CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

The advancement in the internet in recent years has increased the options available to businesses today; the social media platforms being a good example (Boulianne, 2009). It is no secret that the general availability of the internet has given individuals the opportunity to use online platforms as mediums of communication, from email to Twitter and Facebook, which has led to business interactions without the need for physical meetings (Picard & Robert, 2011). Furthermore, as part of the growth the internet experienced, the social media platform has become a major communication channel. The online world has become a new vehicle for social communication that has connected people to different online communities. Paquette (2013) reckons that the social media community has grown to more than 12.5% of the entire world population. This has presented another communication channel for various businesses and brands today. 

The term social media can be defined as a range of tools and services that facilitate direct user interaction online. Social media are web based services which are otherwise called "social networking Sites" (Miller, 2016). Social media refers to a network of connections and communications among various gatherings or people (Kaplan, 2010).  Stelzner (2016) defined social media as a platform that was centered on the concept of a read and write web, where the audience and users are past the passive viewing of web content and move on to actually contributing to the content.  In simple terms, social media covers anything that makes use of the Internet to enable conversations and most often take the form of social networking sites, blogs, and Wikis (Celine, 2012). Furthermore, Chaffey (2016) defined a social network site as an online service that permits users to create and modify a profile, either public or semi-private, accumulate a list of connections, as well as view the list of their connections and others utilizing the services. Social Media (SM) refer to network of relationships and interactions among different users (groups or individuals) (Kempe & Chin, 2003). Social media platforms include popular networking sites like the Facebook and Twitter as well as bookmaking sites like Reddit (Ashley, 2015). Online communities and social networking sites are an effective web technology for social interactions and sharing information (Lu & Hsiao, 2010). Social Media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter enable users to maintain great connections among themselves as well with others by achieving more than one task and facilitating the way of communicating and sharing different information (comments, thoughts, videos and images) (Kietzmann, 2011).

One of the important contributions of social media is in the way it has changed the method of communication between consumers and marketers (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh & Gremler, 2004). Informational society has always had a significant influence on consumer buying decision and product evaluation, however, with the advent of social media, a new channel to acquire product information has been provided which allows peer communication (Kozinets, 2009). Today’s consumers have access to many different sources of information and experiences, which have been facilitated by other customers’ information and recommendations (Senecal & Nantel 2004). This is an important point as customer involvement through social media is a key factor in marketing (Do-Hyung, Jumin & Ingoo, 2007).

Furthermore, Social networking sites have taken centre-stage in the development of e-commerce in the current environment where consumers make social connections and participate in cyberspace (Miller, 2010). Similarly, social media offers different values to firms, such as enhanced brand popularity, facilitating word-of-mouth communication, increasing sales, sharing information in a business context and generating social support for consumers (Ali, Ballantine & Stephenson, 2011). In addition, the networking of individuals through social media provides shared values, leading to a positive impact on trust (Wu, Chen &Chung, 2010). Today, with the expansion of social media and social networking sites (SNSs), a study of consumer behaviour on these platforms is a research agenda because social media is likely to develop marketing strategies in firms that will affect the customers’ intention to buy their products and services. Therefore, this research will aim to examine how social media marketing strategies will affect consumer buying behavior.

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