SSRN Id3862924

ISSN 2465-6399
Social Media Marketing: A Literature Review on Consumer Products
Siriwardana, A.1
Social media is used by billions of people around the world and has fast become one of the
defining technologies of our time. Social media allows people to freely interact with others
and offers multiple ways for marketers to reach and engage with consumers. Due to its
dynamic and emergent nature, the effectiveness of social media as a marketing
communication channel has presented many challenges for marketers. It is considered to be
different to traditional marketing channels. Many organizations are investing in their social
media presence because they appreciate the need to engage in existing social media
conversations in order to build their consumer brand. Social Medias are increasingly replacing
traditional media, and more consumers are using them as a source of information about
products, services and brands. The purpose of this paper is to focus on where to believe the
future of social media lie, when considering consumer products. Paper followed a deductive
approach and this paper attempts to review current scholarly on social media marketing
literature and research, including its beginnings, current usage, benefits and downsides, and
best practices. Further examinations to uncover the vital job of social media, inside a
digitalized business period in promoting and branding consumer products. As a result of the
comprehensive analysis, it undoubtedly displays that social media is a significant power in
the present marketing scene.
Keywords: Consumer Products, Customer Engagement, Digitalization, Social Media
Cite this paper as;

Siriwardana, A (2020). Social Media Marketing: A Literature Review on Consumer
Products. The Conference Proceedings of 11th International Conference on Business &
Information ICBI, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. ISSN 2465-6399, (pp. 492-506)
1
Doctoral Student, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. (anushka@learning.acbt.lk)
492
International Conference on Business and Information (ICBI) 2020
Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3862924
ISSN 2465-6399
Introduction
Expanding focus around worldwide development of events and the far-reaching utilization of
technology in marketing, advertising and promotions have led moves in the manner by which
organizations center around consumers (Quelch & Jocz, 2008). Researchers have perceived
that innovation has gotten a significant segment in expanding markets and have characterized
whole advertising systems around worldwide access to innovation. Simultaneously,
advertising and promotion frequently center around the psychological, emotional, what's
more, social variables impacting customer behaviors, components that must be fused into
innovation-based advertising (Quelch & Jocz, 2008). Therefore, even within the sight of
worldwide extension and new innovations, organizations need to take a look at the four basic
"Ps" of advertising: product, price, place, and promotion (Quelch & Jocz, 2008).
Rust, Moorman and Bhalla (2010) researched that while numerous organizations approach a
variety of kinds of innovations that could enhance consumer interest, expand brand
acknowledgment and improve overall marketing and numerous underuse technologies as an
establishment for interacting with customers. These researchers, however, seem to suggest
that extended utilization of information technologies and social media will be the trend in the
future (Rust, Moorman & Bhalla, 2010). Instead of concentrating on short term promoting
through innovation, capable organizations are coordinating social media mechanisms to
upgrade the relationship with customers. Organizations often center around three of the most
broadly utilized social media platforms for use in product marketing and branding: Facebook,
YouTube and Twitter (Muntinga, Moorman & Smit, 2011; Shi, Rui & Whinston, 2014). More
than any time in the past, organizations are perceiving the estimation of the utilization of
techniques to draw in purchasers in a way that consistently reintroduces the products,
increases the appeal of products, or identifies social segments to product encounters. Online
life sites have become the center point of information distribution on products, including the
introduction of new product lines, the formation of brand awareness, and methods to shape
consumer conduct (Muntinga, Moorman & Smit, 2011). Social media gives the novel chance
to utilize informal advertising to a far-reaching crowd, supporting consumer to-customer
communication and advancing brand awareness through an enormous scope of interpersonal
organization (Kozinets, de Valck, Wojnicki & Wilner, 2010).
Social media can be defined as "consumer-generated media that covers a wide variety of new
sources of online information, created and used by consumers intent on sharing information
with others regarding any topic of interest" (Kohli, Suri, & Kapoor, 2014). “According to
eMarketer (2013), nearly one in four people worldwide use social network sites - a number of
about 1.73 billion people. By 2017, the global social network audience is estimated to be
around 2.55 billion people” (Schivinski, Christodoulides, & Dabrowski, 2016). When
assessing social media as a marketing tool, most researchers include both mobile and web-
based technologies that focus on ways that users “share, co-create, discuss and modify user-
generated content” (Kohli, Suri, & Kapoor, 2014). This is considered by most to be a
paradigmatic shift in the way companies market their products, because companies are relying
on consumers more than ever before to direct their marketing processes and create the
discourse around branding (Kohli, Suri, & Kapoor, 2014).
