How marketing communications can influence buyers

A generalized linear model was used for statistical data analysis. The study ascertained that social media marketing communications had a positive on each attitude component among adolescents, but on a declining scale, which correlates to the purchase funnel. The results also revealed that teenagers who used social media for long time periods; updated their profiles frequently and were from the Colored and Black population groups, displayed the most favorable attitudinal responses to social media marketing communications.

Social media was collectively analyzed and did not consider the number of different social media types, which could be examined individually. This investigation only considered the Generation Z cohort, but other cohorts to attitudes toward social media marketing communications could also be assessed. This research established that social media marketing communications had a favorable influence on cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude components among young consumers, but on a declining scale, which is in congruence with the purchase funnel model.

This investigation also makes an important contribution to attitudinal research in developing countries, where there is a lack of research in social media marketing communications. Duffett, R. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This new interactive revolution has resulted from noteworthy achievements in the information superhighway Arens, , known as the Internet, which recently exceeded 3 bn users Internet World Stats, But social networking is not a new phenomenon, as it has always been within human nature to communicate and socialize with one another, as well as to recommend, comment and alert each other about commercial content Uitz, Hence, a majority of young Internet users also make use of one or more forms of online social media Barenblatt, Social media has become an indispensable part of life in the modern-day era, especially among young consumers teenagers and adolescents known as Generation Z also referred to as iGeneration, Plurals and Generation Next who have enthusiastically adopted this new online ICT platform McCrindle and Wolfinger, ; MacKenzie et al.

Marketers progressively depend more on social and mobile ICT channels to market and promote their brands amid the youth. Additionally, the notion of implementing content that is both entertaining and current would entice young consumers to interact and disseminate the information to their friends. This significant feature, which is also referred to as word-of-mouth WOM , can be considered as the future of social media marketing communications Yaakop et al. Okazaki and Taylor report that there was a paucity of definitive theoretical viewpoints in terms of social media as a marketing communication tool because it took time and was a cumulative process to develop theoretical foundations.

Bolton et al. Additionally, there are few empirical international inquiries that consider Generation Z. BRICS represent newly industrialized countries with large developing economies and will and do play an important role in the world economy Petzer and De Meyer, Hoffman and Novak propose that a sound theoretical framework of social media is required for organizations to implement precise marketing tactics, particularly regarding usage variables such as mobile device access.

Peters et al. Hence, this inquiry aims to narrow the gap between theory and practice regarding the different attitude components by addressing the following research questions RQ : RQ1. Social network sites SNS are still relatively new marketing communication tools, which have a significant impact on the way that companies communicate with consumers.

Most social media facilitate the use of online marketing communications, which could simply be defined as advertising on the Internet, but is not the same, as mentioned above, owing to the embedded Web 2. Online marketing communication, in its simplest form, refers to hyperlinked graphical images that are displayed on a website, and, in recent years, may also include video, audio and a number of other innovative technologies.

The primary objectives of online marketing communication usually include creating brand awareness; generating consumer demand; providing information; stimulating traffic; building relationships; promoting two-way communication; giving customer service; establishing brand loyalty; creating WOM; generating leads and increasing sales Thomas, ; Stokes, Several of these objectives denote various elements of attitude components.

The expansion of different online marketing communication formats, in particular the swift growth of social network advertising SNA , suggests that organizations should be concerned about the attitudes of social media subscribers Cox, A number of recent international studies have considered various attitudinal responses toward social media marketing communications Gensler et al.

However, these studies mainly used young adults also known as Millennials or Generation Y as their research participants, with few considering teenagers. Furthermore, these enquires predominantly occurred in developed economies that have access to good infrastructure, fast broadband Internet speeds, high access levels and sound information technology. Consequently, their online usage characteristics and differing cultural influences may result in significantly different attitudes in comparison to developing countries such as South Africa.

However, the deleterious remnants of centuries of ethnic discrimination is still evident in society, economy, culture and politics, and will take many more decades to eradicate than only 20 years of democracy Fox and Lemon, ; Luthans et al.

