, 24% said that is was between $25,000
and $49,999, 19% said that its between $50,000 and $74,999, 9% said that its between $75,000
and $99,999 ,7% said that its between $100,000 and $124,999 and 3% said that its between
$125,000 and $149,999. The household income intervals $150,000 to $174,999 and $175,000 to
$199,999 each were selected by 1% of the respondents and finally 5% said that their household
income exceeded $200,000. The mean household income of the respondents were thus found to
be $65709.76. The standard deviation was $27011.85.The median was however found to be
$51315.74. The interquartile range was found to be $57985.75.The data is quite dispersed about

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the mean and it seems there is presence of extreme high values making the distribution left
skewed.
Question 18
Regions
Figure 18

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Table 18
5% of the respondents of the survey belonged to New England region, 12% said that they
were from the Middle Atlantic, 12% were from East North Central and 1% selected West North
Central, 23% responded that they were from South Atlantic region, 4% were from East South
central region, 8% were from west south central region, 17% said that they from Mountain
region and finally, 18% selected the Pacific as the region that they were from.
Conclusion
55.38% of the participants of the survey revealed that they spent an average of between
one to five hours on the internet, 26.92% selected reading other people’s comments, blogs and
news stories as what drives them to use media, thus creating an ideal opportunity for companies
and brands to engage with such people through social networking. Chu(2009) had discussed that
making short interactions with customers through electronic modes have always helped them in
gaining their advices for enhancements in services. Comparing that to the data collected via the
survey where 36.15% selected interaction with customers through online marketing and 30%
said that the personalization of advertising messages is the reason that companies may prefer

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marketing via social media, it suggests that perhaps these have indeed made an impact on these
customers to acknowledge them as so. Drawing upon Chu(2009), Paquette (2013) discussed how
viral advertising has become a trend in delivering information regarding services and products to
consumer and gathering insights by studying their habits online. Social media has thus become a
promising opportunity for companies to engage them, apply marketing schemes and educate
potential customers or consumers about their products and services. According to Godey et al.
(2016), social media had opened up marketing channels for the various brands and companies
and the data supports these claims to a large extent, in that a considerable proportion of people in
the study vouched for the importance that social networking and blogging have assumed. 57.69%
had stated online purchasing to be a major motivation for using internet. Venkatachari and
German Wala (2014) discussed in their paper how people have taken to social media marketing
and online shopping in relation to the aviation industry. Their paper addresses how the aviation
industry has made use of the opportunities provided through social media in communicating to
fliers regarding commercial flights. Jet Airways for example was identified as a leader in social
media marketing who have successfully been able to judge customer expectation and preference
through interactions via social media and thus translate it into a positive business outcome. This
survey has revealed airfare and hotel bookings as one of the major avenues of online transactions
by the respondents which further establish how airline industry has been successful in the
marketing strategy. It indicates that consumers have taken to social media as a medium for
making their choice of airlines and as per the information made available to them and that a
significant portion of business done by airlines is done via the virtual medium. Fotis (2015)
explored how social media has also impacted the tourism industry. Instant messaging, sharing
photos and social networking, each had been listed by 49.23% of the respondents as activities

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that drive them to use internet. This means that they share experiences of their lives, thoughts,
day to day activities and specially vacations. 36.15% selected sharing videos as a reason for
using social media. This created an immense scope for the tourism industry to promote sites via
visitors who may have gone to a vacation to that particular place. A person who might perhaps
be inspired through online advertisement would most likely share the experiences online and in
turn attracting more people who are connected to him. The data from this survey thus supports
Fotis’s paper.
The survey thus provides some interesting first hand insights about how much significant
social media and digital marketing has become with people engaging copious amount of their
time online and how habits of people is changing the dynamics of the marketing industry.
Recommendations
Social media marketing is a powerful tool which is fast evolving along with changing
consumer behaviour. However a key deterrent of online marketing and advertisement has been
identified as the fact that it does not allow the consumer to be able to see and try the product first
hand and thus creating distrust. Although it is not feasible for all products and services, certain
products such as apparel and gadgets could be allowed the feature of trial and return so that
customers could have an option of switching their choice after they have the product at hand and
are not satisfied. This could work to mitigate their apprehensions and make consumers more
comfortable in making an investment online.

