See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313845967 SKIN WHITENING PRODUCT: FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE AND STIMULATE THE CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR ON SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT Conference Paper · December 2016 CITATIONS READS 0 9,171 4 authors: Mohd Fauzi Harun Ida Puteri Bt. Mahsan Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) 22 PUBLICATIONS 26 CITATIONS 4 PUBLICATIONS 0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Mohd Yusof Zulkefli Muhammad Qamar Rahman Md Isa Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman 13 PUBLICATIONS 12 CITATIONS 1 PUBLICATION 0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Visual Plagiarism View project THE INFLUENCE OF ENDORSER ON YOUTH PURCHASE DECISION View project All content following this page was uploaded by Mohd Fauzi Harun on 20 February 2017. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. SEE PROFILE SKIN WHITENING PRODUCT: FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE AND STIMULATE THE CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR ON SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT Ida Puteri Bt. Mahsan1 Mohd Fauzi Harun2, Mohd Yusof Bin Zulkefli3 and Muhamad Qamar Rahman Bin Md Isa4 1, 2 Advertising Department, Faculty of Art and Social Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar, Perak, Malaysia idam@utar.edu.my, fauzih@utar.edu.my 3, 4 Public Relation Department, Faculty of Art and Social Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar, Perak, Malaysia yusofz@utar.edu.my, qamar@utar.edu.my ABSTRACT Consumers are exposed to thousands of ads and hampered companies to create a unique position in creating consumer attention. Social media such as Instagram and Facebook helps companies to create unique ads and engender a positive effect on the attitude and sales intention towards the brand. Advertisers use this medium to engage with online potential buyers as repertoire to be connected as a part of their integrated marketing communications strategy. Not just posting their ads as publicity but in conjunction with parallelizing the brand awareness and sales strategy, direct marketing, and public relations. Advertisers utilized the usage of social media by reviewing the testimonial about the effectiveness of their product by enhancing the comments and feedback of the customers. However, not all the advertised product is reliable because they are unregistered with the authority. This could cause with the misleading information and the users will easily trapped by the copy or/and visuals image featured in the ads. In addition, most of the consumers or potential buyers just rely solely on the information which is fed by the advertisers. The objective of this research is to discover consumers‟ opinion towards persuasiveness and believability in social media advertisement. This research is developed by using the mixed method in enhancing survey and content analysis. The important of the research is to look at the key factor implied by the marketers using visual in attracting the audience and how they motivate the potential buyers in their online purchasing process. Keywords: Consumer Behavior, Online Advertising, Purchasing Decision, Social Media INTRODUCTION The landscape of advertising has changed dramatically in recent years worldwide. Advertising nowadays appears in different media or forms of communication whereby digital advertising and marketing continues to surge. The advertising industries always attempt to follow where consumers go especially with the existence of blogs, social media and search engine optimization system, which indirectly helps facilitate marketing and business activities (Bernama, 2014). Advertising is applied with the aim of influencing people to think or to act in a particular way or providing information (Jen Green, 2012). No doubt, social media is the best opportunity available for a brand to connect with prospective consumers with low cost as mentioned by Sisira Neti (2011). However, these ads mainly offer promises with dubious information and most of the consumer relies on the information presented by the ad. The ability of the public to access the Internet such as social media in a variety of mediums encourage certain groups to took the opportunity to influence the public in making choices related to health products such as whitening product according to Pharmaceutical Department of Health Ministry (2015). Most cases involve the products which are unregistered under the Ministry of Health that may contain hazardous chemicals and scheduled poisons. Many are unaware that these product advertisements are the lack of approval by the Medicine Advertising Board under the Health Ministry. Moreover, online purchases make it even easier for consumers to obtain these products.‟Lebih putih‟,‟cerah seawal 3 hari‟ and ‟cerah sempurna‟ are among common headlines used to get user attention or to entrap users. This is what advertising does, it presents typical dreams of human life, promising that a particular product will elevate or empower one to become or to remain what one ought to be (Lars Reuter, 2003). Women who are obsessed with beauty and perfection should be careful in choosing beauty products especially those ads that displayed product testimony with the decent result of pretty faces, supple and radiant skin. Mass media also have revealed a lot of incidents that befall over the use of forbidden substances and unregistered products which are sold online. Advertisements can change consumers‟ perceptions by visualizing the importance of an attribute or even solving their problems as marketing stimuli (Kruti Shah & Alan D‟Souza, 2009). Hence, it is important to study their marketing and communication strategies through their advertisement content on buyer‟s behavior. LITERATURE REVIEW Having fair skin is considered an important element in assembling beauty especially women in Asian cultures. This has effects on the growth of skin whitening and lightening products that occurred in the markets. Thanks to social media, the advertising world has transformed and is regarded as the most effective in terms of the cost other than the useful