IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

BACHELOR MANAGEMENT STUDIES

SEMESTER VI
SUBMITTED
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIRMENTS
FOR THE AWARD OF DEGEREE BACHELOR OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
BY
PRIYANKA SUBHASH WAGH

ROLLNO: 68
L.D.SONAWANE COLLEGE

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DECLARTION
I, Priyanka Subhash Wagh the student of T.Y.BMS Semester VI (2021-2022) hereby declare that I
have completed the project topic on, Impact of social media on consumer behavior
The information submitted is true original to the best of my knowledge

Signature of student
Priyanka Subhash Wagh
Roll no 68

L.D.Sonawane College

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Certificate

This is to certify that Ms. Priyanka Subhash Wagh Roll No 68 of Third Year

BMS, Semester VI (2021-2022) has successfully completed the project on Impact

of Social Media on Consumer Behavior under the guidance of Mrs. Annie Antony

Principal Mrs. Annie Antony

Project Guide MRS. ANNIE ANTONY

External Examiner.

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Acknowledgment
To list who all have helped me is difficult because they are so numerous and the depth is so enormous.

I would like to acknowledge the following as being idealistic channels and fresh dimensions in the
completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank the University of Mumbai for giving me chance to do this project.

I would like to thank my Principal, Mrs.Annie Antony for providing the necessary facilities required
for completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank our Coordinator Mrs. Nikita for her moral support and guidance.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude towards my project guide Mrs. Annie Antony whose
guidance and care made the project successful.

I would like to thank my College Library, for having provided various reference books and magazines
related to my project.

Lastly, I would like to thank each and every person who directly or indirectly helped me in

the completion of the project especially my parents and peers who supports me
throughout my project.

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Table of content

Sr. No. NAME OF THE TOPIC PAGE.

No
1. Introduction 6-13
a) History and classification of social media.
b) Social electronic word of mouth.
c) Social Media
• Definition of social media
• Features of social media
• Characteristic of social media
• Types of social media
• Advantages and Disadvantages of social media
d) Consumer buyer behaviour.
The classical or Traditional purchase model.
e) Impact of Internet on consumer decision.
2. Review of Literature: 14-22
a) Introduction.

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3. Research and Methodology
a) Introduction of social website which are doing 23-34
marketing and which is effecting consumer
behaviour.
b) Procedure for research methodology for the
current study of impact of social media on
consumer buying behaviour with reference in
thane districts.
c) Research area according to various parameters.
d) Methods of collection of data:
1) Primary data
2) Secondary data.
e) Sampling technique/size.
f) Stastical methods.
g) Hypothesis testing.
1) Chi-Square test.
2) Enova.
3) Multi-variants analysis.
4) Factor analysis.
5) Study of object selection.
6) Design of the present research.

4. Data analysis and interpretation: 35-55

a]Respondents perception about social networking sits.
b} Survey.
5. Suggestions and Conclusions. 56-58

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INTRODUCTION

In this paper, a study is made of the decision process of consumer for complex
purchases, with a special emphasis on how this process is influenced by possible
use of social media. Complex buying behavior in this context refers to expensive
infrequent purchases with high consumer involvement, significant brand difference,
and high risk.

Social media is a relatively recent phenomenon. Over the last decade, the

World Wide Web has seen a proliferation of user-driven web technologies

such as blogs, social networks and media sharing platforms. Collectively

called social media, these technologies have enabled the growth of users-

generated content, a global community, and the publishing of consumer

opinions. This movement now dominates the way we use the web and has

given rise to popular platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and

Twitter, where people connect, produce and share content.

The social media revolution has led to new ways of seeking and obtaining

information on the multitude of products and services in the market. It has

enabled consumers to connect and discuss brands with each other quickly
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and easily (Powers ET Al., 2012).

A study based on the decision process of consumers for purchases widely

influenced by social media. Internet-based life has involved a significant
situation as a specialized device. Individuals over the globe utilize online life to
interface with others or associations. Individuals have a great deal of
associations via web-based networking media, in this manner data is
devoured by numerous individuals. This data turns into a wellspring of effect
on shoppers and their purchasing conduct. From all around the world people
begun to utilize online networking, for example, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
and LinkedIn to share their encounters. As clients, individuals share item
audits, data about a help, exhortation on food or wellbeing, admonitions about
items, tips on utilizing certain items, and substantially more. In the course of
the most recent decade, the World Wide Web has seen a multiplication of
client-driven web advancements, for example, web journals, informal
communities, and media sharing stages. By and large, called web-based life,
these with others or associations. Individuals have a great deal of associations
via web-based networking media, in tthis manner data is devoured by
numerous individuals. This data turns into a wellspring of effect
on shoppers and their purchasing conduct. From all around the world people
begun to utilize online networking, for example, Facebook,Twitter, Instagram,
and LinkedIn to share their encounters. As clients, individuals share item
audits, data about a help, exhortation on food or wellbeing, admonitions about
items, tips on utilizing certain items, and substantially more. In the course of
the most recent decade, the World Wide Web has seen a multiplication of

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client-driven web advancements, for example, web journals, informal
communities, and media sharing stages. By and large, called web-based life,
these.

The use of social media by consumer is anxiously followed by marketers, but

not much is known about how it influences the consumers’ decision-making.

Many studies focus on consumer behavior in the online shopping

environment, but without consideration of the effects of the internet on the

different phases of consumers' decision process (Darley ET Al., 2010). This

research explores how the presence and abundance of these new

information sources is influencing the decision process of consumer for

complex purchases.

Social media has occupied an important position as a communication tool. It

is all about facilitating people to express and share ideas, thoughts and

opinions with others. People across the globe use social media to connect

other people or organisation. The latest trend in marketing is the introduction

of social media. Now-a-days Social media had became very strong tool in

influencing buying decisions of consumer. Social media has the power to

influence potential customers from the start until the stage of a purchase and

beyond as well. There are four ways in which social media influences

consumer behaviour. They are : social media(a) builds product

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awareness,(b)social proof as a greater force of buying decisions, (c)

promotions discounts and deals on social media,(d)social media influencers.

In the modern era the using of social networking websites has extensively

effect the consumers in various ways. There are many online networking

sites which affect consumer behavior. They are Google+, LinkedIn, You tube

etc. Now-a-days social media is used by almost all the ages of consumers

like college students, working class and even old age people too. The main

aim of this study is to examine how social media will affect the final consumer

behavior among person who mostly use social media websites. Consumer

referred to here is general public. The study has also undertaken to analyze

how social media will affect buying decisions of general public and the factors

that motivate general public to shop through social media platforms.

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HISTORY AND CLASSIFICATIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA:

The creation of social media networking sites like MySpace in 2003 and

Facebook in 2004 led to the popularity of the term “social media”. The term

‘Web 2.0' was also first used around this time to describe the new use of the

internet as a platform where content is no longer created and published by

individuals, but is continuously modified by many users in a particular and

collaboratd1ive manner (Kaplan and Haenlein,2010). Web 2.0 led to the

introduction of collaborative projects, Wikis and interactive blogs; thus

facilitating the creation of users networks, and the flow of ideas, information

and knowledge among users (Constantinides, 2014).

