The current advancement in business advertisements and trends are evident to everyone. This is to state that, business organizations and people are taking different turns in marketing their products and convincing their buyers to purchase from them. The most evident trend is that many of the businesses are taking their advertisements to the social media and major platforms that people interact on. Not to be left behind is the Facebook platform which is a place where many people interact and exchange ideas. For that purpose, therefore, Facebook is being used as a major marketing platform by many companies. The use of different marketing platforms brings about different marketing forces on the clients and the prospective targets. In that context, Facebook also has its force impulses that it poses on its users as far as buying and passion is concerned.
The purchasing behavior of a person is dependent on the market forces of demand and supply. The consumer tends to purchase products based on several factors. For instance, a marketing strategy employed by a firm is a key determinant factor in influencing a person’s purchasing habit. When deciding on what to purchase, consumers have to consider a wide variety of options right from their income to the prices of the available products as well as their substitutes. Personal attitudes and preference towards a particular product is another key factor which influences a consumer’s purchasing behavior (Solomon, 2017). In the same light, Facebook advertisements, in several ways, have played a role in influencing the purchasing behaviour of several consumers, including GSM Business Students. The interactive aspect in which Facebook presents its advertisements brings about a more recognizable force that facilitates the decision to make purchases. The reason for this is that people exchange ideas on the quality and satisfactory benefits of different products. Moreover, Facebook has an appealing power on the deciding motive of a consumer in the context that they are displayed with a lot of zeal and motivation. To crown it all, Facebook creates a state of trust on the seller since the marketing companies or individuals are presented to be very experienced and recognized in their work. Therefore, it gives an appeal to the buyers.
Facebook Dominance
Facebook is a type of social media website that provides a platform where people network socially. The site was launched by Mark Zuckerberg and has up to date attracted over two billion active users, making it the most popular social media website (Rolling Stone, 2018). The Facebook social media platform has a reception from almost all parts of the world, and this has seen its user growth rate proliferate at a high rate. The site has various features which aid in socializing (McLaughlin and Lee, 2011). The news feed section is one that provides general information, posted by various people on the site. The updates one receives on the news feed’s section is dependent on a person’s customized profile. An additional feature on Facebook is the friend’s feature. This allows one to send and accept a friend request from others, and can receive their posts on the news feeds sector. The wall is a feature on Facebook that contains the user’s information, especially on the profile. This allows one to get information about a certain person by simply visiting their profile. Another additional feature is the timeline sector. The like and reactions buttons are also featured on the website that allows a person to interact with the posted updates including photos, videos or even status updates. By liking or reacting to a particular post, one is said to have interacted with the owner of the particular post. The comments, messaging and inbox features on Facebook allow a person to directly interact with another person by either enquiring about a particular thing or airing their opinions. It is a way of facilitating as well as enhancing communication amongst its members. The site also allows for video and voice calls among its members, as a way of ensuring faster communication among the users.
In addition, the Facebook site has a group feature where people join and discuss information regarding various disciplines. It is seen as a broader way of bringing people, who share same ideologies, together. People give each other insights about certain issues as they exchange ideas of what each thinks. They also share the satisfactory abilities of certain services and products thereby helping each other to decide on what is best for themselves. Application features such as events, marketplace, notes, and places are important in that they inform a user on various activities that are happening around them as well as providing information about several areas that they may be interested in. other general features associated with the Facebook site include credits, pokes, security, fundraising, and mood faces al aimed at improving the experience of the site user.
Facebook Advertisements
Facebook is recognized as one of the widely used social media platform where people of different races and cultures interact. Since the launch of the website, Facebook has experienced gradual growth. As a strong social networking platform, the site has incorporated strong marketing strategies (Azer, 2015). With increased popularity, the site has become one of the prominent sites where marketers post their products and the users can access them updates on their news feed section. Some marketers and product promoters have created groups where they invite users to like and access information relating to their products. In order to achieve this success, the site has been made an open place where people are free to express their satisfaction as well as dissatisfaction concerning the products that they are presented with. Additionally, there is the allowance of giving feedback and comments on what the buyers expect as well as making recommendations that greatly help in enlightening others (Marshall and Meloche, 2011, p. 20).
AdEpresso is a software that is used by advertisers to attract users. The software is made in a simple language which is easy to understand. The AdEpresso marketing tool gives the advertiser a variety of options to use. Among them include designing and customizing a captivating heading. This attracts users to click on the advertisements and viewing the products on sale. The software also uses easy language which can be understood easily by every user who comes across the product (Social Media Examiner, 2018). Most Facebook advertisers also use eye-catching photos to advertise their products. This is because people are likely to have interest in a particular product if the images and graphics associated with it are quite attractive to the eye (Weintraub, 2011, p. 38). Psychological price setting is another advertisement feature that is used by various product promoters and marketers to market their products on Facebook.