method to obtain necessary information on consumerto-consumer connection (Jalal Hanaysha, 2016). The emergence of social media has changed the presented knowledge, needs, and expectations of consumers in terms of information search, information sharing and decision making (Furguson, 2008). Internet Advertising A properly designed online advertisement campaign not only can hit the door of targeted demographic but faster within a second. With so many options available, it is widely used for any business to use it as their marketing strategies to expand their reach other than traditional media. Online advertising is a two-sided market (Rochet and Tirole, 2003; Anderson and Gabszewicz, 2005), where it operates as a platform that facilitates the relationship between consumers and advertisers. According to David S. Evans (2009), Internet advertising is efficient toward consumers and advertisers. Internet advertising is more economical to reduce resources in creating content toward consumers and potential buyers instead of magazine and newspaper advertisement. Other than that, internet advertising helps in increasing the accuracy between the buyer and seller. Advertisers are more likely to have greater ability to target their right consumer and directly injecting the message to the right consumer. This practice is called behavioral targeting. There are three types of internet advertising which are widely used in promoting products such as display advertising – the web banner/ banner ads, social networking advertising – Instagram, Facebook and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (Chowdhury, T., & Debi, H. R., 2013). This type of media also comes in different appearances such as still or animated images and interactive media including audio and video. Previously the web banner, blog, websites and email were examples of option in digital advertising. As time flew, social media such as Facebook and Instagram are currently the most effective and efficient platforms not just to follow trends but also a place where there are many users (Walter & Gioglio, 2014). Social media is an opportunity for a business to expand into higher rankings. Social Media Advertisement Advertisement in social media and buying behavior has now become a common discussion where it involves decision processes and acts of people involved in buying and using desired product. Buying decision is influenced by many factors such as the consumer's societal role, cultural environment and desires (Gagandeep Nagra & R Gopal, 2013). So it is not surprising that today we can see almost every business will benefit from the use of this technology as an opportunity to market their products and services offered in larger markets. According to Sajjad Husain, Ali Ghufran & D.S. Chaubey (2016) social media marketing, or SMM, is a form of internet marketing that implements various social media networks to achieve marketing communication and branding goals. Hence, it is no doubt that social media emerged as a new mechanism for a brand to interact with its customers and the other way around. According to Dan Zarrella (2010), social media is such a great equalizer for businesses whereby big brands can be outsmarted without making huge investments and small brands can make big names for themselves. It costs almost nothing but it is easy to start and it can have a huge financial impact on the business. In Malaysia alone, the number of active Internet users in 2015 exceeds 20.1 million with 16.8 million of them are active in social media based on data issued by Ministry of Communication & Multimedia. Data by OpenMindsResources.com showed that 65 percent of Internet users now prefer to buy goods online than face to face (Star, 2016). This is because social media is used by all levels of society. Social media is not just a platform of publicizing but it also facilitates the interaction and communication between a brand and its customers (Jalal Hanaysha, 2016). With more targeted audiences, the advertisement may affect more potential buyers. However, not all advertisement guarantees the quality or even the authenticity of the product. Advertisement can be so manipulative, the best advertisement was the one based on people‟s desire without making a real effort (Kruti Shah & Alan D‟Souza, 2009). Indeed, consumers can be easily drifted by what is displayed on the ad even though it is unproven in terms of medical science. Hence, the consumers deceived by the beauty products‟ ad that promises maximum results although many cases of fraud and suspicious product in the market especially those which were marketed through social media. METHODOLOGY The research methodology used for this study was content analysis and quantitative method using questionnaire. Non-probability quota sampling was used with the size of 120 respondents with the age of 18-40 years old to find out the consumers‟ opinion towards persuasiveness and believability in social media advertisement. The questionnaire was divided into 3 different sections which are the background of the respondent, consumer sentiment towards online shopping and the content as well the elements of the advertisement. Nominal and Likert-Scale was used as survey question in most of the questions in section two and three. In addition, in order to increase the study‟s credibility in term of content and structural effectiveness of the contents, the study also went through revisions during the pretest and pilot study (confirm that content validity and construct validity) before it conducted a large-scale survey. Figure 1.0: List of skin whitening brands as case study \ Shee Candy Oceana Orchid Phyto Astaxanthin Plus Abyadh Austra White Collagen B17 A total of four brands were surveyed and inspected in this study selected based on a selected period (advertisement were seen between January to April on Facebook and Instagram) and these products were merely depending on online advertisements as their marketing strategy. These products were shown in Figure1.0 above. The advertisement later was screen-captured/saved to compare their context in term of content, visual and their approach (message strategy). This study is using both manifest and latent content analysis to create inferences objectively