Users generated content (UGC) refers to media content that is publicly

available and created by end-users (Kaplan and Haenlein,2010) and,

according to OECD(2007), it should have been created outside professional

routines, without a commercial market context. The latter refers to the

content creator; the topic of the UGC can be (and often is) a commercial
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products or services regarding which the discussants volunteer their

opinions.

From these concepts of Web 2.0 and UGC, social media can be defined as
a group of internet-based application that build on the ideological and
technological foundation of Web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of
UGC . Social media can be categorized into: collaborative projects (Wikipedia,
blogs), content communities (YouTube), social media networking (Facebook),
virtual game worlds (Word or Warcraft) ,and virtual social media worlds.
Nowadays, e-commerce and professional review sites also accommodate UGC,
for instance, Amazon and dpreview.com.

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SOCIAL MEDIA AS ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH:

The concept of word -of-mouth (WOM), introduced in the 1950s, has been
revitalized by the internet. According to (WOM) is a “person-to-person
communication between a receiver and a communicator whom the receiver as
non-commercial regarding a brand, product, or services”.
WOM is a primary source of information for consumers buying decisions, shaping
attitudes, perceptions and expectations of brands, products and services and
impacting all phases of consumer decision-making : from product, or services”.

WOM has gained new prominence today as a result of greater inter-

connectedness of people on social media. Online or electronic word-of-mouth
(eWOM) is a form of WOM where internet users provide reviews sites (Bronner
and Hoog 2010). It defined as “any positive or negative statement made by
potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made
available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet”. Electronic
WOM can be disseminated in many ways, on social media platforms or the
comments sections in e-commerce sites; and the information disseminated is
rarely available through company-led marketing communication.
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• Content generated by internet users, who are also consumers, is generally
perceived to be independent of commercial influence. This trust makes consumers
go to forums, blogs and other unbiased social media sources to gather information
for purchase decision. Complex buying behavior involves high risk, and hence
information gathering and evaluation of product choices assume greater
importance. It differs from dissonance-reducing behavior, also high risk, in that
there are significant brand difference, and would have the consumer passing
through all stages of the decision process. Therefore, this research focuses on
complex buying situations where the influence of social media is presumed to be
most visible.

3.1 SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is interactive digitally-mediated technologies that facilitate
the creation or sharing/exchange of information, ideas, career interests, and other
forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. Social media are used
to document memories; learn about and explore things; advertise oneself ; and
form friendships along with the growth of ideas from the creation
of blogs, podcasts, videos, and gaming sites.
Some of the most popular social media websites, with over 100 million registered
users,include Facebook , TikTok, WeChat, Instagram, QZone, Weibo, Twitter, Tu
mblr, , and LinkedIn. Depending on interpretation, other popular
platforms that are sometimes referred to as social media services
include YouTube, QQ, Quora, Telegram, WhatsApp, LINE, Snapchat, Pinterest, VI
ber, Reddit, Discord, VK, Microsoft Teams, and more. Wikis are examples of
collaborative content creation.
3.2 DEFINITION OF SOCIAL MEDIA
❖ Merriam-Webster defines social media as "forms of electronic
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communication (such as websites for social networking and micro blogging)
through which users create online communities to share information, ideas,
personal messages, and other content (such as videos)."
❖ “Social media are primarily Internet-based tools for sharing and discussing
information among human beings.

3.3 FEATURES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

While challenges to the definition of social media arise due to the broad variety of
stand-alone and built-in social-media services currently available, there are some
common features:-
1. Social media are interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications.
2. User-generated content—such as text posts or comments, digital
photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions—is
the lifeblood of social media.
3. Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app that are
designed and maintained by the social-media organization.
4. Social media facilitate the development of online social networks by
connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.

3.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

1. Web space:- The website should provide the users free web space to upload
content.

2. Web address:- The users are given a unique web address that becomes their
web identity. They can post and share all their content on this web address.

3. Build profiles:- Users are is asked to enter personal details like name,
address, date of birth, school/college education, professional details etc. The
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site then mines the personal data to connect individuals.

4. Connect with friends:- Users are encouraged to post personal and

professional updates about themselves. The site then becomes a platform to connect
with friends and relatives.

5. Upload content in real time:- Users are provided the tools to post content
in real time. This content can be text, images, audio, video or even symbolic
likes and dislikes .The last post comes first, giving the site freshness.

6. Enable conversations :- Members are given the rights to comment on posts

made by friends and relatives. The conversations are a great social connect.

7. Posts have time stamp :- All posts are time stamped, making it easy to
follow posts.

3.5 TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

1. BLOGS
A blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World
Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries
(posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order, so
that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page. Many
blogs provide commentary on a particular subject or topic, ranging from
politics to sports. A typical blog combines text, digital images,
and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic.

2. ENTERPRISE SOCIAL NETWORKING

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Enterprise social networking focuses on the use of online social
networks or social relations among people who share business interests
and/or activities. Enterprise social networking is often a facility ,which
is essentially used in "enterprise" (business/commercial) contexts. It
encompasses modifications to corporate intranets (referred to as
social intranets) and other classic software platforms used by large
companies to organize their communication, collaboration and other
aspects of their interest.

3. FORUMS
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where
people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They
differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of
text, and are at least temporarily archived. Forums have a specific set of
jargon associated with them; example: a single conversation is called a
"thread", or topic

4. MICROBLOGS
Micro blogging is an online broadcast medium that exists as a specific
form of blogging. A micro-blog differs from a traditional blog in that its
content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregated file size.
Micro-blogs "allow users to exchange small elements of content such as
short sentences, individual images, or video links", which may be the
major reason for their popularity. These small messages are sometimes
called micro posts.

5. PHOTO SHARING
Image sharing, or photo sharing, is the publishing or transfer of a user
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an administrator equate digital photos online. Image sharing websites
offer services such as uploading, hosting, managing and sharing of
photos (publicly or privately). This function is provided through both
websites and applications that facilitate the upload and display of
images.

6.SOCIAL GAMING
A social network game (sometimes simply referred to as a social media
game, social video game or online social game) is a type of online
game that is played through social networks. They typically
feature multiplayer game play mechanics. Social network games were
originally implemented as browser games.

7.SOCIAL NETWORKS
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors
(such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and
other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective
provides a set of methods for analyzing the structure of whole social
entities as well as a variety of theories explaining the patterns observed
in these structures. The study of these structures uses social network
analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential entities,
and examine network dynamics.

3.6 ADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

1.You reach large audience:- There are millions of people using social
media platforms. It’s a great opportunity for your business to reach a
large pool of people that are interested in your products or services. The
ability to reach large audiences is a huge advantage of social media. It
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opens the door for your business to find more leads that want your
products or services.
2. You have a direct connection with your audience:- Social media is
one of the few marketing strategies that allow you to connect directly
with your audience. You know who is interested in your business because
they choose to follow your social media account.
3. You can create organic content:- The ability to post organic content
for free is an incredible benefit of social media for business. This opens
many opportunities for your company to connect with valuable leads at
no cost. It’s one of the reasons why companies love using these
platforms.