Not at all like print or TV promoting, social media isn't a publicizing platform all by itself,
and subsequently, organizations can be challenged with deciding how consumers receive
information and impact of the commitment to the branding procedure in consumer goods.
Positive remarks in online life scenes can have a positive effect, yet negative remarks can
likewise be a part of the brand exchange and will most likely be unable, to be controlled by
the organizations utilizing social media networking for promoting consumer goods (Ho-Dac,
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Carson & Moore, 2013; Kohli, Suri & Kapoor, 2014). Simultaneously, customers take an
interest in the conversation and trades that impact the branding procedure, at the same time
giving almost no consideration to their cooperation in the branding or marketing process
(Kohli, Suri & Kapoor, 2014).
Social networking locales like Facebook have given another method of presenting brand-
related content and making trades with customers by creating consumer interactions (Shen &
Bissell, 2013). The estimation of this methodology depends on the move in the manner by
which the Web is being utilized, and social venues are progressing. A decade prior, the main
online action was erotic entertainment, yet only 10 years after that fact, this has moved to a
long range social networking communication (Shen & Bissell, 2013). Thus, about 93% of
organizations utilize some type of social media communication for promoting and branding
consumer goods (Shen & Bissell, 2013). In their 2013 study, Shen and Bissell kept up that at
any given year, there are, in excess of 200 million dynamic online clients in the US who go
through over 29 hours spent on web-based browsing, product appraisal and networking. Of
this enormous measure of social networking use, Facebook is the pioneer, with the most time
spent on this social network leader (more than 7 hours for each individual every week) (Shen
& Bissell, 2013).
Consumer goods are products bought for consumption by the average consumer. Alternatively
called final goods, consumer goods are the end result of production and manufacturing and
are what a consumer will see on the store shelf. Clothing, food, and jewelry are all examples
of consumer goods (Cooper, Maitland, Siu & Wei, 2015). Basic or raw materials, such as
copper, are not considered consumer goods because they must be transformed into usable
products. In Consumer Products Market, aggressive marketing is required because the
customers of consumer product market lack in loyalty and tend to shift from one brand to
another very quickly (Cooper, Maitland, Siu & Wei, 2015). The consumer products market is
characterized by high level of competition among the sellers. The companies are continuously
engaged in modification of business models and business activities to match up with the
changing consumer needs (Cooper, Maitland, Siu & Wei, 2015).
Utilization of web-based social networking is developing among individuals in Sri Lanka and
Facebook has turned into the most famous and engaging social media platform when
promoting consumer products (Thuseethan & Kuhanesan, 2014). Absolute populace in Sri
Lanka is 20.86 million and there are 6.26 million dynamic Web users and 4.9 million dynamic
social media users. When considering the investigation of the utilization of Facebook, one can
see that there are 4.9 million month to month dynamic clients and 86% of them log on to it
through cell phones. It was additionally recorded that 49% of Facebook clients use it daily.
Insights further show that 30% of Facebook profiles belong to females while saying 70% is
male (Simon, 2017). Further, according to (Global stats, 2019) the social media stats as of
June 2019 hold 82.06% of Facebook users, which is comparatively the most popular social
media platform used by Sri Lankan internet users. A quarter of online social media users
follow their favorite product or brand in their social network. Among them 80% of them
follow the company or brand pages on Facebook. Therefore, respective presence on Facebook
makes brands discoverable and connected (Perera, 2017).
Purpose of the Study and Methodology

The term FMCG stands for Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), which is also known as
consumer-packaged goods. These goods include consumable items which the customer
purchases at a regular interval. With packaged goods topping the line to toiletries and other
household products, it somewhat extends to certain electronic goods as well. FMCG sector
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has a total market size of US$ 13.1 billion and is the fourth largest sector in the economy
(Cooper, Maitland, Siu & Wei, 2015).
A survey conducted by Ernest and Young states that 95.7% of organizations in India use the
digital media for advocating the use of their product and build communities to engage the
customer; while 76.1% utilize it to impart information and other news regarding their product.
