The Influence Of Digital Media Over Consumer Behavior

Digital Marketing Channels and Their Impact on Consumer Behavior

Digital marketing is a process of creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging the aid that holds value among the consumers, clients and society at large. In simpler terms, digital marketing is the way of satisfying the consumers’ needs and demands. Digital marketing involves the usage of several channels like social media, multimedia advertising, websites, online search engine advertisement, interactive marketing, e-marketing and many more, for reaching the desired target audience (Ashley and Tuten 2015). It is considered as a new form of marketing tactic which provides the companies with new opportunities for doing businesses.

For this research, the topic “Digital marketing and its impact on consumer behavior” will be chosen. Marketing activities conducted through the digital channels help the advertisers to communicate with their potential consumers directly and from any part of the world. It has enabled the advertisers to cut through the mess and directly interact with their consumers. This particular trend of direct advertisement and one-on-one marketing helps the advertisers to connect directly with the consumers and solve their issues, effectively. On considering the various forms of digital channels, the current development is the mobile marketing. The mobile marketing is considered to be one of the fastest growing markets because of increasing middle income consumers (Stephen 2016). A thorough research on the digital channels of advertisement would greatly impact the way a business is done.

The widespread use and development of internet technologies have helped in transforming the way society communicates in their professional and daily lives. The emergence of the new communication tools is one of the major indicators in this transformation. The new communication tools are emerging along with the technological development, which is called the digital marketing. On discussing about the channels of the digital world, the first things that come in mind are Twitter, Instagram and most importantly Facebook and other similar social networking sites. These sites and other virtual platforms like websites, search engines and micro blogs are being used for marketing purposes (Solomon, Russell Bennett and Previte 2012). Therefore, with the advent of digital media, communicating and interacting with the target consumers have become very easy.

The research aims to throw light on how digital marketing can affect consumer behavior.

The objective of the study is;

• To examine the awareness of digital marketing among the target consumers.
• To analyze the influence of digital media over the purchasing decisions made by the consumers.
• To find out how digital marketing can affect consumer behavior.
• To recommend how new companies can utilize digital marketing strategies in order to succeed.

According to Ashley and Tuten (2015), the rapid growth of the web and social media platforms has facilitated some changes within human behaviors and their way of interactions. Behavioral changes of the consumers require the organizations to re-strategize their activities of marketing on the digital platforms. The organizations should have an understanding on how the digital media and the social media marketing affect the purchasing decisions of target consumers. Along with these marketing factors, the organizations must also be aware of the changing preferences of the consumers, their behaviors, beliefs and attitudes towards particular products. In addition to this, Labrecque et al. (2013) mentioned that with the advent of digital media, organizations now have different options for branding their products or services.

Impact of Digital Media on Consumer Tolerance and Online Reputation Management Strategy

Laroche, Habibi and Richard (2013) stated that social networking websites have helped in developing consumer engagement opportunities and encouraged interaction with the marketers. Moreover, applications for digital marketing techniques can be designed for this purpose in order to engage with the consumers at any point of time and at any place. This will help in informing, entertaining, providing insights and educating the consumers regarding the brands. Apart than this, Mulhern (2013) examined that digital marketing techniques also help in understanding the behavior of the consumers and their changing preferences. This is because the marketers get to interact with the consumers directly. By interacting directly, the marketers gain an idea regarding the changing preferences of the customers and their behavior. Moreover, it also helps the marketers to solve their queries, if any, and provide them with instant assistance. This make the consumers feel special and valued.

According to Solomon, Russell Bennett and Previte (2012), due to these recent trends of digital marketing and technological advancements, consumer behaviors and marketing channels have observed a shift, which has highly impacted the consumers’ decision making procedure, at the time of purchasing any product. Stephen (2016) examined that the engagement of the consumers with some particular brands has changed and thus, the organizations need to adopt few innovative marketing tactics or strategies in order to reach them. The digital marketing media, which is considered to be a modern tool of marketing, has so much to offer to the research fields. Along with the emergence of various online platforms, the organizations should adopt innovative marketing strategies in order to reach out to their target customers and benefit the business on the long run. In addition to this, the organizations will also be able to gain competitive advantage in this aspect and compete with their rivals.

Tiago and Veríssimo (2014) opined that consumers’ tolerance is reducing day by day and at an alarming level. Consumer now a day wants faster response and that too, as clear as possible. Digital media have made consumers impatient as they cannot wait over anything. Watson, Mc Carthy and Rowley (2013) stated that digital media have impacted consumers’ behavior in a huge way. Moreover, it takes one viral tweet or comment to build or destroy the rapport of an organization. Several platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Mouthshut, Quora and more; are being utilized by the consumers to share their misfortunes, which they had faced with the organization. Negativity has the power to attract people and it is simply human psychology. Few users will post good comments or reviews regarding any product, on Facebook or Twitter. Therefore, in order to tackle such crisis situations, the brands should follow the Online Reputation Management Strategy.

