Below-the-Line Media

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The advertising using below the line media is extremely focused, specific, and direct relative to above the line media advertisements. Advertising using such media is also referred to be ‘direct marketing’. Forms of below-the-line media are mentioned as under:

i. Outdoor Billboard

There are different ways of the advertisement outside and on the go. Outdoor billboard (an above the line media tool) can be seen alongside the roads and on different events (Muda et al., 2014). Transit advertisement can be seen on buses, taxies and on different transport through posters on them (Kumar et al., 2016). Big and massive billboards can convey advertiser’s message to the public across with a big impact. If a customer passes through advertiser’s billboard everyday on the way to work, when they want to buy something relevant to your product, advertiser will be the first business who they think of (Patwa et al., 2016). Sometimes, even the largest billboard contain limited information and hard to see the web address or the phone number (Muda et al., 2014). It is usually in the favor of advertiser to make it easier to read the information for the customers so that they can follow up and find maximum information about advertised business and product (Peng et al., 2017). Outdoor billboards advertising can be very expensive, if a place near station or on a prime location is hired (Moriarty et al., 2014). Outdoor Advertising may also contain support media. Support media consists of different options for the business to convey their message to the public. This kind of media includes bus and taxi seats, bus stop benches,

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aerial and trade publications. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks but they have a wide range of audience in a local and regional market (Moriarty et al., 2014).

ii. Direct Mail

Direct mail marketing is one of another below the line strategy used by marketers in which they send tailor-made messages to potential customers through direct mails (Ansari and Riasi, 2016). The message is crafted as per needs of the target and their needs are pinpointed in advertising message. Therefore, below the line campaigns can be sometime more effective in generating response (Patwa et al., 2016).

iii. Sponsorships and Public Relations

Sponsorships and public relations is an important tool of below the line media in which advertisers sponsor different events and press conferences (Wells, 2014). In such conferences, the advertising message is crafted subtly and indirectly to build product or brand image. Examples of such kinds of advertisements involve hospitals sponsoring seminars or press conferences on a specific disease and giving out information to generate awareness (Wells, 2014). In such events, participants or audience do not realize that they are being advertised (Moriarty et al., 2014).

iv. Brand Activation and Direct Selling

Brand Activation and Direct Selling are tools of advertising that enable the target audience to test the product quality in real-time simulations. Through door-to-door selling and distribution of free samples, advertiser gift the product to target

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audience by encouraging them to try the product for free or at a minimal costs (Kumar et al., 2016). As a result, an advertising message is giving through the product performance, quality, and customer services provided by representative. In brand activation, brand events are launched in which customers are invited to test the product or service for free at branded premises (Wells, 2014).

v. In-store advertising or shelf marketing

In store advertising or shelf marketing involves using in-store or on premise advertising activities such as point-of-sales or discount offers to engage the target audience (Moriarty et al., 2014). The above mentioned techniques are discussed in brief although advertising has gained evolution to a wide range of other media.

2. 2 PURCHASE INTENTIONS

Purchase intention is a central characteristic of consumer behavior which refer to the decision of a customer to purchase goods or services (Dodds et al., 1991; Kim et al., 2011; Van der Heijden, 2003), chances of a person to purchase goods or services (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2009) and making a buying choice by assessing various substitutes of the product or service (Zeithaml, 1988; Karimi et al., 2015). Various studies argue that when customers evaluate goods or services positively, then they have tendency to buy a specific product or service which is termed as purchase intention of the customers (Beatty & Ferrell, 1998; Dittmar, Beattie, & Friese, 1996;

Hausman, 2000; Rook, 1987; Rook & Fisher, 1995; Weinberg & Gottwald, 1982).

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Purchase intention are truly the subjective judgments by the users that is obtained after general evaluation to purchase products or services (Hsu, 1987; Dodds et al., 1991;

Blackwell et al., 2001 and Shao et al, 2004). The statement describes several points, which are: (1) consumer willingness to consider a product or service to purchase, (2) Purchase intention in the future, and (3) repurchase decisions. Other than that, purchase intentions also refer to the degree of perceptual conviction a customer holds to purchase a product or service. Moreover, satisfaction has a positive incremental effect on brand loyalty. This satisfaction comes with the positive feedback from the circle of influence surrounding one’s social life.

According to Putrevu and Lord (1994), if has a person has an intention to buy backed by a will to buy any specific product or service on a specific price, it is said that he/she purchase intention for that specific product or service. Besides the intentions, they must also have a strong desire to buy products that are promoted, a definite plan to purchase and positive influence on their ultimate purchase decisions.

Taylor & Hunter (2002) also agreed with the definition and dimensions of purchase intentions provided by Putrevu and Lord (1994). According to Schiffman and Kanuk (2010), purchase intention shows the transaction behavior of a customer after evaluating the goods and services from various angles such as utility and price. Some researchers treat purchase intention as a base of ultimate decision. They argue that without proper purchase intention, the actual purchase is not possible because it show the likelihood behavior of a customer to make ultimate purchase (Alford and Biswas, 2000; Wang et al., 2012). They suggest that in order to increase purchase intention, the

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corporations must have to make adjustment in the price and promotion of a product (Alford & Biswas, 2000) and advertisement contents (Johnson and Russo, 1984).

Hence, the researcher concludes that purchase intention is the initial step towards the ultimate and actual purchase of a product by a customer and the purchase intention can be enhanced through proper advertisement of the products for creating awareness among the potential customers.

