research proposal on the impact of social media on consumer behaviour

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The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumer Engagement in Sustainable Consumption: A Systematic Literature Review

Paweł bryła.

1 Department of International Marketing and Retailing, Faculty of International and Political Studies, University of Lodz, Narutowicza 59a, 90-131 Lodz, Poland

Shuvam Chatterjee

2 Doctoral School of Social Science, University of Lodz, Matejki 22/26, 90-297 Lodz, Poland

Beata Ciabiada-Bryła

3 Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Lodz, Zeligowskiego 7/9, 90-752 Lodz, Poland

Associated Data

Not applicable.

Social media have progressed drastically in building successful consumer engagement both in brand building and sustainable consumption. This paper is a review of the articles concerning the influence of social media marketing on consumer engagement in sustainable consumption practices published over the last 8 years. We follow the PRISMA technique as a methodological approach. The review investigates 70 empirical research articles published between 2014 and 2022. A total of 70% of the reviewed articles were published during the last two years. The most influential theories in this field of study are relationship marketing and consumer engagement (16 articles), social exchange (10), and sustainable consumption (8). The most commonly used methods are quantitative (in as many as 61 of the 70 reviewed articles). A careful analysis of the reviewed articles suggests that the tools that are consistently contributing to sustainable consumption are influencer marketing along with creating meaningful content with the right balance of content design, quality, and creativity, as well as the use of emojis. Consumer involvement with a brand relationship quality is key to a sustainable lifestyle. Young individuals with an entrepreneurial vision and a high drive for increased social status demonstrate the highest social media engagement in sustainable consumption.

1. Introduction

In today’s world of business, engagement in any form appears to be the buzzword [ 1 ]. Consumers expect brands to connect with them more on an emotional level than just selling their products and services. This depicts a shift from a transactional marketing perspective to a more in-demand relationship focus approach [ 2 , 3 ]. Consumer engagement happens to receive major attention from marketers if they think of building a long-term relationship with their consumers, which will help them secure brand awareness [ 4 , 5 ] and loyalty toward their brands [ 6 ]. Marketing practitioners across the globe have realized the significant potential of investing time in the digital space considering a variety of social media platforms [ 7 , 8 ]. The same has been certified by the Marketing Science Institute [ 9 ], which has included consumer engagement as their top priority for the coming years in delivering top-notch customer value. Bhattacharjee [ 10 ] discussed how the digital space comprising social media tools would have projected estimated spending of more than USD 750 billion by 2025. Consumer engagement is a multifaceted approach comprising the cognitive, behavioral, and affective aspects of the brand–consumer relationship [ 11 , 12 ].

Past studies have suggested that it is consumer engagement that acts as the initiator for brands building a long-term relationship with their consumers [ 13 ]; often, on most occasions, under its presence, consumers tend to demonstrate a favorable attitude toward the brands as well [ 14 ]. Lim et al. [ 6 ] have suggested consumer engagement as an emerging topic, which has progressed rapidly over the past decade. Hence, it is important to have an overview of past studies to build up a future trajectory to enrich our understanding of the concepts of consumer engagement in social media marketing. Several reviews have appeared in the literature over the last few years. Some of them were focusing on the implications of the managerial perspective and building a connection through social media from a B2B standpoint [ 15 , 16 ], whereas other reviews focused on the various theories adopted in the literature [ 17 ]. Reviews from the domain perspective, such as hospitality and tourism [ 18 ], were also apparently visible. Haider et al. [ 19 ] discussed the importance of sustainable consumption from the micro, meso, and macro levels to practice a better quality of life by training consumers in thoughtful consumption [ 20 ] and providing them with better infrastructural instruments. A systematic review by Fischer et al. [ 21 ] guides us on building communication as an integral tool for practicing sustainable consumption.

Epstein [ 22 ] discussed sustainable consumption as a consumer’s long-term awareness of consequences to the natural or social environment, often expressed through words such as environmentally friendly or socially friendly consumption behavior [ 23 ]. Although this field has developed intensely in recent years, nevertheless, the implementation of sustainable consumption by consumer engagement through social media is still in its nascent state. Green thinkers are individuals with a more conscious approach and responsible intentions and decision making when it comes to environmental issues [ 24 ]. De Morais et al. [ 25 ] discussed how consumers with selfless concerns for others’ well-being and culture are shaping the motives for sustainable consumption through social media. Consumers engaged in deeper participation in social media are actively trying to promote green buying for sustainable consumption. Kong et al. [ 26 ] suggest that high-end brand advertisers on social media should be respectful of consumers’ cultural orientation in building sustainable consumption interaction. Xia et al. [ 27 ] suggested how sustainable resource management by encouraging environmental innovation could contribute to improved performance for sustainable corporations through social media networks. Finally, Zafar et al. [ 28 ] suggest how a personalized advertisements approach attracts consumers to a sustainable purchase decision in social media networks.

