Critical analysis on how Facebook Advertisement influences the purchasing behavior of GSM (Greenwich school of management) Business Student
Purchasing behavior typically refers to the various processes and acts of individuals that are involved in buying and utilizing specific products (Johnstone et al. 2015). Most often, the purchasing behavior of an individual is solely dependent on the various market forces of demand and supply. Therefore, it is ultimately essential for a consumer to put into consideration a wide range of options before deciding to purchase a given product. One of the critical factors that influence the purchasing behavior of a consumer is the marketing strategy that has been employed by that particular business (Johnstone et al. 2015). In addition to personal attitudes together with the preference of a given product, advertising through Facebook has had a substantially critical role in defining the purchasing behaviors of various individuals. Most considerably, advertising through Facebook has had a significant influence on the purchasing behavior of the GSM business students.
1.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
Facebook is undoubtedly one of the most popular social media platforms that are oriented towards providing users a substantial platform through which they can create their profiles, acquire friends and communicate by sending messages. The site was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in the year 2004 and has since been ranked as one of the top social networking sites with millions of users.
1.1.1 Facebook Users
The Facebook statistics that were obtained in the year 2010 indicates that the site has been able to acquire currently over 500 million active users (THOMPSON & LOUGHEED 2015). Typically, with such a huge number of active users, Facebook is ranked as the second popular communication tool after cell phone. Most essentially, the huge number of the recorded users of the site can be attributed to its easiness of operation, especially when opening an account. Moreover, provision of use of various languages throughout the world has led to massive support from across all the parts of the globe. Users of the site have the freedom and provision of accessing a wide range of information, making it one of the most preferred communication platforms in the world.
1.1.2 Facebook Features
The site has numerous features that are designed to meeting the various demands from the users of the site. The news feed section primarily exposes the users of the site to the various contents that are posted online by Facebook. The friend's feature enables users to send friend requests to other users of Facebook that they would wish to be friends with. On accepting the sent friend request, the two becomes friends (Jenkins 2013). It is also essential to note that Facebook provides other features of deleting such friend requests or even delaying them for some time. On the other hand, the wall is another Facebook feature that is essential. The feature is typically the original profile space that allows a user to view his/her content. Most essentially, Timeline is another essential feature in the Facebook site that entails the user’s personal information. Moreover, Facebook has a group feature through which various users join some specified groups and indulge in discussions relevant to the particular group (Jenkins 2013). Typically, these in addition to other features are designed to provide a user-friendly environment for the various users of the site.
1.2 Facebook Advertisement
In addition to being one of the largest social networking platforms, Facebook serves as an essential marketing site for a number of businesses, both small and big businesses. Most businesses use the various apps available on Facebook to connect with their viable customers through the platform (Broeck et al. 2017). Typically, Facebook Ads are based on the pay-per-click/PPC, a mechanism that has substantially experienced tremendous growth. Research studies have shown that 71% of the end consumers that benefit from Facebook advertising prefer different personalized ads about general ads. Furthermore, the studies have further shown that another reasonable 75% of the end consumers prefer a limited number of ads that are aligned with their needs. To get control of the targeted consumers, Facebook uses software to attract and serve the targeted consumer, in its marketing strategy.
Facebook Ads Manager is one of the apps that Facebook uses to track the ad performance and conduct general editing of an existing ad. The software enables Facebook to revise ad schedules and budgets among other critical functions. AdEpresso is software that Facebook uses to collect information regarding the ads on the site. The software serves a report card through which information regarding an ad in the site is recorded (Baker 2016). Research studies have shown that most marketers often prefer to reach out to their consumers through Facebook in an attempt to potentially meet their consumers directly, in a personal and social environment. Furthermore, studies have established that most consumers are often willing to share a wide range of information on Facebook on a regular basis. This typically implies that it is quite easy for various marketers to share information related to their products in a platform that already has a substantially reasonable number of users, who are regularly online (Baker 2016). Typically, the Facebook software has a great influence on the marketing strategy of businesses through the provision of easy access to the targeted consumers.