Personalized Experience and Post-Purchase Assistance

According to Zaglia (2013), the biggest change in the consumers’ behavior is that the consumers expect a personalized and consistent experience from their preferred brands. The consumers expect as well as desire personalized messaging from their favorite brands. Therefore, the marketers should realize this and connect with their target consumers at the right time and at the right place, which also involve increased real time localization. However, Solomon, Russell Bennett and Previte (2012) stated that modern customers are not at all loyal consumers as their preferences change over time and they are variety seekers. These days the consumers put more stress on the post purchasing experiences. To retain as well as satisfy the consumers, services and products are coming in variants and also some built in offers provides the customers with post purchase assistance.

(Figure: Conceptual Framework

Source: As created by Author)

H1: There is influence of digital media over consumer behavior.

H0: There is no influence of digital media over consumer behavior.

The research philosophy is considered for developing and analyzing the study in detail. The area of research philosophy is vast and in business dissertations, the chapter includes four major types of research philosophy. It is important to specify the type of research philosophy in the study for gaining an understanding of the procedures. The types of research philosophy are pragmatism, realism, interpretivism or positivism. Research philosophy deals with various sources, development and nature of knowledge. In simpler terms, the research philosophy can be considered as a belief about several ways by which the data can be collected, used and analyzed (Neuman 2014).

According to Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault (2015), positivism research philosophy assists in developing an in-depth analysis of the overall study. Interpretivism deals with the entire management of functions and activities. On the contrary, realism is actually a mixed approach of all the research philosophies.

Justification of the Chosen Philosophy

In this study positivism research philosophy will be utilized as it will ensure proper investigation of the issues and help in presenting those in more critical and logical manner. The positivism research philosophy helps in analyzing the materials and presenting those in a logical way. It is mainly derived from the sensory experiences and the overall analysis is based on logical facts. The other two research philosophies would get rejected because it depends on each individual’s opinions or perceptions, which may vary.

Reasoning is the procedure of using the existing materials in order to draw conclusions, construct explanations and make predictions as well. The three major types of reasoning are deductive, inductive and abductive approach. During the research procedure, deductive reasoning will be used to reach a logical and true conclusion. A second type of reasoning is the inductive approach which makes broad generalizations from the specific observations made in the research. The third type of reasoning is the abductive approach which usually starts with incomplete set of the observations made and proceeds to the possible explanation or description for the observations’ group (Mackey and Gass 2013).

Research Philosophy and Approach

Justification of the Chosen Research Logic

Deductive research approach will be utilized in order to form a valid reasoning. The deductive reasoning will start out with a hypothesis, general statement, which will help in examining the possibilities. In order to reach a logical or specific conclusion, the research paper will use the deductive study approach by analyzing the existing materials. No new theories will be formed and therefore, existing sources will be examined and analyzed (Matthews and Ross 2014). The deductive reasoning will start with an assertion of the general rule and proceed from there to reach a specific conclusion. Therefore, it can be said that the deductive approach will help in making justified observations as well as expand the implications (Lewis 2015). However, future predictions cannot be made in such approach.

In this study, quantitative research method will be used and the research will focus on both primary data as well as secondary data. The quantitative research is utilized in order to quantify the problems in a way by generating data which can be further transformed into usable statistical units. The primary data will be collected in the research study from various sources like surveys, which will help in establishing the study further. Moreover, the secondary sources like reviewing literatures, theses and existing articles will help in establishing the report further. Both the types of research methods will be utilized for carrying out this study.

Justification of the Chosen Research Method

The research paper will utilize the quantitative research method in order to quantify the attitudes, behaviors and opinions from a relatively larger sample population. Moreover, the quantitative research will use measurable data in order to formulate the facts as well as uncover patterns in the overall research (Flick 2015). In addition to this, surveys will help in gaining an understanding regarding consumer behavior due to digital media. Surveys will be conducted among a group of individuals, who strictly follow digital media for their daily activities. Furthermore, the quantitative data collection method is more structured than that of qualitative data collection method.

The research study will be depending on the collection of both the primary as well as secondary data sources. The primary data will be gathered from various sources like surveys. The secondary sources will consist of information that is available on the online platform. Both the types of data will be utilized for conducting this particular research paper. A research procedure includes both primary and secondary sources. The primary sources mainly constitutes of the information that are being collected from the respondents of this research. Primary data will come from surveys and questionnaires. Therefore, primary sources will help in gathering some useful insights, which will establish the overall study.

