The Influence of Marketing Activities of Companies on Social Networks on the Purchase Decisions of Students

Abstract

The study in this paper sought to assess how the company's marketing initiatives influence the purchasing choices of students. By surveying 230 students from the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade and analysing their responses, the researchers evaluated various aspects of the company's marketing strategies and the students' buying behaviour. Descriptive statistics revealed that the variables related to updating content on social media and utilising sponsored advertisements had the most significant impact, along with the variable of making purchasing decisions. The results of the regression and correlation analysis established the existence of statistically significant relationships and the influence of the variables of the company's marketing activity on the variables of students' purchase decisions. Based on the regression model of influence, it was determined that the variables of the company's marketing activities had the greatest impact on the variable of making purchase decisions, with the variables of sponsored ads and updating content on social networks making the greatest individual contribution. A two-component solution was obtained by factor analysis, where the first component gathered all the variables of the company's marketing activities and the purchasing decision variable, while the second component gathered the other variables of the students' purchasing decisions. Between these two components, increasingly high correlation values were found, which only indicates that there is a certain degree of variability between the company's marketing activities and students' purchasing decisions. The research conducted in this study aimed to determine the extent to which social media marketing is beneficial for students in finding products and services they need, as well as how influential it is in their purchasing decisions. It underscores the importance for companies to integrate social media marketing activities and determine the most suitable types of social media marketing strategies.