on the characteristics of the advertising. Conceptual framework of the questionnaire is explained as below; Figure 1.1: The relationship between independence variables and dependent variable Independent Variables Copy Visual Color Dependent variable consumers‟ opinion towards persuasiveness and believability in social media advertisement. Skin whitening product ads in social media (Facebook & Instagram) The independent variables that used in the study were chosen based on the basic principles of design (Samara, 2007). These elements of design are cognitively influence the consumer believability and act as „middle man‟ in persuade the audience. The copy will cover hashtag word used in Instagram or even words used as ads post, the advertisement headline, bodycopy and slogan/tagline of the product. In visual, the study will focus on packaging, props/elements used, logo and who will be appeared in the ads (if any). Color attraction in creating attention of the viewer also part of the study as to look out the color combination as to complete the whole package of advertising layout. RESULTS & DISCUSSION Persuasiveness and believability of social media advertisement The key to a successful advertising or even marketing campaign lies in consumer buying behavior. Generally, an online advertising that does not carter specific audiences will drown together with its message. Hence the only way to reach the potential consumer and to influence their purchasing decision is to understand their buying behavior. Purchasing right skincare products in the online medium does matter to the consumer. Furthermore, it is related to their believability and persuasiveness. According to the survey that has been conducted, the majority of the respondents will purchase skincare product only if the brand has the believability elements. The element of the believability will occur when the potential customer gets the information from the other users who are using the same brand. Besides, the majority of the respondents also influenced and persuaded by others, from the benefits of the products. Since the product are sold online, thus the persuasiveness of the advertisement must be captured their attention. Respondents also often gather as much information from any sources and peers about the particular skincare product advertised online before purchasing. Most of the respondents agreed to be loyal customers towards their favorite brands of skin care product because it is hard to gain their believability and persuasiveness. This is due to the current skin care product is effective enough to them. All the respondents agreed that they are kind of loyal customer to skincare products that they are used because it is effective to them and makes them feel satisfied. Due to this matter, they are very cautious in trying new skincare products especially advertised online. Hence, most of the respondents will not take any chances in buying unfamiliar brands of skincare product but consider a proper testimony to proof about the effectiveness of the products and special promotional marketing such as discounts, coupon or even free gift. Factors influence buying decisions towards consumer are quality, price, brand, ingredients, promotion, advertisement, and packaging. They will look carefully to find the best value for the money. However, they are several approaches used by marketers to influence consumer using online advertisement which is visual/image, followed by copy and color. Consumer behavior is said to be an applied discipline as some decisions are significantly affected by their behavior or expected actions. Impact of visual, color and copywriting in whitening skincare product online ads Great advertising is delivered through the right media to the right target audience. Hence, to be effective, the message delivered need to tackle attention and create interest through copywriting, visual used or even colors. Within the four-month periods in observing advertisement that appear on Facebook and Instagram, there are four brands of skin whitening products that frequently appear in three different accounts of those media socials which are Oceana Orchid, Phyto Astaxanthin plus Abyadh, Austranesia; Austra White Collagen B17 and Shee Candy. These brands are representing advertisement that basically depending on online advertisement to market their products and not well known. It is indisputable that an online advertisement is a great tool and low-cost platform in marketing a new product especially skin whitening product that keeps growing in the market. Based on the analysis and observation of four brands as stated, marketers are using a different approach of visual in term of a subject, color combination, visual arrangement and copywriting. Figure 1.2: Graph on how social media advertisement elements impact towards audience Based on the survey, the most influential elements that trigger their attention are visual as information which is the product image itself. This can be seen in all the advertisement used other than comes with a posting of testimonial picture to create believability towards the audience. Moreover, all advertisements are adding as well benefits of using before and after or even problem/solution message format even though not many of them now believe in that so much. Just like any other product, they want to create better conviction by real experiences of real people and make the potential buyer think about how it will work for them. However, this kind of posting is only available when we are going through to their official Facebook page. From the survey, respondent also highly considered the arrangement of background images that gives the enhancement of product reputation. The majority of the advertisement also emphasize of their product appearance other than featuring a flawless and fair woman as part of their advertisement content which delivering a message of enhancing fair complexion for a stunning look. This kind of ads can increase a credibility strategy to intensify the believability of a message. Thus, the not only audience have to stop (get attention) and pull (create interest) but clearly communicating the prime message which is an important part of the perceptual process in buying