Effect of Social Media on Consumer Buying Behavior

Question: Discuss about the Effect of Social Media on Consumer Buying Behavior? Answer: Introduction Background to the study Social media has been playing an effective role in different aspects like business, advertising and education. Consumers have progressively utilized technology in particular as an effective source for online shopping process (Tuten and Solomon 2013). In this research, the focus of the topic would be to assess social media on consumer behavior of Apple. Research problem The major problem in this research is that due to lack of proper advertising, the consumers are not satisfied with some products of Apple. Moreover, the software quality is not improved. Consumer analysis is highly predicted because effect of social media increases product distribution of Apple accessories and phones (Tuten and Solomon,2013). Research aim The aim of the research is to identify the effectiveness of social media on consumer buying behavior in Apple. Research objectives To identify how social media has affected consumers of Apple To evaluate the effect of social media that has a link on consumer buying behavior To recommend practices of social media for increasing consumer buying behavior in Apple Literature review Characteristics of Social media Social media is a process that attains gaining attention of target audience through social media site (Albarran 2013). In case of Apple, social media would be helpful because it will attract the consumers through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and others. On marketing social media, consumers find various types of messages, tweets, news feed instantly through social networking sites. However, social networking websites allows the individual and other businesses to interact in building relationships. In order, when the company joins social channels, the consumers directly interact with them. Additionally, social networking sites would act as word of mouth (Dagher and Itani 2014). This will follow different types of posts and tweet according to connections made through social networks. It is also seen that social networks is associated by building viral communities. It allows the consumers to express their thoughts, needs, and values through online. Moreover, if a model is devel oped on social media, then there needs to be followed like definition of financial plan, promotion, performance, organizational structure, and potential resources of products and services (Estelami 2014). Generic theory of buying behavior It is observed for different purchases that consumer follows a generic model of decision-making process. Here, the buyers have to recognize a need that will make purchasing factors. It also develops pricing and products in the current market. For example, the decision of buying an iPhone would come if there would be a process of repair. It would also develop the cost of the item relatively. However, the consumers would also have to investigate the washing machines that have come into the market. Ultimately, the main point would be to evaluate pricing, benefits and features of the product in the market area for making a decision-process (Martins, Yusuf and Swanson 2012). Moreover, it would also help to purchase items that would be beneficial. Thus, if the consumer is satisfied with the performance of the product, then the purchase of the brand will be phenomenal in future. Research Methodology Research philosophy It provides the researcher to face obstacles to collect the data from different sources. Following a single philosophy for the research study, the investigator could get better path towards the exact results of the research. For this reason, the research philosophy is divided into four sections, which follows Positivism, Realism, Post-Positivism, and Interpretivism. Among these sections, the investigator has selected Positivism research philosophy to bring the full output of the study (Zanutto 2013). Although, the application of this research philosophy noticed different issues that will be discussed for clear understanding. Research Approach For the ultimate outcome, the investigator must organize the data in a most efficient way. It is differentiated in two sections namely Inductive and Deductive research approach. Among those inductive and deductive research approach, it is clear that both have different functions. The deductive one helps the investigator to gather crystal and transparent information that are relevant to the topic (Love 2012). Research strategy The investigator marks out a suitable strategy for developing the study. Here, the strategies include survey, case studies, experiments, etc. This topic needs an in-depth knowledge to access a good position (Goodson, Loveless and Stephens 2012). The investigator has selected Survey strategy. It has a scope to collect some helpful information and utilize various opinions concerning the research issues. Data collection procedure This procedure is allowed to collect the data from the marked population. Same as above it is of two kinds namely primary data collection and secondary data collection. The primary data collection process includes collection of data from those marked population. For executing the quantitative process, the investigator has conducted the survey procedure. It is seen that every question contains four to five options and among those, the candidates just have to select one option for each question and in case of qualitative data collection the investigator take appointment and interview session from those managers of the company to collect the data (Al, 2013). Here, the investigator has taken 50 respondents of Apple and 3 mangers to interpret quantitative and qualitative data collection method. Sampling method The investigator chooses the population in a very organized way because the probability of getting quality data is very high. In this process, the investigator chooses the managers to gather knowledge about the topic. In probability sampling process, the population is chosen in random (Love, 2012). Ethical considerations The collections of data through qualitative process are very confidential because the investigator has never published the data. The managers of the organization hide some data to maintain confidentiality. In order, this issue blocks the investigator to access good quality research (6 and Bellamy 2012). Moreover, the investigator confirms that these data will only be used for academic purpose and not for commercial one. Time Horizon Activities 1St Week 2nd week 3rd week 4th week 5th week 6th week 7th week Introduction Literature review Aims and Objectives Research approach Research methodology Secondary data analysis Evaluation on data Research monitoring Final Submission Table 1: Gantt chart Reference List 6, P. and Bellamy, C. (2012). Principles of methodology. London: SAGE. Al, S. (2013). Interpretive research design: concepts and processes. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 16(4), pp.351-352. Albarran, A. (2013). The social media industries. New York: Routledge. Dagher, G. and Itani, O. (2014). Factors influencing green purchasing behaviour: Empirical evidence from the Lebanese consumers. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 13(3), pp.188-195. Estelami, H. (2014). An ethnographic study of consumer financial sophistication. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 13(5), pp.328-341. Goodson, I., Loveless, A. and Stephens, D. (2012). Explorations in narrative research. Rotterdam: SensePublishers. Love, K. (2012). Ethics in social research. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald. Martins, J., Yusuf, F. and Swanson, D. (2012). Consumer demographics and behaviour. Dordrecht: Springer. Tuten, T. and Solomon, M. (2013). Social media marketing. Boston: Pearson. Zanutto, A. (2013). Handbook of constructionist research. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 16(1), pp.87-89.