To understand the popularity of social media as an effective tool to build consumer engagement in the sustainable consumption environment, catching the diversity and depth of the current research in this genre, a more detailed systematic review combining the future untapped research directions along with the research questions to clarify those dimensions is of utmost need. This review tries to bridge this gap by discussing the themes that emerged along with the characteristics portrayed over the last eight years, thus paving the way for future research questions and research directions for social media marketing researchers involved in consumer engagement in the social media brand community.

This work is an illustrative overview of articles on the social media brand communities involving consumer engagement with a special focus on (1) the various research methodological approaches and variables identified over this span of eight years, (2) research theories supporting previous research, and (3) future research directions along with research questions to assist social media marketing scholars in conducting fruitful and relevant research in this field.

This review provides insights into several research questions:

1. What are the characteristics of the recent literature on social media consumer engagement in sustainable consumption in terms of theories, contexts, and methods?

2. How was consumer engagement in social media brand communities operationalized in research models (independent or dependent variable, control, or moderator)?

3. What further investigations could be conducted by scholars into consumer engagement and building sustainable consumption through social media?

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. The following section presents the literature review methodology. Subsequent sections include a substantive analysis of the research studies included in this review and discussion, including limitations, future research directions, and a conclusion.

2. Materials and Methods

The approach followed for this study is a meta-textual review further allowing the identification and extraction of the pertinent information on subjects of relevance from published research and assessing the literature [ 29 ]. This approach has the following goals:

(i) To assess relevant and quality articles focused on consumer engagement with a direct intervention with social media marketing.

(ii) To formulate an integrative framework providing a holistic understanding of the impact of social media marketing on consumer engagement in sustainable consumption.

(iii) To identify the research gaps in the literature and provide future research directions.

A systematic literature review is evidence of the previous literature that accurately and reliably analyzes the quality of peer-reviewed journals following some preferred reporting items and consisting of a meta-analytical structure (PRISMA) [ 30 ]. PRISMA is a structured review protocol, which provides a four-phase flow diagram representing the sample identification for screening and then for eligibility testing and the final demonstration of the studies included in the review. The logic for choosing PRISMA lies in its comprehensiveness and its potential to provide more consistency across its reviews. To conduct this review, four steps were followed, namely, (1) establishing the inclusion–exclusion criteria for study selection, (2) identifying relevant quality studies, (3) evaluating the literature, and (4) reporting the findings.

The sample search strategy and identification involve three activities, namely, (a) searching appropriate keywords, (b) assessing the relevance, and (c) assessing the quality.

2.1. Assessing Appropriateness of the Search Keywords

The data search was executed using a prominent multidisciplinary database of peer-reviewed research literature, Web of Science. Li et al. [ 31 ] discussed the usability of this database gaining increasing popularity in scientific instruments across countries and knowledge domains.

The search strings were created by regrouping the chosen keywords into three specific categories. The first category covers terms representing consumer engagement, and the second category is formulated using the influence of social media marketing. Finally, the third category investigates the sustainable consumption category. The search strings are presented in Figure 1 .

Identification of initial inclusion criteria for articles in this review. Note: * in the search string denotes that different word endings following this symbol are included in the search.

The keywords were mainly searched in the titles, abstracts, and/or keyword sections, and consequently, 7652 articles were identified from the search process. Considering the appropriateness of the journals and limiting the time according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria set, a total of 1684 articles were identified, as shown in Figure 1 .

2.2. Assessing Relevance

Initial sorting of the articles’ titles and abstracts led to the exclusion of articles that did not focus on consumer engagement and social media marketing in the context of sustainable consumption. We excluded papers on the grounds of trade publications, editorial handbooks, overlapping studies in close contexts of consumer engagement, and dissertations, to ensure further homogeneity.

The rationale for the sample considering research papers after 2014 is manifold. First, the study tries to acknowledge the recent trends of methodologies and to understand the recent shift in research methods and techniques. Moreover, the context of studies has significantly varied from understanding consumer engagement in brands to hospitality, to influencers and their social media activities involving consumer engagement. Hence, this present study would primarily focus on understanding these pattern shifts.

Finally, 265 articles were selected for deeper reading, allowing us to discard 88 working papers. After these steps, the resulting sample consisted of 177 articles.

2.3. Assessing Quality

Many a time, an article seems relevant, but it might lack quality. Hence, a consistent focus on peer-reviewed and high-quality journals was chosen along with journal ranking criteria based on the Association of Business Studies (ABS) Journal Quality Guide and only included top journals ranked as 4*, 4, and 3 to generate high-quality articles. This refinement process led to inclusion of 70 articles in this systematic review ( Figure 2 ). A study by Mingers and Yang [ 32 ] suggested from a sample of over four hundred research articles from the ABS journal ranking list that the standard mean impact factor was around 1.25. Hence, for this study, we accommodated articles with an IF of at least 1.5 and above. Rowlinson et al. [ 33 ] suggested that ABS-ranked articles (above 3) defined quality levels as internationally excellent in terms of originality and rigor, which set up the base for our study to have articles listed in ABS 3 and above.

