A PROJECT REPORT ON

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ON BUYING BEHAVIOR OF

YOUTH WITH REFERENCE TO RATEGAIN

SUBMITTED TO

KUMAON UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE

AWARD OF DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 2021-24

SUPERVISED BY : SUBMITTED BY:

AMANJEET SINGH SETHI DIYA SATI
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ROLL NO. 210945250009

FACULTY OF COMMERCE AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

AMRAPALI GROUP OF INSTITUTES
SHIKSHA NAGAR , LAMACHAUR
HALDWANI , UTTARAKHAND

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 CERTIFICATE BY INSTITUTE /INTERNAL GUIDE

This is to certify that Ms. Diya Sati bearing university roll Number 210945250009 of 2021-24
batch, has completed her summer internship at RateGain from 18th October 2023 to 31st
December 2023 under the supervision of MR. Ajay Hingorani(Product Manager).
She has submitted this project report under my guidance in partial fulfillment of the
requirement for the award of the degree of Bachelor of business administration. To the best of
my knowledge and belief, this project report has been prepared by the student and has not been
submitted to any other institute or university for the award of any degree or diploma.

Signature of internal guide :

Name :- Mr. Amanjeet Singh Sethi
Designation :

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 DECLARATION

I, "Diya Sati”, hereby declare that the work presented herein is genuine work done
originally by me and has not been published or submitted elsewhere. Any literature, data
or work done by others and cited in the report has been given due acknowledgement and
listed in the reference section.

(Student's Name & Signature)

(Roll No.)

Date:

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Project work is never the accomplishment of an individual rather; it is an amalgamation

of the effort, idea and co-operation of a number of entities. The Completion of the project
study the follow seemed to be a distant goal, had it not been for the contribution of a
number of people.

The successful completion of any research work is not possible without receiving work
would also not have found its destination had it not been for the constant help & guidance
of certain people towards, whom I take this opportunity to express a deep sense of
gratitude.

The research is indebted to her co-workers and her friends for encouragement and active
help.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The development of social media has created a new platform which sets out a network of
personal connections. Businesses see vast opportunities and are eager to tap into the
trend, whereas consumers are put back to the center in the business world because of
social media. Over the past few years, social media and digital media have drastically
changed how people consume content. People are no longer picking up magazines as
often as they have in the past. Today, content is consumed online and people are not only
reading content, but they are offering their feedback through comments and social
media.Promotion is one of the Ps in the marketing mix. Promotion has its own mix of
communication tools.

Social media marketing is the current way of marketing as it concentrating on opening

new range for marketing in order to promote a product or service as compared to
conventional media. In recent times, consumer behaviour and satisfaction has became an
important asset for any organization to attain its position in the market and to increase its
profitability

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO. CONTENTS PAGE NO.

1 Introduction to Research Topic 1

1.1 Social Media Influence 2
1.2 Consumer Decision making 3
1.3 Consumer decision making process 4

1.4 Branding in Social Media 6

1.5 Advantage and Disadvantage Of social media 7

1.6 Objectives 8
1.7 Scope of the study 9
2 Literature Review 10
4 Research methodology 17

4.1 Research design 17

4.2 Data collection 17

4.3 Sampling 18

4.4 Questionnaire designing 18

4.5 18
Data analysis tools

5 Data analysis& interpretation 19

6 Findings & limitations 34

7 Conclusion 35

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 LIST OF GRAPHS

FIGURE NO. GRAPH DISCRIPTION

A Showing the increase in usage of social media during
the past years
1 Gender
2 Educational Qualification

3 Occupation

4 Do you use social networking sites

5 Social networking sites do you used

6 Hours do you spend on social media in a day
7 Frequently do you access your notifications
8 The source of information regarding the purchase of
your products through online SNS
9 Easily recognize the brand features in SNS
advertisements
10 Several characteristics of brand instantly come to
your mind when you see it in SNS
11 Do you easily memorize the symbol/logo of brand
seen in SNS
12 Brands you have seen in SNS are reliable
13 Trust the brands that are featured / advertised on
SNS
14 Do you worry about privacy problem while
purchasing the product from SNS
15 How long have you been purchasing products
through SNS

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 CHAPTER NO: 1

1. Introduction to Research Topic

Social media consists of those interactive platforms on the net, which can be internet or
mobile-based, that involve user-generated content and their main purpose is social
interaction. They usually gather people who share common interests. It's essential that these
pages are interactive; the interaction is bi- or multidirectional. Characteristically the
communication on these websites happens as individual people.Social network sites are web
based services which allow individual to build a semi-public or public profile. Social media
sites are mainly used for communicating with friends or connections and sharing same
mindset, interest and views. Social media sites are not only for chatting, sharing videos or
pictures but they can also be used for discussing social issues.

Social media networking are the most commonly used platform for communicating. These
sites are being used by each and every individual these days. There are many online
networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and Pinterest etc. The
main purpose of social media is to give access to its clients and users. The main purpose of
online social media apps are to have conversation with individual and to build social
relations. They can share their personal life on social media like what is happening every day
in their life, pictures, recordings and links. Also individuals can promote their business.

Growth

Graph A: Graph showing the increase in usage of social media during

the past years.

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1.1 Social Media Influence
The term “social influencers” has been coined to represent people who have a major
following on social media. With a large audience seeing these influencers’ posts each day,
they’re typically targeted by businesses to market product.

