The Use of Social Media Platforms for Advertisement Among Youths
Chapter One
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To find out the consumption habits of advertisements by the general public on social media among youth
- To establish the general level of awareness on the importance of social media as an advertising tool among youth
- To examine the effectiveness of social media advertisements in influencing buying decisions among youth
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
introduction
According to Belch and Belch (2009: v), the world is experiencing the most dynamic and revolutionary changes of any era in the history of marketing as well as advertising. They went on to say that these changes are being driven by advances in technology and developments that have led to the rapid growth of communication through interactive media, particularly the internet. Advertising is one of the beneficiaries of this changing landscape in marketing as exemplified by internet technology. The main objective of advertising is to create awareness of the advertised product and provide information that will assist the consumer to make purchase decision. In the words of Kotler and Armstrong (2010:454) “advertising is a good way to persuade, whether the purpose is to sell coca-cola worldwide or to get consumers in a developing nation to use birth control”. Consequently, many organizations expend a huge amount of money on advertising and brand management. According to Perreaut, Cannon and McCarthy (2009:436), advertising on the internet takes a variety of forms, but the purpose is usually to attract the interest of people in the advertiser’s target market so they will click through to the firm’s website. Kotler and Armstrong (2010:535), state that the major forms of online advertising include display ads, search-related ads, and online classifieds. The most common form is banners, banner-shaped ads found at the bottom, top, left, right or centre of a web page. Pop-ups are online ads that appear suddenly in a new window in front of the window being viewed. Interstitials are online ads that appear between screen changes on a web-site, especially while a new screen is loading. Many websites charge advertisers a fee based on how frequently or how long an ad is shown. They also use the pay per click advertising where advertisers only pay when a customer clicks on the ad and links to the advertiser’s website (Perreaut, Cannon and McCarthy, 2009:437). According to Chaffey, Chadwick, Mayer and Johnston (2009:540), internet as an advertising media has the following advantages:
- Direct response: display ads can generate an immediate direct response via click through to a website enabling transaction for retail products.
- Enhancing brand awareness and reach: the visual imagery of a display d can generate awareness about a brand, product or need.
- Achieving brand interactions: many modern display ads comprise two parts- an initial visual encouraging interaction through a rollover and then another visual or application encouraging interaction with a brand ad.
- Targeting: media buyers can select the right site or channel within a site to reach the audience. Advertisements can also be targeted via their profile through serving personalised ads or ads in e-mail.
- Dynamic updates to ad campaigns. In comparison with traditional media, where media placements have to be bought weeks or months in advance, internet ads are more flexible since it is possible to place an advert more rapidly and make changes during the campaign.
- Accountability: it is readily possible to measure reach, interaction and response to ads. However, it is more difficult to measure brand impact.
While it is a potentially effective medium, the internet according to Belch and Belch (2009:501) also has its weaknesses, including the following
- Measurement Problems: one of the greatest disadvantages of the internet is the lack of reliability of the research numbers generated.
- Clutter: as the number of ad proliferates, the likelihood of one’s ad being noticed drops accordingly. The result is that some ads may not get noticed, and some consumers may become irritated by the clutter. 3. Poor Reach: while internet numbers are growing by leaps and bounds, its reach still lags behind that of television.