Flowchart of the study selection process regarding relevance and quality of the initially selected studies.

3. General Overview of Articles Included in This Review

3.1. publication trends.

The year-wise distribution of articles presented in Figure 3 witnesses a sharp rise in the number of articles on consumer engagement within the context of social media in the last two years (i.e., 2021 and 2022). This implies that consumer engagement is gaining popularity and witnessing a growth phase in terms of the number of articles published in the area. In the last two years, the number of published articles increased so much that more than 65% of the total studies were published in the last two years.

The number of articles included in this review by the year of publication.

3.2. Classification of Articles

To measure the progress of the impact of social media marketing on consumer engagement, we classified the empirical studies [ 16 ] into either qualitative (which bring out results where the primary data points are non-numeric) or quantitative or mixed methods. Out of the 70 articles studied, we figured out that only 7 studies adopted a qualitative path, while 2 studies adopted a mixed method approach. However, most of the articles were based on research through a quantitative approach (61 articles).

4. Meta-Textual Method

4.1. theories.

Consumer engagement in the context of social media has gained momentum across various theoretical contexts from various disciplines to showcase its effects. The study identifies 57 studies that have employed at least one theory. Here, we discuss the most applied theories in consumer engagement ( Table 1 ).

Theories used in studies on consumer engagement in social media in the context of sustainable consumption.

4.1.1. Relationship Marketing and Consumer Engagement

This section deals with the combined interrelated theories of relationship marketing and consumer engagement, which account for 25% of the total studies (16 studies). According to Pansari and Kumar [ 76 ], consumer engagement has shaped out to be one of the crucial elements in contemporary marketing, with its direct effects on relationship marketing. Further, they discuss that emotion and satisfaction are the main pillars of consumer engagement. Moreover, they conclude that engagements can only be nurtured if consumers tend to show belongingness toward the brand and form relationships in due process. Gómez et al. [ 34 ] suggest that consumer engagement is stronger with social media brand engagement than just brand communication. Ma et al. [ 12 ] suggest how strong brand engagement in the form of posts, tweets, and continuous interaction with consumers contributes to relationship building impacting the consumer’s behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement.

4.1.2. Social Exchange

The social exchange theory, which enlists psychology, sociology, and economics [ 77 ], has also been witnessed among consumer engagement theories (16%, 10 studies). The essence of this theory is to understand the focus for consumers to get involved through social media marketing [ 78 ]. According to Zhao and Chen [ 42 ], consumers tend to develop a more psychological bond when they are satisfied with the brand and its involvement in marketing. Consumers derive perceived benefits and satisfaction responses by engaging in social media activities [ 45 ]. A study by Kim and Baek [ 47 ] suggests the impact of influencers in engaging consumers and building a network of relationships.

4.1.3. Sustainable Consumption

The sustainability theory is highly visible in online consumer engagement through social media in the recent past, as consumers tend to become extremely aware of their purchases having an environmental impact. This pushes the demand for increased green sustainable brands [ 79 ]. Kong et al. [ 26 ] discussed how effective sustainable communication is in selling luxury products, keeping the cultural orientation of the consumers in mind at the same time. Nekmahmud et al. [ 53 ] suggested that online consumers’ need to engage with a positive attitude towards green products, which would have a strong association with sustainable consumption. Further, socio-environmental and socio-economic thoughts play a crucial role in building sustainable brand performance [ 27 ]. Zafar et al. [ 28 ] attempt to understand the importance of crafted personalized advertisements playing a significant role in consumers’ sustainable purchase intentions.

4.1.4. Uses and Gratification

Katz et al. [ 80 ] discussed the uses and gratification theory to understand how communication occurs through mass media. This theory concentrates on understanding users’ selection of media based on their goals to cater to specific needs. With the invention of social media, this theory now focuses on understanding the user’s choice and use of the internet. The theory has been consistently used in consumer engagement behavior across social media (seven studies, 10%). The studies talk about consumers’ engagement in participation in social media, including the cognitive and social benefits along with personal achievements in having pleasurable experiences derived from social media interactions. Bailey et al. [ 59 ] discuss consumer socialization motivation and participation in social media engagement, which would yield results in achieving brand and marketing goals [ 60 ].

4.1.5. Other Theories

In addition to the theories discussed, the study also explains specific behavior, which is categorized in “other theories”, which account for 25% of the studies (16 studies). For example, Liu et al. [ 75 ] discuss the trust transfer theory, where consumer engagement plays a significant role in brand trust. Additionally, Lourenço et al. [ 74 ] introduced the expectancy theory, which underlines the consumer engagement dimension operational scales for measuring the level of consumer engagement.

