Consumer Decision Making Process Influence - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Consumer Decision Making Process Influence. Answer: Introduction New technologies in the communication channels offered media based discussion and sharing, and also created conducive environments in which people could easily share their important ideas, services and even sell their products(Elisabeta Ioan?s, 2014). The social media has definitely become one of the most used application of the internet and is actually a vital tool of communication. The rate of people using the social media was increasing especially when the number of people with access to the internet increased. The continuous and rapid growth of the social media has made it become an unbendable part of most organizations around the globe. Just take a look at the last two years, studies have shown that social media use increased rapidly worldwide and this was actually facilitated by television invention(Fotis, 2014). It had taken 30 good years for radio listeners to hit 50 million, while it only took 13 years for television to hit that same number of viewers. Interestingly, the internet only took four years, and to be more specific, Facebook hit 50 million users in only one and half years. Facebook was just a single aspect designed for Harvard university students. In the year 2009, the number of people using Facebook was around 100 million and at the end of 2010, the number had hit to half a billion users in the entire world(Elisabeta Ioan?s, 2014). As social media grows at that great pace more than other programs of communication, then its importance also increases. Even following its advan cement and development becomes quite difficult and challenging. By 2013, more than 1.2 billion users of the total 2.5 billion users are members of and even use most of the services offered in the social network. A survey done in 2012 called the Global Survey network(Nielsen, 2012), indicated the following statistics: There was 518,512,108 users in Europe, 1,076,681,056 users in Asia, 167,335,978 users in Africa, 273,785,414 users in North America, 254,915,746 users in South America and 24,287,918 users who were at the sea regions. The percentage of internet users who were social network members was approximately 50 percent and 67.6 percent in the years 2012 and 2013 respectively, this percentage was rose up to 70.7 percent in the year 2014. Even without Chinas population in this calculation, still Facebook hits more than one billion users. The top five countries with most Facebook users in the world include the following in descending order: Bangkok-Thailand has 12,797,500 users, Jakarta Indonesia has 11,658,760 users, Sao-Paulo Brazil has 8,791, 700 users, Istanbul Turkey has 8,325,860 users, Mexico-Mexico City has 7,743,220 users. The most popular networks are Cyworld, Facebook, Hi5, Google, myspace, Jaiku ,netlog, Orkut, Nextdoor,Tagged,studiVz, Tuenti, Tribe.net, Tumblr, Unthink,Twitter,You tube,Vkontakte, Hub culture ,Linkedin,Plaxo ,Viadeo, Xing ,NationalField, and WiserEart. In the whole world, about 800 million users visit You tube in a month and at least 7500 videos are shared via Twitter. Twitter is mostly used in the USA, Japan and even in Brazil. With the above figures put into consideration then there is a likelihood that in the future most of the internet use will be greatly through the social media. When compared to old fashioned media, social media has a great effect on a large number of audience over a short period of time. Social media can be well termed as the platforms which allow sharing of information, interests or ideas and interact very well through use of the mobile systems or the internet(Hajli, 2014). The platforms include such applications as the chat rooms, location services, discussion forums, social guides, social networking, social bookmarking, weblogs, blogs, video casts, social status network, podcasts, wikis, twitter and Facebook. Nowadays, consumers can easily exchange ideas especially in the discussion forums provided by the networks with the sole purpose of acquiring help, suggestions and information on products they want to buy. According to the research that was published by the (Stephen, 2015) SMG knowledge in the year 2012 which had been done by Global Web index on the change in purchasing behavioral patterns caused by the internet ,the following were obtained: In the year 2011,89.2 percent of users in Turkey do a thorough online research before buying a product, 62 percent will consider researching the product brands as their sole reason , 72 percent will actually comment on a product on at least an online platform, while 52 percent had that impression that incase a foreigner made a suggestion about that product then that creates an impression. Additionally, a study done by the (Hajli, 2014) called the networking sites as environment where advertisement of goods and services can be done. In the same ye ar, results showed that most consumers are affected by reviews made by their pals on the media, and the different opinions made by the friends will guide consumers to choose certain companies or the product of those companies. The decades of research have demonstrated that peers have an influence on the purchasing behaviors of the consumers. However, there have been a research gap on explaining role of the social media in influencing the consumer purchasing decision and the influence of social media on the marketing strategies. Therefore, this study is guided by one key research question, How Does the Consumer Decision Making Process Influence the Advertising Strategy Within Social Media? In addition, the effect of social media on the consumers purchasing decision process has brought