The Black majority has the lowest average income, education and employment levels, and one in five live below the breadline, but a majority is still confident and optimistic about the future.

A sizable middle class group has emerged and continues to grow since South Africa became a democracy in The Black middle class has greater purchasing power than their White counterparts; access to private schooling and top universities and lucrative employment opportunities because of Black Economic Empowerment, Employment Equity and other Affirmative Action policies Luthans et al.

The new Black middle class is extremely aspirational and seeks status products such as luxury motor vehicles, expensive electronics and household appliances. Black consumers are culturally diverse as they speak different languages and display different beliefs and values Petzer and De Meyer, Nearly 9 per cent of South Africans are Colored 4.

Coloreds are slightly better off than Black Africans regarding income, education and employment levels, but many feel marginalized because they were not White enough during apartheid and not Black enough after apartheid Fox and Lemon, ; Luthans et al. White South Africans form 8.

The White minority have the highest average income, education and employment levels in comparison to the other ethnic groups. A majority are Indian and 3,50, are Chinese. South Africa has a young population, which is evident in many developing countries. Two-thirds are aged 34 years or younger Generation Z was the first cohort to have grown up in the post-apartheid era in South Africa and, consequently, this integrated multiracial cohort has greater opportunity than the previous generations.

This cohort attends racially mixed schools and has greater access to tertiary education and wealth creation despite the enduring socio-economic and political consequences of apartheid.

However, young South African consumers are extremely image conscious, which has resulted in conspicuous consumption, but are not self-obsessed and care about their future prospects Duh and Struwig, ; Tennant, Generation Z has more information available at their fingertips than any of the prior generations. Generation Z had Facebook profiles and Twitter accounts the moment they were born, so social media is as normal as breathing is to them Wharton University of Pennsylvania, Generation Z is able to multitask owing to their busy everyday life; show high degrees of creativity, expressiveness and individuality; desire immediacy without long waiting periods for consumption and is generally continually connected via mobile devices and other interactive ICT conduits.

These young consumers desire everything, everywhere and instantaneously. However, young consumers are able to quickly filter out boring and irrelevant messages, and rather focus their attention on more creative brand messages.

This generation is brand savvy and can rapidly discern unreliable brands Bevan-Dye and Dondolo, ; Barenblatt, ; Benhamou, ; Williams, For over a century, many advertising models to establish marketing communication objectives have been postulated to represent the attitude phases that consumers might experience before they make a purchase Barry, There has been rigorous debate regarding the use of single-component one-dimensional and multicomponent models of attitudes Bagozzi and Burnkrant, ; Barry, ; Weilbacher, ; Barry, ; Maio and Haddock, However, Bagozzi and Burnkrant and Barry found that multicomponent models are valid, and several advocates are in agreement that these models can be used to assess advertising Barry and Howard, ; Durvasula et al.

Furthermore, there are a myriad of studies Yoo et al. Hence, the multicomponent model of attitudes was adopted by this study. Ultimately, each attitude phase should be reached, but the stages are essentially not equidistant because consumers can progress though a number of stages concurrently or in a different sequence Lavidge and Steiner, Attitudes are relatively enduring, consistent and constant over time and, as described above, comprise three components: cognitive; affective and behavioral Hamidizadeh et al.

Attitudes toward advertising A ad is a frequently postulated theory that states positive attitudes toward advertising results in analogous attitudes toward the brands, which in turn have a favorable influence on purchase intention MacKenzie et al. Although, many other variables have been found to have an influence on the A ad , such as media usage, age, gender, ethnicity and even mood MacKenzie and Lutz, Furthermore, A ad has been considered to be an effective measure of advertising effectiveness Yoo et al.

A number of recent international investigations have examined several attitudinal responses toward various types of social media marketing communications. Gensler et al. Kumar et al. Malthouse et al. Tham et al. Lukka and James found a mixed range of attitudes, which were positive, negative or neutral toward SNA among Bangkok university students who were classified into three clusters accordingly. Murphy determined that social media resulted in user-generated content that influenced behavioral responses purchase intentions favorably among Generation Y respondents in Ireland.

