INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN ACQUISITIONS WITH

VIRAL MARKETING: A STUDY ON WHATSAPP APPLICATION IN

TRABZON

1. Problem Statement
The increasing growth of social media has created a new marketing environment where the
traditional marketing rules are no longer apply. Marketers experimenting with new ways to reach
the customer are now heavily reliving on online and social media. Internet technologies not only
provides marketing information to customers but allow them to talk to other customers of their
opinions and experiences. This has resulted in the increasing trend of viral marketing where
marketing messages are shared among users, creating the exponential growth in the message
visibility. Further, wider acceptance of smartphones has made it all the more easier as several
mobile messenger apps like WhatsApp allow customers to get instant touch with family and
friends at no cost.
With a massive user base around the world, and being the top instant messaging applications in
Trabzon, Turkey too, WhatsApp can be the ‘green pasture’ for employing viral marketing
strategies. For marketing managers and advertising firms to leverage on the strength of WhatsApp
viral marketing, it is crucial to investigate the role of social media in influencing the effectiveness
of viral marketing, since the behavior of passing along a marketing message among consumers via
WhatsApp is completely voluntary.

Currently, studies have been conducted in the area of electronic word-of-mouth, email marketing
and many more. However, there has been a lack of studies specifically exploring WhatsApp viral
marketing, which does not work entirely the same as other instant messaging applications in terms
of the application interface, features, or synchronization of phone contacts. Therefore, the research
gap of this research is that this study has not been conducted in Trabzon before thus this framework
is yet to be tested in Trabzon.

Some research also studied the impact of users’ perceived message values and users’ perception
on attitude towards a certain behavior (Hongwei “Chris” et al., 2012; Palka et al., 2009). However,
such research was done among respondents from Europe, the United States, and China (Hongwei
“Chris” et al., 2012; Palka et al., 2009), and there is a lack of studies investigating the role of social
media in WhatsApp viral marketing among Trabzon users and consequently a lack of consolidated
findings.
Therefore, this research will undertake to investigate the role of social media and factors affecting
consumer purchasing behavior in participating in WhatsApp viral marketing in Trabzon. Other
aspects of the topic, such as WhatsApp usage and users’ preference in WhatsApp messages, will
also be examined to provide a more holistic view on users’ participation in WhatsApp viral
marketing.
In addition, a research tailored for Trabzon respondents is essential to gain insight into local users’
behavior and the social, cultural, demographic factors contributing to their intention to participate
in viral marketing. This is crucial to address the current challenges faced by Trabzon marketers
and advertising firms. By identifying the above mentioned factors and viral marketing mechanism,
the results of this study are expected to allow a better viral marketing strategy to be formulated by
the local marketers and advertising agencies.
Therefore, this study will be conceived in order to throw more light on the factors which influence
the effectiveness of viral marketing campaigns on WhatsApp application.

2. Objective of the study

The primary objective is to investigate the role of social media in Viral Marketing on WhatsApp
Application. The specific objectives are:

1) To study the factors that influence consumers to accept viral messages and their preference for
types of viral messages.
2) To study the influence of WhatsApp viral campaigns on consumer purchasing behavior
3) To understand the preference and frequency of use of WhatsApp Application.
4) To examine the effect of attitude on the intention to forward WhatsApp messages.

3. Hypothesis of the study

The following hypotheses will be used in this study.
H1: There is significant relationship between gender and frequency of use of WhatsApp
Application
H2: There is significant relationship between age and frequency of use of WhatsApp Application
H3: There is significant relationship between frequency of use and recognizing the need for a
product or service.
H4: There is significant relationship between frequency of use and purchasing of product or
service.

METHODOLOGY
1. Research Design
In this research, quantitative research will be conducted in order to investigate the role of social
media with WhatsApp viral marketing in Trabzon. Quantitative research methods attempt to
maximize the objectives of findings and are typically interested in forecast. Quantitative methods
are often being described as deductive in nature, due to the interpretations from tests of statistical
hypotheses lead to general interpretations about characteristics of a population.
Furthermore, descriptive research will be conducted to identify the role of social media with
WhatsApp viral marketing in Trabzon.

2. Sources of Data used

This research will use two sources of data collections methods to get the information needed from
the respondents in order to carry out the data analysis well.

2.1 Primary Data

Primary data will be collected using a structured questionnaire. A sample of (maybe 200)
respondents will be selected using a non-probability sampling technique, questionnaires will be
administered personally and the responses will be recorded. The study will be conducted in
Trabzon among the people who own and use Smartphone. And this will be the main source of
data collection in carrying out this research.
2.2 Secondary Data
Secondary data is able to support the primary data with previous researches and evidences. It
widened the database and directly allocate for a broader oversimplification of thoughts.
Under this data method, Published articles from different authors will be used when carrying out
the study which provide a clear view of the research. In addition to this, also general Websites
such as Google Academic, research gate, Dergi Park were lots of articles have been uploaded,
weblogs for which different people share views about social media, viral marketing, consumer
purchasing behavior, WhatsApp application, journals that provide up to date information on the
very specific topic.

2.3 Sampling and Participation

When it comes to sampling process, Like 20 survey questionnaires will be distributed first among
the target group in order to measure and determine the reliability statistics of Cronbach’s Alpha.
After that, data will be analyzed using SPSS statistical analysis. This will give me a way forward
to the next step. Later 180 survey questionnaires will be distributed to make up 200 which will be
my sample size.

To capture various sample of WhatsApp consumers, confidentiality shall be promised to them that
their responses will be purely for education purposes and will in no other circumstances be used
for any form of profit, authorized or unauthorized. The participants shall include male students
and female respondents having smartphones with WhatsApp application.

2.4 Measures
The format of the survey will be based on quantitative responses.

3. Do I need literature review?

?