about new challenges for marketers that it will be significant to research. In the previous years, the tasks of most users on the internet were mostly limited to shopping and reading; nonetheless, advancement in the internet systems and technologies have led to new aspects and scopes in these tasks(Alsubagh, 2015). Nowadays, users are capable of creating new content and sharing it without any technical expertise. The new concept of internet that is based on communication and interactivity and also helps in the free sharing of information is referred to as web 2.0. With the above definition, social media is the web 2.0 sites that brings people together in an imaginary framework or platform and ensures social interaction, a strong working community and good project implementation(Simona Vinerean, 2013). The most common definition of social media is that they are online web sites where a good number of people share their own ideas, perspectives, experiences and also ensures communication among the people. According to (Stephen, 2015), social media can be defined as the online environments in which people having similar interest are capable of sharing their comments and ideas easily. (Paquette, 2013) also state that social media is the content that is created online by internet users and not journalists and professional writers and the content is again accessed by other users interactively with the new technology. Furthermore, (Stephen, 2015) says that social media will help create internet platforms or structures where people are able to contact each other by the means of audio and video files and even photographs. Simply put, social media conception is all about sharing and communication. Social media is then just a service based on the internet that makes it possible for different people from different regions to communicate efficiently. The applications or the sites on the web that acquire value by interaction among the users and participation can also be defined as social media(Alsubagh, 2015). An application or a web site can only be defined as a social media if it has independent members, free of any place or time restrictions, allows user based content and ensures interaction among users. Social media and its Relationship with the Consumer Behavior Nowadays, social sharing of information and personal relationships have become important in providing of financial support to most commercial activities. Nearly half a decade ago, network sites have been the most preferred mode of communication. The popularity of the social media tools started increasing in the year 2010(Fotis, 2014). Networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs and wikis and sharing sites such as Flickr, YouTube, have incited such a great change in the process of communication. Web sites are vital tools in marketing of products because a person advertises and is even able to sell their products .it goes without saying that, social networks are tools that empower the social and economic networks. These networks are the most basic tools in this scope. The sites of networks make it possible for huge number of people to virtually meet and this creates huge markets since they ensure interaction and communication. The social markets are the best tools for disseminating of marketing information, creation of product representation and also administration of the company(Akin Fadahunsi, 2015). The intensity of penetration of this media into the society and increased amount of time by buyers on social media and internet has had an impact on the commercial activities and this has led to change in the trends of consumption. Sellers and consumers have advanced to using of web sites through the use of e-mails and other sharing networks rather than using magazines or catalogs. Social media has helped create an environment where products can easily be offered, opportunities are well discussed and brands of products are either criticized or praised. The sources of information about consumer products or services are also changing. Consumers will access any information they need to know by using of the social media platforms. The social network sites also help consumers decide well before purchasing since the sites provide a forum where consumers will share experiences about the products with each other(Dokyun Lee, 2014). Social media will often help change the process of making decisions of a consumer and also their buying behavior. Social media will always affect consumer as well as other people using it and it can also be affected by other people. Consumer behaviors as affected by social media can be divided into three categories: Behaviors on the consumption that is the positive and negative verbal communication or the opinions made. Behaviors on other people as they have been affected by consumption that is looking for information about the products and also searching for opinions of other people. The behavior of consumers to the media as an element of communication to report on any dissatisfaction or satisfaction about the product. The behaviors of consumers can be differentiated by the sites on the media(Alsubagh, 2015). The psychological, demographic, situational and cultural factors that affect the behavior of the consumers are also put into consideration in the social media. Most business will categorize the social media users by their demographic characteristics such as the gender, age, level of education, geographical position and also level of income. They can also look at the psychological factors which include motivation, perception, learning and personality. The socio-cultural factors that need to be evaluated include the social class, family, counseling group. This offers great advantages