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Consumer behavior is how consumers decide what, when, and how to buy a product or service. It uses ideas and concepts from different streams such as economics, psychology, and sociology to demonstrate how a consumer’s attitudes, emotions, and choices can affect their buying patterns.
Consumer behavior is a relatively new discipline that emerged in the 1940s and 50s as a part of the marketing area. Consumer behavior is not easy to forecast as there are several variables in play that can affect a buyer’s decision. However, several new research methods such as machine learning, consumer neuroscience, and ethnographic studies have been developed to help marketers better understand their customers.
Consumer behavior characteristics are the qualities of a customer that influence their response to a purchase cue or stimulus. This response, in turn, determines the consumer’s decision to buy or not to buy. The following are six key characteristics of consumer behavior that marketers should be aware of:
The above characteristics can be summarized into the main determinants of consumer behavior:
In this article, we will focus on how social media amplify social factors to influence and determine a consumer’s purchase decision. This decision may or may not be a rational decision. It is usually an emotional decision.
What, exactly, is social media? Wikipedia defines social media as “A group of interactive digital channels that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks.”
In short, social media are apps and websites that allow users to create and share content or participate in networking. Examples of social media are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and region-specific apps such as Weibo (China) or Koo (India).
Social media is now all about commerce – not just conversations. As we saw above, social factors are a strong determinant of consumer behavior, and the growth of social media and smartphones has given a huge boost to these social factors, or “word of mouth” influences.
The pandemic gave a huge boost to online commerce, and social channels contributed massively to this trend, as we can see from the graph below for the US market:
Image source: https://influencermarketinghub.com/social-commerce-stats/
Social media feeds are the new channels – consumers now do not need to go into stores for information on products or services. Information, feedback, or reviews are now just a post away, and consumers can call friends, family, or even perfect strangers to help them decide what, when, where, and how to buy.
It has been estimated that nearly 70% of consumers use social media today. The graphic below shows just how much social media channels influence consumer behavior:
Image source: https://study-aids.co.uk/dissertation-blog/consumer-purchasing-behaviour-social-media/
Let us look at some more statistics to understand this trend better:
Let us now see the important ways in which social media can influence and impact consumer behavior.
An important aspect of the social character of consumer behavior is the influence of the consumer’s social class on their purchase decisions. Every social class has people of similar values, behavior, and lifestyles. Marketers need to pay attention to this factor because “social perception” significantly influences an individual’s purchase behavior. These influences are seen at different levels in an individual’s interaction with others in their social class:
Social media has made the interaction between a brand and its customers a two-way process. Both brands and customers can learn more about each other through social media. Brands can use social listening to get a granular view of what individual customers are looking for and can tailor their marketing messages accordingly. This helps the brand address the consumers’ pain points faster and more effectively.
Consumers’ expectations from the brands they like have become much more amplified thanks to social media. Brands must use the right tools and methods to respond to this challenge.
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