Social media was used for both the purposes by 16% of the organization. The reason behind
this high usage is the ability to generate leads and ease in implementing customers’ services
(Earnst & Young, 2013). FMCG relies heavily on social media channels which is a part of the
digital ecosystem when it comes to engaging customers (Earnst & Young, 2013). Direct
access is offered to FMCG organization by the social media to access the users of their
product, as well as to keep up with the needs and wants of the customer. Social media is most
suitable for real time engagement with the customers for FMCG since consumer is equipped
with digital technology at their fingertips. They prefer to research the digital sphere before
they purchase and ask for recommendations and reviews from any of the brand community
which is present on the digital sphere. With FMCG organizations utilizing the social media to
engage with the customer; customer has the benefit of directly reaching out to the brands and
come to a purchase decision (Virdi, 2013), while the organization has the opportunity to know
about its customer and understand their behavior.
In this paper, 'digitalization or the web-based social networking stage alludes extensively to
the reconciliation of advanced advances into consumer products, as in the accompanying
definition: 'Digitalization: Integration of digital technologies into regular day to day existence
by the digitization of everything that can be digitized' (Businessdictionary.com 2014),
‘digitalization’ is not a new phenomenon in retailing of consumer products; without a doubt,
it has been an important piece of retailing—and changes in retailing—since at any rate the
1970s (Watson, 2011) obviously, digitalization isn't a totally new marvel on the buyer side,
either. With the development of PCs in homes and the expansion in various types of digital
devices, internet advances, and so on, the change has been in progress for a considerable
number of decades. In this manner, in spite of the fact that consumer products and buyers
recently experienced digitalization moderately, freely of each other, it presently includes the
retailer-customer interface undeniably (Erdogmus & Cicek, 2012).
Accordingly, attempt to further investigate how empirical evidences are found, discussing the
role of social media marketing with special reference to the emergence of online technology
and its influence upon consumer products is significant. Paper followed a deductive approach
and this paper attempts to review the current scholarly on social media marketing literature
and research, including its beginnings, current usage, benefits and downsides, and best
practices (Poncin & Mimoun, 2014; Stein & Ramaseshan, 2016; Pantano, 2016). It has
attempted to review empirical thoughts as an organized content on how Social Media
Marketing is becoming the latest and popular trend as a digital platform for social interaction
between virtual communities in different faces. Finally, this paper attempts to conclude the
main remarks whilst proposing key insights for the future research directions (Taylor, 2016).
Literature Review
Social Media Platform
The making of social networking sites like MySpace in 2003 and Facebook in 2004 prompted
the popularity of the term 'social media'. The term 'Web 2.0' was likewise first utilized around
this time to portray the new utilization of the internet as a stage where content was not made
any more and published by people, yet is consistently changed by numerous users in a
participatory and community-oriented way (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Web 2.0 led to the
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presentation of community-oriented activities, Wikis and intuitive websites; thus, encouraging

the formation of client systems, and the progression of thoughts, information and knowledge
among users (Constantinides, 2014).
User Generated Content (UGC) refers to media content that is freely accessible and made by
end-users (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010) and, as per OECD (2007), it ought to have been created
outside expert schedules, without a commercial market context. The last refers to the content
creator; the subject of the UGC can be (and regularly is) a business product or service with
respect to which the discussants volunteer their opinions. From these ideas of Web 2.0 and
UGC, online networking can be characterized as a group of internet-based applications that
build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 which allows the creation
and exchange of UGC (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Online networking can be arranged into:
Collaborative projects (Wikipedia, web journals), content communities (YouTube),
interpersonal interaction (Facebook), virtual game worlds (World of Warcraft), and virtual
social worlds (Second Life) (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). These days, online business and
expert survey locales also accommodate UGC, for example, Amazon and dpreview.com.
As indicated by (Kaplan & Haenlein,2010), social media is "a gathering of internet-based
applications put together that works with respect to the ideological and the innovative
establishments of web 2.0 and it permits the creation and exchange of user generated content."