4.2. Context

This section discusses the countries involved in the analyzed sample. The findings indicate that Europe is the biggest contributor to this study, with 31 of the 70 studies (44%). This reflects that the European countries, mainly the UK, France, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands, dominate the papers related to consumer engagement in sustainable consumption within the social media marketing context. Asia, surprisingly, is the second biggest contributor to this research stream (25 studies, 35% of the total empirical papers studied), followed by the USA—19 studies (27%)—and other countries. It is noted that, unlike social science, the contexts are predominantly set in the more emerging Asian market. The feasible logic is the extensive economic and technological advancements witnessed in the Asian market in the last eight years. The study also finds that there will be ample scope for future researchers in the context of consumer engagement through social media in the South American market. Emerging markets, such as Brazil, did not showcase enough contribution in this domain of study. Hence, future research should focus on these markets. Additionally, the researchers would advise future researchers in this field to focus on cross-country consumer engagements in social media; culture would play a significant role in such studies ( Table 2 ).

Articles included in the review by country.

4.3. Methods

In this section, we will discuss the articles reviewed through the prism of the research approaches and analytical techniques adopted to assess the relationships investigated in consumer engagement research. Table 3 and Table 4 demonstrate the data collection techniques and analysis techniques used in consumer engagement, respectively. Surveys are the most used quantitative method. Other methods encountered are content analysis and latent profile analysis. Concerning data analysis techniques, structural equation modeling (SEM) is the most used research tool, accounting for 42% of the total quantitative studies, followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), accounting for 37% of the studies. However, it is to be noted that 10% of the studies in consumer engagement have adopted a combination of qualitative methods, such as in-depth interviews, observational research, netnography, and Google Vision AI. We observed the emergence of netnography as a methodological tool, which is a refined version of ethnographic research occurring in social media communities [ 68 ]. Most of the studies initiated conducted surveys through online and social media platforms.

Methodologies adopted in consumer engagement research.

Data analysis techniques adopted in the reviewed articles.

We believe that consumer engagement studies would benefit immensely from conducting more longitudinal studies testing relationships over a period of time. Additionally, there is a lack of studies picking up the experimental method approach to understand a more trusted consumer engagement on social media platforms. Our research validates a greater scope of a mixed-method approach for conducting studies in consumer engagement.

5. Variables Used in the Reviewed Research Studies

This section reviews the various independent, moderating, control, and dependent variables in consumer engagement studies influenced by social media marketing and their associated relationships that were tested to unfold certain phenomena concerning these variables (see Table 5 ).

Variables investigated in social media consumer engagement research in the context of sustainable consumption.

5.1. Independent Variables

The independent variables include cognitive and affective states (8 articles, 12% of the study), their relationship with brands, and consumer engagement (14 articles, 22% of studies) in the tune of social media marketing. The various mental states as demonstrated by consumers include perceived benefits from the brand and behavioral outcomes in building value co-creation and research integration. Consumer-related variables contribute to the understanding of engagement through interaction, advocacy, and connecting with the brand and trust. Social-media-related variables try to test the strength of attachment, having faith in social media channels, and the various follow-up techniques effectively used (tweet reposts, likes, comments) to build consumer engagement. Finally, brand-related variables try to focus on building consumer appeal and brand engagement activities, developing persuasiveness and brand trust, and enriching the brand’s global identity.

5.2. Dependent Variables

Our investigation of the dependent variables reveals that most of the studies focus on intentional or behavioral consumer engagement and relationship-based outcomes as well. The intentional and behavioral outcome validates consumers’ word of mouth, feedback, and recommendations along with participation in community engagements. The focus also lies in analyzing social media and brand marketers’ posts from an emotional perspective. It also judges the purchase intention of consumers. The relationship-based outcomes deal with the various engagement activities consumers and brands perform, such as frequent likes and comments of the posts along with sharing them on social media networks. There are then consumer-related variables focusing on the attitude and purchase intentions of consumers, with an overall brand experience, which finally leads to purchase decisions for consumers as well. Finally, consumer-related variables leading to sustainable consumption contribute to green buying intentions, a clear psychological state of well-being, being thought of as an environmental activist, and making a sustainable purchase decision.

5.3. Control Variables

Our research on control variables comprises mainly brand or marketer-related and consumer-related control variables. The consumer-related variables discuss the demographic origin of the consumer along with analyzing his/her activities on the networking sites. Additionally, visual perceptions, the timing of posts, and brand familiarity with social networking sites play a crucial role. The brand/marketer-related variables focus on building a buzz about their products and services, thereby maintaining the brand community engagement along with building favorable brand attachments.