The use of the Facebook Ads Manager is another tool that is used by advertisers to target their users. This tool is designed for meeting specific audience by creating a Facebook page and providing information on what one wants to market (Wen-Kuei and Meng-Sheng, 2013). Inclusively, one can use Qwaya to market their products. This is a software mainly used by marketing experts and includes various features such as a scheduling option which allows a marketer to send advertisements to the site when there are quite a large number of users online. This strategy is crucial in that it targets users in large numbers as most are likely to view the advertisement. The marketing strategies make a great influence in the number of people accessed due to its outreach ability. In addition to this, the marketer can tell the likely sales experiences because he or she can scan the number of likes the posts gain and analyze the likelihood of purchases to be made (Social Media Examiner, 2018).
How Facebook’s Advertising influence Purchasing Decision
Facebook advertising can influence a consumer’s purchasing decision. For instance, some advertisements that appear on a user’s news feed or even on various pages and groups can be quite captivating, and as a result, can influence a user to purchase the product. Moreover, mass views from Facebook users can be used as a judgment point. For instance when certain posts are liked and recommended by many people, it is a clear sign that whatever has been posted has a good quality reputation and therefore fit for purchase. Through this, many marketers are able to attract many customers and buyers. In several cases, Facebook advertising is seen to positively influence a person’s intent to purchase (Duffett, 2015). Most of the Facebook advertisements also attract a large number of followers. This means that if people purchase a product they have viewed it on a Facebook advertisement, they are likely to post positive comments on the product. This move motivates others, who will view the comments, to purchase the product.
However, not all Facebook advertisements pose a positive influence in encouraging a person to purchase the products. Some consumers believe that the advertisements present on the Facebook site contain very shallow information regarding their importance or use. Many believe that the marketers on the Facebook platform are out to make business advancements as well as earn money and therefore do not consider the satisfaction of the prospective buyers. As a result of this, many marketers are likely to lose market due to this mass mentality. Others believe that information contained in the advertisements is false and purchasing of the particular product can result in more harm than good. Thus, this group of Facebook users has a negative attitude towards various advertisements of the Facebook site resulting in a negative influence of their purchasing decision (Yousif, 2012).
Purchasing Behaviour of GSM Business Students
For GSM Business Students, just like any other consumers, purchasing behavior was dependent on their income as well as the prices of the products one desired to purchase. This factor was determined by the market forces of demand and supply. This means that an increase in their income meant that their disposable income would also increase and so would their purchasing power. On the other hand, a decrease in their income would have an opposite effect on their purchasing behaviour. Attitudes, as well as taste and preferences, also played a crucial role in influencing their purchasing behavior. A change in the taste and preferences accompanied by a negative attitude towards a particular product would mean that they are more likely to forgo the product for another one. To attract consumers, marketing firms and product promoters used various strategies including price promotion strategies.
However, as the evolution of various advertising strategies has advanced greatly, the purchasing behaviour of the GSM Business Students has also evolved. Purchasing nowadays is done based on the various efforts that are employed by the marketing tools. In addition, various marketing and advertising strategies have incorporated means of ensuring that a large number of people can access the product. This includes expanding their scope of advertising by including digital as well as social media platforms. A positive influence on the purchasing behaviour portrayed by the students has resulted from the use of Facebook’s advertising platform.
Although other platforms such as the digital media which include the televisions and radios are crucial advertising platforms, social media has proved to be more effective (Akyol, 2013). This is because of the wide variety of social media platforms such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. Advertisements on televisions are effective but fail to be specific in terms of description and prices. An advertisement posted on Facebook is likely to influence a consumer’s purchasing behaviour positively due to the fact that it is specific. This includes the fact that the advert gives a clear description of what the product entails as well as images of the product. As a result, those who view the advert are likely to purchase the product as they believe they have the necessary information concerning it. Facebook advertisements are also designed to target specific people. For instance, an advert on baby products is likely to be posted in groups or pages where most users are parents. This increases the chances of purchase of the product as most who view the product is likely to relate to it thus end up purchasing it. Positive comments on a particular product that is advertised on Facebook is likely to attract a huge number of following thus influencing the purchasing behaviour of various students positively. This is also resultant from the peer and social pressure from other students who have purchased the product (Niu, 2013). An additional positive influencing factor on purchasing behaviour is the increase in the number of Facebook users. This factor presents the most effective and efficient mode of marketing as many are likely to receive the information on a particular product through various groups, pages, and pop-up advertisements.
Security Concerns
Although Facebook has various security options that are aimed at protecting information of the many users, there are several security concerns that arise. Some of these concerns that come up are mainly based on the fear that the information one discloses about oneself on the platform can be used by others for malicious purposes. For instance, as a person’s profile is largely public, one can acquire the data and sell it to others. As a result, the user can end up receiving spam messages or even subscriptions to various messages and products they have no knowledge about. In the same light, there is fear that after purchasing products online from various sellers, there personal information such as shipping and mail addresses, telephone numbers, and other personal details are left exposed to the sellers. Being an online transaction, one can never be too sure of who might access the information and what they might do with it. As a result, privacy concerns arise as one might fear the violation of their privacy. Unethical practices, especially those practiced by con and scam groups, also raise security concerns (Celebi, 2015). For instance, an advertisement might be posted on the Facebook site but those behind it or the advertisement itself does not contain genuine information. After submitting your details and payment, one is likely to receive a different product from what was advertised. In the instance that the owner behind the advertisement fails to be a genuine person, then the consumer will fail to receive the product and will end up losing his or her cash and have the fear of privacy violation due to the information is already given out (Yaakop, 2013).