It simply refers to the online technologies and practices which people, associations and
organizations use to share information and opinions. This definition is insisted by Wall &
Williams (2007); Schröder & Hölzle (2010), who speculate that social media is a social
conglomeration. In light of this, online life as per the definition referred to by Wall and
Williams (2007), and Tsimonis and Dimitriadis (2014), exude from the initial’s discussions
outfitted towards general opinions within a specified time, for the most part long enough
joined by adequate human feeling, which thus bring about close to personal relationship inside
the cyber space. Another conceivable clarification of web-based social networking use, is that
it contains a more extensive scope of web-based applications yet it is for the most affiliated
with applications, for example, YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, and Instagram.
Notwithstanding the advantages to online life advertisers and consumers straightforwardly, it
is less expensive in its activity and less time consuming (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010), it
influences customer behavior and observation, just as uniting to classifications of like-minded
people (Ernst & Young, 2011).
By early 2017, Sri Lanka had more active cell phone memberships than individuals (124 for
each 100 people), and around 30% of the populace was utilizing the Web. As Web is never
confined to the urban areas or to those with English capability, as it was during the early years,
the social change has assembled pace. The genuine game changer is the spread of cell phones,
the gadget through which a greater part (over 75%) of the nation's 6 million internet users get
on the web. As per a research done by the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, a survey
including 1000 persons showed that among the sample users, 74% of them use social
networks, 11% of them use media sharing, 9% of the users use micro blogging and 2% of the
users use blogs, micro blogs and social news (Thuseethan,2015). With the issues of essential
availability and access gradually dialing down, society currently faces a more complex and a
nuanced set of post-availability challenges (Ranasinghe & Dharmadasa, 2013). These
incorporate improving computerized education; upgrading locally relevant substance;
guaranteeing appropriate specialized models for web and advanced applications; tending to
gender orientation in computerized innovation and web use; shielding singular security and
assurance of web based information; upgrading digital security at individual and institutional
dimensions; and containing electronic reconnaissance (Cooray, 2016).
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However there is no slowing down of the growth of internet use. It took 17 years for the
number of internet subscribers to pass 1 million (in 2012), since then, growth has been much
faster. By June 2017, the TRCSL reported a total of 1,060,529 fixed internet subscriptions
(both narrowband and broadband), and another 4,418,799 mobile broadband subscriptions.
This produced a total of 5,479,328 Internet subscriptions in the country. As some accounts are
used by more than one person, it can be assumed that at least around 30% of the population
(6.25 million) were regularly using the Internet in Sri Lanka by June 2017 (Ranasinghe &
Dharmadasa, 2013).
Consumer Products in Social Media Platform
Consumer goods is a generalized term for any product or service purchased primarily for
personal, family, or household uses. Consumer goods such as clothing, foodstuff, or toys are
intended to satisfy human wants and needs through their direct consumption or use. Consumer
goods can be characterized in various ways; depending on the frequency and duration of the
product’s usage, the classifications of durable goods, semi durable goods and nondurable
goods can be distinguished (Filo, Lock, & Karg, 2015) According to their usage, many goods
(e.g., cars, printers, or personal computers) can be categorized either as consumer goods or as
industrial goods. The term consumer traditionally refers to the ultimate user of products, ideas,
and services. Strictly speaking, a distinction can be made between consumers and customers.
(Ashley & Tuten, 2015). A customer is the person or organization who buys the product or
service and pays the price for it, whereas a consumer is the person who uses the product or
service. In everyday language, the term consumer is frequently used to characterize the buyer
or decision maker. A mother who buys semolina pudding for the consumption of her small
child is often called ‘the consumer’, although she is not the ultimate user. (Singh &
Sonnenburg, 2018).
Social media has given an entirely different arrangement of chances for consumers to take
part in social interaction on the web. Social media is utilized by customers for different
reasons, for example, to produce content, take part in online networks and to connect with
different customers. As indicated by Lu, (2010) advancements in the web in the ongoing years
has made various new frameworks accessible to organizations: social media as online
networks are one genuine example. In this time and age, buyers approach different sources of
data and encounters which have been ordered utilizing other clients' data and suggestions
(Severi, Ling, & Nasermoadeli 2014). Mayfield (2011), clarifies this is a significant factor as
the client presence through online life is a significant favorable position in marketing.