(Figure: Data Collection Method

Source: Brinkmann 2014)

On the contrary, Panneerselvam (2014) defined secondary sources as those of which are published in several books, blogs, journals, websites or others. The researcher will collect both primary and secondary data in order to establish the report. The secondary data will be collected from various observations, reading relevant journals and gathering information from relevant websites. In addition to this, the secondary data will also help the researcher to come across relevant concepts regarding the topic. Moreover, it will help in gaining clear understanding regarding the impact of digital media on consumer behavior, their perceptions and opinions.

Justification of the Chosen Data Collection Methods

For this research study, the researcher will be collecting primary data from the consumers who use digital media to a huge extent. The researchers will be sending online questionnaires to the consumers by using digital media. The primary data will help the researcher for investigating the topic and gaining in-depth insights. Primary data will prove to be beneficial for the overall research as the researcher will get to know what the customers actually think of digital media and how their behavior is getting influenced. In addition to this, the secondary sources of data collection will provide theoretical views on the research topic (Neuman and Robson 2014).

The sampling techniques which will be used for the research, consists of both the probability as well as non-probability sampling technique. Other than this, the simple random sampling will be utilized for the research paper for gaining a better understanding of the research topic. However, it can be expected that around fifty employees will be asked to participate in the online survey and twenty five of them will be men and the other half will be women. Moreover, three managers from digital marketing will be asked to present their views on this topic through conducting surveys, which will also provide useful insights. Therefore, these techniques will help in establishing the research study.

As per Choy (2014), there are certain limitations of a research paper, no matter how well it is prepared or planned. The time frame always poses a great challenge while conducting any research. It is seen as a big limitation, as the fear of deadline approach tends to mar the importance of the paper. Moreover, unavailability of resources also challenges the research study. In addition to this, the response collected from the respondents may not be appealing enough for the whole study. Furthermore, problems may arise in gaining permission from the managers for survey dates.

Each and every researcher needs to maintain some ethical and professional issues while conducting the research procedure. According to Miller et al. (2012), the researcher will have to maintain some privacy related to the unpublished information and data. In addition to this, the researcher is not supposed to leak any personal information or details of the survey respondents. Those data must not be published ever, without the consent of the respondents. The researcher must be sure that those facts collected from the survey are never utilized for unethical motives. Moreover, the researcher should take prior consent from those respondents and should provide information which is necessary for the particular research purpose.

(Figure: Research Timetable

Source: Created by author)

References

Ashley, C. and Tuten, T., 2015. Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), pp.15-27.

Brinkmann, S., 2014. Survey. In Encyclopedia of critical psychology (pp. 1008-1010). Springer New York.

Choy, L.T., 2014. The strengths and weaknesses of research methodology: Comparison and complimentary between qualitative and quantitative approaches. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 19(4), pp.99-104.

Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner’s guide to doing a research project. Sage.

Labrecque, L.I., vor dem Esche, J., Mathwick, C., Novak, T.P. and Hofacker, C.F., 2013. Consumer power: Evolution in the digital age. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), pp.257-269.

Laroche, M., Habibi, M.R. and Richard, M.O., 2013. To be or not to be in social media: How brand loyalty is affected by social media?. International Journal of Information Management, 33(1), pp.76-82.

Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475.

Mackey, A. and Gass, S.M., 2013. Second language research: Methodology and design. Routledge.

Matthews, B. and Ross, L., 2014. Research methods. Pearson Higher Ed.

Miller, T., Birch, M., Mauthner, M. and Jessop, J. eds., 2012. Ethics in quantitative research. Sage.

Mulhern, F., 2013. Integrated marketing communications: From media channels to digital connectivity. In The Evolution of Integrated Marketing Communications (pp. 19-36). Routledge.

Neuman, L.W., 2014. Social research methods. Pearson Education Limited.

Neuman, W.L. and Robson, K., 2014. Basics of social research. Pearson Canada.

Panneerselvam, R., 2014. Research methodology. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..

Solomon, M., Russell Bennett, R. and Previte, J., 2012. Consumer behaviour. Pearson Higher Education AU.

Stephen, A.T., 2016. The role of digital and social media marketing in consumer behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, pp.17-21.

Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.

Tiago, M.T.P.M.B. and Veríssimo, J.M.C., 2014. Digital marketing and social media: Why bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), pp.703-708.

Watson, C., Mc Carthy, J. and Rowley, J., 2013. Consumer attitudes towards mobile marketing in the smart phone era. International Journal of Information Management, 33(5), pp.840-849.

Zaglia, M.E., 2013. Brand communities embedded in social networks. Journal of business research, 66(2), pp.216-223.

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