IJRTBT INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT ON

CUSTOMER'S PURCHASE DECISION: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Kumar Shubhangam¹*, Manisha Srivastava², Ritesh Ravi³, Ravinjit Singh⁴
1,2,3
Amity University Patna, India
4
Lincoln University College, Malaysia

*Corresponding Author's Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

In today's world, the social media is changing the traditional way of marketing and advertising the products as
well as services. There is a huge increase in the usage of social media from past few years. The social media
helps customers to search and compare any information and thus it is removing away the traditional form of
media like radio, magazines, television, and newspaper. Therefore, there is a need for creating effective online
advertisement strategies to increase the capital of the current market scenario by introducing more efficient
features in social media advertising. This dissertation is about the theoretical form of contributions and
development of a new conceptual model over the past research carried out related to social media
advertisements and purchase decision of customers. This dissertation basically focuses on the features of
online advertisements and its influence on customer's purchase decision. On the other hand, the previous
studies have found different characteristics of online ads towards purchase intention and attitude of customers.
With the help of this study, an entirely new concept of consumer's buying intention towards social media
advertisement has been developed. This study also shows that the influence of social media ads varies
accordingly with different stages of consumers' decision-making process to purchase any product or service.
Further, the conceptual model shows that the features such as information, entertainment, trust, reward and
satisfaction affect the electronic word of mouth along with the brand equity of any product or service which is
available on the online platform. In this study, secondary information has been collected in the form of
literature review, research approach is qualitative and exploratory research design has been conducted to
collect the information from the past data available in various research papers.
Keywords: Advertisements, Electronic Word of Mouth, Consumers, Brand Equity, Purchase Intention,
Social Media

INTRODUCTION calculate the frequency of visit to any website and the

time spent on a particular website to predict the
Meaning
consumer behaviour.
Social media advertisement is a type of digital
Reviews in the social media ads are one of the primary
advertisement which has become one of the most
factors for knowing customer's buying intention. These
effective means of advertising through internet in an
reviews are widely available for judging any product or
online platform. This type of advertisement is spread all
service and it also creates a great value for both
over the globe. It is the fastest and newest way for
companies and customers. It has been noticed that
advertising. Nowadays, internet provides a direct link on
customers also find it interesting to rate and review the
various sites for advertising the products or services. The
product or service online. This helps to build a good or
provision for pay per click advertising is also available.
bad electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) which helps
Social media advertisements are displayed in a unique
the customers in their purchasing decisions.
manner so that the customers visit the advertisements
and show some interest. As compared to the traditional This study is focused on understanding the influence of
modes of advertisement such as radio, TV, magazines social media advertisement on customer's purchase
etc. the social media advertisement is mostly preferred decision. It will be useful to know whether the social
by the customers. Social media advertisement includes media advertisements lead to the purchase of
text ads, image ads, pop-up ads, banner ads and HTML advertised products and services or not.
adds. These all ads are dominant over other traditional
Background
kinds of advertisement techniques. There are various
parameters such as hits, clicks which are used to Advertisement can be defined as a paid form of

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IJRTBT SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT ON CUSTOMER’S PURCHASE DECISION