With the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) traditional mass
media has been substituted by social media, (Chandrasekara, 2013). The quantity of overall
social media users is required to achieve one third of the total populace (for example more
than three billion month to month dynamic online networking clients) by 2021; this expanding
number of client records is joined by a development in user engagement, as web clients spend
a normal 135 minutes out of each day on informal organizations (Statista, 2018). Internet
based life represented very nearly 35 percent of global digital spending in 2017, contrasted
with 23 percent in 2013 (Statista, 2018). The main online networking webpage is Facebook
with more than 2.2 billion month to month dynamic clients worldwide as of April 2018,
followed by YouTube (1.5 billion) and WhatsApp (1.5 billion) (Statista, 2018).
Thus, an ever-increasing number of consumer brands have included Social Media Marketing
(SMM) in their advertising procedures to receive the rewards of the computerized wave.
Where by it is characterized as the procedure that enables promotion of websites, products
and services by means of online social channels (Weinberg, 2009), SMM is identified with
relationship building and making associations with the consumers – current or potential
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(Erdogmus & Cicek, 2012). With activities, for example, blogging and sharing instructional
videos and photographs of products via web-based networking media stages, the focal point
of SMM activities are content brands, correspondence, effort and referral to expand web
traffic, awareness and popularity of brands (Kim & Ko, 2012). In addition, the development
in the utilization of online life and rise of social hunt is assuming a focal job in consumer
brand communications and commitment (Kim & Ko, 2012; Laroche, 2013).
Social Media and Consumer Products in the Sri Lankan Context
Sri Lanka's digital change has been in progress for a long time. It started during the 1980s
when personal computers started entering workplaces and homes. It assembled pace after the
presentation of cell phones in 1989 and business internet providers in 1995. The nation was
the first in South Asia to change its telecom area. Those changes, started in the mid-1990s,
finished the decades-long state imposing business model and made an aggressive market with
various operators and vital guidelines. (Cooray, 2016)
However, there is no slowing down of the growth in the use of internet. It took 17 years for
the number of Internet subscribers to pass 1 million (in 2012). Since then, growth has been
much faster. By June 2017, the TRCSL reported a total of 1,060,529 fixed Internet
subscriptions (both narrowband and broadband), and another 4,418,799 mobile broadband
subscriptions. This produced a total of 5,479,328 Internet subscriptions in the country. As
some accounts are used by more than one person, it can be assumed that at least around 30%
of the population (6.25 million) were regularly using the internet in Sri Lanka by June 2017
(Rathnayake, 2013).
With a phenomenal growth of mobile broadband connections and rapidly increasing fixed
internet connections, Sri Lanka is fast establishing itself as a potential regional ICT hub.
According to the statistics released by the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri
Lanka (TRC)as indicated in Table 1, the number of mobile broadband connections has
doubled each year since their introduction in the year 2009, registering an average growth of
nearly 96.5% during the past six years. The fixed internet connections have registered a
praiseworthy growth of 68% although it hasn’t seen as phenomenal a growth as mobile broad
band connections have (Sri Lanka National Human Development Report, 2014). Sri Lanka is
a 21 million strong population being served by five mobile service providers. In fact, Fitch
Ratings in their last year’s report named Sri Lanka as one of the most crowded telecom
markets in Asia while predicting a possibility of a merger between the weak market players
to provide innovation and facilitate de-regulation. (Sri Lanka National Human Development
Report, 2014).
Everybody who goes online does not utilize internet-based life, yet many do. Facebook is the
most well-known web-based social networking stage in Sri Lanka, with the all-out client
number surpassing 5 million by end 2016. A quarter of online social media users follow their
favorite product or brand in their social network. Among them 80% of them follow the
company or brand pages on Facebook. Therefore, having presence on Facebook makes brands
discoverable and connected (Sirimane, 2017). Other internet-based life stages, for example,
Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat have essentially fewer client numbers, but at the same time
are becoming popular.
The Sri Lankan consumer product industry, prestigious as a multi-million cash area is being
ruled by Uniliver Sri Lanka and Hemas Property with the assembling and circulation of a huge
scope of FMCG brands (Kahadawarachchi, Dissanayake & Maitra, 2016; Keller, 2012).