4. You have access to paid advertising services:- If you want to go

beyond organic posting, there is an option to run paid advertisements.
Each social platform offers its own form of paid advertising.

5. You build your brand:- One advantage of social media marketing is

the ability to build your brand. When you connect with interested leads,
you expose them to your brand. The ability to post organic content for
free allows you to build brand recognition repeatedly with your audience.
This builds brand loyalty.

6. You drive traffic to your website:- Social media is a great catalyst

for driving traffic to your business’s website. Most social media
platforms allow you to post content with a link to your website. When
you create compelling content, you can entice your audience click on the
link. This directs them to your site, where they can learn more about your
business.

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7. You can evaluate your performance:- The last advantage to social
media marketing is the ability to assess your performance. Whenever you
run a marketing campaign, you want to know how it’s performing. Social
media platforms make it easy for you to track your campaign to see if
you’re driving valuable results.

8. You can join social media networks for free:- One of the biggest
advantages of social media marketing is that it is entirely free to start.
None of the largest platforms have signup fees of any sort, so the only
investment you’ll need to make is in the form of time.

9. You can create viral content:- Perhaps the most unique advantage of
social media is the ability to get help from your followers. People love to
share things with their networks, from photos and recipes to interesting
articles and hot deals.

10. You can uncover valuable insights:- You can also use social media
to gain valuable information about your customers that will help you
make smarter business decisions. For example, social listening allows
you to discover how people feel about your company and brand. With
social listening, you can uncover conversations about your business and
answer questions about your offerings.

3.7 DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

1. You can receive negative feedback:- People use social media to post
content they love, but they also use it to share experiences they didn’t

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love. If someone had a poor experience with your business, it opens a
door of opportunity for them to share their poor experience with others.

2. You can open up the potential for embarrassment:- It’s easy for
posts to go viral on social media. People keep a close eye on the good
and the bad on social media. If you aren’t careful about the content you
post, you can end up embarrassing your company and getting caught in
an awkward situation.

3. You have to wait to see results:- When companies invest in marketing

strategies, they want to see immediate results. You want to know that
your strategies are working and that the investment is worth your time.

CONSUMER BUYER BEHAVIOR:

There are many ways to model consumer behaviour, depending on the goal of the
research, but a useful method is the decision-process approach which studies the
events that precede and follow a purchase, and that explains the way decision are
made. Consumer decision-making could be defined as the “behavior patterns of
consumers ,that precede, determine and follow on the decision process for the
acquisition of need satisfying products, ideas or services”. Consumer model have
ranged in their complexity, with the simplest one including the economic model
(where consumer follows the principle of maximum utility and spend minimum

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amount for maximum gains), the psychological model (based on “Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs, where individual are motivated by their strongest needs), the
Pavlovian learning model (buying influenced by society or social norms). Towards
the end of the 1960s, several models were developed, for instance.

The Nicosia model had four fields of action in the decision process: consumer
attitude-formation, information search and evaluation, the act of purchase and
post-consumption feedback. The three grand models captured the stages of the
purchase process but differed in their emphasis on different variables and their
presentation. However they were criticized as being too complex, with many
poorly defined variables, vague and complex interrelationship and lack of
empirical support. As a reaction, in the 1970s,-1980s, simpler models like the
theory of planned behavior (TPB) Ajzen, and the Bergman model were
introduced. The TPB does not address the decision process, while Bettman
model illustrates the process as a decision tree government by how consumers
process external information under the constraints of limited information
processing.

THE CLASSICAL OR TRADITIONAL PURCHASE MODEL:

While the grand models were overreaching, they contained a view of

decision process that was concise, plausible, and in agreement with the

work of Herbert Simon on decision-making. The classical model simplified

the grand models by eliminating the numerous variables and their , and

their interrelations, and focusing only on the five decision stages of

problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase

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decision and post-purchase behavior. Often referred as the EKB model or

EBM model, this has been one of the most well-known and commonly-used

standard model in consumer behaviour research.

IMPACT OF INTERNET ON CONSUMER DECISIONS:

The enhanced variety and amount of information of information online has

improved the ability of consumers to make better consumption choices and has
opened up new opportunities for information search because of low search costs.
Results on search engines are now often dominated by users content and opinions.
The impact of the internet varies on the various stages of decision-making. Initially,
the internet supported only the information search stage, but the recent trends in
social media online decision aids and recommender systems have extended the
internet’s influencing role to all of the decision stages.
For online decision-making quality, besides time costs and cognitive costs of
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acquiring and processing information, other influencing factors include perceived
risk, product knowledge and trust. Internet or web skills have also assumed
importance: the higher the amount of internet use by consumers, the more likely
they will use it for decision-making. According to Punj, the essential difference in
decision quality between offline and online settings can be attributed to the
technology available online, including access to the varied sources of information
and decision aids, which have the potential to help consumers make better quality
decisions.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Literature review is a description of published in connection with the research. This

chapter consist of review of literature related with impact of social media marketing
with respect to online consumers. It reviews the current issues in online marketing
and influential factors affecting the online marketing. Studied social media
marketing sites ,factors influencing for using social networking sites. It provides
critique review of miscellaneous studies related with social media marketing and
online marketing with respect to FMCG personal products. This is followed by
highlighting the gaps between the research and contribution of the present study.
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❖ Ates Bayazit Hayat studied that social media is on the most important tools
communication channels. Consumer do access to information about goods and
services to be Purchased as per need by means of social media to a greater extent.
Also studied social media which affects our live in recent year that brings a new
dimension to internet and determine the effects of social media networks on
purchasing behaviour of consumers.

❖ Priyanka studied that social media can be used for increasing customer loyalty. With
the help of continues customer support service leads to improvement in customer
retention. New applications and social platforms will flourish and allow even greater
personalization and real-time, location-based engagement in media.
R.A Gbadeyan studied examined that there are opportunities for business in the
market business can grow with the help of social media marketing . Uses of SNS
explored that organization can do direct marketing for online social network there
are people who spend more time on SNS. Study also find the reason for people
were using social networking sites due to safety
❖ Of confidence in using internet, intellectual rejecters who feel waste of time.
Russell S Winer described different kinds of new media which was used by
companies to engage customers that is social networking sites like Facebook,
Myspace, Second Life and You Tube etc generated perhaps the most publicity and
also describe challenges that these media were present from the perspective of the
marketing manger were Marketers have been cautious in using this medium because
of the risk that the members of the community will become offended from an over -
commercialization of the site. Study also shows that the growth of these size as led to
notion. Importance of Web 2.0 era where user generated content and discussion can
create powerful communities that facilitates the interactions of people with common
interests.