However, regardless of whether the influencers’ posts are sponsored or not, their content has
a massive impact on buying selections. On an everyday in contemporary, 100,000 tweets are
sent, 684,478 items of content are shared on Facebook, two million search queries are created
on Google, 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube, 3,600 photos are shared on
Instagram, and 571 websites are created Social Media has become a platform for people to
share photos with friends and family, social media has developed to become rather more
impactful, primarily for businesses. With the increasing usage and importance of internet in
day to day urban life, social media has obtained quick acceptance in the minds of youth. Most
of the companies make sure to have their presence felt on social media websites to attract
large number of possible customers.

These days social media could be a key these days for any organizations’ selling ways and for
good cause seventy four of shoppers create shopping for selections based on social media,
consistent with Sprout Social. And this shift isn’t specific to B2C corporations. B2B
businesses are taking advantage of social media’s buying influence too.

Placing ads on social media has become easy to line up and however targeting has become
rather more elaborated. Advertisers will place ads that align with their business goals, like
establishing complete awareness or driving sales. An individual clicks through a social media
ad and lands on the advertiser’s web site, retargeting ads also can be placed to move
individuals through the sales funnel. You’ll see in the image below that consumers undergo a
series of stages before creating a buying deal call. Advertising on social media permits
marketers to steer users into the “awareness” stage, and all the means through to the “buy”
part.

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 Awareness

Discovery

Intent

Evaluation

Buy

Effect of Advertisement on Consumers

Ads on social media can also be very effective in driving repeat sales. Giving customers a
gentle reminder that it’s time to restock their product X, or showing complementing products
has the ability to increase a customer’s lifetime valuePosts with more comments, shares, and
likes are favored as they are identified as “trending” posts. This can influence purchase
decisions when a particular product or service gains initial attention on social media. It
shows up first, getting more people interested

1.2 Consumer Decision making

Consumers purchasing behavior have changed and they no more make buying decisions in a
particular way ; they take different factors into consideration like product study from
organization website to word of mouth from their social media sites(Powers et al; 2012)

Brands that adopt social and digital sites build connections with customers and consequently
acquire customer loyalty (Powers et al; 2012). Organizations must be familiar with social
media sites and how that they influence consumer buying behaviour (Vinerean, Cetina,
Dumitrescu & Tichindelean, 2013). According to (Powers et al; 2012), clients consistently
consider potential purchases and evaluate alternatives on the business. (Powers et al; 2012)
research findings suggest that clients use social media to gather information regarding
potential purchases and to introduce them to new goods, and might also create them get a
mind-set change about a brand new. As a consequence of digital connectivity together with the

3
time spent online by customers, they now see buying as a normal job. Research in Xie and Lee
(2014) found that raising consumer exposure to a new on societal media increases the
likelihood of the consumer to obtain the brand. Concerning this, a research conducted by
Rasool Madni (2014) indicated that 53% of clients obtain their information from forums,
social media, organizations' websites and peer reviews before purchasing a product.

1.1 Consumer decision making process

Evaluation Post
Problem Information Purchase
of Purchase
recognition search decision
alternatives Behavior

The very first step into the decision making process is problem recognition. Here is the point
at which the consumer buys the procedure begins, because the customer recognizes a problem
that is triggered by internal or external stimulation. A problem is identified while the
customer's existing condition is different from their perfect condition. By initiating the
decision making procedure entrepreneurs in business try to inspire problem recognition. This
is accomplished by making a new state that was perfect. With electronic advertising, the
consumer difficulty recognition phase is going to probably be triggered by external stimulation
like advertising and organizations will need to comprehend the dynamics in play.

The next step is data hunt, in which the user searches for information to attend the issue
recognized, does this by gathering information about different brands and their features. A
client's information search process is internal and external, where internal is information from
the client's memory, and external are sources of data via advertisements and external media.
Considering that the consumer gathers information, a few producers are strong contenders for
the past choice to be generated. Organizations need to recognize the client alternatives prepare
and to search for information in the space.

The next step in the method is that the evaluation of options, whereby the client assesses their
needs to meet and achieve rewards. Beliefs and attitudes obtained by learning and experiences
influence the buying behavior of consumers and play a role in the evaluation of options.

4
Organizations should design their own advertising efforts to attract and maintain customers
based on their worth and beliefs.

5
The fourth measure is the buy decision, which comes after the test of choices after the
customer derives a taste one of the brands and plans to purchase the brand. The purchase
decision is influenced by risk. Assets risk characteristics include product feature uncertainty,
the sum of money involved with the buy, and the amount of consumer self confidence.
Organizations should supply information to decrease the perceived danger consumers confront
so the purchase can happen.

The last step in the procedure is post purchase behavior, that is the amount of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction that the customer derived from the item's purchase. Satisfied consumers
promote the merchandise and so are extremely likely to purchase extra goods, whilst
disgruntled clients will reunite and complain about the product. An organization's response to
consumer complaints has an Integral part in its accomplishment; on average disgruntled
consumer stocks their viewpoints with approximately ten other men and women.

Social media joins consumers and gives a platform for customers to air their perspectives, so
organizations will need to track post order behaviors via these stations to attend customer
complaints and permit the retention and appeal of customers. Organizations can utilize
information derived from article order behavior to understand consumers and develop a
connection to entrench them and prevent consumer brand shifting.

With the growth of technology, it's beneficial to know the way the tendency of electronic
marketing and advertising affects customers in influencing their decision making procedures.
This study aims to research this notion from the point of view of consumers.

1.4 Branding in Social Media

Social media is used to achieve the attention and involvement of consumer by several brands
around the world. Social media is turning out to be one of the most effective tools to market
your brand and stand out of the crowd .Social media branding forms a natural but essential
part of your overall marketing effort on major social platforms such as Facebook , Twitter
and LinkedIn.
Social media branding is about consistently using right method to engage with your target
audience on social media platform. The aim or purpose is to boost brand awareness.

