SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING AND ITS INFLUENCE ON AUDIENCE PREFERENCE OF SIMILAR PRODUCT

1.1 Introduction

Social media is most suitable in definition as a group of new kinds of online media, which enable users to share their individual experience from distance location. According to Melewar (2003), Social media advertising is used by organizations as marketing tool to influence certain group of people but it also affect people other than targeted ones (Melewar, 2003). Anthony (2015) sees social media as participation which encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested. It blurs the line between media and audience. The social media services are open to feedback and participation. They encourage vital media activities like voting, commenting and most importantly sharing of information. The social media is better seen as two-way communication or conversation within the communities.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are significance of the study, scope of work, research hypothesis and questions, limitation of the study and definition of terms.

---

1.2 Background of Study

In recent years, social media becomes part of a person’s life. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkIn has a numeral number of the user and keeps growing every day. It is estimated that over 500 million people are interacting with social media (Ostrow, 2010). The number of social media users growing has attracted marketers. Marketers have recognized that social media marketing as an important part of their marketing communication strategies. Also, social media helps organizations to communicate with their customers. These interactions help marketers determine customer needs and understand what their market might look like. Key business factors of social media allow consumers to estimate products, make recommendations to contacts or friends, and share any of the purchases through their social media.

The influence of social media on buying behavior can be in any services or products. Quality, brand, advertising or price could effects consumer decision-making. The relationship between social media and consumer decision-making present that social media affects advertising attitudes, brand attitudes, and purchasing intentions of consumer. It will not necessarily affect consumer’s decision-making, but might possess a mediating effect (Taining, 2012).

Consumers are increasingly using social media sites to search for information and turning away from traditional media, such as television, radio, and magazines (Mangold and Faulds 2009). The advent of social media has transformed traditional one-way communication into multi-dimensional, two-way, peer-to-peer communication (Berthon, Pitt, and Campbell 2008).

Social media platforms offer an opportunity for customers to interact with other consumers; thus, companies are no longer the sole source of brand communication (Li and Bernoff 2011). The social Web is changing traditional marketing communications. Traditional brand communications that were previously controlled and administered by brand and marketing managers are gradually being shaped by consumers.

Social media have become an effective and convenient tool for advertising and communicating with customers and stakeholders inside their organizations. Social media advertising is well established but the most popular social media vary with user demographics and content shared via such platforms.

Despite the popularity of social media advertising, an integrated perspective on social media advertising, especially one that considers marketers and consumers perspectives on social media-mediated brand awareness and consumption is under-explored in mainstream literature on online advertising.

According to the Social Media Marketing Industry Statistics (2008), social media use is set to change the way in which many marketers conduct their businesses. One of the reasons is that consumers’ ratings of brands on social media platforms have become one of the most credible forms of advertising. Also, in a global survey of 700 marketers, Wildfire App (The Drum, 2012) discovered that nearly all marketers find value from social media and that 75% of marketers planned to increase their media spending in 2012. The top benefits highlighted by these marketers are the increase in brand awareness and ability to engage in dialogue directly with their customers.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Social Media Advertising and Its Influence on Audience Preference of Similar Product.

---

1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that a lot of brand advertisements are targeted at young people. A significant number of this population is spread across tertiary institutions in Nigeria and the advertisers through their communications want to persuade them to make product preference in favour of their brands. Existing literature have significantly captured the adoption and uses of social media among young people in Nigeria. However, little is known specifically about how social media advertisements influence product preference among young people in Nigeria as very few studies are available.

Measuring advertisement effectiveness is an issue of great concern to advertisers. Because of the huge amount of money expended on advertising as already established, it is imperative for advertisers to ascertain if their advert messages actually get the desired attention from their target audiences. Because Nigeria also belongs to the global marketing communication space, these concerns are germane to discerning advertisers in the country.

Hence, the major concern of this paper is to expand knowledge on how well young people pay attention to the advertisements on social media and make a purchasing decision based on them and establish if there is any consistency with findings from the limited available literature.

---

1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the Social Media Advertising and Its Influence on Audience Preference of Similar Product. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine the factors that influence young people’s exposure to advertisements on social media platforms;
2. To identify the social media platforms on which young people mostly view advertisements;
3. To determine the extent to which young people are exposed to advertisement on social media; and
4. To investigate the extent to which social media adverts could influence product preference among young people.

---

1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Are there factors that influence young people’s exposure to the advertisements on social media?
• To what extent are young people exposed to the advertisements on social media?
• On which social media platforms do young people mostly view advertisements?
• To what extent do advertisements on social media influence product preference among young people?

---

1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There are no significant factors that influence young people’s exposure to the advertisements on social media
• H1: There are significant factors that influence young people’s exposure to the advertisements on social media

---

1.7 Significance of Study

The relevance of the study on social media advertising and its influence on audience preference of similar product is a very interesting one. The study will be significant in various ways;

1. Advertising on social media platforms provides advertisers with more options to connect with their various target audience.
2. It will help the researcher and anybody who will have access to this research work to understand the effects of good advertising strategies in promoting business.
3. The study will help to expose the challenges establishments face in accomplishing their advertising strategies.
4. Furthermore, the study will help to highlight the various reasons why advertising is necessary in any business organization.

---

1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Social Media Advertising and Its Influence on Audience Preference of Similar Product. The study is limited to young audience that are conversant with social media usage and are the target of most advertisers.

---

1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, there were some problems encountered which stood as limitations to the research work. Some of the limitations include:

1. Time Constraint:

   The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.

2. Research Material:
   

   Availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.

3. Financial Constraint:

   Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

4. Initial Cooperation Delay from Respondents:

   A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.

---

1.10 Definition of Terms

Impact:

This refers to the effect that MTN has on the subscribers in Uyo Metropolis.

Advertisement:

It is an appeal that contains some aesthetic information concerning a product or service.

Advertising:

Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services through mass media such as newspapers, magazines, television or radio by an identified sponsor.