❖ Mehmood Rehmani studied because of social media it was easier for e-commerce
marketers to communicate with directly with their target audience. This is due to 18
people can take complete information of product also make comparison with different
brands which results to buying of products as per choice which leads to brand
commitment. Study explored due to increasing number of mobile phone users and
internet users, people tend to get influencing for purchasing the products. The study
intend to explore the impact of social media on purchase intention of mobile phone
customers in Pakistan.

❖ Tesfaye Nekatieb May (2012) studied social media provides benefits of long-term
engagement between brand and consumers also provide an opportunity for everyone
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to communicate effectively and efficiently in a way unprecedented by any other media
it can be considered as communication of modern era.

❖ Priti S. (2013) studied the effectiveness of placing of brand communication on social

networking sites which shows that there is effect of online comments and review of
products /brands on the buying behavior of consumers. Study revealed that people do
come across various advertisement on social networking sites also prefer to grow
through the online comments and reviews regarding the brand/products before buying
the products for them brand communication on social networking sites plays
important role to influencing buying behaviour of the customers.

❖ Amrita Pani & Mahesh Sharma (2011) study revealed Social networking sites like
Myspace , Orkut &Facebook were widely used. To get influenced by Gen-next.
19 consumers in India, there should be changes in their brand choices, shopping
behaviour and lifestyle pattern which resulting through their social media. Marketer
should implement well designed Marketing campaign for penetrating new media
segment.

❖ Roland Rust, Christine Moorman &Gaurav Bhalla (2010) explored that companies
uses powerful technologies such as social media for understanding and interacting
with customers as a medium. The change in shift from the firms focused that was
form profitability of products to profitability for customers this can be measured by
metrics of customers lifetime value and customer equity.

❖ Sisira Neti (2011) study overviewed on social media marketing in India. It discussed
about strategies of social media their role and relevance in the growth and benefits
aspects of the marketers. The explosion of social media phenomenon recognized by
global companies which was utilized potential platform for marketing with new
power of advertising campaigns by social media. The key findings of study was
blogging have a positive impact on companies branding & growth.

❖ Brian Cugleman MA (2010) study assessed the usefulness of online intervention

which are suitable for applications of social marketing. The study presents through
which integrate behavioral change and psychological principle which were used to
design intervention of online behavioural change. The study used meta-analytical
20 techniques’ to assessthe impact of these interventions which are targeting to
voluntary behaviors.

❖ Alina-Daniela Mihalcea (2013) studied that extensive use SNS such as Facebook,
Twitter and LinkedIn has laid possibility of using new platforms in orders to generate
more business revenue. It was demonstrated that social networking becomes
profitable for companies in term of brand exposure, brand awareness and actual sales.

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Study explored the social media characteristic and their impact on business also
provides guidelines for companies to decide about implementation on Social
Networking Sites (SNS) in three aspects like: product development, marketing
communication and recruiting. Key findings of the research is in case of Product
companies development can monitor Social Networking sites to obtain data for their
products/service and can talk to consumer through content to build new, improved
offers that better resonate with buyers. For marketing communication demographic
and behavioural data provide for creating target messages, but company should
consider the negative online word of mouth dispersion possibilities and create a
strategies accordingly. While recruiting, offers for employers a better understanding
of their potential candidates, Professional profiles on LinkedIn or adding personal
information from Facebook or Twitter .

❖ Monika Sharma (2011) ‘The study reviewed trends in social networking and future
trends of social networking. The new computer users generation were engrossed in
social networking for getting information ,ideas, support, products ,creativity,
socializing and having fun with friends, as this hype around social networking
continue with the companies which are evolving their business model around social
activities on website and on social media. Study concluded that social networking has
great potential for companies to engage the Indian users and increase connectivity
and build their brands rather than just bombarding users with information.

❖ Bernadette D’ silva, Roshni Bhuptani & Shweta Memon (2011) focused on social
media marketing influences on brand choices. Social media sites help to create
interest in the product and building trust about the company which was brand building
exercise which avoids clatter and reached to target audience. The objective of the
study was to know usage pattern of SNS among youth in the city of Mumbai for
assessing influence of buying behaviour of consumers. This study explored the
preference for SNS from young generation.

❖ Ramesh Sardar (2010) studied that social networking sites drives new form of social
interactions, dialogue, exchange and collaboration with personal and professional
boundaries. It helps users to exchange ideas, participate in events, posts or updates
and comments and go viral. The research explored impact of factors like age, gender,
education qualification on social networking sites.

❖ Brittany. A. Hackworth ,Michelle B Kunz (2011) study suggested strategies for

marketing of health care industries, successful implementation of uses of social media
application will lead to growth in health care. Taking in to consideration application
of current and popular SNS will benefit to health care industry patience. Study
concluded that social network has a great influence in health care industry especially

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issues which was faced by patients can be resolved by providing right information
through right source.

❖ Kyle Hansel (2010) studied that benefits and disadvantages of uses of social media.
The traditional marketing models was being challenged and were continually
evolving in ways of communicating, generating leads and, increase awareness has
been implemented. Study suggested that strategies of social media must be used to
check the importance of online business marketing this will help the marketers to
check and take precautions about degrading the brand value in market through
negative publicity by Client.

❖ Roland Rust, Christine Moorman &Gaurav Bhalla (2010) explored that companies
uses powerful technologies such as social media for understanding and interacting
with customers as a medium. The change in shift from the firms focused that was
form profitability of products to profitability for customers this can be measured by
metrics of customers lifetime value and customer equity.

❖ Sisira Neti (2011) study overviewed on social media marketing in India. It discussed
about strategies of social media their role and relevance in the growth and benefits
aspects of the marketers. The explosion of social media phenomenon recognized by
global companies which was utilized potential platform for marketing with new
power of advertising campaigns by social media. The key findings of study was
blogging have a positive impact on companies branding & growth.

❖ Brian Cugleman MA (2010) study assessed the usefulness of online intervention

which are suitable for applications of social marketing. The study presents through
which integrate behavioral change and psychological principle which were used to
design intervention of online behavioural change. The study used meta-analytical
20 techniques’ to assessthe impact of these interventions which are targeting to
voluntary behaviors.
❖ Alina-Daniela Mihalcea (2013) studied that extensive use SNS such as Facebook,
Twitter and LinkedIn has laid possibility of using new platforms in orders to generate
more business revenue. It was demonstrated that social networking becomes
profitable for companies in term of brand exposure, brand awareness and actual sales.
Study explored the social media characteristic and their impact on business also
provides guidelines for companies to decide about implementation on Social
Networking Sites (SNS) in three aspects like: product development, marketing
communication and recruiting. Key findings of the research is in case of Product
companies development can monitor Social Networking sites to obtain data for their
products/service and can talk to consumer through content to build new, improved
offers that better resonate with buyers. For marketing communication demographic
and behavioural data provide for creating target messages, but company should

28
consider the negative online word of mouth dispersion possibilities and create a
strategies accordingly. While recruiting, offers for employers a better understanding
of their potential candidates, Professional profiles on LinkedIn or adding personal
information from Facebook or Twitter .