6
Some of the foremost necessary aspects of the social media stigmatization and selling
perspective ,are that the user are in control, the content they read , share , create or discuss
and selling efforts are cheap ,extremely measurable and targetable as compared to traditional
media
Branding is an important stage for any business that want to generate long –term business
.It’s about defining what you attract prospect that are likely to turn into customers . In the
initial branding stages, every business lead is important ,which is why it’s necessary to start
the relationship on the right note.

Social media branding makes it easy for you to go more relevant people into your sales
funnel by giving them a reason to trust you. When you get social branding right, the rest of
the sales process becomes more efficient.Right from brand exposure to customer retention,
you not only see results, but measurable results. Which means better business and stronger
customer relationships.

Branding in Social Media

1.5 Advantage and Disadvantage Of social media

Social media’s possibly greatest advantage is that the low or non – existing price and low
amount of resources needed to have a social media presence .So, social media has opened up
a lot of possibilities particularly for little businesses. Social media sites, brands may have
direct conversations and interaction with people .This kind of non public interaction might

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create and strengthen brand loyalty towards brands that are actively collaborating in
conversations on social media.

Word of mouth currently exists in social media within the same means it exists in real world,
but the difference is that the reach of one consumer opinions is exponentially greater than it
would be outside of social media. However, this implies negative word of mouth also will
have more reach on social media.

Social media usually allows precise targeting to the desired demographic or target market
.For example discussion forums typically serve some specific group of individual, and sub-
categories allow targeting subgroup of subgroup. Facebook is one of the social media
platform that have developed the targeting capability in advertising on their platform to a
good extent and it’s a key issue to their business model.

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1.6 Objectives

The main objective of this project is to see the Impact of social media on buying
behaviour of youth. And the definite objectives of this research are as follows:-

 To study the perception of customer towards online shopping.

 To study the concept of social media.
 To find out which is the best social media preferred by customers.

1.7 Scope of the study

The scope of the study was to find out various factors impacting buying behavior and to
analyze the consumerbehavior with respect to social media. Social media marketing plays a
significant role in the expansion of the company in the modern market scenario. It aims to
help businesses to gain a stronger understanding in social media marketing. This would
facilitate the companies to grow . Social media puts consumers back to the middle of the
business world and provides marketers a new set of tools to communicate with consumers
and to combine them into the brands through innovative ways. In essence, marketers ought
to understand how the social media has influence on consumer buying behavior.

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 CHAPTER 2

COMPANY PROFILE
One of the world’s largest processors of hotel bookings, pricing intelligence, and customer travel-
intent, RateGain today provides SaaS solutions for travel and hospitality helping them accelerate
revenue generation through acquisition, retention, and wallet share expansion. Using our
solutions everyday, revenue management, distribution, and marketing teams across hotels,
airlines, meta-search companies, package providers, car rentals, travel management companies,
cruises, and ferries unlock new revenue opportunities.
Founded in 2004 and headquartered in India, today RateGain works with Top 23 of 30 Hotel
Chains, Top 25 of 30 Online Travel Agents, and all the top car rentals including 8 Global Fortune
500 companies.

RateGain Travel Technologies Limited is a provider of SaaS solutions for travel and hospitality, and one
of the world’s largest processors of electronic transactions, price points, and travel intent data.

2,800+ Customers | 100 Countries

WHAT WE OFFER

MarTech: Helping hotels drive more ROI through digital

 Targeting and optimizing campaigns for experiential high-end travelers on social media
 Engaging value driven travelers to convert on metasearch such as Google and TripAdvisor
 Monitoring customers’ in real-time with 24x7 social listening, and mitigating any negative experience
 Personalizing the guest experience by understanding their needs through a 24x7 monitoring solution
 Optimizing and updating content across all demand partners to increase chances of conversions


Distribution: Reaching the Right Guest

 Connecting over 191,000 hotel properties to 700+ demand partners and all major global source markets
 Enabling hotels chains to expand in new source markets easily
 Allowing new OTAs to access large hotel chains seamlessly
 Helping in communicating the availability, rates, inventory, and content from the accommodation providers to
the OTAs

10
Data-as-a-Service
 Enabling hotels, car rentals, and ferries plan their demand and pricing strategy using the automated AI powered
pricing recommendation platform as well as a demand forecasting solution
 Providing the right offer on the device of choice to the engaged travelers
 Ensuring that the hotels are able to rank higher as well as get more bookings
 Delivering more actionable insights and predictive intelligence to drive better marketing ROI with the help of
aggregated real-time travel-intent data

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 CHAPTER NO: 3

Literature Review

Kyle Hensel et al., (2010) studied that advantages and disadvantages of uses of
socialmedia. The traditional selling model was being challenged and were frequentlyevolving
in ways in which of communicating, generating leads, and increase awareness has
beenimplemented. Study recommended that ways of social media must be used to check
theimportance of online businesses in market this may facilitate the marketers to examine and
to take precautions regarding degrading the complete value in market through negative
promotion by client.

Kenneth J. Lacho et al., (2010), study focused on the advantages of small businesses
onsocial networking sites. Study recommended ways for small business owners to
be onlinewith a reason to their customers, also analyzed that the importance of Facebook and
LinkedIn in businesses to focus on promoting efforts to specific cluster and allowed business
topromote available positions and openings in market.

