Social Media Marketing in the News: Social Media and Consumer Behavior

Social Media and Consumer Behavior
Social media has become a constant part of the everyday lives of consumers affecting the way they acquire products and their attitudes toward brands. The connection is clearly widespread and reflected directly on its real time basis influencing not only their behavior but also their purchasing decisions. Social media offered another channel for consumers to follow products and to understand brands that they patronize. This paper will discuss how consumers behave on social media and illustrate how social media influence consumer behavior. “Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter give consumers an investigative eye into what products and services they desire are really about” (Hall, 2014). These social media platforms served to be better sources of information and insight about the products and brands. People commented in social media to validate information and to provide assertion which is resonated within communities. Consumers looking for information on products and services can read reviews, comments, and recommendations within a social media platform. Social media allowed consumers to know what other consumers think about products and services and they employ this understanding in their purchase making decisions.
“Social media sites also allow a close eye into the companies that provide these products and services and to be able to converse with other people about them” (Hall, 2014). Another way that consumers are involved with companies and their products or services is through feedback through social media. Companies understood the power of building relationship and connecting with its consumers. Social media paved the way for a direct two-way interaction between consumers and companies. As social media is widely spreading as the easiest and