since a business will be able to locate, target and divide the marketing strategy regarding the factors. The dissatisfaction or satisfaction of the consumer will help businesses foretell the purchasing decisions of buyers. A business should look at, understand its social media and efficiently use it in order to have an advantage over other competitive businesses(Hajli, 2014). A business ought to develop policies and strategies regarding its social media that are crucial to development of its business. Due to increased internet use, consumers are able to exchange ideas in the discussion forums facilitated by the social networks by asking for help, acquiring information and obtaining different suggestions before purchasing a product. Social networks are nowadays considered as platforms where a business will update information about its brands, images and even check on their sales revenue(Fotis, 2014). Most people spend most time on the social method and thus a business should consider these sites as areas of advertisement and the users are the potential consumers. A section of young consumers in Turkey was randomly selected for the study, these consumers had different demographic, psychological and socio-economic factors but had access to media tools. The study group consisted of 689 students learning from different faculties such as information, law, health sciences, dentistry and engineering at the university of Gazi(Elisabeta Ioan?s, 2014). The students who were selected by the random sampling method were youths at the age of 19 to 24 years and were members or users of social media. In order to evaluate their behavior in purchasing products, the researchers prepared questionnaires and conducted them by performing interviews face to face. Different opinions from the specialists conducting the researcher were obtained to determine how valid the scale content was. Following the review on the validity of the scale content, the researchers removed 11 items. In the pilot study,204 undergraduates in the engineering, law and dentistry faculties wer e used for the scale. The main study was conducted on 689 students of which 232 students were from the social sciences such as law and information faculties ,229 from the sciences such as technology and engineering faculties and 227 students were from the health sciences. The data obtained was analyzed by the SPSS 16.0 package program. 19 items were used to prepare the scale. Analysis of the factors helped in determining the scales structure validity. The results from the Principal Components Analysis, Kaiser-Meyer Olkin, showed that the value was .955. Bartlett test used showed the following results 12702490, sd=172 which was quite significant by being less than the test result at 0.01 level of significance. The KMO results and the results from the Bartlett test showed that factor analysis were appropriately done. The factor loads obtained from the factor analysis were then presented on a table as shown below. The factor loads were 40 according to the scale items and the difference between the values of the load of an item was found to be less than 10(Nielsen, 2012). The variamax rotation method was used to conduct factor analysis hence the behavior of consumers on purchasing and their relation to social media had an only a single factorial framework. The factor explained 41.475% of the total variance. The item loads of factors were ranging between .625 and .824. The reliability of the scale was conducted using the alpha coefficient conducted by Cronbach. The reliability coefficient that is 7.0 and above is said to be good enough for the test scores. The scales Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient was found to be . There are a number of ethical issues that should be put in consideration when conducting a research. When conducting interviews with the marketers, there may be ethical issues that one may encounter. This may include the sensitivity of the questions, especially the questions about the relationship of their companies and the social media(Alsubagh, 2015). The marketers may be reluctant to answer these kind of questions in fear of exposing their companies social media strategies. During the processes of conducting this research, the keeping and storage of data have been identified as being a major ethical issue. It is of utmost importance to the data so as not to be accessed by unauthorized people who can use it for commercial purposes. To ensure that the collected data is safe, I have stored it in a place where it cannot be accessed by the third party(Dokyun Lee, 2014). The safety of the data is significant especially when protecting the respondents answers. This protection provides confidence to the respondents and ensure that their feedback will not jeopardize their companies. The budget allocation for this research was USD. 100. The funds were spent mainly on travelling expenses. I had to travel to various companies to meet the respondents. Also, some fund was spent on printing of questionnaires. In the study ,49.9 percent of the 688 students were males while the rest were females.34.5 percent are within the age group of 19 to 20 years ,34.1 percent between 21 to 22 years and 31.4 percent between 23 to 24 years. 