DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING REALLY CHANGE WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE BUY? AN EMPIRICAL STUDY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS IN KARNATAKA

Vollständiger Abstract

Worum geht es in dieser Arbeit?

This study examines how five dimensions of social media marketing (SMM) — paid advertisements, influencer content, peer recommendations, user-generated reviews, and brand engagement — shape the buying behaviour of college-going youth in Bagalkote district, Karnataka. Primary data were collected from 100 college students through a structured Likert-scale questionnaire. Percentage analysis, mean and standard deviation, Pearson correlation, and Chi-Square tests were employed for analysis. User-generated content emerged as the most influential SMM dimension (weighted mean = 3.20), while influencer marketing ranked last (mean = 2.73). Brand engagement showed the strongest correlation with buying behaviour (r = 0.751). Instagram dominated platform usage (78%), with Facebook largely absent from this cohort (10%). A significant gender-based difference was confirmed (χ² = 18.648, p = 0.0009). All five hypotheses were accepted. The study provides original empirical evidence from a semi-urban Karnataka context underrepresented in existing Indian SMM literature.