The online users’ attitudes towards social media marketing

Abstract

The use of social media has drastically increased throughout the recent years. These digital media have become an important tool for marketers as online prospects have become more reachable. Moreover, they have facilitated the relationship between the businesses and their customers. However, relevant academic literature suggests that social media advertisements may not be delivering the desired results. Therefore, this study explores the individuals’ perceptions of social media marketing as promotional messages have increasingly become very prominent during their online experience. A quantitative study relied on valid and reliable measures that were drawn from the theory of planned behaviour and from an adapted construct from the uses and gratifications theory. An online survey questionnaire was distributed amongst University of Malta students as well as amongst online users who are members in various social media networks. The results suggest that the respondents’ had negative attitudes towards social media adverts as they indicated that they were ignoring them. Furthermore, these respondents indicated that these social media adverts failed to satisfy their cognitive needs. These findings imply that digital marketers ought to improve the presentation and content of their online advertisements on social media. In conclusion, this dissertation identifies its research limitations and puts forward possible research avenues to academia.