5.4. Moderating Variables

Finally, the moderating variables consist of consumer-related and brand-related variables. The consumer-related variables come from culture playing a significant role in consumers’ engagement with the brand over social media, while the brand-related variables include the topic and modality of the posts in social media networks.

6. Discussion

6.1. limitations.

One of the limitations is related to the extremely fast changing social media landscape. Every high-quality indexed journal approves a research paper after considerable time spent by the reviewers understanding the paper’s quality, rigor, and contribution to the research community. Hence, during that review time, further developments can occur in the field of consumer engagement under social media influence, thereby creating a gap where the present researchers fail to accommodate the most recent articles. Second, this review followed strict guidelines to ensure a stringent process of selecting journal articles [ 86 , 87 ]. Hence, because of narrowing down the search criteria to accommodate articles complying with consumer engagement in a social media context, the review might have missed overlapping or close concepts in the literature, such as consumer engagement in a B2B context [ 16 ] or interactions in social CRM [ 88 ]. Third, social media, if not used effectively by organization salespersons, can often become a tool for exploitation, thereby resulting in consumers interpreting information and communication messages inappropriately. Fourth, “technostress”, as studied by Tarafdar et al. [ 89 ], could lead to stress due to spending excessive screen time on social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) and further contribute to improper time management skills by both firm employees and consumers.

6.2. Future Research Directions

A direction for future research is an important lookout for systematic reviews [ 86 ]. Based on our review of the findings of research conducted on consumer engagement in social media networks, we noted multiple channels where we would highly encourage future research to occur. Researchers have made noteworthy progress in understanding the role of social media networks in communicating information in the business market. However, Maier et al. [ 90 ] discussed that salespersons loaded with excessive information may experience a feeling of discomfort. Hence, future research should follow the direction of understanding the optimum information chain, which would not create fatigue for the message recipients.

Second, it would be interesting to find out to what extent cross-country cultural differences influence the functioning of consumer engagement in social media networks with the use of the Hofstede [ 91 ] model and redefining the marketing strategies ensuring societal well-being by executing mindful consumption [ 19 ].

Third, it will be interesting to understand the consumer sentiment toward social media networks in building engagement in green consumption. Researchers could deploy analytical methods to forecast future consumer engagement in social media networks, measuring constructs such as the strength of the attachment and the total revenues generated for the firm through liking and sharing of tweets. Finally, future research could be carried out to understand how consumer engagement in sustainable consumption could be stimulated in social media networks in developing countries, such as Brazil, Indonesia, and India. This is because countries such as India and Brazil are dominating social networking sites [ 92 ], and hence, diversified fresh research looking for a varied research focus is much needed to understand the growth of social-media-based consumer engagement strategies.

7. Conclusions

This study constitutes an attempt to assess the state of the art in the hyper-dynamic field of social media consumer engagement in sustainable consumption. We analyzed research articles that examined the role of social media networks in engaging consumers to become attracted to a sustainable brand or product. We believe that this review will enable the scholarly community to initiate and conduct relevant research in this vital emerging research area.

According to our results, the investigated research area is gaining a rapidly increasing interest in the scientific community, as evidenced by the number of studies published. A total of 49 articles included in this review were published during the last two years. Twelve appeared in 2020 and only nine in the period of 2014–2019.

Most of the reviewed studies have been published in Europe (44%), followed by Asia (35%), and the USA (27%).

The most influential theories in this field of study are relationship marketing and consumer engagement (16 articles), social exchange (10), and sustainable consumption (8).

The most commonly used methods are quantitative (in as many as 61 of the 70 reviewed articles). The prevalent data analysis techniques are SEM (28 studies), CFA/EFA (23), and various regression models (16).

A careful analysis of the reviewed articles suggests that the tools that are consistently contributing to sustainable consumption are influencer marketing [ 73 ] along with creating meaningful content with the right balance of content design, quality, and creativity. Moreover, the meaningful use of emojis [ 69 ] is gaining immense popularity among social media practitioners for building sustainable marketing consumption through a rapid increase in likes and comments in the posts [ 44 ] and an array of text characteristics with emojis [ 64 ].

The review led to the conclusion that consistent and disciplined consumer involvement [ 49 ] with a steady brand relationship quality [ 34 ] is key to a sustainable lifestyle and behavior contributing to sustainable consumption.

This systematic review is a work that draws attention to the consumer segments, which are prone to adopting new technologies [ 48 ]. Young individuals [ 51 ] with an entrepreneurial vision [ 54 ] and a high drive for increased social status [ 25 ] are seen as actively involved in social media engagement in sustainable consumption. One very important observation that came out from this review is that consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions toward social-media-based brand marketing activities depend largely on the consumers’ generation, and hence, all activities need to be fine-tuned respecting and understanding the age profile of the target audience [ 82 ].