1.3 Influence of Facebook Advertising on Purchasing Decision
According to Duffett (2015), in his study on the influence, Facebook has the intention to purchase by consumers, Facebook advertising has an ultimately positive impact on purchasing behavioral attitudes. The study concluded that usage Facebook characteristics such as login duration, individual profile updating incidences among other demographic influence of the ethnic orientation signified substantial perceptions of advertising through Facebook (Duffett & Rarick 2015). Apart from the Facebook platform allowing the consumers to access the information that is aligned with their needs, the platform allows advertisers to understand their customers more efficiently.
Studies have further shown that Facebook provides an ideal platform through which consumers can freely view the specifications of a given product without necessarily purchasing it (Nunthapirat 2016). Moreover, the positive comments on a given product that has been advertised in Facebook boost the attitude of another individual towards purchasing that particular product. However, negative comments about a product, especially from those that may have had an unproductive interaction with the product, negatively influence the purchasing decision of that particular product. Studies have shown that as much as advertising through Facebook may be having a great impact on purchasing decision of various products, not all Facebook advertisements often lead to improved purchasing decisions. Studies have shown that approximately 64% of the consumers that rely on products advertised on Facebook believe that the ads in Facebook do not contain enough information about the product and can be misleading (Paladino & Ng 2017). Such perceptions have greatly contributed to negative attitudes towards making purchasing decisions and as a result, led to reduced purchasing attitudes.
1.4 Purchasing Behaviors of GSM Business Students
Studies have shown that purchasing behavior typically depends on the level of income among other factors. The GSM business students, just like any other consumer of a given product often are subject to factors such as the level of income. Previously, the students’ purchasing attitudes had a great connection with the level of income at their reach. For instance, students with high-income levels were often associated with a higher tendency of purchasing various products. Studies have shown that this may have been as a result of a significant amount of income at their disposal that often influenced their purchasing attitudes. On the other hand, students with low income at their disposal previously recorded low purchases. In support of this trend, research studies have indicated such low purchasing attitudes is as a result of the limitation of options that these students often face that contributes to prioritization of their needs and desires.
However, with a rapid evolution that is evident in the online marketing platforms, statistics show that the purchasing behaviors of the GSM business students have to be altered. Studies have shown that approximately 86% of the students are active users of Facebook. With such a vast population of the students using the social networking platform, it is evident that they have greatly been influenced by the online marketing platform (Wang et al. 2016). Currently, the students' purchasing behaviors are dependent on different factors such the availability of a given product advertised online, the nature of comments such a product receives from those individuals that have used the product before among other factors unlike before. The ability of the Facebook platform to expose a variety of products online to the students has led to an improvement of their purchasing attitudes and their purchasing decisions in general. From the preceding discourse, it is clear that advertising through Facebook has had a significant impact on the GSM business students on making decisions related to purchasing various products.
Research studies have shown that Facebook is better placed in marketing various products than other digital media platforms (Joseph 2016). Unlike the TV adverts that often tend not to be specific, Facebook advertising is more specific and targets a given audience/consumer which makes it more essential. The precision of the ads that are posted by Facebook provides a substantial foundation through which a consumer is convinced to change his/her purchasing decision positively. TV adverts often tend to be general and thus limits the consumer to make necessary decisions on their purchasing attitudes (Joseph 2016). Studies show that Facebook's provision of some essential navigation tools enables the consumers to get critical details about the product ad and make reasonable decisions towards purchasing such products. In addition to being an effective networking platform, Facebook provides a great social interaction platform through which, apart from consumers accessing the products, they can interact with the advertisers of the product and be able to air their concerns directly.
1.5 Security Concerns
Just like any other digital media platform, security issues are of great concern to Facebook Company. Studies have shown that considering the large amounts of data the site users share online, and the openness of such information provides room for various security risks such as unauthorized access to users' private data. Studies have further shown that a good number of Facebook do not use the site's security setting in most cases. According to Kuyumdzhiev (2014), about 48% of the Facebook users remain uninformed of the security settings within site and, therefore they often tend not to use it. Kuyumdzhiev further claims that another significant portion ( about 23%) of the online users who are well informed of the security setting feature in the site, often tend to ignore it which implies that their data is prone to attack by unauthorized users. The increased number of unprotected individual information of online users has led to increased data security threats among the online users of the site. In support of his findings, Kuyumdzhiev claims that the option of accepting the terms and conditions of the site creates a wrong perception amongst the site users who often feel that their data is safe on accepting the site terms and conditions. The study further shows that identity theft is one of the key security and privacy concern (Kuyumdzhiev 2014). However, according to the Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, security of the users is a top priority for the company, and strategies are in place to mitigate the security risks.