Those items which are known to leave the racks "quick", are arranged as food and beverages,
family unit and individual consideration items. Individual consideration items can again be
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classified into five kinds in particular, hair care, healthy skin, cosmetics, fragrance and oral
consideration while Uniliver Sri Lanka claims the highest number of brands while LMRB
(Lanka Market Research Bureau Business) panel information, additionally shows it as the
most astounding month to month deals generator for the organization. Henceforth
accordingly, the correspondence of explicit budgetary allocation for individual consideration
items are highest compared to the other two classes (Cooray, 2016). Subsequently, the
organizations consider the viability of the showcasing correspondence exercises on a
definitive buy choice as a prime factor. (Kahadawarachchi, Dissanayake & Maitra, 2016;
Keller, 2012).
The development of internet advancements extraordinarily sways on the buyer's day to day
activities and numerous offline activities which have now moved to the online condition. In
this light, online retail shopping has evolved in to the mainstream sphere and furthermore has
become an essential piece of consumer life. As indicated by the most recent studies, during
the year 2016, internet penetration of Sri Lanka had expanded by 30% and web clients has
increased up to 6.1 million particularly because of the accessibility of a few connection
alternatives, for example, mobile choice, broadband choice and dial-up choice. This greatly
affects the life of Sri Lankans’ and numerous online activities have expanded especially the
presence via social media networking and internet business (Colombo Computerized
Advertisers, 2017). Besides, as per an ongoing thorough report distributed by Kayamu, e-
commerce exchanges in Sri Lanka are required to be developed by over 72% sooner rather
than later (Khan, 2017). It has additionally been demonstrated that Sri Lankan online
customers are increasingly becoming keen on looking for and purchasing retail items for their
regular needs. Against the development of Web penetration and web-based business activities,
it is essential to recognize the variables impacting on the ‘web buy goal’ in online retail
shopping, since web-based purchase intentions have moved basically towards online retail
shopping (Khan, 2017). The significant contrast between ―on-line and ―off-line buyer
conduct, is the technology. Therefore, in order to buy products and services online, customers
need to communicate with the innovation and while off line clients don't. In this specific
situation, the physical shop condition is supplanted by the electronic shopping condition or
because of information Frameworks (Blackshaw and Nazzaro, 2004).
Discussion
With progression in technology and the combination of worldwide information into
effectively accessible stages, customers these days can associate with any product/brand
utilizing various channels. Every one of these channels go about as a hub and add to customer
experience, which thus turns into a part of commitment resulting in customer engagement
(Dissanayake, Siriwardana & Ismail , 2019). With smart mobile phones and handheld gadgets
turning into a rage, clients engage themselves with any organization and its product/brand
through a number of devices. Regardless of the phases of customers' behavior; customers
connect with himself/herself digitally at all stages. Regardless of whether, it is the phases
before buying, for example, awareness and consideration or post purchase phases of
satisfaction and feedback. (Priyadarshane, 2014)
When a firm has chosen to engage with online networking, it needs to characterize, actualize
and catch up on specific activities on the selected social media. Well known activities are the
creation of competitions which will offer clients fans and prizes, communication with the
clients, announcement of new products or services, arrangement of advice and helpful
information, and a first degree of customer care (Chan & Ngai, 2011). Every one of these
activities ought to be as per other online and offline marketing exercises that the firm may
have and make cooperative energies among them.
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Organizations anticipate various specific advantages from their presence via social
networking media. Customer engagement was referenced as the most significant one. The
development of the idea of customer engagement, recognizes the opportunities offered by the
interactive aspects of Web 2.0 innovations and instruments to change the connection among
clients and venders. Its significance has essentially been recognized by experts trying to
misuse social media to build enduring social trades with strong emotional bonds and improve
business performance (Mitic & Kapoulas, 2012; Pagani & Mirabello, 2011; Sashi, 2012).
Numerous organizations have additionally thought about ‘word of mouth’ as a significant
advantage. This finds numerous specialists in total agreement – they accept that web-based
social networking is a useful asset that can assist an organization with becoming better known,
and can take the most persuasive form of promotion (Kumar, 2007), "word of mouth," to a
worldwide level (Burrus, 2011). Online networking, operate like a giant word-of mouth
machine, catalyzing, and quickening the alleged viral distribution of information (Chan &
Ngai, 2011; Dellarocas, 2003; Godes & Mayzlin, 2004; Jalilvand & Samiei, 2012). These
systems are amplifiers, piggybacking on client word of mouth while coordinating with content
that is more noticeable than different types of web-based advertising (Neff, 2010). However,
firms ought to be careful; these equivalent mechanisms can spread outrage, discontent, and
ridicule just as rapidly. Checking of client exchange yields market knowledge and lets an
organization enhance positive messages, right errors, and alleviate damage. Obviously, a
definitive objective is to expand sales, be it through new client acquisitions, expanded
consumption, or up-or cross selling.