In addition to the use of the Facebook advertisements as a way of influencing purchasing behavior of people, addiction to social media is also a factor that influences consumer behaviour (Miller and Washington, n.d.). Recently, most organizations have opted to use social media as marketing platforms for their products and services. This is due to the increased number of people who use the social media daily as compared to other platforms (Alves, Fernandes and Raposo, 2016). Addiction to the social media has also been on the rise. As a result majority of Facebook users are always online thus influenced to purchase various products they might get access to. In the instance that a person fails to be connected to the social media, one goes through an emotional turmoil where they feel that they are losing a lot by not being connected. One feels like he or she has missed a great opportunity to purchase a product. This feeling increases their anxiety and when they finally get connected to the site, they tend to purchase various products they feel they missed out on.
Consumer behavior, especially concerning the intention to purchase, has, in the recent years, been associated with the increased peer pressure from online users. A lot of people are known to seek advice concerning many decision making advances online. As a result of this, there is a mass collaboration in the process of decision making as far as online purchases are concerned.For instance, social media addicts have provided a great opportunity for the online advertisers to intensify their campaigns by increasing the number of advertisements they post on these platforms. Facebook, being the most visited social media site, has seen an increase in the advertisements that are posted in the site. Experts in marketing have resulted to using the site to market their products, and as the number of Facebook users is on the rise, they have counted great profits. Being a social media addict has also influenced the chance of purchasing a product. This is because, an addict is connected to the social media sites such as Facebook most hours of the day. This means that the person gets exposed to certain advertisements on regular basis and might get influenced to purchase a product to have a sense of how it feels.
A Mythology on the Influences of Facebook Advertisements on Purchasing Behavior
In every social platform, there is always a myth associated with the way things re conducted. People always have a believe attached whether supported by all or a certain number of people. All social media platforms, Facebook included, are more of social purposes rather than economic. They are common for their socializing nature as opposed to their business nature. A common myth associated with this notion is that any business transacted via the social media platforms, most specifically Facebook, is more or less likely to fail. On the other hand, there are those who believe that social media marketing is a great marketing tool as well as a strategy that can be used to increase the awareness of the product to the vast majority (Rotfeld, 2009).
Previously, advertising was mainly conducted by the use of offline advertising media which comprised of newspapers, magazines, television, and banners. Thus the introduction of online advertising has brought about the rise and spread of various myths. Among them include the perception that social media advertising is a means of retaining the consumers. With Facebook being seen as a strong social networking platform, there are beliefs that transacting through the site is a step closer to attaining more customers. Although there is some truth in this, the concept fails to prove its importance as very few consumers are engaged in the product. This is a downside effect on the raised expectations. Another common myth associated with social networking is the belief that it is an online-only affair. This has caused various firms to flood Facebook with advertisements of their products. This, however, is not true. On the contrast, social networking is much more effective if done on face to face basis (Brown et al, 2007). A common myth associated with the Facebook site is that it is a site for the young. This raises the question of whether age and gender have a part to play in influencing the online behaviour of an individual (Hernandez, Jimenez, Martin, 2011, p. 117).
Survey Questions on the GSM Business Students Purchasing Behavior
To understand the purchasing behavior of most GSM Business students, a quantitative analysis method of data collection can be used (Saunders et al, 2009, p. 361). This involves the use of similar survey questions where the respondents are obligated to respond to.
1. What is your gender?
2. What is your age?
3. What factors do you consider when purchasing a product?
4. Do you prefer to shop online or at the store?
5. How often do you visit social media websites most specifically Facebook?
6. Have you ever bought a product that had been advertised on Facebook? Give a reason for your answer.
7. Basing your response on an average of between 1 (strongly differ) and 5 (strongly approve), would you say Facebook advertising has an influence on your individual choice to purchasing a product?
8. Would you consider buying a counterfeit product online if it sells at a cheaper price as compared to its price at the store?
9. On a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), how would you rate social media marketing?
10. Have you ever bought an item advertised on Facebook as a result of social pressure?
Conclusion
The purchasing behavior of consumer is determined by several factors. One of the strategies employed by various firms to attract consumers to purchase products from them includes intensifying their marketing strategies. Most firms have incorporated marketing in the various social media platforms, with Facebook receiving much attention. This has been attributed to the fact that most people are active users of the Facebook site, thus making it an effective site to target consumers. Advertisements showcased on the platform target specific users. This is because the site offers pages and groups where people sharing a common ideology tend to interact, and as a result can influence a person’s intention to purchase. Positive comments, posted by users, on a particular product also play a vital role in influencing a person’s purchasing behaviour. These positive reviews give a person the desire to purchase the product and experience it as others have. In addition, advertisements on Facebook tend to be specific and more effective as compared to those posted on other websites. With an increase in the number of Facebook users globally, advertisements posted on the site are likely to reach a large number of people, thus making them more effective. However, security concerns associated with the site such as privacy violation and unethical practices are some of the negative factors that pose a challenge to positive purchasing behavior of Facebook users.
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