Consumer Behavior x Social Media: Understanding the Human Brain in the Digital Era

Throughout several decades, hundreds of researchers have dedicated their resources into understanding the human brain, and its connection to marketing, purchase behavior, and product success. With the advent of the internet, marketing professionals had to learn how to shift focus, and establish an online presence for their brands. Truth is, selling online is a whole different animal, and businesses had to step up their game in order to survive. According to Barden (2013), almost 90% of new products fail every year, and consumer behavior is directly connected to that. Today, a business must understand way more than who their audience is – but also make sure they can find and connect with them online.

Within the web universe, Social Media is currently the number one medium influencing consumer behavior. Since social media has become such an influential part of many people’s everyday lives, the technology is also affecting consumer trends. Now consumers have access to information that goes way further than what is provided by the business. Reviews, referrals, blog posts, videos, the input available goes beyond the control of marketers, which impacts preferences, and – of course – decision making. As of 2017, over 74% of shoppers make buying decisions based on social media (Barker, 2017).

According to Smith and Zook (2011), Social media has changed the original mass media  communication model. Before, companies delivered messages to the public on a one-way channel. Now, social media has enabled web communications between customers, as well as B2C, B2B, and even between costumers and opinion leaders. Consequently, this “new model” affects every stage of the decision making process. According to Olenski (2012), social media not only affects behavior, but also impact sales, brand awareness, reputation, and loyalty.

The increased availability has changed the common consumer into a researcher. Before making a purchase, the consumer can log on to a social media network and see what other people think about your products and how you handle customer service. The more information available, the more likely the consumer will make the buying choice that fits his or her needs — and that might not be your company’s goods if others have reported negative experiences.

With social media, word-of-mouth advertising gained a completely new meaning. What before was limited, and slower, now became limitless – there is no geographical barrier, no social class difference, nothing can stop the information from spreading. Depending on the network, a single message sent from a single consumer can be accessed worldwide, and the consumer can communicate with thousands of people at the click of a button. (Simmons, 2017).

The reputed digital agency Delloite published a comprehensive report in 2015 analyzing the concept of digital influence, and its impact on retail. The main focus of the study was to understand how social media affects consumers from different demographics. Even though different groups have different behaviors when It comes to time spent online, preferred devices, and search methods, for example, the use of social media is prevalent and meaningful for all demographics. The reports shows that approximately one third of U.S. consumers are influenced by social media with their purchases. If you only consider the hispanic demographic, that number increases to 50%. Amongst age groups, the report findings show that millennials are the group of people who are influenced the most by social media: 47% have their purchases impacted by online networks.

References:

Barden, P. (2013). Decoded: The science behind why we buy. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Barker, S. (2017). How Social Media Is Influencing Purchase Decisions. Retrieved from https://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2017/05/social-media-influencing-purchase-decisions/

Delloite Digital (2015). Navigating the new digital divide: Capitalizing on digital influence in retail. Retrieved from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/consumer-business/us-cb-navigating-the-new-digital-divide-051315.pdf

Mansoor, H. (2017). How Social Media Influences Customer Behavior to Drive Traffic and Sales. Retrieved from http://customerthink.com/how-social-media-influences-customer-behavior-to-drive-traffic-and-sales/

Olenski, S. 2012. Three Of Four CMOs Say Social Media Impacts Sales. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/08/21/three-of-four-cmos-say-social-mediaimpacts-sales/ [

Smith, PR & Zook, Z. 2011. Marketing Communications: Integrating Offline and Online with Social Media. Fifth Edition. London, U.K: Kogan Page Ltd.

Simmons, L. (2017). Social Media & Consumer Behavior. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/social-media-consumer-behavior-45733.html