Holmes Institute: Social Media Marketing and Consumer Behavior Review

This literature review examines the significant impact of social media marketing on consumer buying behavior. It explores various theoretical approaches, including Social Media Interaction Theory, Social Network Theory, New Media Theory, and Media Ecology Theory, to understand how social media influences consumer choices. The review synthesizes findings from various studies, highlighting the role of social media in brand equity creation, online advertising's effect on consumer preferences, and the increasing use of social media for product information and reviews. It discusses how platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter influence buying behavior, the evolution of business models in response to technological advancements, and the importance of ethical advertising. The review also addresses the impact of social commerce, the convenience of online shopping, and the potential for fake reviews, concluding that while social media profoundly affects consumer behavior, critical evaluation of information is essential.

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature Review
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Table of Contents
Research Question......................................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Theoretical Approaches.............................................................................................................2
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................4
Literature Analysis and Gap.......................................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References................................................................................................................................10

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Research Question
How the synergy of Social Media Marketing does effect the process of Consumer
Buying Behaviour.
Introduction
Analysed as per the viewpoint of Dahl (2018), the ideology of social media is
determined as the compulsive addiction of the modern generation individuals to use the
different platforms available on social media. In the changed and modernised era of the
world, the community is known to use the available platform of social media in their day-to-
day life. Initiating from the communication process to sharing information as well as buying
the desired goods and services all involves the platform of social media in this era of the
world (Plantin et al. 2018). In this context, studies have clearly proved that the aspect of
social media has created a significant impact on the behaviour process of consumer buying
synergy. This statement is evident from the fact that 71% of the total population all across the
globe remains online in the social media platform on a continuous basis (Miller et al. 2016).
Social media has not only drifted the personal life of the individuals, but the same has also
brought massive changes in the professional experience of the individuals. As opined by
Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick (2019), the social media with its swift growth have highly
entered into the theory of marketing as well as advertising of the business organisations along
with the availability of the online web portals for the consumer to buy their preferred choices
of goods and services.
Theoretical Approaches
Several theoretical approaches have been determined in the concern of understanding
the thesis presented in the given report about the impact of social media in the concern of

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consumer buying behaviour. The first one is determined as the Theory of Social Media
Interaction, which critically states the formulation of the stable interactions related with the
platform of social media legitimatization connected to the particular thoughts as well as
issues with the practices of the same (Bruns 2018). This theory helps in the way individuals
are to be transformed effectively into the field of knowledge about social media.
Moreover, the Social Network Theory has been recognised to be that study which
critically helps in the understanding of how different individuals, group of individuals, as
well as organisations, interacts with other people inside their own network (internal) (Goldie
2016). The understanding of this theory begins with the most significant element (system)
and moving towards the smallest component (actors). These actors can be determined to be
anyone from a singular individual, group or an organisation. In the ideology of Social
Network Theory, there are three types of a social media network that helps in the process of
interaction; the ego-centric, the socio-centric as well as the open-system network (Pedersen
2017).
In addition to the above two theories, the New Media Theory is also determined to
influence the synergy of the impact of the social media in the concern of affecting the
consumer buying process connected to the modern era of the business world (Bilgihan,
Kandampully and Zhang 2016). This theory is known to conceptualise the practical
implications of the digital form of technologies which begins from the configurations of the
novel socio-political configurations that are known to be fostered by the communication
process of computer-mediated approach, moving towards the aesthetic as well as the cultural
significance related to the scenario of digital culture.
Last, but not the least, the Media Ecology Theory related to the ideology of social
media, is considered to aim at the understanding of the social impact that is caused in the

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factors of technology as well as communication (Fuchs 2017). This theory claims that the
platform of social media acts in a direct way to shape as well as organise the culture of the
business organisations as well as the consumers towards their buying process.
Literature Review
As opined by Godey et al. (2016), the activities connected to the social media
marketing is known to influence the brand equity creation as well as the behaviour of the
customers towards a brand in a profound manner. Studies show that there is a structural
equation that lies in the effect of luxury brands with the choice and the preferences of the
customers being affected by the medium of online media advertising. The demonstration of
the link that exists between the efforts of the social media marketing as well as the
consequences received out of the same is the result of the influence that is caused on the
thought process the consumers being influenced by the advantages shown about the product
or service in the social media advertisement. In this connection, it was investigated that the
online media platforms available as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn as well as
Google advertisements play the most vital role in influencing the buying behaviour of the
consumers.
Kumar et al. (2016), are of the viewpoint that the profound change in the aspect of the
media landscape is considered to be getting dramatic in the current years. The business
organisations have been recorded to embrace the synergy of social media in the concern of
engaging a considerable number of customers in the business firm and, in turn, building a
productive business relationship with the consumers. The statistical data concerned to the
business report have recorded the entire spending of business organisations in the aspect of
advertising the business over social media has reached to $17.74 billion in the year of 2014
which was at a level of $11.36 in the year of 2013. This clearly shows that there is an

