Viral Marketing on Consumer Reviews of Selected Carbonated Soft Drinks Companies in Nigeria

Abstract

The Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSD) market has continued to grow in leaps and bounds amidst fierce competition for supremacy in the market place. They hold tenaciously to the leadership position in the soda market, having successfully shrugged off challenge from competitors with a combination of product quality, relentless consumer engagement and aggressive advertising. However, studies have established that CSD are faced with persistent purchase decrease over incidents related to negative consumer reviews. Studies indicated that CSD companies tend to prioritize traditional advertising over viral marketing despite the potential benefits of the latter. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of viral marketing on consumer reviews of selected CSD companies in Nigeria. Survey research design was adopted for this study. The population was 3,987 employees in sales and marketing departments of the selected CSD companies in Nigeria. The sample size of 518 was determined using Cochran’s formula. Simple random sampling technique was adopted in selecting respondents. A structured and validated questionnaire was used to obtain data with Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients for the constructs ranged between 0.76 and 0.98. The response rate was 82.8%. Data were analyzed using Partial least square Structural equation modelling. The results, however, revealed that electronic word of mouth (β = 0.156, t = 2.168, p < 0.05), Influencer (β = 0.149, t = 2.793, p < 0.05), Reliability (β = 0.164, t = 2.065, p < 0.05) and social media (β = 0.336, t = 4.749, p < 0.05), have a positive and significant effect on the Consumer Review of some selected carbonated soft drink in Nigeria. Based on the findings, this study concluded that viral marketing affected consumer reviews of selected CSD companies in Nigeria. Therefore, this study recommended that management of CSD companies should focus on informativeness, electronic word of mouth, influencer, reliability and social media to enhance consumer reviews.