Despite the fact that the rise (and fall) of different sorts of social media platforms has been
significant for understanding the social media landscape, the reason for this paper is to
understand the current circumstance of web-based life, at any rate from a marketing point of
view, lies more in what the clients do on these platforms than the technologies or services
offered by these platforms. Currently, individuals around the globe utilize web-based social
networking in its different structures (e.g., news sources on Facebook and Twitter, private
messaging on WhatsApp and WeChat, and conversation discussions on Reddit) for various
purposes. These can be generally sorted as (1) digitally communicating and associating with
reference to other people, for example, family and friends (2) doing likewise however with
unknown others yet who share common interests, and (3) getting to and adding to
computerized substance, for example, news, gossip, and user generated product reviews
(Godes & Mayzlin, 2004)
All of these cases are basically WOM in some structure. This, in any event, is the manner by
which marketing researchers have mainly characterized social media, as examined by
Lamberton and Stephen (2016). For sure, online WOM has been—and, battle, will keep on
being—significant in marketing (e.g., in the meta-examination by Babić Rosario et al. 2016
the authors found, a positive connection between online WOM and sales). The current
viewpoint via social networking media is that individuals use it for creating, accessing, and
spreading data through WOM to different sorts of others, be it known as “strong ties” or “weak
ties” in their systems or unknown “strangers”. Some extended research has looked at online
life from the WOM point of view of the results of the transmission of WOM (e.g., creating a
Facebook post or tweeting) on others (Herhausen ,2019; Stephen & Lehmann 2016), the effect
of the type of WOM content shared on others' behavior (Villarroel Ordenes , 2017; Villarroel
Ordenes, 2018), and on the inspirations that drive consumer posting via social media,
including considerations of status and self-introduction (Grewal, 2019; Hennig-Thurau, 2015;
Hollenbeck & Kaikati 2012; Toubia & Stephen 2013; Wallace, 2014).
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Conclusion and Future Directions

Taking everything into account, research has established that retailers can expand attention to
their brand by being creative while connecting with customers social media sites. "As more
customers are utilizing web-based social networking (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and
LinkedIn) and depend on them for marketing shopping choices, advancement through these
media has got important" (Shankar, 2011). As indicated by Curran, (2011), social media sites,
for example, Facebook is better than other promoting avenues since it stores information on
the entirety of its users subsequently guaranteeing marketing reaches at a seller’s particular
target market. Internet based sites are an extraordinary stage for sellers / organizations to make
an encounter and can utilize information put away via social media sites to improve user
involvement in their brand (Villarroel Ordenes, 2018).
Besides, Hill, Provost, and Volinsky’s (2006) research sets up that a firm can profit from
social networks to foresee the probability of purchase intention. This should be possible by
considering a company's choice of network (for example Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and
so on.) and by looking at that system's information. Analyzing a network's information
generously improves an organization's promoting endeavors since it gives the organization
fundamental information on the network's users, which decides the best internet-based life
strategies for that specific site (Hill, Provost, and Volinsky's 2006). In view of this
investigation, it can additionally be contended that knowing which social media sites, an
organization's target market uses, is another key factor in ensuring that web-based advertising
will be effective.
Since social media sites can be misused for the information it furnishes on consumer behavior
with respect to their buying expectations, research further proposes that organizations should
incorporate social media networking sites into their plan of action or promotional mix
(Siriwardana, & Dissanayake, 2018). A business model is an arrangement of mutually
dependent structures, activities, and procedures that fill in as a company's organizing logic
and create value for clients, itself, and its partners (Sorescu, 2011). Mangold and Faulds
(2009) suggest that internet-based life ought to be viewed as an integral part of an association's
integrated advertising methodology and should not be messed with. As Curran, (2011) points
out, right around 1 in each 13 people on the world is a functioning Facebook client, which
focuses on the capability of finding a prepared market for any product or service.