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increase of 56.2% o=in the revenue of social media advertising in just a year. This also
brought a thought process of getting a return on the investment of advertisement fostered by
the business enterprises. Thus, the business organisations concentrate on building their
advertisement to be an effective and efficient one so that higher number of customers are
attracted to their brand and purchases the services as well as products offered by the
company.
According to the viewpoint of Schivinski and Dabrowski (2016), the
conceptualisation of media has been recorded to experience a profound transformation in its
use over the past last decade. It was undermined with the help of the study that the consumers
are increasingly using the sites present at social media in the context of searching for
information about the products as well as services they mean to buy. The data is received by
the consumers with the help of reviews provided by the peer users of the same product or
service in real life. As it is examined with the help of the past studies that more than one out
of every three people uses the platform of social media, especially the platform of Facebook
and Instagram which are recognised to record the review of the real-life consumers and the
same affects the buying behaviour of the other customers. In addition to this, the advent of
social media platform is recorded to transform from traditional one-way means of
communication towards the multidimensional two-way approach that encourages peer-to-
peer communication.
Taking the viewpoint of Ramanathan, Subramanian and Parrott (2017), into
consideration it was examined that the evolution of the technological factors have been
clearly recorded to compel the retail chain network in the connection of introducing the
unique kinds of business model that helps in the retention of the customers as well as gain a
recognisable level of competitive advantage. The business organisations should keep in mind
that there are customers who are providing feedback about their products and services sold in

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some of the other platforms of social media. This feedbacks have been recognised as reviews
for other interested customers who are to buy a product or service either physically from the
traditional store or from the online store. Thus, the relationship that lies between customer
satisfaction and customer buying behaviour should be positive in nature in the connection
that the buying behaviour of the customers is affected in a positive way.
Shareef et al. (2019), are of the viewpoint that the attitude of the customers towards
the purchase of a good or service is highly dependent on the conceptualised value of
advertising. In this connection, it was examined that the effect connected to the source of the
advertisements is connected with the creditability perception that lies within the theoretical
framework of the value models of advertising. Thus, it was stated that business organisations
should effectively focus on creating better advertisement values while promoting their
business over the platform of social media. This is because the platform of social media is
known to attract a significant number of individuals at a concise span of time. In the concern
of receiving a positive attitude of customers towards the advertisement, a company has to
ensure that the information provided in the advertisement is ethical and dependable.
Based on the research study of Hajli (2015), it can be stated that the factor related to
the social commerce is considered to be a fresh development in the aspect of electronic
commerce that is generated with the help of using social media which empowers the
customers to interact with people all across the globe through internet. Thus, the individuals
are known to consult each other in the concern of buying one or more desirable products. The
feedback received from the people who have already used the product profoundly impacts the
purchasing behaviour of a particular good by the other individual. As, the modern generation
customers are known to use the social media platform for their daily activities, the same has
been determined to build a level of trust in the mind state of the customers that the reviews
provided in the online media are the fair and genuine one.

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It was also opined by Melero, Sese and Verhoef (2016), that the synergy of social
media has allowed customers to purchase their desired goods and services just at a single
click in the online web portal of several business organisation. Every customer wishes that
they can purchase their desired product and services at any point of flexible time and at any
place they are existing. This factor has been turned possible with the help of online media
shopping. The customers do not have to visit retail stores physically. They can order their
desired products and services at any flexible time and place they wish to. All they need is the
internet connection and a smartphone or a personalised computer or laptop. In addition, the
activeness of people over social media and in case the popping advertisements regarding the
products and services offered by a business organisation attracts the customer; they are
recorded to buy the same at the same point of time. In light of this, it can be clearly stated that
the synergy of social media has profoundly affected the buying behaviour of the consumers.
However, in lieu of this, it was stated by Tuten and Solomon (2017), all the reviews
and feedback gained from the platform of social media are not as genuine and true as people
think of the same. Studies have recorded that many business organisations carry unethical
practices of providing fake reviews about their sold products and services in order to gain the
attraction of customers and increase their volume of sales and revenue. This turns out be a
cheat method where the customers are fooled, but they do not understand the same as they
have become highly dependent on the platform of social media to fulfil their desire of buying
a particular product or service.
It was also discussed by Munzel (2016), business organisations provide fake
information about their products and services sold to attract the attention of the customers to
their fake business firm. The product received by the customers is found to be entirely
different from what is being advertised. This is because the business organisations post fake
creative advertisements about the products and services just to grab the attention of the