Patrick R. Geho et al., (2010)study discovered that web examine the uses of Twitter
as promoting efforts to hit the thousands of crowd. Study explains the importance of
this promoting tool for small businesses with benefits. Also lined the problem faced by tiny
businesses for justifying as a time investment. Study suggested that effective uses of
networking sites with managing their time in business provides that provide the
foremost returns from networks

(Heinonen, 2011) discovered that consumers are involved in different activities, vary from
consuming content to participating in discussions, sharing knowledge with other consumers,
and contributing to other consumers' activities. This given research paper focused on concept
consumers' activities in social media by examining the motivations behind the activities. The
further study founded that ideal framework is used to suggest managerial plans related to
different levels of consumer activity. This study concluded that tool for uncovering
managerial challenges and for planning responses to consumer activities.

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(YuboChen, 2011)studied that social media provide an unparalleled platform for consumers
to publicize their personal evaluations of purchased products. This paper examines
relationships between consumer posting behavior and marketing variables such as product
price and quality. For instance, in the early stage of consumer Internet usage, price is
negatively correlated with the propensity to post a review.Such differences at the two
different stages of Internet usage can be driven by different groups of consumers with
different motivations for online review posting.

(İrem ErenErdoğmuş, 2012)explained that building and maintaining brand loyalty were one
of the central themes of research for marketers for a very long time. The aim of this study
was to identify the effect of social media marketing on brand loyalty of the consumers, given
that the concept was receiving increasing attention from marketing academia and
practitioners.The results of the study showed that brand loyalty of the customers is positively
affected when the brand (1) offers advantageous campaigns, (2) offers relevant content, (3)
offers popular contents, (4) appears on various platforms and offers applications on social
media.

(Bin Gu, 2013) discovered that growing influence of online social media, firms
increasingly take an active role in interacting with consumers in social media. online
social media is management responses, where the management responds to customers'
comments about the firm or its products and service. This given research paper focused
find that online management responses. Further study founded thatonline management
responses increase future satisfaction of the complaining customers who receive the
responses, they decrease future satisfaction of complaining customers who observe
but do not receive management responses. The result is consistent with the peer‐
induced fairness theory are highly effective among low satisfaction customers but have
limited influence on other customers.

(R. Satish Kumar ,2013) the study centered on the application of www for onlineretailers to
know opinions,complaints and suggestion concerning product fromcustomers. Shoppers used
these reviews that has influence for purchasers to requirepurchase decisions whereas for
retailers for evaluating their product performances. Thestudy lined the association between

13
effects of negative reviews concerning product , retailers analysis and extent of WOM info
that creates purchase intention for shopping trustworthy.

(Hayta, 2013) studied that social media is on the most important tools communication
channels. Consumers do access to information about goods and services to be purchased as
per need by means of social media to a great extent. . The further study founded that social
media which affects our live in recent years that brings a new dimension to Internet and
determine the effects of social media networks on purchasing behavior of consumers.

(Elham Al-Mukhaini, 2014)discovered that Social Media have given plenty of opportunities
to consumers in adapting different aspects in life. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have
played significant roles in expanding consumers' online purchases. The further study founded
that consumers are mostly influenced by online purchasing .This given research paper
focused on types of products that are mostly purchased using Social Media and types of
Social Media that are mostly used by consumers.

(Bilal, 2014)discovered that media and social networking has an impact on consumer
decision making. The study showed that social networks had a positive impact on consumers
behavior, in addition to the positive population interaction with virtual community of the
social media. As a result these interactions collaborate into the strong implications of smart
companies to become smarter about their online present. The further study founded that
importance of raising awareness, consumer loyalty and trust. Furthermore the study covered
the effect of e-marketing and online apparel business strategies on consumer decision. In
conclusion the use of these online platforms are not just away for current existing companies
to increase the awareness about their brands, but also it is an opportunity for small business to
familiarize more people about their unique product and services.

(Hajli, 2014)explained that social media had provided new opportunities to consumers to
engage them on social media sites. Consumers use social media to generate content and to
network with other users. The study of social media can also identify the advantages to be
gained by business. The data emerging from a survey show how social media facilitate the
social interaction of consumers, leading to increased trust and intention to buy.

14
(Bamini K.P.D.Balakrishnan, 2014)explained that social media usage had facilitated
unprecedented growth in human interaction in modern times. This study attempts to study the
impact of social media marketing medium toward brand loyalty and purchase intention in
generation Y. The result indicated that the online marketing communications, specifically, E-
WOM, online communities and online advertisement are effective in promoting brand loyalty
and product purchase intention through company website and social media platforms.It also
indicates that cyber world play an important role in modern marketing, enabling marketers to
reach customers faster and more efficiently. This research provides a guideline for global
brand players in considering applying social media marketing activities to promote their
product, and brand.

(Christy Ashley, 2014)explained that social media channels are being used, which creative
strategies/appeals are being used, and how these channels and strategies relate to consumer
engagement in branded social media. Past research had suggested that brands should focus on
maintain a social presence across social channels. This study confirmed the importance of
frequent updates and incentives for participation.Despite the value of these creative
approaches, most branded social content can be categorized as functional.

(Bruno Schivinski, 2014)studied that researchers and brand managers have limited
understanding of the effects social media communication has on how consumers perceive
brands.The results of the empirical studies showed that user-generated social media
communication had a positive influence on both brand equity and brand attitude, whereas
firm-created social media communication affected only brand attitude. Both brand equity and
brand attitude were shown to have a positive influence on purchase intention. In addition, we
assessed measurement invariance using a multi-group structural modeling equation.