process. Plus with the subcultural factor such as the belief that fair skin makes you beautiful also affect purchasing behavior. As a new product in the market, they do not just want the user to get used to the product look but the image of the product also causes the audience to likes, comments, and shares the advertisement. Most of the colors used in the advertisement were soft color and contradictory with the surveys where the majority believes that more color applied in the ads enable to create attractiveness thus will effectively affect consumer purchasing decision. The softer color might not be a great approach in doing social media ads as it can‟t create attention and even blend with the media interface. Colors to them not just affect the brand image but stimulate impulsive action. Even though softer color reflects their brand essence but brighter color captivate call to action especially Facebook ad where it is not only conducted by desktop but mobile devices as well whereby it is often in bite-sized pieces. Other than that, the survey specifically identified a high-end color (black and gold) color category gives more persuasiveness element of attraction and this has been applied in one of the advertisements which is Phyto Astaxanthin plus Abyadh ads. Even though the visual content is far more influential than textual content in this study, the marketers also emphasize on the copywriting since it is one of the factors of marketing stimuli of the ads other than the information provided in the post that can increase buyer decision process. The marketer tries different catchphrase to grab consumer attention on their products. Even though copywriting is the second influence factor, most of the marketers try to focus consumer attention by stating the benefits of their products other than the result. The survey shows that the consumer actually more likely to consider searching information on their official Facebook or even Instagram after they captivated by the ads. This does align with the most of the brand in this study where they do have a series of advertisement that they post together by adding new attributes to the attitude formation process where the strategy was adding or highlight unique feature or benefits other than fair skin. Some picture posting has also been provided with some supplementary information that can boost their confidence towards the brand. This posting is being uploaded time to time as to stay active and increase engagement. However, the most important part of the ads that they failed to provide is the product advertisement registration number from Malaysian Health Ministry. This is because the consumer does believe that the serial number is an important element to inspire trustworthiness towards the product. This means, the level of awareness has increased among the consumer. The consumer preferred a marketer who provides company contact details in order to enable the consumer to find more information on the product or even company background. This can only be seen in two of the advertisement where they provide web and telephone numbers. Simplify purchasing procedure and promotion such as free gift, discount, extra pack and etc that will encourage the consumer to buy are some of the criteria‟s that also impulse buyer towards the brand. However, within the four months of observation, there is no special promotion conducted by any of the brands. SUMMARY & SUGGESTION Today with dozens of whitening product ads in the market, marketers try to use various approaches in grabbing potential buyers‟ attention. Visual captured the audience‟s attention easily in regards to the whitening product ads. However, the image of the product in each advertisement still be the best essence to use other than testimonial features as the vital marketing strategies to persuade the consumer to buy the product to increase their believability. Therefore, marketers need to have varieties of their product image with a different setting, background or even different supporting image to test how different images can drive different audience attention. In other words, the uniqueness is the key point in grabbing the audience attention. The target audience in social media advertisement can be set with a few categories, hence, the advertisement supposed to be designed that suit to the various audience. However, the element of consistency should not be overlooked to tie each ad together. This is to ensure that the campaign easily recognizable and encourage further engagement with followers. Furthermore, good appearance of advertisement is not assurance its effectiveness because today consumer is wise in searching information of a product. Customer feedback/comments of the product are their first step in searching for evidence and medium to retain current and attract new customer but don‟t solely depend on social media platform as audience nowadays need additional information sources to increase their believability such as the official web. The marketers also should clearly state their product registration number for consumers‟ references for the validity of the products and increase its credibility. The headline used should be customized to cater different potential buyer interest and suits for each social media platform. Only then the content distribution efforts bear fruit. The idea of using different visual content and headline is not just driven different audience attention but also very helpful in updating their ads and post. In addition, the word/phrase used for social media posting or even hashtag for Instagram should be determined by the targeted audience social personas that can stand out in the social feed. Colors also play an important role to persuade consumer purchasing intention, especially in an online platform. Majority believe that interpret a message is easily and faster from an image but it‟s not just a pictures because it also represents colors. Consumers are mostly attracting to the good color combination that represents excitement and warmth. Same goes with high end and classy color appearance advertisement persuade the consumer to click the advertisement and to achieve the outcome that they looking for. 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