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customers and sell the product to them as they already know how highly the consumers are
attracted towards the social media advertisings. The customers are cheated, and the business
organisations vanish their old web portal where the customer could provide negative
feedback about the product and creates another online shopping web portal with another
name.
Literature Analysis and Gap
Based on the above-stated pieces of evidence, to understand the scenario of how does
the platform of social media impacts the buying behaviour of consumers, it was analysed that
social media have created a profound level of impact in the changed behaviour of customers
concerned to the purchase of their desired goods and services. The study critically proved that
social media advertisements fostered by modern business organisations do have a profound
impact on the buying behaviour of the consumers. This is because the platform of social
media allows the business organisations to advertise its products and services in the online
field which grabs the attention of consumers existing all over the globe at a very short span of
time.
However, it was also analysed that business organisations use fake methods and ideas
to loot the customers and increase their sales and revenue volume. This study states that the
impact created on the customers with the help of social media is the one which hampers the
thought process of the consumers to buy certain products and services. Therefore, it can be
stated that this creates a gap in the literature study of the concerned report, as different
experts provide different viewpoints regarding the same concept. Moreover, the study was
limited on the past researches, and there was no form of primary data which could explain the
genuineness of the thesis presented in the report. This gap in the study created a lack in

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reaching the exact point concerned with the impact of social media on the buying behaviour
of the consumers.
Conclusion
Given the findings based on the study of the level of impact created by the synergy of
social media in the concern of the buying behaviour of the end consumers, it can be seen that
the impact is at a profound level. The root cause behind the same was found to be the high
and continuous usage of the social media platform by the community in the modern era,
which made social media an important part of their lives. From searching for the required
information regarding the decision-making process of purchasing a product or a service to
buying the desired product or service, everything involves the platform of social media. The
customers get the ease of ordering their preferred goods and services at a single click at any
point of time and place. The time-taking process of visiting the traditional stores and
searching for their desired products have no more remain a point of interest for the customers.
However, it was also examined with the help of the above-presented report that the customers
are being cheated by several fake business organisations who carries the unethical means of
promoting their products and services and grabbing the attention of the customers to increase
their sales.

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References
Bilgihan, A., Kandampully, J. and Zhang, T., 2016. Towards a unified customer experience
in online shopping environments: Antecedents and outcomes. International Journal of
Quality and Service Sciences, 8(1), pp.102-119.
Bruns, A., 2018. Gatewatching and news curation: Journalism, social media, and the public
sphere. Peter Lang.
Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2019. Digital marketing. Pearson UK.
Dahl, S., 2018. Social media marketing: Theories and applications. Sage.
Fuchs, C., 2017. Social media: A critical introduction. Sage.
Godey, B., Manthiou, A., Pederzoli, D., Rokka, J., Aiello, G., Donvito, R. 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.
Goldie, J.G.S., 2016. Connectivism: A knowledge learning theory for the digital
age?. Medical teacher, 38(10), pp.1064-1069.
Hajli, N., 2015. Social commerce constructs and consumer's intention to buy. International
Journal of Information Management, 35(2), pp.183-191.
Kumar, A., Bezawada, R., Rishika, R., Janakiraman, R. and Kannan, P.K., 2016. From social
to sale: The effects of firm-generated content in social media on customer behaviour. Journal
of Marketing, 80(1), pp.7-25.
Melero, I., Sese, F.J. and Verhoef, P.C., 2016. Recasting the customer experience in today’s
omnichannel environment. Universia Business Review, (50), pp.18-37.

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Munzel, A., 2016. Assisting consumers in detecting fake reviews: The Role of Identity
Information Disclosure and Consensus. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 32,
pp.96-108.
Pedersen, L.H., 2017. The viral art effect. How virality and viral art, as a part of our social
networks, can affect our society and how we perceive interfaces (Master's thesis, The
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Miller, D., Costa, E., Haynes, N., McDonald, T., Nicolescu, R., Sinanan, J., Spyer, J.,
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Operations & Production Management, 37(1), pp.105-123.
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.
Shareef, M.A., Mukerji, B., Dwivedi, Y.K., Rana, N.P. and Islam, R., 2019. Social media
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Tuten, T.L. and Solomon, M.R., 2017. Social media marketing. Sage.