(Altaf, 2014)explained that social media introduced a new, complex and uncontrollable
element in consumer behavior presenting a new challenge both to the academia and the
marketers.This study is an attempt to identify their role and describe their impact on
consumer buying decision.The findings indicated that individuals pursue an active role in
information search on social media comparing to mass media. To satisfy the research data has
been collected from both the primary and the secondary sources.The findings of the study can
be used by marketers and media planners for effective marketing results.

(Chow, 2015)explained that the brand page was a popular business application of Social
Networking Sites (SNS) that allows companies to create added values for their brand and

15
customers. Study had shown that satisfied followers of a brand page are more likely to spread
positive word of mouth about the brand to connected friends.This study relies on the
Customer Value Theory, and develops a framework that investigates how multidimensional
customer values enhance brand page satisfaction, and how such satisfaction further affects
positive word of mouth intention.The result reveals the significant role of customer value in
determining brand page satisfaction and positive word of mouth.

(Yab Bai, 2015) analysed that social commerce is an turned up marketing form in which
business is overseen via social networking platforms. This is playing an progressively
important role in affect on consumers’ purchase goal. This given research paper focused on
conceptual model of how social factors, such as social support, seller variability , and product
uncertainty, influence users’ purchasing behaviors in social commerce. The further study
founded that provide an comprehension of the relationship between user behavior and social
factors on social networking platforms. This study concluded that social factors can
remarkably enhance users’ purchase purpose in social shopping.

(Bruno Godey, 2016)explored that social media promoting activities influence brand equity
creation and consumers' behavior towards a brand . This given research paper focused on
brands' social media promoting efforts as a holistic thought that includes five aspects
(entertainment, interaction, trendiness, customization, and word of mouth). The further study
founded that SMMEs have a major positive impact on brand equity and on the two main
dimensions of brand equity ,brand awareness and brand image

(Ali AbdallahAlalwan, 2017)studied that people nowadays are largely engaged with the web
2.0 technology and social media platforms. Businesses nowadays start looking at such
technologies as effective means to interact more with their customers. The main aim to the
study is to systematically examine and review the current studies that have conducted over
the related area of social media and marketing. In this review, it has also studied the most
common research approaches adopted to examine the related issues of social media
marketing

(Duangruthai Voramontri, 2018) explored that social media in consumers' decision-making

process for complex purchases-those characterized by significant brand differences, high
consumer involvement and risk, and which are expensive and infrequent. . The further study

16
founded that social media usage influences consumer satisfaction in the stages of information
search and alternative evaluation, with satisfaction getting amplified as the consumer moves
along the process towards the final purchase decision and post-purchase evaluation.

(Perumai ,2018)studied that social media marketing puts consumers back to the center of the
business world and provides marketers a new set of tools to interact with consumers.
Marketers had understood how the social media had influenced consumer buying behavior.
Consumer satisfaction had become an important asset of the organization. From research, it is
evident that companies are employing social media marketing in order to interact with the
consumers.Social media is used as advertising for the marketer.This implies that Consumer
Buying Decision Making can be predicted with Social Media Marketing.

(Perumal, 2018) explored that how the social media has great effect on consumer buying
behavior. Social media marketing is the modern style of marketing as it focuses on opening
new outlook for promotes a product or service as compared to traditional media. This given
research paper focused on consumer behavior and satisfaction has become an valuable asset
for any organization to achieve its position in the market and to grow its profitability. For this
reason, organizations are employing social media technique. Further study founded that
companies are employing social media marketing in set-up to interact with the consumers and
this is a new way of marketing and changing the buying behavior of the consumers. This
study concluded that the social media environment is very easy to apply and to reach the
customer.

(Riga, 2017)discovered that current period , these traditional marketing streams are just a
small segment of the diverse approaches used to market brand products.. This given research
paper focused on social media shaped state of the art advertising and shifted the way
companies link with their target groups. Further study founded that productive use of social
media has become an extremely important part of creating and keeping a competitive
advantage. Subsequently, companies now place substantial value on the way in which social
media can be used to shape consumer brand aware and influence their buying intention. This
study concluded that the impacts of social media on branding and marketing approaches, an
exploration of the existing literature on social media use and brand perception can help
identify emerging and successful strategies for improving consumer engagement through
social media

17
(2020) Social media is rapidly and fundamentally changing; it is different from even a year
ago . It is defined as “internet-based channels allowing users to conveniently and selectively
interact with each other and derive value from user-generated content” (Carr and Hayes,
2015, in . Štefko and Steffek stated that the past years have been a period of rapid growth in
the virtual world; what is current and relevant today will be obsolete and out-of date
tomorrow. The optimal use of new technologies, the Internet of things, virtual reality,
artificial intelligence, and free stores that shape the picture of today will be a burdensome test
for many retailers. Since there is no doubt about the power of social media and its importance
for marketing activities, it has become a substantial part of marketing strategies of the
companies

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

In this report, three different techniques have been used for research design – Exploratory
research, Descriptive research.

EXPLORATORY RESEARCH

This research has been conducted with an objective of discovering the knowledge and getting
deep insights on the topic ‘Impact of Social Media Marketing On Buying Behavior of Youth’
With the help of exploratory research the entire framework of the report has been formed.

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH

This type of research has been conducted as the entire problem has been identified and
described in the research. Further, this is a cross-sectional study as the sample has been
surveyed only for once.

3.2 DATA COLLECTION

For the purpose of the research, the primary data as well as secondary data has been
collected.

PRIMARY DATA

The primary data has been collected for this report as the survey among various people is
done through questionnaire with the motive of collecting first-hand information.

