Online Consumer Behaviors And Social Networking

Research on the subject of using social media for advertising began with the review of several scholarly articles. The Journal of Marketing published an article named “From Social to Sale: The Effects of Firm-Generated Content in Social Media on Consumer Behavior” on January 1 of this year. The authors conducted a study on consumer behavior linked to social media and e-mail advertising. Their results are promising. A separate article was published in April on the use of social media in sales. This article, “The Use Of Social Media In Sales: Individual And Organizational Antecedents, And The Role Of Customer Engagement In Social Media”, tested a model

Social media is not new. Facebook has been around since 2004, YouTube since 2005, and Twitter in 2006. What is new is how social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are affecting the way businesses market their products and services. Never before in our history have consumers been able to communicate so effortlessly with each other and with the businesses they frequent. Never before have businesses been able to interact and react to customer feedback so quickly and efficiently. However, just because businesses have the ability to use social media for their marketing and advertising efforts, does not necessarily mean they should. This paper intends to

Social media has drastically changed how people communicate. How many people remember how it feels to hear the phone ring in the house or receive a letter in the mail? Today’s youth know nothing other than text messages, tweets, and Facebook. Social media and the social entertaining websites of today have affected social behavior in many ways. While there are many advantages to this technological advancement, these advancements can also result in many changes in social behaviors. Some of the few prominent changes in social behavior, due to social media, are lack of communication skills, changes in self-esteem and cyber

Online purchasing is becoming more and more practical thing for contemporary customer. It is explained by high internet penetration in every country, lower cost than in retail network, door to door delivery. Internet plays an important role nowadays; therefore it creates a new market, which sometimes is quite difficult to measure. Online shopping is different from the B&M shopping due to the fact that there is no physical presence of goods, from other standpoint internet is able to sell way more services and motivation and decision making process directly connected to the feedbacks.

The way that individuals and businesses communicate and interact has radically changed. With the development of technology and the internet, people can connect almost instantaneously and with very little effort. Social media has come to play a huge part in the way that the world communicates with each other. In fact, a recent report shows that in a single month people spend over 25 hours on social networks (“The Digital Consumer”). With consumers committing that much time to social media sites, social networking has become an important aspect of everyday life for individuals—and businesses. Like most marketing activities, social media marketing poses some risk. However, it is advantageous for businesses to exploit this opportunity, and develop an effective and ethical marketing strategy that includes using social media as a marketing tool.

This article refers to the application of self-surveillance and social surveillance throughout the paper with a purpose to prove that various types of social networking sites user types inflict array of effects on the marketing performance aspect. Park, Shin and Ju thoroughly explain the different types of SNS user types such as the versatile users, the self-expression users, the pass-along users and the introvert users. The authors then connect the various forms of SNS user types to the SNS marketing performance touching on the aspects of social presence, information sharing, purchase intention and emotional experience of social shopping. Combining the information discussed throughout the article, Park, Shin and Ju introduce their methodology of the conceptual research model. The study categorizes SNS user types into four sectors to prove that each sector inflicts a different impact on the SNS marketing performance. The results conclude that various types of social surveillance and self-surveillance can in fact create four types of users, which go into great detail of explaining each social user out of the four categories: the versatile, the pass-along, the self-expression and the introvert. The study also proved that the four types of social networking sites users differently impact the four types of

Based on the behavior of people who are using various social media sites, studies show that they interact with one other in a trusting and communal way and this simply proves the strength of digital interaction and the power of connection. The main issue that the marketing people face is that consumers are no longer satisfied with traditional advertising as the main source of product information, hence social media serves as the solution to this dilemma as this has become a community wherein consumers share their own direct experiences with various brands,

