Consumer Perceptions of Ads on YouTube and Facebook - Case Study Example

Study of consumer perceptions of ads on YouTube and Facebook Course Lecture Date Introduction The changing communication setting is well documented in the literature as are the results of effective communication with the ever short-lived audiences. The aspect of communication that is under much limelight is those that are driven by the social media phenomenon. The various user-centric multimedia applications such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace have been flourishing. Though the uptake figures of use of the above applications are well known, the impact of the applications on marketing is an area that is under-researched. It is essential for literature to discuss the role that social media plays in communication in a bid to offer the best practice. It is essential for marketers to note that that the global online advertisement spend grew from about 6% to 10% and there are growth expectations in social media marketing spend from $716 million in the year 2009 to about $3.1 billion by the year 2014. Based on a research by Forrester Research (Martinez 2010), retailers amounting to 70% are making use of MySpace and Facebook, while another half make use Twitter to promote their brands to both the current and prospective consumers. Internationally, consumers are integrating social media application into their lives, with Facebook taking care of about 400 million people. Facebook also accounts for 7% of the American web traffic, and it is the most visited site (Dougherty, 2010). Internationally there are over 1 billion Facebook users. Twitter also accounts for over 200 million users. And it is among the most favourite sites today. Despite the growth in both retail and consumer usage, very little is known when it comes to the use of social media as a communication tool in relation to its alleged value for consumers and businesses. Literature review on consumer perceptions Facebook, Twitter and YouTube Ads Although a lot of research exists when it comes to the aspect of online communication, not all kind of literature can be transferred to deal and explain the aspects of social media. For instances, the literature offers differing definition of social media. This paper will adopt the definition presented by Kaplan and Haenlein 2009, who defines them as internet based applications that play an essential role by helping the consumers to share insights, opinions, perspectives and experiences. Based on these author social media can include the blogs, collaborative projects such as Wikipedia, social networking pages such as Facebook and content communities such as YouTube (Kaplan and Haenlein 2010). Most research that relates t social media have focused on aspects such as the segmentation and participation of users, motivations behind the use and eventual adaptation of social media (Gangadharbatla 2008) as well as online brand communities (Muniz and O’Guinn 2001). A lot of researchers have claimed that social media have an influential role in almost all aspects of consumer decision-making process in addition to having an influence on attitude formation as well as the general opinions of customers (Mangold and Faulds 2009). Authors such as Mangold and Faulds 2009 confer the effect of the interaction through social media and the execution and development of IMC strategies. They further suggest that new communication paradigms need to be developed. Keller 2009 also seems to be in support of the argument made by Mangold and Faulds, he does so by the discussion he puts forward of effective of customer-based brand equity model and brand building through the use of IMC. Adults of all ages are accessing their favourite sites by using their smartphones, tablets and computer. For a considerable amount of time, the use of the internet was only popular among the young generation but the trend seems to be evolving. It has been noted that generation X which comprises of people between the age of 31 to 44 years and the Younger baby boomers comprising of people between the age of 45 and 54 years have also began to spend a considerable amount of their time online (). As a matter of fact in 2011 research that was conducted claimed that more than half of the adults were making use of social sites (Madden & Zickuhr 2011). The sentiments by consumers towards marketing are an important factor that the researcher considers when it comes to measuring the manner in which consumers will recognize social media marketing. The perception of an individual on an overall marketplace is said to play an essential role in whether they are in a way motivated to partake in the various consumption activities (Mady 2011). Over time, social media have developed from a platform where individuals can get in touch with others to a place where consumers of various products can learn about different companies and the brands that they sell. Retailers and marketers need to utilize the sites so as to reach considers and also since the site offers the consumers with a new manner of shopping. It is essential for marketers and retailers to acknowledge the factors that have an influence on the attitudes and motives of consumers since over time consumers are creating contents that are related to brands. This task was primarily controlled by companies (Heinonen 2011). Consequently, various researchers have evaluated the aspects of social media that affects the motives and attitudes of consumers. Chu 2011 studied the linkage between Facebook brand that are related to group participation, advertising responses, the psychological factors of self-disclosure and the attitudes of both non-members and members of various Facebook groups. The study found out that members of Facebook groups were more likely to disclose some of their personal data as compared to the non-members. He further explains that Facebook group participation, as well as engagement with online ads calls for higher dissemination of personal data since the users, expose their connection and promote products and brands when they pass ads to their friends. Based on Chu 2011, users who are members of Facebook groups maintain favourable attitudes towards social media advertising. The users who have these positive attitudes in relation to advertising are likely to retailers or brand Facebook page for them to receive promotional messages. In regard to these, Chu 2011 implies that there exists a connection between the consumer’s