SECONDARY DATA

Help of various other researchers was taken through their literature reviews to find the
important appropriate variables required for this research.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD AND TOOL

The method used for collection of data for this research paper was Survey Method.

and the tool used for this data collection was Questionnaire

19
3.3 SAMPLING

For this particular research, the sampling has been done with respect to the social media
platforms chosen as well as with respect to the respondents.

SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS:

Only a selected number of social media platforms, out of numerous social media platforms
available, were studied in this research. Hence, Judgment Sampling was used as most popular
and widely used social media platforms were selected based on the judgment of the
researchers.

NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS:

Simple Random Sampling was used as each individual out of the entire population had an
equal chance of getting selected. A sample of 100 respondents was taken after simple random
sampling.

3.4 QUESTINNAIRE DESIGNING

The questionnaire has been divided into two parts:

a) Demographic profile related questions

b) Questions related to main variables of the study

TYPES OF QUESTIONS

The questionnaire consist of three types of questions –

a) Multiple choice questions
b) Dichotomous questions

3.5 DATA ANALYSIS TOOLS

Descriptive Statistics in the form of tables, bar graphs and pie charts have been used to
analyze the data which was collected after the survey.

20
 DATA ANALYSIS& INTERPRETATION
In order to extract useful results for reaching a strong conclusion and decision-making, it is
important to analyze the data. Analysis process includes examining the data, building relation
of different data types with each other and trends of different factors.

For measuring data, i.e. answers obtained from questionnaire have been analyzed in a way to
build patterns of“Impact of Social Media Marketing On Buying Behavior of Youth”

Table no. 1: Gender

NUMBER PERCENTAGE
MALES 51 51
FEMALES 49 49
OTHER 0 0
TOTAL 100 100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

MALES
49%
FEMALES
51%
OTHER

Figure no. 1
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
The survey was conducted among 100 candidates. Out of the total respondents, the
percentage of males was 51 and the percentage of females was 49 (Refer Table no. 1 and
Figure No.1)

21
Table no. 2: Educational Qualification

NUMBER PERCENTAGE
CLASS 12 9 9
GRADUATION 21
21
POST GRADUATION 68 68
OTHERS 2
2
TOTAL 100
100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

2%

9%
CLASS 12
21% GRADUATION
POST GRADUATION
OTHERS
68%

Figure no. 2
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
It was observed that more than half the respondents i.e. 68% of respondents were post
graduates and only 2% of the total respondents belonged to others (Refer Table no. 2 and
Figure No. 2 )

22
Table no.3: Occupation

NUMBER PERCENTAGE
STUDENT 34 34
SELF EMPLOYED 14 14
PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEE 48 48
GOVERNMENT SECTOR 4 4
EMPLOYEE
OTHER 0 0
TOTAL 100 100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

0
STUDENT
4
SELF EMPLOYED
34

PRIVATE SECTOR
EMPLOYEE
48%
GOVERNMENT SECTOR
EMPLOYEE
14%
OTHER

Figure no. 3
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
The majority of the respondents among whom the survey was conducted were private sector
employeei.e.48% Only 4 respondent out of the total was a Government sector employee.
(Refer Table no. 3 and Figure No. 3)

23
TABLE NO:4 Do you use social networking sites ?

NUMBERS

USE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES 100

DON’T USE SOCAIL NETWORKING SITES 0

Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

USE SOCIAL NETWORKING

SITES
DON’T USE SOCAIL
NETWORKING SITES

100

Figure no. 4

Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
As shown in the above pie chart 100% of the respondent use social networking sites (Refer
Table no. 4 and Figure No. 4)

24
Table no. 5: What social networking sites do you use?

NUMBER PERCENTAGE
FACEBOOK 89 89
INSTAGRAM 95 95
TWITTER 65 65
YOUTUBE 82 82
PINTEREST 41 41
OTHERS 27 27
TOTAL 100 100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

OTHERS 27%

PINTEREST 41%

YOUTUBE 82%

TWITTER 65%

INSTAGRAM 95%

FACEBOOK 89%

0 20 40 60 80 100

Figure no. 5
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
From table no.5 and figureno.5, it can be observed that most of the respondents prefer to use
Instagram , Facebook and YouTube out of all the social media platforms. About 95%
respondents say that they use Instagram among other social platforms and 82% respondents
use YouTube. 27% of the respondents use other social media networks which were not
mentioned in the survey.

25
TABLE NO :6 How many hours do you spend on social media in a day?

NUMBER PERCENTAGE
1-2 HOURS 17 17
2-5 HOURS 61 61
5-8 HOURS 13 13
8-11 HOURS 3 3
MORE THAN 11 6 6
HOURS
TOTAL 100 100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

MORE THAN 11 HOURS 6%

8-11 HOURS 3%

5-8 HOURS 13%

2-5 HOURS 61%

1-2 HOURS 17%

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Figure no. 6
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
Out of 100 respondents, 61% tend to spend 2-5 hours on social networking platforms while
6% spend more than 11 hours on social media in a day. (Refer table no. 6 and figure no. 6)

26
Table no.7: How frequently do you access your notifications?

NUMBER PERCENTAGE
IMMEDIATELY 29 29
ONLY DURING FREE TIMES 44 44
ANY SPARE MOMENT 27 27
EVEN WHEN YOU ARE 0 0
BUSY
TOTAL 100 100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

0
IMMEDIATELY

27% 29%
ONLY DURING FREE
TIMES
ANY SPARE MOMENT

EVEN WHEN YOU ARE

44% BUSY

Figure no. 7.
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
From the above table no.7 and figure no. 7, it can be observed that the i.e. 44% respondents
check their notifications only during free times. Whereas, 27% of the respondents check their
notifications in there any spare moment and 29% of respondents check their notifications
immediately.