- Irritation: numerous studies have reported on the irritating aspects of some Web tactics. These studies have shown consumers’ discontent with clutter, e-mail SPAM, and pop-ups and pop-unders. These irritating aspects can deter visitors from coming to or returning to the sites
Kaplan and Haenlein (2010:59) define social media as a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content. Furthermore, social media depend on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user generated content. They went on to say that it introduces significant and insidious changes to communication between organizations, communities and individuals. According to Morah (2012) “social media are media for social interaction and participation in public debates; Web platforms such as Wikipedia, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Google, Blogger, WordPress, Netlog, Orkut etc, typical for this transformation of the internet”. Ofoelue 92013:88) described social media as internet sites where people interact freely, sharing and discussing information about each other and their lives, using multimedia mix of personal words, pictures, videos and audio. On these websites, individuals and groups create and exchange content and engage in person-toperson conversations. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010:59) created a classification scheme, with six different types of social media: collaborative projects (Wikipedia), blogs and micro blogs (Twitter), content communities (YouTube and DailyMotion), social networking sites (Facebook), virtual game worlds (World of Warcraft), and virtual social worlds (Second Life). Technologies include: blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing. According to Morah (2012), a common thread running through the definitions of social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value and communication development. The Web 2.0 platforms lead to the massive provision and storage of personal data that are systematically evaluated, marketed and used for targeting users with advertising. Social networking sites are the most popularly used type of social media for advertising. It was in 2004 when teenagers began joining the MySpace site en masse that marketers started to consider the huge potential in reaching this elusive market (Boyd and Ellison, 2007). They also define social network sites as “web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system”. Social networking is one aspect of social media, where individuals are in communities that share ideas, interests, or are looking to meet people with similar ideas and interests (Reuben, 2008). In the words of Sivanath, Karthick, Senthil and Vivek (2011:9), “the success of social networks marks a dynamic shift in how people are using the internet. We’ve evolved from just searching for information to creating and participating in social spaces with other individuals through the internet. The websites allow you to post what services you require done for you, like posting the adverts where the people whom you will find suitable will help you advertise on their Facebook and twitter accounts”. Therefore according to Babu, Kumar, Siriam and Sivanath (2011, 7), Social networks can take advantage of demographic data on your profile and hence target the advertisement directly to you There are several social media tools available for advertising; however, Stelzner (2012) listed the most frequently used social media tools. According to him, Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and YouTube were the top five social media tools used by marketers, with Facebook leading the group. Social networking is on the rise for business reasons and also for personal use. With its popularity increasing every day, the need for businesses and companies to go social is essential. Wind and Todi (2008: 6, 7) mentioned the reasons why social networks are being used as advertising tools.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought the use of social media platforms for advertisement among youths.
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information The use of social media platforms for advertisement among youths. 200 students of University of Uyo was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain The use of social media platforms for advertisement among youths. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of social media platforms for advertisement among youths.
Summary
This study was on the use of social media platforms for advertisement among youths. Four objectives were raised which included: To find out the consumption habits of advertisements by the general public on social media among youth, to establish the general level of awareness on the importance of social media as an advertising tool among youth and to examine the effectiveness of social media advertisements in influencing buying decisions among youth. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 students of university of uyo. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made final year students, year 4 students, year 3 students and year 2 students were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The research shows that although students in higher institutions who are mostly youth are affected by advertisements on social media and have a positive attitude towards them, they do not automatically respond to the advertising messages the way the advertisers anticipate. Although, as observed in the study, other factors could contribute to lack of response, like distrust of advertisements on social media, irrelevance of the product or services being advertised, and fear of being victims of fraud. This reinforced other finding which say that advertising alone cannot induce purchase but rather, it works with other factors.
Recommendation
Therefore, it is recommended that social media should to be seen as the oracle to media solution to marketing communications issues, but rather, the choice of social media should be made in realization of the fact that it is best used in conjunctions with other marketing communications tools.
References
- Ancu,M. and Cozma, R. (2009). MySpace Plolitics: Uses and Gratifications of Befriending Candidates. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media. 53(4).
- Babu, K., Kumar, S., Siriam, V., and Sivanath, S. (n.d.). Impacts of ads in social networking sites.
- Bearden, O., Ingram,N. and LaForge, W. (2007). Marketing: Principles and Perspective. New York: McGrawHill.
- Belch, G. and Belch, M. (2004). Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective. New York: McGraw Hill.
- Boyd, D. and Ellison, N. (2007). Social network sites: definition, history and scholarship. Journal of computer mediated communication, 13(1), article 11.
- Chaffey, D., Chadwick, E., Mayer, R., and Johnston, K. (2009). Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. Essex. Pearson Education Limited Kaplan, A.,
- Haenlein, M., 2010. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons 53 (1), 59-68.
- Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of Marketing. New Jersey: Pearson Education Limited
- Morah, D.N. (2012). Web 2.0 and Nigerian Press: Opportunities on Facebook and Twitter. Journal of Communication and Media Research. 4(1).
- Oyero, O. and Jegede, A.E. (2011). Patterns of Facebook Utilization among Students of Tertiary Institution in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. Journal of Communication and Media Research. 3(2).
- Perreaut, W., Cannon, P. and McCarthy, J. (2009). Basic Marketing: A Strategy Planning Approach. New York. McGraw-Hill.
