CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
A major objective of advertising is to sell a product which may be goods or services. Brands across the world have invested billions of dollars into this venture to ensure they connect with their target audiences on different locations. By monitoring the market trend, many brands have gone ahead to design what they refer to as “market specific” advert messages, with very critical attention paid to media selection, simply to ensure that they do not miss out on their potential consumers. Conventionally, the traditional media of advertising have been billboards, television, radio, magazines and newspapers. Other media of advertising are handbills, leaflets, and mobile advertising placed on vehicles.
However, with the advent of the internet and the World Wide Web (www), advertising has notably taken a more creative dimension. Of particular interest is the quest for advertisement products on the social media platform. This development could not be totally distanced from the concept of media convergence, a centre point for all media connected to information and communication technology (ICT).
With the advent of the social media, brands are now compelled to be highly creative in how they design their advert messages to suit the taste of young users of social media. According to Igboaka & Ha (2010), studies have shown that adopters of new communication technologies are young, more upscale and better educated. The observation can be attributed to wide exposure to information technology use as well as to the benefits accruable therein.
According to the Social Media Marketing Industry Statistics (2008), social media use is set to change the way in which many marketers conduct their businesses. One of the reasons is that consumers’ ratings of brands on social media platforms have become one of the most credible
forms of advertising. Also, in a global survey of 700 marketers, Wildfire App (The Drum,
2012)) discovered that nearly all marketers find value from social media and that 75% of marketers planned to increase their media spending in 2012. The top benefits highlighted by these marketers are the increase in brand awareness and ability to engage in dialogue directly with their customers.
The 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report showed that 88% of marketers reported increased exposure to be the number one benefit of social media marketing. Rammnarain & Govender (2013), citing the 2012 Awareness Networks, stated that 70% of businesses expanded their social media presence in 2012. Thus, social networking sites are becoming the number one platform for information creation and sharing, since it is estimated that there are almost 272 million social networking users worldwide, and 307 million individuals visit a friend’s social network page (p.1886). This expansive drive on social media appears to have come to stay particularly with the consistently improving appeal of the various platforms, for which advertisers are constantly seeking to plug into the influence they may bear on their potential consumers, a majority of whom are younger people who are savvy in the use of the social media.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Measuring advertisement effectiveness is an issue of great concern to advertisers. Because of the huge amount of money expended on advertising as already established, it is imperative for advertisers to ascertain if their advert messages actually get the desired attention from their target audiences. Because Nigeria also belongs to the global marketing communication space, these concerns are germane to discerning advertisers in the country.
Today, a lot of brand advertisements are targeted at young people. A significant number of this population is spread across tertiary institutions in Nigeria and the advertisers through their communications want to persuade them to make product preference in favour of their brands. Existing literature have significantly captured the adoption and uses of social media among young people in Nigeria. However, little is known specifically about how social media advertisements influence product preference among young people in Nigeria as very few studies are available. Hence, the major concern of this paper is to expand knowledge on how well young people pay attention to the advertisements on social media and make a purchasing decision based on them and establish if there is any consistency with findings from the limited available literature.
1.3 Objective of the study
In view of the foregoing, the objectives of this study are to:
1. Investigate the extent to which young people are exposed to advertisement on social media;
2. Examine the factors that are likely to influence young people’s exposure to advertisements on social
media platforms;
3. Identify the social media platforms on which young people mostly view advertisements; and
4. Investigate the extent to which social media adverts could influence product preference among young people.
1.4 Research Questions
To address the objectives of this research and justify its purpose, the following research questions were postulated:
1. To what extent are young people exposed to the advertisements on social media?
2. What factors are likely to influence young people’s exposure to the advertisements on social media?
3. On which social media platforms do young people mostly view advertisements?
4. To what extent do advertisements on social media influence product preferenceamong young people?
1.5 Scope of the study
The scope of this study is limited to young audience who are conversant with social media usage and are the target of most advertisers.
1.6 Significance of study
Advertising on social media platforms provides advertisers with more options to connect with their various target audience. Young persons who are technology savvy form a major part of these target audience and advertisers will only be satisfied when their messages hit and move members of their target audience to action.
In view of the dynamics of modern day advertising, advertisers are now demanding accountability. They are demanding for accountability metrics to measure the effectiveness of their messages either in specifics or generally. For the advertisers, the return-oninvestment (ROI) is critical to their understanding of a successful advertising campaign (Baran, 2013).
Based on this assertion, this study is required as it provides advertisers in Nigeria with insight into understanding the exposure, reception and influence of their messages on social media on the young people who form a key part of their target audience. This study is also needed to better understand to what extent making product preferencebased on advertisements on social media is a gratification for young social media users in Nigeria, while using Cadbury and Nestle products as case studies. Findings from this study will also contribute to the literature in this area in Nigeria.