Addiction to social media has had a great influence on the purchasing attitudes of consumers of products. According to the statistics of the total time, users spend online, results have shown that a significant portion (about72%) of the Facebook users spends averagely 3hrs online in a day (Hasan & Yasir 2016). With such a high population online, most marketers have opted to use the platform to advertise their products. Studies show that addicted users often record-high purchases as compared to those that access Facebook within a limited time since they end up having very limited time to view the ads. Those individuals that are addicted to Facebook often go through serious mental depressions whenever they fail to access the site. They always have a strong urge to access the site, and when they do, with high anxiety, they tend to purchase more products. An analysis of the marketing policies indicates that advertising through Facebook campaign is on the rise, which raises the following question;
Research Question: How does advertising through Facebook influence the purchasing behavior of the GSM business students?
2.0 METHODOLOGY
The study employed a quantitative approach, in an attempt to understand the purchasing behavior within the GSM business students. The approach was appropriate since the targeted population comprised a significantly large number of students and this approach seemed best aligned to meet the objectives of the study.
2.1 Research Design
The study considered research survey as the most appropriate research design. To ensure that the study outcome entailed results that were genuine and reliable, a research survey was the only appropriate approach (Cronje 2017). Most essentially, the researcher, in an attempt to get the various attitudes and opinions from the students regarding the influence Facebook advertising has on their purchasing power, deemed conducting a survey imperative. According to Vale & Stabile (2016), research studies whose primary data relies on the opinions and views of the public or a specified group of individuals, using a survey research design is imperative. The researcher designed the research survey questions in a detailed manner that emphasized on the descriptive statistics kind of research. To get the right information about the influence that advertising through Facebook has on the GSM business students’ purchasing attitudes, the descriptive approach aimed at examining the behavior and or characteristics of the targeted population (Vale & Stabile 2016). Such an approach ensured that the study’s outcomes were more valid and reliable as they were solely based on the opinions and views.
2.2 The Sample of the Population
Given the large number of GSM business students, selecting a sample of the study was appropriate and essential. The choice of the students to be considered for the study was randomly done to ensure inclusion of the various variables of the population was incorporated in the sample. To get the portion of the GSM students that were using the Facebook networking platform, the researcher developed a simple questionnaire that was given to a significantly large number of students to determine whether or not they were using Facebook. The selection of the appropriate sample of students from the list of those that were using Facebook was done randomly. Selecting students randomly ensured that the sample was large enough and contained the true characteristics of the population to facilitate the process of making inferences about the actual population (Eideh 2016). The selection of the sample ensured that sampled population were at least users of the Facebook networking platform. In doing so, the researcher ensured that the outcome could be more valid and reliable as the sample size was best positioned to answer the research question.
2.3 Collection of Data
The study employed both primary and secondary data collection methods. Administering questionnaires and conducting inter-personal interviews facilitated the primary data collection process (Hentschel 2016). The researcher administered questionnaires to the selected sample of the students in an attempt to get their opinions and views regarding the influence of advertising through Facebook on their purchasing attitudes. The choice of using questionnaires to primarily gather information from the students was necessitated by its objectivity nature and ability to collect enough information from a large population within a short period of time. To ensure efficiency and relevancy for the study, the questionnaire contained questions that were related to the student’s purchasing behaviors and the general impact of advertising through Facebook on their purchasing decisions (Brace 2017). To ensure efficiency for the entire process of collecting data, the process of administering questionnaires was done at a personal level. Inter-personal interviews were conducted by the research on the selected sample to get the information that may not have been contained in the questionnaire. The interviews proved to be an integral part of the process of collecting information from the students as it enabled them to give finer details of how their purchasing choices are often influenced by the various adverts that are done on Facebook.