❖ Monika Sharma (2011) ‘The study reviewed trends in social networking and future
trends of social networking. The new computer users generation were engrossed in
social networking for getting information ,ideas, support, products ,creativity,
socializing and having fun with friends, as this hype around social networking
continue with the companies which are evolving their business model around social
activities on website and on social media. Study concluded that social networking has
great potential for companies to engage the Indian users and increase connectivity
and build their brands rather than just bombarding users with information.

❖ Bernadette D’ silva, Roshni Bhuptani & Shweta Memon (2011) focused on social
media marketing influences on brand choices. Social media sites help to create
interest in the product and building trust about the company which was brand building
exercise which avoids clatter and reached to target audience. The objective of the
study was to know usage pattern of SNS among youth in the city of Mumbai for
assessing influence of buying behaviour of consumers. This study explored the
preference for SNS from young generation.

❖ Ramesh Sardar (2010) studied that social networking sites drives new form of social
interactions, dialogue, exchange and collaboration with personal and professional
boundaries. It helps users to exchange ideas, participate in events, posts or updates
and comments and go viral. The research explored impact of factors like age, gender,
education qualification on social networking sites.
❖ Brittany. A. Hackworth ,Michelle B Kunz (2011) study suggested strategies for
marketing of health care industries, successful implementation of uses of social media
application will lead to growth in health care. Taking in to consideration application
of current and popular SNS will benefit to health care industry patience. Study
concluded that social network has a great influence in health care industry especially
issues which was faced by patients can be resolved by providing right information
through right source.

❖ Kyle Hansel (2010) studied that benefits and disadvantages of uses of social
media. The traditional marketing models was being challenged and were
continually evolving in ways of communicating, generating leads and, increase
awareness has been implemented. Study suggested that strategies of social media
must be used to check the importance of online business marketing this will help the
marketers to check and take precautions about degrading the
brand value in market through negative publicity by Client.
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❖ Doga Istanbulluoglu(2017) The study explores how the response times of
multiple company responses on social media influence consumer satisfaction.
Specifically, the first response after the complaint and the conclusive response
that closed the complaint file were investigated in regard to consumers’
objectives for complaining. The study reveals that both a quicker first response
and a quicker conclusive response lead to higher satisfaction with complaint
handling.

❖ Ali M .Shah and Syed Zeeshan Zahoor(2019) The study aims to explore the
impact of social media on purchasing behavior with mediating effect of
customer relationship. The findings indicate that majority of the respondents
use social media for purchasing purpose and there is a positive relation between
social media and customer relationship, as well as social media and purchasing
behavior, with customer relationships fully mediating and enhancing the
relationship between social media and purchasing behavior. It has been also
found that the majority of the respondents use social media for purchasing
purposes.

❖ Dr. Manish Kumar Srivastava and Dr. A.K. Tiwari (2020) The research
was conducted to study the various popular social media platforms and the
ways in which it is being used by the consumers. They have also tried to study
the impact of social media on the consumer behavior. The study concludes that
social media has become an integral part of consumers' life and it has also
affected their behavior to a great extent.

❖ Vikas Gautam and Vikram Sharma(2017) The main objective of the study
was to investigate the direct and indirect impacts of social media marketing
activities (entertainment, customization, interaction, word of mouth, and trend)

30
on consumers' purchase intentions in luxury fashion brands. They found
positive significant impacts of social media marketing and customer
relationships on consumers' purchase intentions

❖ Man Lai Cheung, Guilherme Pires and Philip J. Rosenberger (2020) This
paper investigates the impact of social-media marketing elements, namely
entertainment, customisation, interaction, electronic word-of-mouth (EWOM)
and trendiness, on consumer–brand engagement and brand knowledge. The
results reveal that interaction, electronic word-of-mouth and trendiness are the
key elements directly influencing consumer brand engagement, then
strengthening brand awareness and brand knowledge.

❖ V. Geetha, V. Samuel Rajkumar and L. Arunachalam (2018) The study

was conducted to identify social media marketing factors which induce the
students to buy products in online shopping. The results revealed that Advertising
have significant relation of students purchase intention in online
shopping by using various social media sites.

❖ Clair McClure and Yoo-Kyoung Seock(2020) The study examined the

influence of consumer's brand familiarity and the information quality of social
media content on their involvement with a brand on the brand's social media
pages. Also studied were the influence of involvement on consumer's attitude
towards the brand's social media page and the effect of their attitude on future
purchase intention from the brand. The results indicated that both brand
familiarity and information quality had significant effects on a consumer's
involvement with a brand on its social media page, yet the brand's social media
content had a greater influence on a consumer's involvement with the social
media page.

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❖ Ashika Anil, Dr. Binod Sinh and Dr. Vimal Bhatt (2020) The primary aim
of this research was to assess the impact of Social Media Marketing on
consumer buying behavior towards apparel. The results showed a positive
relation between the two. The study also reveals that Social Media Marketing is
the most popular and preferred form of digital marketing today and contributes
to different theorists and marketers who wish to work in a similar field on
marketing.

RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY :

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The classical model is chosen to study the influence of social media on complex
buying decisions due to its simplicity and versatility. Of the five stages, the first
stage of need recognition is not consider, as it is often not amenable to the kind of
retrospective survey used in the other stages. Therefore, this paper focus on the
decision process of consumer who made an actual purchase after they judged the
person, situational, psychological, or social need for a certain product or service
as large enough.
The research model is depicted in, showing the stages the consumers go
through, independent of the use of social media or not. Each stage has certain
similar attributes, indicate in the ellipse. The aim is to research the relationship of
the stages, that is, the influence of the information search stage on the evaluation
of alternatives; the influence of alternative evaluation on purchase decision; and
the influence of the decision stage on post-purchase outcome. The decision
process is analysed with respect to the use or non use of social media.
Social media which are doing marketing is a new method of gaining importance
or attention among various consumers. Now a days electronic mouth is going to
play crucial role. Social media marketing pulls attraction and push those people
who are reading and want to share it on social websites.

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Retrospective questioning through a questioning through a questionnaire survey
was chosen for the study. The research focuses on complex purchase that
requires extended problem solving, were social media is more likely to be utilised.
To focus on complex buying, respondents were asked in the survey to think of a
recent purchase situation involving extended problem solving, such as the
purchase of a computer, a mobile phone, a camera, or a vacation package, and to
recall the search activities undertaken during decision-making. Respondents were
then asked whether or not they had used social media in their decision-making.
Those answering ‘no' were marked as the ‘no social media group’. Those
answering ‘yes’ were further asked to specify how much social media helped them.
If social media contributed 30% or less towards their decision-making, and they
had to seek out other information sources, the respondents were marked as the
‘no social media group' The rest were all classified as the ‘social media group’.
Both groups were directed to basically the same questions customized according
to their media sources (social media or other). The questions measured the same
concepts in the different context, and differed only very little in their wording.