Funding Statement

This research received no external funding.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, P.B. and B.C.-B.; methodology, S.C.; formal analysis, S.C.; writing—original draft preparation, S.C.; writing—review and editing, P.B. and B.C.-B.; visualization, P.B. and S.C.; supervision, P.B. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

• DOI: 10.33545/26648792.2024.v6.i1f.183
• Corpus ID: 246825524

Impact of social media on consumer behaviour

• Vishnu Cp , Sudharsan R , Dr. B Keerthana
• Published in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF… 1 January 2024

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13 References

The impact of social networks on consumers' behaviors, adoption of social media by online retailers: assessment of current practices and future directions, customer engagement, buyer‐seller relationships, and social media, effects of word-of-mouth versus traditional marketing: findings from an internet social networking site, the field behind the screen: using netnography for marketing research in online communities, newspaper reports and consumer choice: evidence from the do not call registry, mit sloan school of management, marketing across cultures, development of a scale to measure consumer skepticism toward advertising, self-referencing and persuasion: narrative transportation versus analytical elaboration, related papers.

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Impact of Social Media on Consumer Behavior

In the digital age, understanding consumer behavior is central to business success. It directly shapes decisions, from setting organizational goals to marketing strategies. This understanding becomes dynamic and ever-changing with the increasing interactions of consumers on social media. 

This is why, in today's tech-driven environment, businesses that grasp the intricacies of consumer behavior have a competitive edge. This understanding not only influences organizational strategies but also fosters innovation in product development, aligning offerings with consumer preferences.

As online interactions on social media platforms continue to surge, staying attuned to evolving consumer behavior is not merely advantageous — it's a necessity for sustained growth and relevance.

In this blog, we’ll be exploring the intricate link between social media and consumer behavior, offering practical tips and valuable tools to navigate this evolving landscape. So, let’s first begin by unravelling the meaning of today’s topic.

What is social media consumer behavior? 

How does social media impact consumer behavior , tips to influence consumer behavior to facilitate social selling  , social media tools to track customer behavior  .

Social media consumer behavior is the study of how individuals and groups use social media platforms to discover, evaluate, purchase and advocate for products, services or brands. It's essentially about understanding the choices consumers make in the digital world that are driven by the interactions, content and influences they encounter on social media. 

Something worth noting is that the introduction of new platforms, features and technologies continuously reshapes the way consumers engage with brands and make decisions.  

A few examples of how social media continues to redefine consumer behavior are given below: 

• Augmented reality 
• FAQ chatbots for instant product inquiries  
• Immersive 360-degree product showcases 

To thrive in today's business landscape, it's essential to not just follow current customer experience trends but also anticipate and adapt to what lies ahead. This forward-thinking approach not only helps businesses in staying competitive but also positions them as thinkers and innovators in the ever-evolving realm of digital consumer behavior.  

Learn More: Future of Social Media: Top Trends to Watch for 2024  

Now, let’s explore the multifaceted impact of social media on consumer behavior. By delving into these insights, we'll uncover the intricate web of connections between social media platforms and the choices, decisions and preferences of today's digital consumers. 

1. Product discovery 

Social media acts as a massive virtual marketplace where users discover new products or services through posts, reviews and recommendations from their connections. The ease of access to a wide array of offerings makes it a prime platform for product discovery. 

Engagement strategies: You can leverage this by creating engaging content that showcases your brand's products or services. This approach encourages customers to share their experiences, transforming them into brand advocates .   

These advocates will not only endorse your brand but also become your vocal supporters, sharing their positive experiences with their own social circles, thereby amplifying the brand's reach and credibility. 

Related Read: 9 Ways to Boost your Brand's Share of Voice on Social Media

2. Influencers

Influencer marketing has the potential to sway consumer choices and behaviors. An influencer's endorsements and authentic reviews on social media can heavily influence purchasing decisions. When an influencer vouches for a product, their followers often listen.  

Engagement strategies: You can collaborate with influencers in your niche to promote your products. For this, you can provide influencers with products or services in exchange for honest reviews or endorsements.  

This influencer marketing strategy will help your brand tap into the influencer's dedicated and engaged audience, expanding your reach and gaining credibility within their target market.  

  Find Out: Social Media Engagement: What You Need to Know!  

3. Social proof 

Social media platforms are a hotbed of social proof , where consumers gauge the popularity and credibility of a product or service based on likes, shares and comments. Positive social proof can significantly impact purchase decisions. 

Engagement strategies: You can encourage customers to leave reviews, share their experiences and rate products on multiple platforms. These positive social proofs could potentially influence consumer choices and patterns, as buyers often rely on the opinions and feedback of their peers when making purchase decisions.  

Additionally, by actively engaging with customer reviews, companies can build trust and loyalty among their customer base, fostering lasting relationships that go beyond individual transactions. 