Therefore, in summary, it is important to understand how young online consumers perceive SNA and factors that influence their attitudes because this will determine social media marketing communications content, and will assist to improve the effectiveness of online ICT strategies. This study also investigated a number of usage and demographic variables that influence attitude components. The investigation provides additional insight regarding whether social media marketing communications is perceived by young consumers in the same way as traditional advertising, from which these attitude models were developed, and expands the limited pool of knowledge in developing countries that will be valuable to both academics and organizations alike.

This study was empirical, whereby large samples of quantifiable data were collected from young consumers so that the results can be evaluated via statistical analysis to test a theory, which is examined against reality to solve practical research problems Wright, ; Zikmund and Babin, Hence, this inquiry used survey data to gauge the attitudes of Generation Z toward social marketing communications, which allowed for clearer distinctions from more traditional approaches that were used to effectively reach this group, and elaborated on previous theories on this topic.

This inquiry targeted year-old high school and college learners Generation Z who used and have observed social media marketing communications. The study used a double sampling method, which comprises several phases to draw a sample Birn, ; Blumberg et al. The research population is first divided into several groups; in this study the Western Cape Province was selected in South Africa.

Thereafter, the colleges and schools were phoned to obtain permission to perform the survey. Nearly learners from each college and high school were selected via systematic sampling, and were requested to participate in the study on a voluntary basis Gupta, ; Bhattacherjee, Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the respondents to immediately complete by themselves, which allowed for more accurate answers, because respondents were able to request assistance if they did not fully understand any of the questions, and completeness, because the fieldworker was able to quickly scan the questionnaire once it was returned De Vos et al.

Three questionnaires, one for each attitude component, did not ask the Generation Z respondents to identify or list any products or brands, but solely focused on determining their attitudes toward social media marketing communications.

The research questionnaires consisted of three sections. The next section comprised two eight-item constructs to ascertain one attitude component cognitive, affective or behavioral. A total of 35 fieldworkers two colleges or schools each collected the data on a face-to-face basis via the self-administered questionnaires, which resulted in an excellent response rate.

In this way 13, questionnaires were completed, and the data was captured, coded and analyzed via statistical package for the social sciences SPSS. The massive use of mobile devices among young consumers is a well-known trend that is supported by discourse both locally Andrews, ; Breitenbach, ; Harding, ; Jovago, and internationally Hardwick et al. This is a rational result because younger adolescents would have been using SNS for a shorter time frame owing to age restrictions on SNS such as Facebook Facebook, Generation Z primarily logged on to social media daily or several times a week Most South African teenagers spend h A majority of young consumers in South Africa update their social media profiles daily or weekly This usage variable has not been assessed in prior research, and hence, this study produced some original findings in terms of cross-analysis with the three attitude components that are elaborated upon in later text.

Female adolescents that use social media were in the ascendancy The older Generation Z members — year-olds collectively accounted for nearly 82 per cent of social media users, which is a logical result owing to the age restrictions of certain social media e. Facebook or the lack of Internet access in their early teens, which was mentioned in prior text. There is a lack of research within cohorts, as mandated by Bolton et al.

The population groups essentially duplicated the cultural diversity of teenagers who live in the Western Cape in South Africa; therefore, Black Table I offers a complete summary of usage and demographic variables of young consumers who use social media. Table II reveals that the initial attitude components, such as awareness and knowledge, display higher means that progressively decrease for each sequential attitudinal response toward social media marketing communications amid South African teenagers, until culminating in the eventual purchase.

This notion evidently mirrors the purchase funnel, which postulates that each attitude component becomes increasingly more demanding to achieve, with the number of potential consumers decreasing as they progress down the funnel, until the final primary marketing communication objective, namely purchase Safko, ; Belch and Belch, Though, the purchase funnel was developed via traditional media marketing communications research that is generally one-way communication, conversely, social media is primarily interactive in nature Ma and Liu, Therefore, this study empirically substantiates that in spite of the high levels of consumer engagement and two-way communication of social media among Generation Z; these interactive ICT platforms still adhere to the principles of communications effects pyramid.

