Investigating the impact of social media advertising features on customer purchase intention

Abstract

Social media is being increasingly used as a platform to conduct marketing and advertising activities. Organizations have spent a lot of time, money, and resources on social media ads. However, there is always a challenge in how organizations can design social media advertising to successfully attract customers and motivate them to purchase their brands. Thus, this study aims to identify and test the main factors related to social media advertising that could predict purchase intention. The conceptual model was proposed based on three factors from the extending Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) (performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, and habit) along with interactivity, informativeness, and perceived relevance. The data was collected using a questionnaire survey of 437 participants. The key results of structural equation modelling (SEM) largely supported the current model’s validity and the significant impact of performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, interactivity, informativeness, and perceived relevance on purchase intentions. This study will hopefully provide a number of theoretical and practical guidelines on how marketers can effectively plan and implement their ads over social media platforms.