78.5 percent of the participants were undergraduates(Akin Fadahunsi, 2015). The respective percentages of participants in each faculty included the following social sciences had 33.7 percent, physical sciences 33.2 percent and health sciences 33.3 percent. The incomes of the students each month are similar as shown in the table below. Demographic Distribution of Participants (N=689) Gender f % Male 346 49.8 Female 344 50.2 Age groups groups 19-20 237 34.5 21-22 235 34.1 23-24 216 31.4 Level of education Degree Program 149 21.6 Undergraduate 541 78.4 Education faculties Social Sciences 231 33.7 Physical Sciences 228 33.2 Health Sciences 229 33.4 Personal Monthly Income f % Less than 499 TL 216 31.4 500 TL - 1000TL 234 34.0 1001 TL 1500TL 238 34.6 The participants attitude towards purchasing behaviors. A single Anova table was done in order to determine whether the participants attitudes towards the purchasing behaviors and the social media relations differed by age group or not. Results of Single Factor Variance Analysis on the Differentiation of Participant Attitudes towards Buying Behaviors and Social Media Relations by Age Groups Age Range N Sum Squares Squares Mean sd F P Difference 19-20 237 41.695 20.848 2 ages of 19 to 20 and 23 to 24 to24 21-22 235 524.587 .76 685 27.223 .000 23-24 216 566.283 687 ages of 21 to 22 and 23 to 24 The table above showed that the purchasing behaviors and the media relations actually differed by age group. The F-value was 2.685 which was less than 27.223 at 0.1 level of significance(Paquette, 2013). A Schfee test was conducted to determine where difference was most predominant in the age groups. The difference occurred in the age groups 19-20 years and 23-24 years age group as well as in the 21-22 years and 23-24 years age group. A t-test was then conducted to determine whether the purchasing behavior differed by the level pf education or not as shown in the table below. According to the above table, the attitude of the participant towards the purchasing patterns and social media relations did cause a difference regarding the level of education(Fotis, 2014). The t-test was found to be 686.The participant attitude in any associate degree program towards the purchasing patterns and social media relations was 4.28 while it was 3.74 in the undergraduate programs. The above values showed that participants who had enrolled in degree programs were more affected by the social media than those enrolled in undergraduate programs. Conclusions Internet has actual become an unbendable part in our lives due to the improved technology. Opportunities especially those offered by web 2.0 sites have made most people spent more time in the internet. These types of technological advancements have led to new scopes in the lives of many people. People are able to connect with others and freely share their feelings and ideas. Consumers are capable of sharing shoes, meals even videos easily with their friends in just a short period of time. Social networking sites make it possible for the information to reach thousands of people through one person. Time and place restrictions have been quite minimized or even removed by the social media hence minimized restrictions to businesses. As per now large businesses are using the social media to draw the attention of consumers, while small-scale businesses are using the social media purposely to create awareness of them. This makes the small businesses to create their position within the social media as per their own policies. Other business can also reach their consumers via the social media. Some of the key factors that businesses should put into account while using this media include the following: Consumers will always prefer their profiles rather than the profiles of the company. At the same time, organizations should adequately follow the profiles of consumers. Businesses are also required to create social media campaigns on the social networks since most consumers are affected. Businesses should also share information about their products or services, the product brands and even information about their companies since most consumers tender to research about all these. It is clear that social media has become one of the most important place to do business hence businesses should use the right media tools to communicate effectively. Businesses should also do a careful analysis of the current and even the potential customers on the web sites. Businesses should not only follow networks such as Twitter, Facebook or friendfeed but should also follow social platforms correlating to the business world such as Ecademy, Linkedin and by other means of Google notifications and other applications. The sites accessed by people should be well explored and incase of other brands then a business should do a good analysis of the brand. References Akin Fadahunsi, S. K., 2015. Social Media, Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy: Implications of Halalon Islamic Marketing Operations. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 3(1), pp. 36-43. Alsubagh, H., 2015. The Impact of Social Networks on Consumers Behaviors. International Journal of Business and Social Science , 6(1), pp. 209-216. Dokyun Lee, K. H. a. H. S. N., 2014. The Effect of Social Media Marketing Content on Consumer Engagement: Evidence from Facebook, s.l.: s.n. Elisabeta Ioan?s, I. S., 2014. Social Media and its Impact on Consumers Behavior. International Journal of Economic Practices and Theories, 4(2), pp. 295-303. Fotis, J. N., 2014. The Use of Social Media and its Impact on Consumer Behavior: The Context of Holiday Travel, Bournemouth: Bournemouth University. Hajli, M. N., 2014. A study of the impact of social media on Consumers. International Journal of Market Research, 56(3), pp. 387-404. Nielsen, 2012. Social Media Report, s.l.: Nielsen. Paquette, H., 2013. Social Media as a Marketing Tool: A Literature Review, Rhode Island: University of Rhode Island. Simona Vinerean, I. C. L. D. . M. T., 2013. 2013 ISSN 1833-3850 E-ISSN 1833-8119 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(14), pp. 66-78. Stephen, A. T., 2015. The Role of Social Media Marketing in Consumer Behavior, Oxford, United Kingdom: University of Oxford.