The Impact of Social Media on the Consumer Behavior

Nicolescu Alin, group 1737

The use of social media has grown rapidly in the last decade. For marketing professionals, social media is
an outlet that can potentially be used to help increase the interest in a product or service.
The traditional 'word-of-mouth' publicity has been replaced by the 'word-of-web', as consumers are
increasingly referring to social media sites before making a purchase, greatly influencing buying
behavior. Though most companies these days have an official website which has complete information
about their products, consumers usually engage with a company after reading reviews and feedback from
online sites. Before buying, every consumer wants to make sure that the product is the best in its class,
and offers good value for money. Advertisements don't always give a fair idea, as almost every company
claims its product to be the very best. This is where social media plays an important part in defining
consumer behavior. People are more likely to trust those who give an impartial account of a product
rather than a celebrity who is paid to endorse the product. Social media enables people from all over the
world to form a community of consumers, giving them the power to some extent harm or herald a
company.
From the perspective of consumers, social networks have helped create resources like support and
information. Social and intellectual capital are two resources that are imparted by means of shopping from
the social networks, and they may be expected to serve a significant role in the provision of support and
information, thus helping in the decision-making process of the consumers, as well as enhancing the
quality of those decisions.
Social media does not only affect consumers decision making on products or services, but also it helps in
other fields of studies or careers such as political impartiality and fair trials. In the context of justice
system, the easily accessible nature of the Internet has resulted in judges having the ability to consult an
online social media source in order to aid their decision-making and deliberations. Social media also helps
judges to broadcast their options about the ongoing court.
According to Howard and Sheth there are 3 stages that consumers go through when making their purchase
decision. The first stage is called extensive problem solving, consumers have little information about
brands and have not yet defined criteria that will help them choose among products and services. The
second stage, limited problem solving, means that consumers have found information and succeeded to
define criteria choices but are still not decided about which brands will suit them. And the final stage,
routinized response behaviour in which the consumers have strong predispositions toward the brand and
are now ready to purchase a particular product that they have chosen after evaluating each alternative.

As consumer behavior changes, sales and marketing strategies must adapt. Businesses must
market their products differently, make their brands more personal, and communicate with
customers in new ways. One of the biggest concerns is keeping customers happy. With social
media, consumers have the power to influence other shoppers through both positive and negative
reviews. Positive reviews are always helpful, but businesses must monitor sites for negative
reviews.

It has been proven that one negative review has a greater impact on the consumer than multiple
positive reviews. Responding quickly to a consumer complaint can actually foster loyalty and
improve the company's reputation.
With the technology improving continuously, businesses must stay ahead of the game and utilize
every new opportunity to improve their sales, marketing, and customer loyalty.

References

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Vinerean, S., Cetina, I., Dumitrescu, L., Tichindelean, M. (2013) The Effects of Social Media Marketing
on Online Consumer Behavior, International Journal of Business and Management, vol. 8(14).

Aral, S. & Walker, D. (2011) Identifying Social Influence in Networks Using Randomized Experiments,
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