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References
Chu, S.C., 2009. Determinants of Consumer Engagement in Electronic Word-of-Mouth in Social
Networking Sites. [Online] Available at:
https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/6585/chus00644.pdf [Accessed 19
September 2017].
Claywell, C.R., n.d. Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Networking. [Online] Available at:
http://socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com/Advantages_and_Disadvantages_of_Social_Networkin
g [Accessed 20 September 2017].
Creative Commons , n.d. Factors That Influence Consumers’ Buying Behavior. [Online]
Available at: https://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmarketing/chapter/3-1-factors-that-influence-
consumers-buying-behavior/ [Accessed 19 September 2017].
Elison, D.M.B.a.N.B., 2007. Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. [Online]
Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x/full
[Accessed 20 September 2017].
Fakete, S.A.a.M., 2017. Short Communication: The Effect Of Social Media On Customer
Behaviour And Firms’ Activities. [Online] Available at:
http://real.mtak.hu/40613/7/222_Management_and_Organization-Pearson-2017j%C3%BAn08-
DOI_CrossRef-2017j%C3%BAn13f.pdf [Accessed 19 September 2017].
FOTIS, J.N., 2015. The Use Of Social Media And Its Impacts On Consumer Behaviour: The
Context Of Holiday Travel. [Online] Available at:

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http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/22506/1/JOHN%20FOTIS%20-%20PhD.pdf [Accessed 19
September 2017].
Godey, B., 2016. Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand equity and
consumer behavior. [Online] Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joonas_Rokka2/publication/304493675_Social_media_mar
keting_efforts_of_luxury_brands_Influence_on_brand_equity_and_consumer_behavior/links/
577a4ba508aec3b743356345/Social-media-marketing-efforts-of-luxury-brands-Influen
[Accessed 19 September 2017].
Lumen, n.d. Theory of Consumer Choice. [Online] Available at:
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-economics/chapter/theory-of-consumer-choice/
[Accessed 19 September 2017].
Paquette, H., 2013. Social Media as a Marketing Tool: A Literature Review. [Online] Available
at: http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=tmd_major_papers
[Accessed 19 September 2017].
Parker, A., 2006. Public Attitudes, Perceptions and Behaviours towards Cabin Safety
Communications. [Online] Available at: https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/32927/b20040238.pdf
[Accessed 19 September 2017].
Popova, D., n.d. The Good And Bad Of Social Networks. [Online] Available at:
http://research.bfu.bg:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/86/1/BFU_2011_T_XXV_Popova.pdf
[Accessed 20 September 2017].

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Ray, L., 2017. How Does Social Media Influence the Buying Behavior of Consumers. [Online]
Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/social-media-influence-buying-behavior-
consumers-61504.html [Accessed 19 September 2017].
Rohampton, J., 2017. How Does Social Media Influence Millennials' Shopping Decisions?
[Online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimmyrohampton/2017/05/03/does-social-
media-influence-millennials-shopping-decisions/#64daffb4cf3a [Accessed 19 September 2017].
Sen, S.K., 2017. Seeking education loan to study abroad? Here’s what you should know.
[Online] Available at: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/personal-finance-business/
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19 September 2017].
Smith, K., 2016. Cars and Millennials: Investigating the Impact of Social Media. [Online]
Available at: https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/millennials-cars-investigating-the-impact-of-
social-on-sales/ [Accessed 19 September 2017].
Wala, K.V.a.A.G., 2014. Social Media Marketing: A Case Study on Jet Airways. [Online]
Available at: http://www.bvimsr.com/documents/publication/2012V4N2/12.pdf [Accessed 19
September 2017].

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Appendix
Calculation of mean, median, Quartile 1, Quartile 3, Inter-quartile range of monthly
household income in USD.
Class
Interval
class
midpoi
nt
fre
qu
enc
y
%freq
uency
income*fr
equency
%
cumulati
ve
frequenc
y
cumula
tive
frequen
cy (x-mean)
(x-
mean)^2
0-9999 4999.5 8 9% 39996 9% 8 -60710.3
368573514
5
10000-
24999 17499.5 11 13% 192494.5 22% 19 -48210.3
232422875
3
25000-
49999 37499.5 24 27% 899988 49% 43 -28210.3 795818526
50000-
74999 62499.5 19 22% 1187490.5 70% 62 -3210.26
10305741.
5
75000-
99999 87499.5 9 10% 787495.5 81% 71 21789.74 474792957
100000
-
124000
112499.
5 7 8% 787496.5 89% 78 46789.74
218928017
3
125000
-
149999
137499.
5 3 3% 412498.5 92% 81 71789.74
515376738
9
150000
-
174000
162499.
5 1 1% 162499.5 93% 82 96789.74
936825460
5
175000
-
199999
187499.
5 1 1% 187499.5 94% 83 121789.7
1.4833E+1
0
20000+ 225000 5 6% 1125000 100% 88 159290.2
2.5373E+1
0
total 88 sum 5782458.5 total
6.4208E+1
0
mean 65709.75568
variance 729639852.8
standard deviation 27011.84653

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N Sum of frequencies
L lower class limit of class containing median
C cumulative frequency of class preceding median class
h class length
f frequency of median class
Median L+(N/2-C)*h/f
N/2 44
L 50000
C 43
h 24999
f 19
Median 51315.73684
First Quartile L+(N/4-C)*h/f
N/4 22
L 25000
C 19
h 24999
f 24
First Quartile 28124.875
Third Quartile L+(3N/4-C)*h/f
3N/4 66
L 75000
C 62
h 24999
f 9
Third Quartile 86110.66667