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As indicated previously, the need recognition stage is not considered; therefore,
information research is named here the first stage evaluation the second stage
and purchase decision as the third stage the post-purchase stage is regarded as
the outcome of this three stages.
Consumer decision quality has no objective measurement and is difficult to
operationalize. The approach to measuring the decision quality can be objective
or subjective (Aksoy and Cooil, 2006). Subjective measure are evaluation of the
decision-makers, capturing what as most important to the individual with respect
to the decision. Survey questions were designed to measure the subjective
evaluation of the respondents regarding the quality of the stages in order to study
the effectiveness of the decision-making.
According to grand 2007,search behaviour is influenced by information sources
utility, personal factors and product factors. Information sources utility is measured
here through the attributes of accuracy and reliability of information. For personal
factors, besides the basic questions like age and gender, respondents were asked
about their internet usage habits (time spend on internet per day, proficiency in
using social media and participation in online decision). Product factors are not
considered as the research focus on complex purchase
To operationalise the three stage of information search, alternative evaluation
and purchase decision, measurement included easiness, time, efforts, enjoyment
and satisfaction. Questions on anxiety, trust and confidence were included to
indirectly measures the perception of risk in the purchase, as it is linked to
degree of search (kotler and Armstrong, 2014). Consumer ‘emotional
experiences differ for the different stages, with warying levels of emotions like
anxiety, joy, trust and confidence felt during each stage. Questions to measured
the satisficing and maximising tendencies of respondents were taken from
Schwartz, with their wording slightly adjusted to make them more in tune with the
times. The likert-scale questions were similary framed for all the three stages.
Additionally question were formulated to measure the ‘herd behavior’ tendencies

35
of the respondents through the importance pleased on the opinions of family and
friends, and of other people. Information quality and quantity are among factors
that affect decision quality and were measured for social media usage. At the
end of each stage, respondents were asked about their satisfaction with, and
their quality ratings for, the stage. For the final post-purchase evaluation ,the
survey asked about the
overall satisfaction with the purchase, and the perceived quality of the products or
services purchased.
The survey was conducted through an online questionnaire created with the
Qualities survey tool in two languages: English and Thai. Convenience sampling
with snowballing (requested forwarding) was used to distribute the online
questionnaire through e-mails, messaging application (What’s App and LINE),and
social media channels (Facebook and Twitter). Respondents who could not be
reached through these channels were personally contacted and asked to fill out
the questionnaires on a tablet computer.

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INTRODUCTION OF SOCIAL WEBSITE WHICH ARE DOING MARKETING
AND WHICH IS EFFECTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR :

Social website which are doing marketing created new avenue for the most
marketers and consumers who can communicate, exchange ideas, sell and
purchase of variety goods and also services through use of social websites which
are doing marketing technology in general and internet in particular is field with
many people who are individuals who wanted to satisfy, share communicate due
that there are many companies nowadays have pages on social websites which
are doing marketing to given information about various types of products, and also
services and many more.
In modern times scenario social websites like blogs, facebook, twitter skype etc
is going to play very crucial role in decision making of consumer. Social media
marketing is not only powerful tool have emerged but also it is very cheap to. Most
surveys showing the around 75% Indians who are in the young age are using social
websites for sharing with each other, communication, buying, selling and also
purchasing of goods like olx.com.
As to the popularity of the sites increasing due to that various corporate houses
and even government organisation are using it as a tool to reach masses audience
in the way to attract them.
Consumers are using Social websites in their root life for many different reasons
or purposes. Many of the people who want to maintain the relationship
interpersonally. Due to various advantage of social media not only to consumers
but to a business man also to connect with the end user or consumer directly.
Hence, it becomes very much important to understand her social websites are
going to change behaviour of consumers and are studied is trying to look in to
these.

37
PROCEDURE FOR RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR THE CURRENT
STUDY OF IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BUYING
BEHAVIOUR WITH REFERENCE TI THANE DISTRICTS:

The most important thing have to understand that research methodology is

system to solve the related problems. It is not only science but also an art
how to do research scientifically. It is the logic to be used in the context of
research. Here problems can be identified from the various literature review
and previous knowledge. The researcher has to understand the problem
which gives him the direction how to solve the problems. Research
methodology consist of series of actions or steps necessary carry out
research work effectively . It not only involves research methods but also
logic behinds the methods we use, in the context of research

38
RESEARCH AREA ACCORDING TO VARIOUS PARAMETERS:

The researcher has to tried to collect the basis of various parameters and
various areas are selected from the thane district which are as follows :
Location: Researcher has selected area related to district if thane that is
Bhiwandi, Wada, Ulhasnagar, city if thane and near by areas.
Demographic ratio: As we that social websites which are now doing the job
of marketing are very much popular not only among young generation but
also from every age and every corner of the city and town and mostly
teenagers and almost in the ages of all people are going for online now. So
age is ranging from 18 to 55 years and above also taken in to consideration.
Occupation: on the basis of occupation data collected from various students,
professional, service class employees, housewives and even from various
business class people and others are taken into for that.

METHODS OF COLLECTION OF DATA:

A technique of data collection refers to tools/methods of selecting the
units for data. In the broader sense, there are two techniques for selection
of units in the process of collecting data they are:
1.Census technique.
2.Sample technique.
Data plays an important role in research. Facts, information or premises
properly collected and formally presented for the coming and for the purpose
of drawing conclusion may be defined as called data. Statistical information
collected, formulated and presented for the purpose of establishing
relationship between variables can be included in the data.
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1.PRIMARY DATA:
Primary data is know as first hand information in order to find out the solution
of a specific problem. Primary data is collected from its primary sources i.e.
sources of it’s origin, where the data is generated. It is first time collected by
its investigator for statistical analysis.

2.SECONDARY DATA:
Secondary data are the data are in actual existence, in records, having been
already collected and also treated statistically. In short, it is the data that
have been already collected, presented, tabulated and located with
analytical that have been collected by some agencies, government
publication and journals.
Utmost care has been taken by the researcher while collecting the data from
the various sources.

SAMPING TECHNIQUE /SIZE

The survey will be conducted on the basis of sampling method. The total
population is 2000 customers. The researcher is going to develop sample
design, the researcher will be collecting the information from 600 customers
that is 30% of the population were selected for the present study in Thane
city, Other than thane city and village areas in the Thane city.

STASTICAL METHODS
There are millions of people who are researcher are using various statistical
methods. For calculation whether hypothesis are giving correct result or not
many researcher are preparing many hypothesis even many of them don’t
know how to do proper test applicable and due to that improper and invalid

40
result is coming. In simple language hypothesis means testing of two
variables with each other and one will be treated as alternative hypothesis
whereas other will null. For example a coin when through in air two
possibilities will come that 0.05 chances are coming head and 0.5 chance at
tale. In short everybody knows what probability in general and particularly in
stats. Everywhere normality testing is a mandatory steps to be followed in
hypothesis testing No doubt hypothesis is a mathematical temporary solution
which is not proved yet and it is like a mathematical expectations based in
the variance. Hypothesis are based on amount of information collected by
the researcher. It has a proper validity and reliability too.
It is based on certain assumption which cannot be accurate. If respondent
have not given proper response the result will be inaccurate. May be the
hypothesis is working for someone and for other it may be null and vice
versa. Hypothesis can be tested on the basis of parametric and non-
parametric test like z-test, one way anova are the type of parametric test
whereas wilcoxon many whithney test, krushal wellies test are non-
parametric. It depends upon the researcher which of test he will apply for the
testing of hypothesis.

