Effect of social media marketing on customer's online purchase intention: An empirical study in Pakistan

Over the last several years, social media has been more popular, and it has emerged as the most important instrument for activities such as social networking, content sharing, and internet access. A wide variety of possibilities for businesses such as internet marketing to thrive are made possible by the reliability, consistency, and instantaneous nature of social media platforms. Social Media Marketing (SMM) is a phrase that describes marketing activities that take place on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Now, businesses can reach out to targeted consumers in a more straightforward, effective, and time-efficient manner. With the increasing use of social media, companies are changing the way they engage with their consumers and prospects. It was because of this event that the need for this thesis arose, which will examine in more depth the effect of social media marketing actions and efforts on customers' online purchase intentions. Specific to Pakistan's ready to-wear fashion sector, the goal of this study is to determine the effect of social media marketing activities and efforts on purchase intention in an industry where online trust is greatly required. Various marketing actions and initiatives have been described in the literature as a result of previous research studies that have shown the effectiveness of social media marketing. To conduct an empirical evaluation of the effects of social media marketing activities and efforts on purchase intention, this study conducted a questionnaire survey on 260 social media users for data analysis. According to the findings of this study, two factors: having an entertaining content as a social media marketing effort and electronic word of mouth have a favorable but small impact on customer purchase intention. Other three factors; being interactive, trendy and customization have a positive effect on customer purchase intention. People often become fans of a specific brand when they are considering purchasing its goods or when they have had a positive personal encounter with a particular product or brand. Research found that customers become fans or followers of a company when they truly enjoy its goods or the brand as a whole, and they want to be a part of the community in which that brand is headquartered. The followers are mostly individuals who have previously consumed and used the brand's goods or services, making it easier for the business to interact with them. If the company's marketers, customer service representatives, stores, and other employees provide excellent service to these clients, the connection with them may be lengthy and solid, and the consumers can become very loyal to the brand. Also shown is that online trust is proven to be a moderating variable between social media marketing activities and efforts, as well as online purchase intention. Key Words: Social Media Marketing, Purchase Intention, Online Trust, Pakistan, Ready to Wear Fashion Industry