engagement and use of group application on various social media sites. This relationship influences the effectiveness and rate of adverting in social media sites and most especially on Facebook. Chu 2011, further states that the college-aged users tend to have the most favourable attitudes towards advertising on social media, and they are the largest growing demographics. This suggest that with time the social media sites will be a potential rich platform in regard to online advertising and the companies that are bound to benefit more are the ones with a younger target market. Cox 2010 also examined the correlation between attitude and age and asserted that social sites users approach in online adverting tends to differ based on various age groups. Social sites users who are within the age bracket of 18-28 years have more positive attitudes towards, video, blogs and brand channels ads. This is attributed to the fact that they find the ads informative, eye-catching and amusing. Users between the age brackets of 35-54 years prefer adverts in brand channels and video since they are informative, eye-catching and have better placement when it comes to online page layout. In general, online advertising formats that have positive attributes are usually welcomed by online users; nevertheless, ads that interfere and are intrusive to other social interfering activities for example expandable, pop-up or floating formatted ads are mostly disliked by users. Di Pietro and Pantano 2012 discerned the perception that enjoyment is a factor that influences the consumer’s use of social networks as a podium to assist them in making buying decisions. The fun offered by Facebook and the opportunity it provides the users to request for suggestions in an entertaining and easy way, usually motivates individuals and makes them pay a lot of attention to products that are promoted on Facebook. Facebook upholds a consumer to consumer approach that users exploit it by sharing experiences and creating new knowledge on services and products. From the company side, it offers the managers with a channel for communicating with the consumers by the use of a business to consumer approach (Di Pietro and Pantano 2012). Retailers can make improvements on their Facebook pages by adding contests, games and other interactive applications in a bid to attract more users. Nonetheless, retailers need to have adequate knowledge on consumer attitudes when it comes to dealing with social media activities. A deeper and clear understanding of the manner in which customer perceive social media adverts will go a long way in ensuring that marketing strategies that are formulated are effective. Consumer activities of participation, consumption and production are related to more than one motivation and thus conclude that consumer’s activities are as a result of a combination of a number of motives (Heinonen 2011). He further states that the notion of individuals as sheer consumers seems to be outdated. Currently, users can be seen as active producers of business value since the user generated content is tumbling the influence of the traditional marketing tactics. The awareness of consumer motive is essential since it offer a deeper, clear and concise understanding of the aspects that affects the users to create consent about a store or a brand. Viral advertising is a concept that is clearly related to social media ads. Through viral adverting the retailers are marketing and at the same time offering more information on their products and brands. A viral approach in regard to online adverting has a major advantage since the communication seems to be more targeted to the intended audience (Bampo et al., 2008). This is attributed to the fact that the marketer is afforded a greater degree of creative license through the use of a message delivery medium that seems to be note personalized and intimate, thereby it increases the likelihood of reaching target customers that may be hard to get. Viral adverting is termed as an unpaid peer to peer reliance of provocative content that originates from a company by the use of the internet to influence or persuade the audience to pass the content along to others (Porter and Golan). Golan and Zaidner 2008 dealt with viral ads for large companies. Based on their research sexuality and humour were the main advertising factors that attract consumers to viral ads, and in instances when the customers feel entertained by the ads they will eventually pass them to families and friends. They further noted that when ads are placed in the right place they are more likely to create word of mouth that could last for several years. Kelly et al. (2010) also found out that there are three factors that led to avoidance of online ads: past negative experiences of inline ads, interruption of current task and perceived clutter in internet sites. Based on research the believability and trustworthiness of the medium influence the manner in which consumers perceives the information as being genuine or not (Moore and Rodger as cited in Kelly et al. 2010). Most of the ads that are featured on social sites are not significant to the consumers, and the consumers only notice them when they ads become annoying or when they entertain them. It becomes clearer that ads that offer entertainments are liked and accepted, and this reaffirms the results of previous studies. Critical evaluation Past literature have focused more on the psychological consumer research perspectives. For instance Krishna, 2012 focused more on sensory marketing. Based on the definition offered sensory marketing engages the senses of the users and affects their judgment, behaviour and perception. When viewed from a managerial perspective sensory marketing can be applied so as to create subconscious triggers that in a way characterize the attitudes of consumers of abstract ideas of a brand or product for example its quality or sophistication. Based on the extent of unequivocal marketing appeals that are made daily to the consumers, the subconscious triggers which seems to be appealing to the primary senses are seen as been more efficient when it comes to customer engagement the triggers may also lead to a generation of consumer desired brand attributes as opposed to those that have been provided by the advertiser. This will inform the company of any new attributes that they can add to the already existing products. Another research conducted by Reinmann et al., sheds light on aesthetic