Read This: A Definitive Guide on Review Management  

4. Feedback and reviews 

Consumers take to social media to share their experiences with products and services. These candid reviews and feedback serve as valuable resources for potential buyers, influencing their choices. 

Engagement strategies: You can actively engage with customers by responding to their queries and complaints on social media and addressing both positive and negative comments on your posts. This shows that your brand values customer opinions and is committed to improving.  

This proactive approach not only addresses immediate concerns but also demonstrates transparency and a customer-centric approach . It further improves your brand's reputation by building a positive perception among both existing and potential customers.  

How to build a brand reputation management plan  

🔍Assess current reputation  

Conduct audits on all online channels. Monitor social media, reviews and forums for mentions and sentiments. 

🎯Set clear objectives  

Define what a good reputation means for your brand. Identify specific goals like improving review scores or increasing positive mentions. 

🎲Develop a response strategy  

Create guidelines for handling both positive and negative feedback. Train your team on consistent, brand-aligned communication. 

🤝Engage proactively  

Regularly post valuable content that reflects your brand’s values and voice. 

📈Monitor and measure  

Use social listening tools to track mentions, sentiment and engagement across platforms. Regularly review key social media metrics to gauge progress towards your reputation objectives. 

Worth Knowing: How to Maintain a Positive Brand Image on Social Media    

5. Fear of missing out (FOMO) 

Social media is a breeding ground for FOMO. Scrolling through posts of friends enjoying new products or experiences can spark a sense of urgency, driving consumers to make impulsive purchasing decisions. 

Engagement strategies: You can leverage FOMO by creating content that creates a sense of urgency among visitors, such as limited-time offers, flash sales or exclusive deals for social media followers. 

You don’t want to miss this: 10+ Ideas for Social Media Posts That Move the Needle  

You can strategically use persuasive language and compelling visuals to amplify FOMO, driving immediate action from their audience and fostering a sense of excitement and anticipation around your brands and products. 

In the world of social selling , where business and social engagement intertwine, the following strategies will help you influence consumer behavior. 

1. Leverage user-generated content (UGC)  

Encourage your customers to share their experiences with your products or services on social media. UGC acts as an authentic endorsement that resonates with potential buyers. 

Use the following to leverage UGC to make a social impact: 

• Create dedicated hashtags : Craft branded hashtags specific to your products or campaigns. Encourage your customers to use these hashtags when sharing their experiences. This not only organizes UGC but also boosts brand visibility. 
• Repost UGC: Share user-generated content on your brand's social media profiles. Reposting customer content not only acknowledges their support but also creates a sense of community around your brand. 

Example: A customer posts a photo on Instagram wearing your brand's clothing while using your branded hashtag. You share their post on your brand's Instagram account, showcasing their positive experience. 

Dive Deeper: How to Leverage User-Generated Content to Drive Engagement & Conversions on Social Media  

2. Build trust through transparency  

Be open and honest in your interactions on social platforms. Social media transparency builds trust, and trust is the foundation of consumer loyalty. 

Use the following tips to build trust among your social audience: 

• Share behind-the-scenes content : Offer glimpses behind the curtain. Showcasing your workspace, production processes or even employee stories can humanize your brand. 
• Highlight values and your mission: Regularly communicate your company's values and mission. Explain what you stand for and how you're working toward a better future. 
• Address customer inquiries openly : When customers have questions or concerns, address them openly and promptly. This demonstrates your commitment to customer satisfaction. 

Example: If you run a cosmetics company, you can build trust by regularly posting videos on YouTube and showing how your products are made, emphasizing the use of natural and sustainable ingredients. This transparency resonates with environmentally conscious consumers. 

3. Harness the power of social listening

Strategically investing in advanced social listening tools like Sprinklr rating and review management can be a game-changer for your business. Such tools offer a comprehensive view of what customers are saying about your brand and your competitors, providing invaluable insights that can drive better conversions and customer satisfaction. By harnessing the power of social listening you not only gain a deep understanding of consumer sentiment but also uncover opportunities to refine your products, services and marketing strategies.

Use the insights you gain from social listening to tailor your content and engagement strategies. Address customer concerns, answer questions and pivot your content to align with their preferences. 

Example: Your social listening tool alerts you to a trending conversation about the need for more sustainable packaging. In response, you announce on Twitter that your company is transitioning to eco-friendly packaging, which will align with your customers’ values. 

4. Create engaging content  

Craft content that resonates with your target audience . Engaging, relatable content not only grabs attention but also encourages sharing, which will expand your reach. Use the following tips to create engaging social media content: 

Go pro:  Learn everything about Social Media Content Creation  

• Provide value or entertainment: Your content should either offer value, such as informative articles or helpful tips, or entertain through humor or storytelling. Engaging content adds to your brand's personality and appeal. 

