How Social Media Influences Your Shopping Essay

At the present cartridge holder kind media is the one of the most powerful ways to glom and advertise online via the wont of web-based and mobile technologies it transforms online communication into an interactional dialogue. Quester, Pettigrew and Hawkins (2011) defined tender media as media for cordial interaction, utilise highly accessible and scalable communication techniques. concord to Vithoulkas, social media is to a greater extent than just the hardw ar or softw atomic number 18 which enables it, instead he argues that it is more of a philosophy of communication where honest and transp arency is unavoidable and information is shared and has the potential to spread virally precise quickly. For the consumer, social media can be a continual bombardment of advertizement and promotion all(prenominal) time we use communication modes, such(prenominal) as the profit or mobile, which may be infuriating for the consumer precisely increases the market exposure for the sel ler. This melodic theme intends to conk out the effectiveness of social media in influencing the general existence to purchase more than presently in the first place.When large companies, such as Pepsi, invest 50% of their year withstand advertising budget into brotherly Media it is obviously a honorable idea for the discussion of market professionals worldwide. The buyer conduct system has been challenged in ranges of high interestingness and paltry interest group alike. Consumer control is without delay the focus of consumption, when before it was heavily regulated institutionally. Although social media is an inescapable split of both day life it cannot be take for granted that it will replace other forms of communication.A striking number of stack of all ages use social networking sites before buying a proceeds, especially in high involvement purchases. Seidma (2010, p11) has demonstrated that the large majority of people are engaged in some form of social med ia, showing its considerable social acceptance Marketing magazine online tells us that Face password has more than 400 million active drug users. Every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. An estimated 510 thousand cheep accounts are opened per day, showing that when information is this instant engraft by a population 20 times that of Australia there is serious result sensation to gain. Quester et al. (2011) stated that there are fives stages of decisions making exploites prior to making the prime(prenominal) in buying a product or service. These acknowledge worry recognition, information search, evaluation and selection, store survival and purchase and post purchase processes. When consumers recognise a need or identify a problem which may exist, they then undertake an information search on the product or service with their demeanour mildewd by internal and external factors, Consumers evaluate the variant alternatives after they produce gathered all in formation, and after they make a selection of retail outlets for the factual purchase of the good or service.Lastly, the consumer compares the product surgical process against their expectations and decide whether they satisfied or dissatisfied with it. In last few decades, handed-down media such as television, radio, newspaper has been the only way to promote and die with the target market, but now it appears that the trend has flipd. As seen in diagram one (below) consumer control is now the driver in the marketing segment.As seen in chart one (below), it can be seen that on average people spend more time when choosing and product and general spend more money, suggesting that when purchasing online the products will be a high involvement purchase. Marketing Magazine online tell us For 35% of shoppers, the process starts with online search 30% of consumers read user reviews on retailer websites as a lift off of the shopping process.In the U.S.A. alone there are 95 million peo ple who admit to frequently using social-media in their purchase decisions. Hub Magazine found that more than 40% of American adults currently use social media as part of their shopping experiences, with nurture data showing most consumers increased in use of social media for shopping within an annual period. Hub magazine also found that 39% beat strongly agreed with the statement that they can con a lot more about a brand by seeing what everyday people are saying about it online in parity with only 22% percent of non-social media shoppers agreeing with the statement. This clealy shows us that Social Media can obviously affect buying habits.However, social media may not be the first choice for every business or organisation for their marketing strategy. In December 2009, COM Score released a report of their customer survey that showed peoples views on social media in comparison to customal forms of media. Overall, they found that 28% of respondents were probably to notice adve rtising on social media and little than that 23% are likely to trust the advertisements they notice. Those verse put social media websites at 5 on the list behind television, print, news and corporate websites. In the same findings it also showed that only 28% of those who had began their pass shopping this season indicated that social media has influenced their purchases specifically consumers verbalise their influences were read a consumer-generated product review (13% of respondents) Reading an expert product review (11 %) Following a fan page on Face book to take advantage of special offers and deals (7%) Influence by a lifters Face book status update referring to a particular product (6%) Following a company on twitter to take advantage of special offers and deals (5%) A friends tweet about a product influenced their purchase behaviour (3%)Given the exposure to the internet that we in the western world undergo every day versus time spend watching television, it is s hady that only 13% saw the high consumer involvement in reading reviews of products. What is even stranger is that these consumers have shifted from trusting expert reviews to mate reviews. In traditional media reputable sources were usually quoted to give weight to a certain product. It seems in the days of social media, peer influence has replaced the trustworthiness of reputable sources. Thus changing the buyer behaviour process.Social Media may influence and throw the buyer behaviour process but it is not necessarily a replacement for tradition media. Although it is a change to the normal standards of media, it will neer replace traditional media habituated the system of interaction in our society. The interesting thing, as discussed in this essay, is the change in the high involvement purchase process and the consumer control over purchases. It is effective to some degree, given the right target audience and consumer group, but in our society with the lack of general liter acy (21.1% of the world are internet literate) and dramatic choices for consumers it is not the answer to the change of the consumer buyer process.