promotion which is done through various mass product. Thus, the word of mouth is very helpful in
mediums. Advertising consists of two components. The sharing information about the product or services on
first is the traditional one which means advertising social networking sites. The study considers word of
through offline channels such as radio, TV, newspapers, mouth as one of the most important variables in
and magazines. The second one is the latest that is marketing. Further, framework model was also
online advertising such as advertisement through developed according to this study in which the word of
website, E-mail, banner ads, pop-up ads, text ads, mouth is a major component.
dynamic media etc. With the help of advertising,
Harshini (2015) showed the analysis of the previous
marketers can create awareness and attitude about their
theoretical form of research on social media
product or service which leads to increase in sales,
advertisements and customer's buying intention. This
encourage customers and remind them to differentiate
various brands and position them accordingly in their study shows the few features of social media
minds. Social media advertising has become one of the advertisement and its effect on consumers buying
most important tools for promotion. intention. It provides a collection of consumer's
responses towards social media advertisement with
Problem discussion respect to the customer's purchase intention. The paper
The growth of various social networking sites resulted shows that the users of social networking sites found
customers to access the other features like chatting, this kind of advertisement technique very interesting
messaging, gaming, and blogging. Presently, Facebook and they are also showing interest by responding to
is the most popular social networking site which those ads and purchase the products with help of those
provide features such as constructing dynamic profiles, advertisements.
forming groups, chatting, and sharing information to Balakrishnan, Dahnil & Yi (2014) described that the
others. So, the interaction over these social networking online groups, electronic word of mouth, various
sites leads to affect the buying decision of consumers internet communication and online publicity are very
because they are in constant touch with their family much helpful to build the positive brand image and
members, friends, co-workers and groups or consumer's buying intention with the help of social
individuals. It also provides them a platform for media. This shows that the marketing managers must
comparison of various products or services online and reach to the customers of young generation and
this may hamper any company who is having a bad e- consider social media as the best tool for selling. This
WOM or negative reviews. Every day, consumers make study provides information to various sellers before
so many product purchase decisions and they also like applying it to social media advertisement technique to
to take review from others also. Thus, the social market their product. The idea behind targeting the
network provides customers a good platform to gather young population is because most social media users
information, advices, and reviews. belongs to the younger age group and they are more
Objectives of the study aware with the latest technologies coming up as
compared to the older generation. Hence social media
· To study the influence of social media advertising is very beneficial for them as well as for the
advertisement on consumer buying decision firm who are targeting the audience.
making process.
Lee (2013) explained that the customers look
· To identify the main factors which are affecting intensively for the information about the product on
the consumer purchase intentions influenced by social media sites with respect to any other mass media.
social media. The search is more subjective and selective. The ads in
· To develop a new conceptual model of social the social media also provide a platform for comparing
media advertisements and its influence on the products with the other brands also and this is this
feature is liked by almost all the social media users. The
customer's purchase decision.
information content about the product is also given in a
LITERATURE REVIEW detailed form of specification which help customers to
Wang & Yu (2015) suggested that there are both know about the product very well and they can also do a
negative and positive reviews about the service or detailed comparison according to the specification they
product which affects the consumer's purchase are looking for.
decision. In social media, word of mouth has a huge Martinka (2012) depicted that an analysis conducted
impact on consumer's purchase intention to buy any between Facebook and Twitter groups. Both are

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 SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT ON CUSTOMER’S PURCHASE DECISION IJRTBT

famous social networking sites and they also influence customers as well as it also tries to give choices and
the purchasing behaviour of consumer. A survey was preferences according to the buying intention and
conducted using 3-point Likert scale to know about the travel pattern of the customers.
various applications of social media. The final output
Hoyer et al., (2010) revealed from the findings of the
showed that the group present in social media control or
study that the social media is a platform where
command over the traditional online purchase of
customers convey information to others by the help of
customer. The study also shows that Facebook has
electronic word of mouth, recommendations, and
greater impact on consumer's online buying behavior as
reviews. Thus, it is found that opinions and reviews
compared to Twitter. Thus, the social media
given by others in the social media is very important for
communities are very important target in the online
the buyers. It also helps to build trust on the group and
market.
influence the buying decision process. On the other
Drell (2011) demonstrated that out of 100 per cent, hand, it also shows that few factors such as trust,
maximum information sharing of online shoppers were rewards, satisfaction, and credibility play a very
20 percent and they were mainly teenagers who are important role in building a positive or negative
dedicated to the brands. The information sharing is electronic word of mouth which ultimately affects the
done with the help of various electronic equipment. consumer's purchase intentions.
Although, minimum information sharing was 80 per
cent and they were mainly older people who only Bughin, Doogan & Vetvik (2010) described that the
focused on quality instead of brand. The findings also social media advertisement has a great impact on
showed that the teenagers not only interested in buying customers particularly who buy the product for the first
the products, but they are also recommending the time. The social media ads are very helpful to do
products to others also which is very good according to analysis and comparison of high-end products before
the company's point of view. The older generation are purchasing them. As a result, customer will always use
not able to indulge more because they are not aware social media to get data about the products and services
about the changing trend of technology and they mostly and they will always look for the good word of mouth
rely and trust on the traditional way of shopping in before purchasing any product or availing any services.
stores or in market. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Webster (2011) described that twenty five percent of Research Approach
social media users purchase their favourite brands via
various social networking sites out of which maximum Qualitative research approach has been adopted here
users prefer Facebook as their brand page. The analysis which was helpful for describing, interpreting, and
shows that the social networking sites have become a gaining in-depth insight into specific concepts of social
source of information for any product or service by media advertisements and customer buying intention.
consumers. Most of the population using social media Research Design
trust more on Facebook because it offers more
Exploratory research design is conducted to collect
interesting and convenient features as compared to any
information from the past data available in various
other social networking sites. Thus, it helps customers
research papers. It required to investigate different
to buy the products according to their choice very easily
sources such as published secondary data, data from
and at the same time it helps users to check the review
about the product they are buying. This helps to build a other surveys, observation of research items, and
trust in the minds of customers and hence it leads to various opinions.
capture a majority of customer base. Data Source
Fotis (2015) described that the influence of social Secondary data was collected from various research
media on buying behavior of customers with respect to papers, journals, and articles. The data gathered from
the tourism services. The analysis shows that for these different sources was helpful in writing the major
vacation planning, social media platform is used findings and summary of the literature review.
c o m m o n l y. T h e s o c i a l m e d i a a d s p r o v i d e
Data Collection Method
recommendations to the customers so that they could
choose an ultimate location for visiting. The social The literature review is conducted by the effective
media keeps a track and to pattern analysis which helps evaluation of various research papers, journals, articles
to know about the taste and buying intention of in social media advertisement. The review was