In addition to the above stated primary methods of data collection, the study used secondary methods to access data related to the influence of Facebook advertising on purchasing behaviors. The secondary methods that were employed include; internet sources, periodicals, and journals (Chen et al. 2017). The secondary sources were targeted by the researcher primarily to ensure that the outcome of the entire study was valid and reliable. The information collected during the process was aligned to the influence of advertising through Facebook on the GSM business students’ purchasing behaviors.
2.4 Data Validation
Validating the collected data to ensure that the results obtained by the study remained reliable and valid was critical. According to Carlsson et al. (2017), in a research study, ensuring that the data used to provide an answer to the research question is reliable and valid is imperative. The researcher focused on conducting a study whose results could be reliable and most importantly relevant to the topic of study. In the validation process of the study, some copies of the designed questionnaire were given to some experts in marketing to verify their relevancy (Carlsson et al. 2017). The experts carefully checked the copies of the questionnaires in an attempt to ascertain their general appropriateness and adequacy in addressing the research questions. On successful completion of the checking process, the observations from the experts were incorporated and the changes made to ensure relevancy of the results. The data was the entire process validated to ensure efficiency of the results obtained in the entire study.
In any research study, it is very critical that the researcher remains ultimately conscious of the various ethical issues while conducting the entire primary research. Protecting the respondents involved in the study while at the same time maintaining the confidentiality of the entire process of collecting data from the population sample is critical in any research study. In an attempt to comply with such ethical issues, the researcher gave out the confirmation statement before beginning administering questionnaire to enable the respondents to feel liberated and comfortable while filling out the questionnaires. Furthermore, the researcher made it clear to the respondents that they were at liberty to withdraw from the study at will.
2.5 Data Analysis
Russell & Gilliland (2017)
defines data analysis as the process of conducting an inspection, cleansing, transforming and modeling data with the aim of making valid conclusions from the results. The researcher employed quantitative data analysis techniques in analyzing the data. The quantitative data analysis technique was imperative since the study involved a significantly large sample size (Russell & Gilliland 2017). The process of data analysis involved the synthesis of the responses that were contained in the questionnaire to test their reliability to the research question. Statistical analysis methods such as mean, mode, and standard deviation were employed in analyzing the data.
2.6 Survey Questions Regarding the Influence of Facebook Advertising on the Purchasing Behaviors of GSM Business Students.
In the quantitative method of data collection, use of simpler questions to obtain information from the targeted population is essential. The questions used in the administered questionnaire should be structured to answer the research question for the study, according to Russell (2017). In this research study to establish how advertising through Facebook influences the purchasing behaviors of the GSM business students, the following questions were used in the questionnaires.
1. What is your age?
2. What is your gender?
3. How often do you access Facebook?
4. Do you prefer shopping online? If yes, why?
5. Have you ever purchased a product advertised on Facebook? If yes, what necessitated your purchase?
6. How would you rate Facebook advertised products about products advertised y other digital media (On a scale of 1-poor to 5- excellent).
7. While purchasing a product advertised on Facebook, do you consider the necessity of that product before purchasing it? Kindly justify your answer.
8. Have you ever purchased a product advertised on Facebook out of social pressure from friends?
9. Based on your past five purchases, how many did you purchase as a result of them being advertised on Facebook?
10. Do you think Facebook advertising contributes to your purchasing decisions? Kindly justify your answer.
2.7 Findings and Conclusion
The study outcomes from the sampled population showed that a significant portion of the students' purchasing decisions is influenced by the advertisements that are made through Facebook. The study outcome shows that most of the GSM students have bought various products that are advertised on Facebook. The outcome of the study, as obtained from the responses to the questions that were designed for the study indicates that Facebook advertising has a huge influence on the purchasing behaviors of GSM business students. Moreover, the study outcomes indicated that the influence is extremely significant in some cases that often result in students buying products they necessarily don't need.
Ultimately, advertising through Facebook is on the rise as most marketers have opted to use the platform due to its high number of online users. Facebook advertising has also been boosted by the invention of various apps that are coherent to the various advertisement requirements and thus making it the most viable platform for businesses. In addition to its rapid growth, its influence on the purchasing behaviors of consumers is also ultimately remarkable. Moreover, the influence on the purchasing behavior of the GSM students, just like any other online users is substantially huge.
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