27
TABLE NO :8 What is the source of information regarding the purchase of your products
through online SNS?

NUMBER PERCENTAGE

Advertisement on SNS 37 37

E –WOM(electronic word of mouth) 44 44

Pages (Information given on separate pages for 19 19

each brand / product /company)
TOTAL 100 100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

Advertisement on SNS
19
37
E –WOM(electronic word of
mouth

Pages (Information given on

44 separate pages for each
0 brand / product /company)

Figure no. 8.
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:

From the above table no.8 and figure no. 8, it can be observed that i.e. 44% respondents get
information regarding the products throughE-WOM. 37% of respondents get information
about the product through advertisement on SNS .Whereas, 19% of the total respondents get
information regarding the products throughPages (Information given on separate pages for
each brand / product /company).

28
TABLE NO:9 Do you easily recognize the brand features in SNS
advertisements?

NUMBER PERCENTAGE
STRONGLY AGREE 12 12
AGREE 32 32
NEUTRAL 34 34
DISAGREE 13 13
STRONGLY DISAGREE 9 9
TOTAL 100 100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

STRONGLY DISAGREE 9

DISAGREE 13

NEUTRAL 34

AGREE 32

STRONGLY AGREE 12

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Figure no. 9.
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:

According to table no. 9 and figure no.9, we can conclude that 32 % respondents agree that
social media helps in easily recognizing the brand features in SNS advertisements. Whereas
34% respondents are neutral in deciding only 9 respondents strongly disagree and doesn’t
believe that advertisement on social networking sites easily recognize the brand features

29
TABLE NO: 10Several characteristics of brand instantly come to your mind
when you see it in SNS?

NUMBER PERECNTAGE
STRONGLY AGREE 18 18
AGREE 37 37
NEUTRAL 19 19
DISAGREE 15 15
STRONGLY DISAGREE 11 11
TOTAL 100 100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

STRONGLY DISAGREE 11

DISAGREE 15

NEUTRAL 19

AGREE 37

STRONGLY AGREE 18

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Figure no. 10.

Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
According to table no. 10 and figure no.10, we can conclude that 37 respondents agree that
social media helps in recognizing the several characteristics of brand instantly when you see
on SNS . Whereas 19 respondents are neutral in deciding only18 respondents strongly
disagree and doesn’t believe that Several characteristics of brand doesn’t come instantly to
mind when we see it in SNS.

30
TABLE NO:11Do you easily memorize the symbol/logo of brand seen inSNS?

NUMBER PERECNTAGE
STRONGLY AGREE 20 20
AGREE 36 36
NEUTRAL 19 19
DISAGREE 16 16
STRONGLY DISAGREE 9 9
TOTAL 100 100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

STRONGLY DISAGREE 9

DISAGREE 16

NEUTRAL 19

AGREE 36

STRONGLY AGREE 20

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Figure no. 11.

Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
According to table no. 11 and figure no.11, we can conclude that 36 respondents agree that
social media helps in easily memorize the symbol/logo of brand seen in SNS . Whereas 19
respondents are neutral in deciding only 16 respondents strongly disagree that they doesn’t
easily memorize the symbol/logo of brand seen in SNS.

31
TABLE NO:12 Do you trust the brands that are featured / advertised on SNS?.

NUMBER PERECNTAGE
STRONGLY AGREE 14 14
AGREE 32 32
NEUTRAL 27 27
DISAGREE 12 12
STRONGLY DISAGREE 15 15
TOTAL 100 100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

STRONGLY DISAGREE 15

DISAGREE 12

NEUTRAL 27

AGREE 32

STRONGLY AGREE 14

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Figure no. 12
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
According to table no. 12 and figure no.12, we can conclude that 32 respondents agree that
social media helps inbuilding trust on the brands that are featured / advertised on SNS .
Whereas 27 respondents are neutral in deciding only 15 respondents strongly disagree that
the brands and featured / advertised on SNS shouldbe trusted .

32
TABLE NO :13 Brands you have seen in SNS are attractive?

NUMBER PERECNTAGE
STRONGLY AGREE 16 16
AGREE 38 38
NEUTRAL 21 21
DISAGREE 18 18
STRONGLY DISAGREE 7 7
TOTAL 100 100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

STRONGLY DISAGREE 7

DISAGREE 18

NEUTRAL 21

AGREE 38

STRONGLY AGREE 16

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Figure no. 13.

Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
According to table no. 13 and figure no.13, we can conclude that 38 respondents agree that
brands they have seen in SNS are attractive. Whereas 21 respondents are neutral in deciding
only 7 respondents strongly disagree that the brands and featured / advertised on SNS are
attractive.

33
TABLE NO :14 Do you worry about privacy problem while purchasing the product from
SNS?

NUMBER PERSENTAGE
ALWAYS 41 41

SOMETIME 46 46

RARELY 11 11

NOT AT ALL 2 2

Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

2
11

ALWAYS
41
SOMETIME
RARELY
NOT AT ALL
46

Figure no. 14.

Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
According to table no. 14 and figure no.14, we can conclude that46% respondents sometimes
feel that they face the privacy problem while purchasing the product from SNS. 11 %
respondents feel that they rarely face the privacy problem while purchasing the product from
SNS and only 2% respondents feel that they don’t face any privacy problem while
purchasing.