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IJRTBT SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT ON CUSTOMER’S PURCHASE DECISION

collected from different parts of the research which has Relationship between social media ads and
been carried out. The background study was developed consumer's purchase intention
with the help of literature review. After the evaluation
The study also shows the relationship between social
of these literatures, the required answers are found.
media advertisement and consumer's purchase
This literature review served as a predecessor to the
intentions on a positive side. According to this study,
research.
social media do not only help marketers to interact
DISCUSSION efficiently with their target customers, but it also
motivates the readers to buy the products which are
Findings of the study
being advertised. This is because social media offers
The social media has evolved as one of the most marketing techniques where readers can share product
important channels for the consumers to make the information with their friends and families and such
decisions on buying of the products. The study was information is more reliable and credible.
carried out to test the influence of social media ads on
Learnings of the study
the purchase intention of the customers.
According to literature review, factors such as
Results indicate that social media advertisements
information, entertainment, reward, trust, and
significantly impact both purchase intention and brand
satisfaction are helpful in creating good or bad e-
loyalty. It also shows that purchase intention of
WOM. This further leads to building a good or bad
customers affects the brand loyalty. These findings
brand equity which finally influence the consumer
offer new insights for both managerial and research
purchase intention on social media.
implications.
A conceptual model has been developed by the usage of
According to literature review, electronic word of
the systematic literature review to explore the role of e-
mouth (e-WOM), information, entertainment, trust,
WOM on the final customer's purchase decision (refer
reward, and satisfaction are the important variables
to figure 1).
which influence the consumer purchase intention on
social media platform.
Relationship between e-WOM and purchase intention
Many researchers have studied the effect of e-WOM, to
prove its significant relationship with purchase
intentions. Numerous definitions of electronic word-
of-mouth (e-WOM) have been made throughout
literature. The e-WOM can be defined as any positive
or negative statement made by potential, actual, or
former customers about a product or company which is Figure 1: Conceptual Model of the study
made available to people through internet. Information: - It is the most vital factor for creating an
People often make offline decisions based on online effective social media advertisement. There should not
information and depends upon the opinions of other be any inaccurate, unreliable, and insufficient
consumers when making decisions about what kind of information that can lead to the degradation of trust of
movie to watch or where to investment in stocks. online customers. Social media advertisement is more
This study shows that e-WOM is positively related to stable and effective than any other factor in influencing
purchase intentions of customers and has a drastic customer behaviour. Thus, marketing managers should
effect on customer's purchase intentions rather than consider the importance of both quantity and quality of
ads. The findings suggest that companies should information on social media sites while designing their
motivate members to share their knowledge or websites for any kind advertising.
experience about the product rather than just posting Entertainment: - Entertainment plays a very
ads. On the other hand, low-involvement ads have important role during online purchase of products.
negative effects in virtual groups and communities. Basically, entertainment and enjoyment lead to
Thus, firms should design high-involvement ads, such increase in willingness and which ultimately results to
as blogs and rich media, to attract the attention of customer satisfaction in an online shopping.
potential customers for buying the products or services. Emotional, humorous, and educational social media

