Abstract
PurposeThis paper aims to examine the influence of interactive social media marketing communications on teenagers’ cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude components in South Africa. The study also considers the impact of a number of additional factors such as usage (access, length of usage, log-on frequency, log-on duration and profile update incidence) and demographic (gender, age and population group) variables on young consumers’ attitudes toward social media marketing communications.Design/methodology/approachA survey was used via three self-administered questionnaires, which were distributed to over 13,000 learners in the age range of 13-18 years (Generation Z cohort) at colleges and high schools in South Africa. A generalized linear model was used for statistical data analysis.FindingsThe study ascertained that social media marketing communications had a positive on each attitude component among adolescents, but on a declining scale, which correlates to the purchase funnel. The results also revealed that teenagers who used social media for long time periods; updated their profiles frequently and were from the Colored and Black population groups, displayed the most favorable attitudinal responses to social media marketing communications.Research limitations/implicationsSocial media was collectively analyzed and did not consider the number of different social media types, which could be examined individually. This investigation only considered the Generation Z cohort, but other cohorts to attitudes toward social media marketing communications could also be assessed.Practical implicationsCompanies and their brands should consider using and/or adapting their strategies based on the declining impact of social media marketing communications on the hierarchical attitude stages among young consumers and the divergent influence on usage and demographic variables when targeting the lucrative and technologically advanced, but capricious, Generation Z consumers.Originality/valueThis research established that social media marketing communications had a favorable influence on cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude components among young consumers, but on a declining scale, which is in congruence with the purchase funnel model. This investigation also makes an important contribution to attitudinal research in developing countries, where there is a lack of research in social media marketing communications.
Highlights
This paper aims to examine the influence of interactive social media marketing communications on teenagers’ cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude components in South Africa
Teenagers have become largely resistant to traditional marketing; advertising revenues for many above-the-line media have slowed in growth or even declined in recent years, whereas several forms of digital interactive advertising have proved to be resilient to the fickleness of this younger generation, as well as the overall economic conditions of the market, and so has seen steady growth over the past decade (Lazarevic, 2012; Jaffit, 2015; Pombo, 2015)
The emergence of interactive social media has made it possible for marketers to communicate to millions of young consumers about their products; the impact of consumerto-consumer communication has been greatly magnified in the marketplace
Summary
This paper aims to examine the influence of interactive social media marketing communications on teenagers’ cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude components in South Africa. Originality/value – This research established that social media marketing communications had a favorable influence on cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude components among young consumers, but on a declining scale, which is in congruence with the purchase funnel model. This investigation makes an important contribution to attitudinal research in developing countries, where there is a lack of research in social media marketing communications. BRICS represent newly industrialized countries with large developing economies and will (and do) play an important role in the world economy (Petzer and De Meyer, 2013). Hoffman and Novak (2012) propose that a sound theoretical framework of social media is required for organizations to implement precise marketing tactics, regarding usage variables such as mobile device access. Peters et al (2013) suggest that a more holistic approach was required to effectively assess multiple elements of social media to make informed marketing communication decisions
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