Social Media's Influence on Buying Decisions for Smart Phones

The paper tries to assess how much impact social media has on consumers' decision while purchasing a smart phone. Consumers try to obtain information before going in for any product or service. The researchers attempted to find out whether consumers turned to social media to get information about smart phones. They also tried to understand how they processed this information and what value they gave to this information over the details available from traditional sources. The paper studies the popularity of various social media in today's age and how it is used. The researchers conducted primary research by way of a survey. A questionnaire was administered to 200 respondents from different age groups. The aim behind selecting persons from different age groups was to know whether people belonging to older age groups who had not been exposed to technology unlike the millennials, also have learned to use social media platforms for getting information before buying a smart phone. The study also sought to check whether traditional sources of information like word of mouth or print media or opinions of family members and friends and relatives still were critical factors for helping people choose the smart phone thy wanted to buy. The researchers even sought to find out how many consumers preferred going to brick-and-mortar stores to get information about different brands before buying a smart phone. Both men and women were administered the questionnaire for this study in order not to have a gender bias. The researchers also gathered data from secondary sources. The results showed that social media platforms were extensively used to gain information about different brands of smart phones and also had an impact on the consumers' purchase decisions. The study is valuable as it will help smart phone brands to create their online marketing strategies.