In case of parameters test population parametric must taken into

consideration. It is always based on many assumptions. Whereas in case of
non-parametric it does not involve population parametric, it can be calculated
on the basis of measured on any scale, it can be use with all types of scale,
it is very easy to calculate or compute this kind of test. It may be noted in this
regard that it may be exact procedure adopted like in case of parametric. But
it has many problem in testing of hypothesis like it require larger amount of
data in under to arrive at conclusion.
For the purpose of various analyses simple data descriptive statistics

41
methods will used. Charts and diagrams will be used to emphasis and
highlight growth of impact of social media. In addition to this, the statistical
tools such as tabulation, charts, measured of dispersion, ANOVA, Chi-
square tests will be used by the researcher.

HYPOTHESIS TESTING
The hypothesis will be tested by the following techniques:
1.CHI-SQUARE TEST
2.ANOVA
3.Multi-variate analysis
4.Factor analysis

CHI-SQUARE TEST
Chi-square is measured which checks or evaluates extents to which a set of
the observed frequencies if samples if deviates from the corresponding set
if expected frequencies of the sample. It us the measure of aggregate
discrepancies actual and expected frequencies. This distribution is called x2
distribution. It was first introduced by helmet in 1875. It is also known as
goodness for fit”. It us used as test statics in testing hypothesis that provides
the theoretical frequencies with which observed frequencies are observed.

ANOVA (analysis of variance)

In stats mostly want to get an information if the mean of two popular are
equal. To answer this, we need to use Anova (analysis of variance). It is
particular type of statistical hypothesis testing mostly used in the analysis if
experimental data. In the typical application if Anova (analysis of
variance),the Hypothesis which is Null is that all groups are simply random
samples of the same population. The wordings of Anova (analysis of

42
variance) is the synthesis of different types ideas and it is always used for
various purposes and implement it.

MULTI-VARIATES ANALYSIS
The importance of Multi-million variate analysis is to show the related
structure and meaning clearly showing within these sets if variable through
application and inferences of many statistical method. It us showing richer
original design, it can help control for the error.

FACTOR ANALYSIS
Factor analysis is yet another tool for testing hypothesis as it shows data
reduction tool. It shows correlated variable with a smaller set of variable. It
allows to use gain insight to categories, it is also useful in regression. It helps
us to explain various using few factors.

STUDY OF OBJECT SELECTION

The researcher has interacted with various customer who are the active
users of the internet in general and various social websites in particular.
Customer who are interacted with the researchers are the actively using
online marketing and before any purchasing they will decide everything
before buying products online. Due to limitations of money factors and time
the researcher has collected the data from the resident of Thane, Bhiwandi ,
Wada, Ulhasnagar.

DESIGN OF THE PRESENT RESEARCH

In the current research, mostly qualitative primary data collected through oral
interview with various types of customers through questionnaire which is pre
coded and pre tested near by area; where as secondary data collected

43
among various Social Websites various Literature Review, National,
International Journal and various Thesis.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION :

The respondents were asked about the various social networking sites which
they have heard and used in their daily life. There are large numbers of
networking sites available in the market. However in order to focus on the
most common networking sites were specified in the questionnaires and one
was left blank to get the response from the students. The social networking
sites being mentioned in the questionnaire were and one was left blank to
get open end response from the students. The response of the students
regarding this can be seen from the following table.

44
.

45
It can be seen from the above table that 36.2% of the respondents have heard
about Twitter, 16.4% have heard
about Facebook, 8.4% have heard about Ibibo and 4.8% about Instagram 5.6%
about LinkedIn, 5.9% about Google Plus, 5.3% about My Space, 7.7% about Orkut.

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RESPONDENTS PERCEPTIONS ABOUT SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES:
The respondents were asked about the perception about the social networking
sites in terms of its usefulness, interaction, information. Socialization, emotional,
networking, relationships building etc. The response in this regard is summed up
in the following table

Table showing the respondents perceptions about social networking sites

The respondents perceptions analysis about the utility of social networking sites
are analyzed below. According to the analysis, 17.1 percent of the respondents
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describe the social networking sites are interactive and 16.1 percent feel that they
are informative, 15 percent feel that they are user based while 15 also believe it to
be waste of time. 14.7 percent feel that it is time consuming and 11.3 percent feel
it is social in nature. 7.2 percent of the respondents describe it as relationship
oriented and only 3.2 percent feel it to be emotional.

The highest rating is given to three important features of social networking sites
i.e. interactive, informative and user based. The basic purpose of social marketing
sites is to allow maximum visitors or traffic on the sites by greater sharing of
information. Thus these three features were rated high by most of the respondents.
Some of the respondents pointed out that social network are social and interactive.
There were around 7% of the respondents who feel that social networking sites
help in building relationship among the visitors on the sites. Only 3% of the
respondents were if the opinion that social networks help in connecting emotionally
with others. A small percentage of respondents (i.e. 15%) had a negative
perception about the social networking sites. They think that these social
networking sites are generally time consuming and lead to waste of time of
students. As majority of respondents have pointed out positively about the social
networking sites we can conclude that these are great utility and usefulness to
students in terms of interactions, sharing of information, user based and
relationship building.

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Q1. HOW OFTEN DO YOU USE THESE SITES?

49
It can be seen from the above analysis 39% of the respondents used the sites
frequently, 28% respondents use it most frequently and 23% use it occasionally
and only 10% use it rarely. Hence it can be concluded that social networking sites
are frequently used by students and have become an important part in their day to
day life.
Time spend on social networking sites Respondents were asked questions about
time spent on social networking sites on an average per day/week etc.
According to the analysis, about 30% of the respondents say that respondents visit
social networking sites several times a day. This indicates that the social networking sites

are most popular among youth college students. Again about 17%
of the respondents use social networking sites about once a day and all 7 days a

50
week. 10% of the respondents use these sites less than once a month, 5.3% 2-3
times a month, 4.7% respondents use once a week.
Thus there is greater use of social networking sites among all the students
irrespective of their family background, income group, sex composition, age
composition etc. However such detailed cross tabulation was not done as it will
not much affect the consumer behavior significant but to some extent.

Number of years using Social Networking Sites

The details regarding the number of years using social networking sites by the
students can be seen from the following table.

According to the analysis, 28.1% of the respondents have been using the social
networking sites for more than 3 years, 26.7% are using the sites for 2 to 3 years,
25.4% are using the sites for 1 to 2 years, 12.3% are using the sites from last 6
months to 1 year and only 7.5% are using it for less than six months only.
It implies that social networking sites are known to majority of the students and
more than 50% of the students are using social networking sites for the last 3 years
and there is a very few percentage of students i.e. 7.5% are using it from last 6
months. Thus it can be concluded that the usage of Social sites among the
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students is from a very long time.