Clearly social media can have a direct impact on consumer purchasing patterns, and it has increased the amount of online shopping for several companies. Authors Chung and Austria examine in their article Social Media Gratification and Attitude towards Social Media marketing Messages, the effect that this phenomenon has had on online shopping value: “According to the “2010 Social Media Report” from ForeSee results, 69% of online shoppers use social media. Fifty-six percent of shoppers indicate that they visit e-retail websites on a social networking site and that website visiting affects consumer purchase intention” (?). Costumers find it convenient to visit a company’s Website after seeing an ad in any popular social networking site. It requires minimal effort form the customer and it signifies an important portion of sales to a company. However, Social Media has not only had a positive financial impact on a company, but as it rapidly grows it has now

To Switch or Not to Switch: Understanding Social Influence in Online Choice is a study that was focused on the role of social influence in online recommender systems. Haiyi Zhu and Bernardo A. Huberman, the authors of the study, were interested in studying how often peoples’ choices are affected by other individuals’ endorsements. The hypothesis of the study is that individuals “are more likely to reverse their opinions when the reversion causes less self-inconsistency (the confirmation pressure is weaker) or the opposing social opinions are stronger (the conformity pressure is stronger)”.

The idea behind this study is of great significance because e-commerce (online shopping) has grown tremendously since the turn of the century. It has shaped the way people do shopping for the most part.

Social media has changed the way people shop tremendously. A person can have in their mind that they’re going to go shopping but never go. The reason they never go is because they run across it while on a social

Social media is defined as a group of Internet-based applications which build on the platform of Web 2.0 and the contents of these applications can be modified by all users in a participatory and collaborative method (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Social media creates a platform for companies to talk to their customers as a hybrid element of promotion mix. With the emergence of social media, the tools and strategies for companies to connect with customers have also changed (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). To adapt with the emergence of social media in the marketing, companies should have unique insights about these significances (Quan-Haase and Young, 2010). The significances of social media embody three main aspects which are technology, decision-making and purchase behaviors of customers.

Looking for information is a highly important driver for a consumer to use social media platforms. Information quality refers to a consumer’s assessment of the information presented on a website based on accuracy, relevance, helpfulness, currency (being up-to-date), and unbiasness (Cao et al., 2005; Ou & Sia, 2010; Zhang & von Dran, 2000). Information is considered to be a key website feature that influences consumer behavior. Past research (Cao et al.; Day, 1997; Huizingh, 2000; Iyer, 2001; Katerattanakul & Siau, 1999; Ou & Sia; Zhang & von Dran) has found that information is highly important to the development of a company’s website to draw in and continue to attract online customers. Interacting with information is described as the “process people use in interacting with content” (Toms, 2002). If a brand post contains information about the brand or product, then the brand fans’ motivations to participate or consume the content of the brand post are realized.

When I really think about social media has now made a substantial impact on buying habits, schooling, and relationships. However, networking through social media plays a larger role in human lives than one may realize. When I hear the statement ‘everyone is a result of his or her surroundings’ has verified to be correct when discussing the effect of social media and web sharing. It is truly amazing to see that scientists have proposed that most social networks mainly upkeep current social relationships. Facebook, for instance, has demonstrated that there is some certainty to that suggestion. The aim of Facebook is to uphold current offline associations or solidify offline relations, rather than meeting different individuals. While, the idea for social networks was to be widely obtainable, it is not uncommon to discover groups exhausting the sites to distant themselves by ethnic groups, schooling level, stage of development, etc. When connecting social media to our average lives; from what we consume, to the way we sense is superficially inclined by those surrounding us and those surrounding them and those associated to them. One’s activities can change the performances, the principles, and even the basic wellbeing of persons he or she has never encountered. Social media and web sharing assistance in spreading corruptions such as; broadcasting tendencies, manipulating heaviness, smoking and drug abuse, and can change polling judgments, and so on. The wrinkling consequence

Social media has played a significant role in consumer decision making, including such areas raising awarness, sharing information and opinions as well as postpurchase experience ( Mangold and Faulds,2009). It turns out that consumers tend to trust knowledge and experience shared by other customers on social media more than those opinions reviewed by the manufacturer or the marketer of the product or the service.(Linchi Kowk,2012)