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 SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT ON CUSTOMER’S PURCHASE DECISION IJRTBT

contents by marketers provides a better way to attract intention, the higher is the consumer's willingness to
and entertain the customers. buy a product. Consumers are more likely to have a
positive and stronger intention over a product when they
Reward: - Consumers always look for any kind of
react favourably to an advertisement about that product
economic benefits, that's why reward is regarded as a
and purchase it.
very important factor in convincing customer. Reward
may include promotional benefits, incentives, Limitations of the Study
discounts, special deals and cashback. Reward helps Although the study has demonstrated the influence of
customer to get motivated so that they use social media social media advertisement on purchase intention and
and get involved in electronic word of mouth. Reward brand loyalty, the study still presents some limitations.
also effect electronic word of mouth by customers on
social media. First, one limitation is that the current study only based
on secondary data. The information gathered is through
Trust: - Trust is the basic principle for communication the literature review, research papers and journals
and it also helps in maintaining relationship among available on the internet.
people in online shopping. Social media users always
want to purchase through trusted websites. By Second, other factors influencing purchase intention
incorporating the element of trust in communication, could be included to refine the model and further impact
companies can interact with customers on social media of social media advertisement on customer's purchase
platform and thus, influencing customers for online decision can be understood.
purchase. Trust has a very positive Impact on Third, another limitation found was awareness and
customer's purchase intention on social media. knowledge. Still, a huge volume of customers follows
Satisfaction: - Identification of customer's need and the traditional way of purchasing items. Lack of
fulfilling those needs according to the desire of the awareness and knowledge about social media
customer is called as satisfaction. Satisfaction has a advertising is prevailing which restricts them to stick to
significant impact on entire sales process. At each stage the traditional way of purchasing items.
of sales process, customer satisfaction is dependent on Finally, there are limitations due to global pandemic
whether product and brand are up to customer COVID-19 and current lockdown situation in our
expectation or not. country which restricted to collect more information
Electronic word of mouth (e-WOM): - e-WOM from direct interaction with customers.
means the “like” or “share” on electronic platform about Future Scope of the Study
any product or service. Many researchers consider e-
WOM as a key to get success in online marketing. With Further studies could focus on a specific social
the help of social media, consumers can look for more networking site and the collection of data through their
options through collecting information about the members. Future research should take few steps to
product or service from other consumers. This also emphasize the role of social media advertisement on
works as an opportunity for other consumers to express buying intention and perceived usefulness, and also to
the feeling about the product or service through e- analyse their effect on the conceptual model.
WOM. The future studies may use sample and collect data from
Brand equity: - Brand equity is a term that describes various primary sources such as questionnaires and
the value of a brand. That value is determined by surveys. Future studies may also use perceived value as
consumer perception and experiences with the brand. If mediating variable in the current framework to explore
people think more positively about a brand, it is further relationships.
positive brand equity and when a brand consistently More studies are needed to explore the online ads of all
performs bad and disappoints the customers with the the social networking sites and purchase behaviors
bad features, it is called as negative brand equity. among other user groups. In future studies, there should
Purchase intention: - Purchase intention is defined as be focus on collecting a larger number of samples.
the probability of a consumer buying a product after Moreover, further studies could collect samples from
comparing it with other brands. Purchase intention is an different geographical regions worldwide and identify
important factor for checking consumer behaviour. It the differences between the various regions and their
represents the possibility of the consumer who would be corresponding purchase pattern.
willing to purchase the product. The higher the purchase Quantitative research can be used for further study to

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IJRTBT SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT ON CUSTOMER’S PURCHASE DECISION

know more about the influence of online social media declare.

advertisement on consumers' purchasing decision · No financial support or benefits have been
process. Moreover, this study covers only the received by the authors, by any member, by
consumers' perspective on online social media sites any group or any individual or entity with
hence further research can study online social network whom or with which they have a significant
from company's perspective also. relationship from any commercial source which
CONCLUSION is related directly or indirectly to the scientific
work which is reported on in the article except as
In this study we have analyzed the influence of social described below.
media advertisement on consumer's purchase intention
through various literature reviews. According to various · Moreover, neither the authors, nor any
research studies, social media advertising is only group, nor any individual or entity with whom or
effective if it can generate an immediate and large with which they have a significant relationship has
amount of response from consumers. a financial interest in the subject matter discussed
Nowadays, customers have become more attentive in the manuscript.
towards relevancy as well as authenticity of the · The author(s) has/have not received and will not
advertising content and the customer's recommendations receive benefits for personal or professional use
are given more preferences over company generated from a commercial party related directly or
product recommendations. indirectly to the subject of this manuscript.
Purchase intention is a major factor to understand about
consumers buying behavior. However, according to this ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
study, information, entertainment, reward, trust and The authors are thankful to the institutional authority
satisfaction are the common features of social media for completion of the work.
advertisements that influence consumers purchase
intention. REFERENCES
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