Q2 Do you shop online?

52
According to the analysis, 98.4% of the respondents say that they shop online and
only 1.6% do not shop online.
Influence of social network advertisement on students buying decision
The respondents were asked whether advertisement on social networking sites
influence their buying decisions. The
responses can be seen below:

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It can be depicted from above analysis that 67.2% respondents say that social
media advertisement has an influence in their purchase decision where as 32.8%
feel advertisement on social networks do not influence their buying decision.
Hence we can draw a conclusion that majority of the respondents buying decision
is influenced by social network advertisements.

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Q3 Do you take information from social Networking website before purchasing any
product

It can be analyzed from the above table that 86.8% of the respondents say that they
take information from social networking website before purchasing any product and
13.2% of the respondents’ do not refer to any social networking sites before
purchasing any product. It can be concluded that majority of the students search for
information of products and services to be purchased before making the actual
purchase. Hence it is very important for the marketers to be present on all the
popular social networks with detail product information so that when consumers
search for information they get the right type of information at that right time.

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Q4 Do you write reviews about the products purchased by you?

According to analysis, 70.4% of the respondents say that they don’t write reviews about

the products purchased by them and 29.6% of respondents write their

reviews on social networks after purchasing and using different products. Hence it
can be seen that majority of students do not write reviews online after purchasing
and using products. But 30% of the students write their experiences with the
products purchased by them. The respondents were asked whether they read the
reviews available on social networking sites. The responses in this regard.

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Q5 Do you read reviews about products given on social networking sites?

It can be seen from the above table that 77.6% of the respondents say that they
read reviews about products given on social networking sites and 22.4% do not
read reviews given on social networking sites.
Hence it can be concluded that majority of the students read the reviews available
on social networking sites before making a purchase decision. Many of them do
not write the reviews but prefer to read reviews given by people on social
networking sites.
Social Media Used By Students To Get Product Reviews:
Respondents were asked about the social networks that they use to get reviews
about products and services. The responses can be seen below

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According to the analysis, 44.1% of people use Facebook for getting reviews about
the products, 24.1% use WhatsApp, 14.7% Google Plus,10.9% use Instagram, 1.7%
use Twitter, and 0.6% respondents use Ibibo to get reviews about the products.
It can be concluded that Facebook and WhatsApp are the major source of getting
reviews of products for the students followed by Google plus. Other social
networking sites like Instagram, Twitter, Ibibo ate not much used by the students
for getting reviews.

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Q6 Have you ever changed your purchase decision based on reviews available on social
media network?

According to the analysis 79.6% of the respondents say that they have changed
their purchase decision based on reviews available on social media network and
20.4% say that they have never changed their buying decisions after reading
reviews available on social networks. In other words we can conclude that online

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reviews have a major impact on consumers buying decisions. It shows that
customers have greater flexibility in the purchase of products.

Impact of Word Mouth On Purchase Decisions

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Word mouth has become an important marketing tool today for many products and
services. Hence companies are spending a lot of money on creating a positive and
effective word of mouth. The respondents were asked the effect of word of mouth
on consumer buying decisions can be both positive and negative impact on
companies branding.

It can be seen from the above table that 80.2% of respondents think that the effect
of word of mouth on consumer buying decisions can be both positive and negative.
11.4% can’t say whether e-WOM has positive or negative impact, 4.8% feel that
e-WOM always has a positive effect and 2.8% of the respondents expressed the
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view that the impact of e-WOM was highly negative.

Q7. Do you pay attention to advertisement on social media websites?

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Out of 233 responses 146 respondents are paying attention to advertisement on
social media whereas 87 respondents are not paying attention to advertisement
on social media. Therefore it can be concluded that still advertisement on social
media are not very attractive and failed to attract the attention of audience. It
attracts only 62 percentage whereas more than 38 percentage of audience do not
pay attention to advertisement on social media websites. So it can be concluded
as still that social media is not powerful media of advertising though some it
extends it influence the buying decisions of consumers.

Q.8 Type of social media use?

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Most of the youth in Mumbai are using Facebook ,Instagram, WhatsApp, as a
social media for socializing; these two media is popular among Youth in Mumbai
region. Even respondents also use Instagram and Snapchat for socializing. But
whatsapp and facebook widely used social media among Mumbai youth.

Q9. You use social media for?

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Out of 233 respondents 127 youth are using social media for shopping as well as
for other purpose such as most of the people using social media for chatting
purpose i.e. 100% youth

are using for chatting purpose as well as for other purpose more than 90% youth
are using it for information and other purposes more than 85% using for making
friends as well as for other Purpose.

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Q10. What is your preferred source of information for buying decision?

Out of 233 respondents 93 respondents prefer social media as a source of

information for their buying decisions, 38 respondents prefer company’s website,
28 prefer advertisement and 74 respondents relied on their friends and relatives
for information, therefore it can be conclude that nearly 40% of respondents
preferred social media whereas 32% respondents preferred friends and relatives
for information, so social media play crucial role in providing information to
customer before buying decision.

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SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS:

A key issue for marketers currently is to understand how digital and social are
used in the purchase decision process, their influence on buyer behavior, and their
role as a marketing tool. The results overall show that the classical model of
decision-making is valid is describing the decision process of consumers in this
social media age. Stage characteristics positively associated with higher consumer
satisfaction are easiness, enjoyment, trust and confidence. Those who enjoyed
the decision-making process had greater satisfaction in the three stages and the
final purchase. Satisfices were more satisfied with their information search, while
maximizers had lower satisfaction.
Social media users found decision-making to be easier and enjoyed the process
more, when compared to those who used other information sources. They also
had greater confidence and satisfaction during the process. Those who perceived
the information on social media to be of higher quality and quantity than
expectations were more satisfied overall. This suggests that information overload
did not reduce consumer satisfaction with social media.
Finally, the study shows that the use of social media improved satisfaction for
consumers during the initial stages of information search and alternative
evaluation but did not help much in improving satisfaction in the purchase decision
stage, nor in the post-purchase evaluation. Many consumers are just as satisfied
to reach their purchase decisions in the traditional physical stores after having
conducted their search and evaluation online, which means that brick-and-mortar
shops have not yet lost their significance.
Social media has enabled marketers to access and monitor consumers opinions
on a continual instant basis by listening-in and participating in online conservation,
and observing what people are discussing in blogs, forums and online communities.
With such vast information freely available on social media, it is up to business to

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harness it positively to improve their product offerings, their customer relationship
management, and their profitability.
Out of 233 respondents 93 respondents prefer social media as a source of
information for their buying decisions, 38 respondents prefer company’s website,
28 prefer advertisement and 74 respondents relied on their friends and relatives
for information, therefore it can be conclude that nearly 40% of respondents
preferred social media whereas 32% respondents preferred friends and relatives
for information, so social media play crucial role in providing information to
customer before buying decision.

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