Social Media as a New Form of Consumerism

Kristine Joy Distor

Jenybell Francisco

KC Jaymalin

Francine Kate Latigay

Rey Ann Masbaño

11- Brilliance

Connie Estrella

Adviser
You may have heard the phrase ''A picture is worth a thousand words.'' Being able to
see something often provides much more clarity than only hearing about it. This is
another prime example of how social media has affected consumerism in today's market.
In the past, consumers were only able to see their desired products by visiting a store
that carried them, or by briefly seeing the product perfectly curated during a television
commercial. Advertisers are enthusiastically integrating social media into their
advertising programs to drive digital engagement. The effectiveness of such digital
engagement programs is usually assessed with social media monitoring tools such as
the number of likes, shares, comments, opens, views, followers, or clicks, as indicators
of level of engagement or valence of engagement (positive or negative comments).

The social media platform can be seen as the context for social media advertising; the
social media platform provides the environment of the ad. Media context studies provide
compelling evidence for the idea that the same source delivering the same message to
the same audience on separate occasions produces different effects depending on the
context in which the message appears (Norris and Colman Citation1992). Engagement
with a medium can be seen as an essential context characteristic that drives responses
to advertising (Calder, Malthouse, and Schaedel Citation2009). Social media serves the
purpose of making it easier for consumers to find out and distribute information about
different brands, products and services. A significant percentage of customers that relies
on the internet to search for products have discovered specific companies through social
media.

Social media is a tool that can be harnessed by brands and retailers to engage and
influence their customers. Mersey et al. (2010) noted that social media provide an
opportunity for businesses to participate and interact with potential consumers,
encourage an increased sense of intimacy with consumers, and build relationships with
potential consumers. Colliander and Dahlen (2011) investigated the power of blogs on
brand attitude and intention and noted the importance of relationship building and
transparency in blogs and other forms of social media. Customer engagement within
Facebook has been examined to determine enhancing satisfaction and loyalty, yet the
authors note that more research should be done within other online communities
(Gummerus et al., 2012). Hudson et al. (2016) suggest that when the brand interacts
with followers on the social media page by replying to comments, solving problems, and
inviting participation, consumers have stronger relationships with the brand having a
feeling of connection and thus experiencing a higher level of relationship quality. Social
media is a low-cost, easy to use, platform offering a direct link for a brand to its
consumers. It is essential to understand the factors influencing consumers to engage
with a brand on social media platforms and the effects of involvement on social media.

A significant amount of advertisement content is created by organizations that are

unsuccessful in capturing the attention of social media users. Thus, it becomes vital to
understand the characteristics that contribute to an advertisement’s effectiveness and
its ability to convert the user into a customer (Pandey et al., Citation2018). Social media
platforms have become powerful marketing tools for businesses. Companies use social
media to promote their products and services to a vast audience, which can potentially
reach millions of people worldwide. Social media allows businesses to create targeted
marketing campaigns that can be personalized based on user preferences and
demographics, making it easier to connect with potential customers.

Advertisements’ perception is critical to their success. Prior research has attempted to

ascertain the antecedents of consumers’ perceptions of online advertising, and it has
been discovered that an increase in consumer perception is connected with an increase
in online advertising. This indicated that there was a strong and positive correlation
between consumer perception and online advertising. Additionally, it was discovered
that all sub-dimensions of consumer perception influenced online advertising and its
dimensions favorably and considerably (Haur et al., Citation2017). The level of
believability or trustworthiness of the medium of the advertisement is said to influence
how the consumer judges the credibility of the information displayed in the
advertisement.

Endorsements for a brand or company by a celebrity who is admired by its target

audience has the ability to attract consumers and bring in more profit for the company.
The presence of celebrity endorsers bring in many benefits. They are good at creating
attention towards the brand or product and its recall value increases manifold. They are
also good at creating awareness and attention towards it. The use of celebrity
endorsement also uplifts the image of the product and brings it closer to the expectations
of the consumer.

The popularity of social media and the internet has increased and changed the demand
for shopping online. This increasement has changed the way businesses market from
the past, changed the performances of businesses, and influenced social media
appearance. Before understanding today’s current results, it is important to first
understand the history and progression of why social media has influence consumerism
so intensely in today's society. If you were to look into the past 10 years ago, you would
not see the same techniques used for promoting and targeting consumers as you do
today. Provided that the accessibility consumers are guaranteed through technology,
companies have been influenced to project their marketing strategies through different
tactics including apps, social media websites, photo and video promotions, and more.

The fusion of social media and the internet has impacted consumerism in this regard;
they have given sites the power to help retain current customers by not only detecting
but also by tracking consumer habits and customizing their interests from previous
purchases. Social media also gives consumers a way to voice their pleasure or
displeasure with products by posting online reviews or using message boards. Finally,
social media impacts consumerism through consumer retention, which is an
organization's ability to keep the customers that they already have. They can track
consumers to offer incentives for loyalty or offer suggested items based on previous
purchases. Consumerism in a social media context is the promotion of consumers'
interests in purchasing goods and services. Social media has drastically changed the
patterns of consumerism and how businesses relate to customers and how consumers
communicate with each other.

More buyers are now on social media networks than ever before. Consumers are looking
for reviews and recommendations. Therefore, it’s essential to have a prominent online
presence on various social media platforms. The latest trend in marketing is the
introduction of social media. Social media has the power to influence potential customers
from the start until the stage of the purchase and beyond as well. To start off, consumers
need awareness of your brand and its offering. At a later stage, when they start to
narrow down their choices, you need a social media influencer to convince their choice.
A constant dialogue between the customer and the brand is essential to keep the
relationship strong. Attractive and informative content can glue the customers to your
brand.

Traditional media has taken a few steps back since the advent of the internet and is only
growing more irrelevant with time. Internet availability made social networking sites like
Facebook and YouTube more widely used. Millions of internet users throughout the world
now rely on social media. When social media first became popular, it was mostly used
for socializing and interacting with people all over the world, but as its user base grew,
organizations began to realize its business potential. Social media marketing also
appeared to be more convenient and cost-effective than traditional media marketing.
Marketers immediately noticed this (Alalwan et al., Citation2017). Owing to the fact that
this was a new platform, there were no typical safe paths to be taken. Testing, analyzing,
and using ideal marketing tactics were necessary because there were so many unknown
opportunities. Marketing innovations such as meme marketing were vital in capturing
the first mover advantage. The timing of these marketing innovations was also crucial.
It was necessary for marketers to revise their existing plans in order to adapt to this
shift in the media landscape. A new campaigning model is being developed and tested
in the industry as a result of these changes. In the past, the marketing businesses were
largely unaffected by social media because it was devoid of commercial material. Social
media users’ behavior and reactions must be understood in order to make the most of
this new marketing tool (Bond et al., Citation2010; Sanny et al., Citation2020). As a
result, advertising strategies can be more effective when they are better understood.
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