Impact of Social Media on Customer Behavior of Small Businesses in Hyderabad

Abstract

Customers turn to social media to find brands and make purchases from them. This study attempts to investigate the impact of social media on customer behavior using a quantitative approach to obtain a deep understanding of this phenomenon. An online questionnaire was distributed to the listed small businesses in Hyderabad, Telangana State, India via their emails. Data of self-administered questionnaire of small businesses for 197 participants were accomplished. Descriptive and inferential statistics are applied to the variables under study. Direct Connect, Trust, Customers' Satisfaction, Interaction, Customers' Value and Customers' Preferences are used as determinants of Customer Behavior in this study. Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Discriminant Validity and Hypothesis testing are used in the practical analysis to examine the impact of social media on the determinants of customer behavior. The results show that social media has a positive significant impact on the all involved variables (constructs) i.e., Direct Connect, Trust, Customers' Satisfaction, Interaction, Customers' Value and Customers' Preferences. Obviously, small businesses still have a need to gain more knowledge about how to engage social media into their marketing strategies. Key Words: Social Media, Customer Behavior, Small Businesses, Direct Connect, Trust, Customers' Satisfaction, Interaction, Customers' Value and Customers' Preferences.