Social networking sites are being used to upgrade an organization's brand offer and increase
their target market in light of the fact that "new technologies consider progressively more
personal, directed communications, just as expanded buyer participation in the production of
marketing and brand related data"(Bilton, 2014). Yurieff in 2018 stresses that traditional
communication models, which depended on the classic promotional mix to make integrated
marketing communications, must offer a way to another paradigm that incorporates all types
of web-based social networking as possible tools in planning and executing integrated
marketing communication procedures. Organizations are focusing with regard to social media
since it gives a key part that organizations have battled to gather for quite a long time: feedback
(Lovejoy 2017). Feedback from buyers has consistently been significant with regard to
product, brand, and development of the business model. Since, most studies have analyzed
social media marketing, regarding proposing how to consolidate it within a business plan
strategy, and how to measure buyers' reactions, it is significant that further research addresses
which methodologies work. Although a few examinations have begun to address impacts and
factors that influence consumers' reactions, past research doesn't obviously state if social
media advertising is significant to organizations' as far as the degree of profitability (Villarroel
Ordenes, 2018).
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This examination is a fundamental attempt to see how consumer brands utilize the accessible
social media channels and how they expect to profit by them. It still finds challenges on
consumer adoption to digital business applications, thus firms should be strategic in digital
business strategy execution to get more consumer involvement (Rassool & Dissanayake,
2019). Given the subjective nature of the current studies and the way that internet-based life
is an emerging field of exploration which is consistently developing, discoveries should be
considered as exploratory. Despite the fact that the well-known and successful brands with a
solid presence in online networking spread an assortment of market sectors, organizations
from more areas should be reached to give a superior grounded perspective on firms’ social
media activities. Additionally, a longitudinal assessment of social media practices is required,
so as to see how firms alter their methodologies over time.
Numerous organizations consider customer engagement in consumer goods as a significant
advantage emerging from their activities in social media. It has likewise been perceived as a
key research priority of the Marketing Science Institute (Bogost 2018). Hence, thinking about
the expanding number of individuals investing increasingly more energy in social media, it is
significant to study customers' engagement in this unique situation (Perry 2018). Customer
engagement is accepted to be directly and positively identified with various relationship
results, for example, satisfaction, trust, full of affective commitment, and loyalty (Schwarz &
Newman 2017). A future empirical measurement of the effect of commitment on the
perceptions and perspectives toward the brand will assist managers with better planning and
execute their online networking procedures / strategies.
Further in this point of view, there is no real examination of the clients' side about their
activities and their intentions in participating in a brand's social media fan page. While firms
accept that clients are getting connected with consumer brands through online networking
collaborations, literature suggests that customer engagement in consumer goods should lead
to perceived relationship advantages of participating in a brand community (Mitic &
Kapoulas, 2012). By concentrating how customer engages with online life, might be identified
related to relationship benefits, one will have the option to comprehend what clients look for
from such relationships using social media and if such relationship-building efforts are
successful. Future research should concentrate on what relationship benefits, clients hope to
pick up and what benefits are really perceived from their involvement with social media as a
part of their relationship with an organization. For example, customers may gain– the so far
disregarded from an online context – social advantages (Colgate et al., 2005; Yen and
Gwinner, 2003), and useful information benefits (Dholakia, 2004) by taking part in
community practices. All things considered, purchasers experience different sorts of
relationship benefits, for example, entertainment benefits. Another effective issue identified
with the utilization of social media by an organization concerns the risk of such use and its
likely negative comments. These risks incorporate the uncontrolled and unpredictable
behavior of brand fans via social media, the handling of negative remarks, bits of gossip, and
word of mouth, etc. While the current studies talk exclusively about how social media can
influence customer brand connections, an extension of the effect of the utilization of different
social media at a public policy and society level would be an interesting future heading.
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Social Media Marketing: A Literature Review on Consumer Products

Keywords: Consumer Products, Customer Engagement, Digitalization, Social Media

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Purpose of the Study and Methodology

presentation of community-oriented activities, Wikis and intuitive websites; thus, encouraging

Conclusion and Future Directions

Herhausen, D. (2019). Detecting, preventing, and mitigating online firestorms in brand

Perera. M, (2017) Sri Lankan F&B industry: What’s next?,DailyFT, Available at

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