Disclaimer
A Perfect Thesis is a book that includes an 84-page thesis paper written on the following topic: The Impact of Social Media on Purchase Decisions. The Impact of Social Media on Purchase Decisions, a perfect thesis, received a perfect score of 100. A Perfect Thesis was created as a way to share the tools and techniques used to get a perfect score on a thesis paper.
Purchasing A Perfect Thesis does not gurantee a perfect score on a thesis paper; Rather, it will demonstrate how to properly write a thesis paper. It is a great example of how a thesis paper should be formatted, how the research should support the thesis statement, how the thesis paper should be organized, and how the argument, the thesis, should be clearly proven in your thesis paper.
Thesis Introduction
Since the beginning of time, consumers have been faced with making purchase decisions. Even then media (television, newspapers, radio, etc.) played a huge role in consumers’ decisions to make a purchase. Until recently, the last few years, social media was not one of the major media options available to consumers. With increased use of social media, businesses and consumers alike began meeting center stage utilizing social media to communicate and share information about their favorite brands.
Consumers engage in social media activities for many different reasons; however, many have realized the benefits of “liking” or “following” their favorite brands. The benefits include discounts, knowledge about the brand, notification of upcoming sales, and even notification about upcoming contests. In addition, the social media platform allows consumers to communicate with friends and family about their favorite brands and products which makes communication about brands viral. All of these factors are included in the “information gathering stage” of the purchase decision process that often times lead to consumers making final purchase decisions.
Companies, on the other hand, engage in the use of social media for one obvious reason, their customers are hanging out there. There is nothing more important to companies than getting brand recognition and reaching their target audience. That is why social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have made millions from companies advertising on their sites. Social media is where these companies are getting the biggest bang for their bucks.
This thesis project focuses on purchase decisions and the role that social media plays in impacting the decisions being made. Primary and secondary research are used to explain consumer behavior, opinions, and thoughts about the role that social media plays in helping them to make purchase decisions.
Thesis Premise Statement
This project proves that Social Media has an impact on the purchase decisions of Social Media users. The primary research in this project includes a survey that was sent to 50 Social Media users via Facebook email. The primary data collected in this survey focuses on the influence that social media has on consumer purchase decisions and the likeliness that these social media users would have made such purchases without the information that was gathered using social media channels. The correlation between media usage and consumer purchase decisions was gathered from this survey.
Secondary research was used to support the findings from the primary research. The secondary research includes data from previous studies that focus on the impact that social media has on consumer purchase decisions.
Thesis Limitations
The scope of this project covers the impact that social media has on consumer purchase decisions. While the primary and secondary research used in this project shows the correlation between social media usage and purchase decisions, it also shows that limitations are present. These limitations include the fact that all of the survey participants were solicited on Facebook; there were more women than men to participate in the survey; and the fact that all of the data collected is restricted to the United States. In addition, the author has a personal bias that may have influenced the author’s opinion concerning the impact that social media has on purchase decisions.
The first limitation is caused by the author’s lack of variety used when choosing social media channels to solicit survey participants. Using only Facebook to solicit survey participants was the easiest way to solicit participants as the author has existing contacts on Facebook; however, using only Facebook may have narrowed the results of the data collected. All of the participants clearly have knowledge of how businesses and consumers interact as well as well as how friends and family interact on Facebook, but what knowledge do they have about the other social media channels that also have an impact on consumer purchase decisions? This question may have been better answered if participants were chosen from a wider variety of social media channels.
The next limitation exists as the result of unequal number of men and women participating in the primary research. Of the 50 participants, 18 of them were men and the remaining 32 were women. In addition, some of the secondary research included in the project provides data results based on surveys where the majority of the participants were women. While this limitation does not mean that the thesis is not true, it could however, mean that women’s purchase decisions are impacted by social media more so than men.
The next limitation exists as the result of both the primary and secondary research results being based strictly on the United States and United States citizens. This limitation narrows the results of the data collected. While this limitation may prove that there is a correlation between social media and consumer purchase decisions in the United States, it does not prove this to be the case in other countries. This limitation does not prove that the thesis is not true; however, it could mean that the thesis is only true in the United States.
The last limitation exists as the result of the author’s own bias. The author is a huge fan of product and brand research and reviews through use of social media to assist with making purchase decisions. In fact, most of the author’s decisions to make a purchase are the result of recommendations of friends and family on social media sites or the result of coupons sent to the author by brands that the author “follows” or “likes” on different social media site. This bias could be the reason that the author feels that social media has such a profound impact on consumer purchase decisions.
Thesis Methodology
Both primary and secondary research were used to prove that social media has an impact on consumer purchase decisions. The primary research consisted of a survey that was taken by 50 people. This was the only form of primary research used because it focuses on a variety of social media tools that may have an influence or impact individuals’ purchase decisions. The secondary research used consisted of numerous articles on the topic or related to social media and the impact that it has on consumer purchase decisions.
The primary research was gathered through the use of Facebook email. The survey was sent to 50 random people in the author’s Facebook contact list. The survey allowed the author to gather a lot of valuable insight into the behaviors, preferences, and intentions of users while on social media sites where shopping and making purchase decisions is a factor. The survey asked questions about the users’ opinion on social media and the role that it plays in their purchase decisions. It asked what the chances were that the user would have purchased the same product without the knowledge that they gained on the social media site about the product. One of the more important questions asked the users to identify the media outlet that has the greatest influence on their purchase decisions. The media options included social media,televisions commercials, newspaper ads, or radio.
The secondary research consists of articles from various sources that focus on the impact that social media has on purchase decisions. There was a vast amount of information available to support the project’s thesis topic. Most of the articles were found through use of Google keyword search. A few of the search terms/phrases used were: “the impact that social media has on purchase decisions,” “social media and purchase decision,” and “impacts on purchase decisions.” A few of the sources, Nielsen, Forrester Research, Harris Interactive, and Fleishman Hillard, have done massive research on the topic. A large portion of the information gathered for this project came from these sources.