Hence, this study demonstrates that social media marketing communications enables organizations and their brands to reach young consumers, particularly the notorious vacillating Generation Z. Several other international inquiries have considered various aspects of social media marketing communications related to different attitude components across a number of cohorts and industries. Schivinski and Dabrowski discovered that both user-generated and organizational social media brand communications positively affected awareness cognitive responses.

The study resulted in positive cognitive attitudinal responses regarding brand interaction in social media settings. Kabadayi and Price disclosed different types of individual and mass communication interaction on Facebook and personality traits influenced affective responses in the form of liking and comments among Millennial respondents in the USA.

Interactive communication like this recognizes the changes in the way consumers respond to advertising, according to the Journal of Interactive Advertising.

Consumers can now source their information on products and companies from other consumers via social networking sites, rather than just responding to marketing messages from manufacturers and retailers. A strategy based on personalized communication builds a one-to-one relationship between your company and individual consumers.

Personalized communications give consumers information on products or services that they are likely to be interested in. This indicates to consumers that you understand their needs and will not waste their time on irrelevant offers. Based in the United Kingdom, Ian Linton has been a professional writer since He holds a Bachelor of Arts in history and economics from Bristol University. By Ian Linton. Although while advertising is said to be more sophisticated in order to stimulate demand, consumers do fear the manipulative and subliminal techniques that is used Heath and Heath cited Pollay and Mittal It is possible for customers to feel positive or negative about a product or brand.

For example a tone of a voice, attractive colours, suitable music, style and so on. All these could be used to generate emotional disposition about a product or brand. Furthermore, conative component signifies the result of the cognitive and affective components whether to buy or not to buy the product Botha et al, These tools can be used to force behavioral change for example sales promotion prompts customers to try a product or brand, direct marketing promotes a response from customers and engages in interaction, and personal selling remind the customers about the benefits and persuade them to take positive actions.

However, sale promotion for example could be by given free samples of the product to customers or organize an open days where potential customers and their families partakes in trial sections. It has to be emphasized that attitude is often difficult to change, with a coordinated communication campaign, this can be changed overtime. For example, if a consumer is of the view that smoking kills, no amount of persuasive information or advertisement can change such believe.

The author will explain these below:. For instance, if a potential customer have a negative impression or misunderstand the benefits of a product, communication campaign could be done to correct this impression by changing the packaging or the name of the product. Also, marketing communication can be used to change consumer priorities.

For example, if customers are too focused on one feature of the service or product say price for example without recognizing the variety of benefits it gets, a communication campaign could be used to change this attitude.

Furthermore, marketing communication can be used to change the physical product element by modifying or reformulating the product. Lastly, change attributes priorities can be used to change attitudes that is, initiating a strategy to differentiate attribute can change attitudes.

For example, by stressing the importance of ethical organisations behaviour such as cause related marketing and giving back to the community or third world countries, over rival competitors who stresses on innovation.

Having gone through attitude formation and change,. One of the models is AIDA model which will be discussed below. Procter et al. Also, stated that it is a learn-feel-buy model of consumer responses to marketing communications. This also means consumers response to marketing communications based on what they know, feel about the product or brand then take action.

However, AIDA is one of the models of marketing communication based on a hierarchy of effects. Blythe states that AIDA is an easy model of consumer response to marketing communications and it stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. These are four steps marketing communicator needs to take customers through before they buy a product or brand. Developing interest and desire to buy a product or brand are parts in the affective component, that is, where positive attitude toward the product or service required.

The last stage is action which is the conative component where customers and potential customers take action, that is, to buy or not to buy the product. Yorke and Littler also assumed that progression logically through the AIDA stages is not always possible it depends on the product or service being offered and the target customers.

However, attitude influences purchase decision. In some cases exposure to certain brand s through advertisement message may tempt the consumer to purchase the product, if the consumer on the other hand is dissatisfied with the purchase, or does not match the expected promises or requirement from the advertisement, then a process known as dissonance occurs.