By leveraging solutions like Sprinklr's social media automation platform , you gain the ability to seamlessly plan, manage and measure your brand's content performance across 30+ social media platforms. With such comprehensive control over your social content, you can create a cohesive and impactful social media strategy that resonates with your diverse audience.   

Example: You manage a food blog on Facebook. Instead of just posting recipes, you can create short cooking tutorial videos that not only showcase your recipes but also provide step-by-step guidance, making it easy for your audience to follow along. 

Now, let's explore the tools that can aid you on your journey to track and understand customer behavior on social media. 

Looking for more social selling strategies?  

Look no further than our comprehensive e-book “Accelerating Social Selling with Conversational Commerce” that covers:  

• The basics of conversational commerce  
• Goal setting for customers in different journey stages  
• Strategies to leverage AI in driving conversions  

Go, grab the eBook and multiply your social selling revenue now 👇  

Social media keeps evolving, and it is therefore important to utilize tools to keep track of the changing social media trends in your niche, considering the startling number of people who use social media. Here are some essential tools to help you keep track of changing consumer behavior:  

Social listening tools  

By utilizing social listening tools, you can effectively monitor social media platforms for brand mentions and relevant keywords. These tools provide valuable insights into what people are saying about your brand, industry or specific topics. 

You can create alerts for specific keywords, industry trends or relevant topics to stay updated on conversations that matter to your business. Additionally, social media listening allows you to:   

• Identify shifts in consumer preferences and behavior in real time 
• Adapt your strategies 
• Create relevant content 
• Engage with your audience effectively 

 This strategy ensures your brand remains at the forefront of industry developments. 

Social monitoring tools

Social media monitoring platforms offer a streamlined way to manage and monitor multiple social media accounts from a centralized dashboard. This simplifies the process of tracking customer engagement, responses and overall online presence. 

With these tools, you can: 

• Keep a close eye on engagement metrics including likes, comments and shares, to assess the performance of your content   
• Swiftly respond to comments, messages and inquiries, fostering a sense of community and trust around your brand   
• Address any issues or concerns promptly, enhancing customer satisfaction   

Find Out the Difference: Social Listening vs. Social Monitoring  

Analytics tools

Every major social media platform provides its own set of analytics tools, such as Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics. These tools offer valuable data on post-performance, audience demographics and engagement metrics. 

Dive into the data to understand which types of content resonate most with your audience. Utilize social media demographic insights to fine-tune your targeting strategies and deliver content that speaks directly to your audience's preferences.  

Basic analytics tools no longer suffice! So, check out Top 7 Social Media Analytics Tools [Best Rated 2024]  

Hashtag tracking tools 

Hashtag tracking tools serve as valuable resources for tracking the performance of hashtags relevant to your industry or brand. These tools enable you to identify trending topics and optimize your content strategy accordingly.  

You can experiment with various social media hashtags and closely monitor their performance to determine which ones yield the best results. Thereafter, you can incorporate trending and effective hashtags into your posts to increase visibility and engagement.  

Final thoughts  

To thrive in the current social media era, businesses must not only adapt but also actively engage with evolving consumer behavior. Staying relevant to the changing trends and patterns in consumer behavior is one the most important aspects of business success.  

AI-driven tools, such as Sprinklr Social , help you in effectively managing your content on multiple platforms, and they provide strategic insights to convert your users into advocates. With this particular tool’s robust features and findings, you can optimize your social media marketing strategies on the go and create a compelling and influential presence in the digital landscape. Not convinced? Take a free trial and watch the results first-hand 👇 

Get the social management tool that does it all

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Bachelor's thesis IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR – Decision Making Process

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For any business to thrive in this era, it has to embrace social media in its marketing strategy combination as a critical element of business operations. The strength of the customer relationships is through uniting communications across the entire business, from 6 marketing and sales to customer service and operations. Cheri Husney in Guth, D. J .(2021) is asserts that even if one uses the traditional marketing platforms like seminar, the exercise becomes more fulfilling and effective when followed by social media platforms like tweeter, SMS, and others. A business must engage hybrid marketing approach of including online and traditional marketing. This helps the business to optimize the scarce recourse for best results. Integration of social media marketing to other core business process enables greater yields (Bae, Il-Hyun, Zamrudi, M.F., 2018). This approach strikes a balance between the positives impacts of conventional marketing like: ease, faster and cheap way of reaching mass customers, instant feedback, market intelligence and proactive enablement among others, yet traditional marketing approaches bring in positives impacts like: the ability to reach prospects that are off online or not any social media, control of people’s feedback, focused customer reach and others. Furthermore, elements in a marketing mix complement and generate information of one another. Data security and information control must be handled with lots vigilance and with caution.

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THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ON CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR WITH RELATIONSHIP QUALITY AS AN INTERVENING VARIABLE: CASE STUDY ON ERIGO CLOTHING BRAND

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