experience, and this has been done by investigation of the neural, behavioural and psychological properties of package design. Based on the research, the aesthetic packages were found to augment the reaction time of responses from consumers in that they can even choose particular products despite the higher prices. This aspect has been significantly studied since there seems to be a correlation between purchasing decisions and various sensory attributes of humans. The article by Spence 2012 offers evidence that demonstrates that there is the existence of active cross-modal correspondence between shapes, sounds and sensory characteristics of various food and beverages that were reviewed. Spence 2012 suggests that marketers can ne able to enhance the consumer’s products experiences by ensuring that the brand name and sound symbolism, as well as a shape symbolism related to labelling as well as the packaging form. The cultural perspective is another area that is widely researched though not as much as the psychological perspective. Despite these, the researchers have difficulties in interpreting and describing the material flows and systems underlying consumer behaviour. Future cultural analysis can make improvements on the undertaking of consumer behaviour as trivial and profound. The fruits derived from such analysis can be used to transforms and maintain a consumer culture. This area is highly researched since it allows researchers to achieve comprehensive understanding of the exact consumer behaviour that they are trying to analyze and interpret. Political perspective may have been skipped since political aspects seem to be an area that is left for the highly educated. Also with time people are more concerned with the cultural and psychological consumer research perspectives as opposed to the political perspective. With time, a considerable number of people are shunning away from politically related aspects, and this applies to even researchers in the consumer behaviour field. Though they may exist the literature is not applicable internationally since there are different political ideologies all over the world. A conversation that warrants future research is the impact and use of social media by small firms and retailers. Future researchers need to focus on this aspects so as to for the students and marketer with relevant and accurate information on the topics. Researchers can conduct interviews with small firms employees on their take in social media adverts and if they would embrace it if it were recommended to them. The interview would also cover the articulation of the perceived benefits that they are likely to get by making use of social media to make their advertisement. Through the research, there would be available literature to inform small firms about the right actions to take in regard to social media marketing. Proposal for study Limited research exists on small retailer’s perspective. This includes aspects such as the utilization of social media by the small firm? Is social media successful in increasing brand awareness, customer base and sales? It is evidently clear that large corporations make use of both the traditional and non-traditional media when it comes to presenting their new brand or product. This is based on the fact that they aim at reaching all their target audience (Cheong and Morrison 2008). The small retailers also need to embrace non-traditional media in marketing, and they should do so in an engaging and creative way to ensure that they attract a large customer base. By so doing, they are likely to reach the target audience who are appealed by both the traditional and non-traditional media of advertising. The rapid and widespread growth of social media does not have to occur at the expense of the traditional advertising mediums. When viewed from a consumer’s perspective, the traditional medium reinforces and enhances communications and at the same time offers the much called for credibility for the brands that are in the online environment. Based on Sorescu et al., 2011 retailers can engage the customers by selling more than the product, they can also sell the experience, and this adds a completely new layer to the retail setting. Small retailers can also do so by offering their customers some value added service. For instance they can offer free delivery to customers within their reach; this is likely to increase the number of customers. Future research ought to deal with the social media marketing tactics that are best suited for the small retailers. The future study could look at both the negative and positive effects that social media can have on small firms. Research can also have a look at the small businesses and have already embraced social media and how they are performing since they started making use of it. Small retailers have a smaller budget set aside for advertisement, and they also have tighter constraints yet they can provide the consumers with a more personal retailing. Thus, a study that focuses on the various factors would be beneficial to small firms. Studies also need to suggest how the small retails businesses could maintain and initiate social media advertising with the aim of improving their relationship with the consumers. For retailers to stay relevant, they need to keep up with any changes that occur to ensure that the consumers always notice them, this reinforces the fact that more research would seem valuable to all the parties involves: the scholars, retailers and marketers. Anyone who is not fully engaged in social media marketing is making a big mistake given the large group of people utilizing and embracing social media. Social media opens a new platform by offering endless range of probable interactions with the consumers, and this is the reason behind the increase of studies to examine the impact of the new phenomenon of small firms and retailers. References Bampo, M, Ewing, M, Mather, D, Stewart, D & Wallace, M 2008, ‘The Effects of the Social Structure of Digital Networks on Viral Marketing Performance’, Information Systems Research vol. 19, pp. 273-290. Cheong, H & Morrison, M 2008, ‘Consumers’ Reliance on Product Information and Recommendations Found in UGC’, Journal of Interactive Advertising vol. 8, pp. 38-49. Chu, S 2011, ‘Viral advertising in social media: Participation in Facebook groups and responses among college-aged users’, Journal of Interactive Advertising vol. 12, pp. 30-43. 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