34
TABLE NO:15. How long have you been purchasing products through SNS?

NUMBER PERECNTAGE
LESS THAN 5 MONTHS

0 0
MORE THAN 1 YEAR 11 11
MORE THAN 2 YEAR 37 37
MORE THAN 5 YEAR 52 52
TOTAL 100 100
Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

11

LESS THAN 5 MONTHS

MORE THAN 1 YEAR

52 MORE THAN 2 YEAR

37
MORE THAN 5 YEAR

Figure no. 15.

Source: Data computed on the basis of research survey

INTERPRETATION:
According to table no. 15 and figure no.15, we can conclude that 52% respondents have
purchased the product from SNS in more than 5 years. 37% respondents replied that they
have purchased the product from SNS in more than 2 year and only 11 respondents have
purchased the product in more than 5 years.

35
 CHAPTER NO: 4

FINDINGS, LIMITATIONS &CONCLUSION

5.1 Limitations

A few limitations which were identified for this research report are as follows:

 The respondents mainly constituted of contacts I had and some friends of friends
which makes scope of my research limited.
 The respondents may be biased in some cases.

 The time period for this project was very less.

 The study was limited only for the youths.

5.2 Findings

 The effectiveness of business is increased by Social Media Marketing.

 Social Media Marketing drives more and more traffic to your site.
 Almost all type of businesses can be benefited through social media marketing.
 Small businesses should embrace the wonderful technology and reap the benefits of
being on Social media for marketing.
 Social media marketing helps in increasing brand awareness.
 Mostly youth are influenced by Instagram these days.

36
5.3 CONCLUSION
Increasing use of social media worldwide has led to the idea that this is a valuable tool in
supporting client engagement. corporations are frequently looking to new strategies for
reaching consumers and for shaping client behaviors, including brand loyalty and intention to
buy. The changing technological era has led to enlarged activity in social network platforms
like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, all of that have created mechanisms through
which customerwill develop rapport and make interactions with brand-specific content.

Companies that are adept at integration strategic approaches to the use of social network
platforms are possible to be most successful in reaching, engaging, and maintaining
a client base moving forward. Factors that influence brandperception and intention to
buy include things just like the social mechanism that drive shopper perspectives, and
therefore the views of others denote demonstrated in social media posts. an rising strategic
focus is on the use of user-generated content, content that's created by customers in response
to specific brands or brand requests and influences the perceptions of alternative consumer
This type of strategic approach needs a high degree of maintenance and firmsutilizing
this technique ought to be ready to designate a marketing service to the management
of online clientrelationships.

The research deals with the impact of social media on the social life and buying behaviour of
the youth. The social media cites which are used in the research tool are Whatsappp,
YouTube, Google, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Findings shows that the majority of
the sample respondents consulted in the study(37%) are using whatsapp and the majority of
the sample respondents consulted in the study(50%) are purchasing electronic products
frequently using social media. Moreover, 35.19% of sample respondents consulted in the
study takes into consideration mainly quality while choosing the products. The study finds
that social media is positively impacting the youth in the field of education as well as in the
overall betterment of the social life. But on the other hand it also negatively impacts the
youth by affecting both physical and mental health. It is also found that the social media is
acting as the significant information provider that is inducing the youth to take purchase
decision. Hence, the study concludes that the social media is impacting the youth on the
social life and their buying behaviour

37
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39
 APPENDIX OF REPORT

QUSETIONNAIRE
A study on“Impact of Social Media Marketing On Buying Behavior of Youth”
This project is purely for research purpose of MBA students of Chitkara Business School to
see the“impact of social media marketing on buying behavior of youth”. It will be ensured
that all the data and responses are kept private and confidential

DEMOGRAPHIC FEATURES

1. Gender

 Male
 Female
 Other

2. Educational Qualification

 Class 12
 Graduation
 Post-graduation
 Other

3. Occupation

 Student
 Self employed
 Private sector employee
 Government sector employee
 Other

4. Do you use social networking sites ?

 Yes
 No

40
1. What social networking sites do you use? (Tick as many as you like)

 Facebook
 Instagram
 Twitter
 Snapchat
 YouTube
 Pinterest
 Others

2. How many hours do you spend on social media in a day?

 1-2 hours
 2-5 hours
 5-8 hours
 8-11 hours
 More than 11 hours

3. How frequently do you access your notifications?

 Immediately
 Only during free times
 Any spare moment
 Even when you're busy

4. What is the source of information regarding the purchase of your products through online
SNS?

 Advertisement on SNS
 E –WOM(electronic word of mouth)
 Pages (Information given on separate pages for each brand / product /company)

BRAND ATTITUDE

The following statements describe about Brand attitudes. Please read each statement and
click on the answer that best reflects your feeling when you see a brand in advertisement or
hear about a brand through eWOM in SNS

41
SA-Strongly Agree, A- Agree, N- Neutral, D-Disagree, SD- Strongly Disagree

Sno Statements SA A N D SD
Brand awareness
9 Do you easily recognize the brand features in
SNS advertisements?
10 Several characteristics of brand instantly come
to your mind when you see it in SNS?
11 Do you easily memorize the symbol/logo of
brand seen in SNS?
Brand image
12 Do you trust the brands that are featured /
advertised on SNS?.
13 Brands you have seen in SNS are attractive?

14. Do you worry about privacy problem while purchasing the product from SNS?

 Always
 Sometimes
 Rarely
 Not at all

15. How long have you been purchasing products through SNS?

 Less than 5 months

 More than 1 year
 More than 2 years
 More than 5 years

42