Relationship between Facebook Advertising and Purchase Intentions

The influence of Facebook advertising on one’s intentions to purchase are discussed by many scholars as evidenced by Hsu and Hsu (2017), Boerman et al., (2017), Qazi et al., (2017) and many other recent papers (Christodoulides et al. 2012;

Hajli et al., 2017; Leong et al., 2017; Phua et al., 2017; Smith et al. 2012; Taylor, 2013; Villanueva et al., 2008). Purchase intentions of customers are driven &

motivated by a relationship of price, quality, and perceived value associated with the brand (Dodds and Monroe, 1985). Various studies consider alignment of advertisement with needs and wants of the target customers that results in stimulating purchase intentions of potential customers (Ducoffe, 1996, (Pollay & Mittal, 1993, Brown, Pope & Voges, 2003, Dahlen, 2001. Facebook advertisement has positive

Advertisement Purchase

Intention

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impact on purchase intentions (Chu & Kim, 2011). An SNA successfully relating the company offerings with the users’ needs and wants, creates positive associations of a brand and purchase intentions (Van et al., 2014). Jung et al., (2015) narrate that mostly an advertisemnt on Facebook match company offerings with customers’ needs &

wants more effectively than to traditional advertising because it is easier to customize advertisement than to traditional advertising (Yang, 2012; Leung et al., 2015).

Facebook advertising offers users or consumers the opportunity to interact actively with the adverts on links allowing them to ‘‘like’’ and ‘‘share’’ and also view who else or which friends liked or shared the same adverts. In this way, company and consumers are directly involved with each other. Some researches states that social media sites such as Facebook act as a credibility tester of brands. Lee and Kim (2011) found that consumers review other consumer’s messages on social media as being motivated by altruism, unlike advertising generated by advertisers. In today’s corporate world, the success or failure of any product or brand hinges on public perceptions and relations. The success of advertising should be measured through consumers’ evaluations of the interest aroused by the advertisements. Facebook creates wide platforms for viral online recommendations (Smock, Ellison, Lampe, & Wohn, 2011). This encourages organizations to willingly spend a reasonable portion of their budgets on analyzing procedures to determine potential customers and target them with advertisements on Facebook (Falls, 2009). However, organizations are shifting from push advertising to trust-based advertising, in which advertisers engage their consumers with their brands and stimulate word of mouth (WOM) promotion (Knight

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& Kristina, 2007). These WOM are developed through Facebook, which positions Facebook advertising as an effective means to enhance the brand image of any product or service (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010)

Most of the modern advertisers establish “Facebook Pages” for the purpose of advertising various products online (Lipsman et al., Bruich 2012). For 2014, Super Bowl ads, 58% contained hashtags (#), that is increase from 50% in 2013 (Novet 2014). A study by DEI Worldwide (2008) found 70% of consumers visit social media sites for updates and up to date information for any product or service, 49% of these consumers were influenced by the information they found through the social media sites for making buying decisions, 60% pass along information to others online and were transmitting the information to different sources, and 45% of those who searched for information via social media sites engaged in word of mouth. Stambor 2014, almost 25% of U.S. internet users have made a purchase on a retail websites after clicking from a social media sites. Certain social media sites produce more lucrative purchases than others, with Pinterest’s average order value of $123.50 almost three times larger than a Facebook order (Stambor 2014), that shows the Facebook enjoys more than $40 as an average order value. Regarding its professional potential, in the second half of 2011, about 2.5 million websites integrated with Facebook, including over 80 of comScore’s top 100 US websites and over half of its top 100 global websites (www.facebook.com, 2011). These numbers highlight the importance of Facebook as a most important communication tool for both end users and organizations. For entrepreneurs, social media platforms can be used as a valuable

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mean for communicating with their targeted customer groups (ANKENY, 2011a;

FORBES, 2011). The research reveals that up to 60 percent of the Facebook advertising market is made up of small and mid-sized businesses (ANKENY, 2011b).

There are various advertising strategies companies use to target Facebook users who might be potential customers. One specific way of establishing a social presence and engaging customers is to create brand fan pages on Facebook. Companies can place brand posts containing photos, videos, messages, quizzes, anecdotes, and other materials on these pages, while customers can become fans or followers of these brand fan pages, and indicate that they like the brand posts, comment on, or forward them (de Vries et al. 2012). The reviews, recommendations and likes results in the online Word of mouth for the followers as well. These dedicated brand pages offer the followers to express their liking and passion for the brand and in this way the fans are united their shared interest in the brand (Kozinets 1999). Brand fan pages also showcase part of the customers’ relationship with the brand (McAlexander, Schouten, and Koenig 2002), help to strengthen the brand–customer relationship (Muñiz and O'Guinn 2001), serve as a source of information, and sometimes provide social benefits to the fans (Bagozzi and Dholakia 2002; Dholakia, Bagozzi, and Pearo 2004).

A recent study of Qazi et al., (2017) found a direct relationship between the facebook advertisement and purchase intention of mobile facebook users.

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2. 3 SOCIAL NETWORKING ADVERTISING WEBSITES

Initially, internet was limited to desktop computers. As the technologies, have evolved and the mega and heavy computers are shrinking to small palm top machines it has become easy to stay on line (Shao, 2009). Mobile devices are playing vital role in maintaining this connectivity. In the beginning of this millennia, affordability of such devices was limited. Soon many companies jumped in to the race for developing smaller and cost effective devices (Fuchs, 2017). In this way now people have much advanced mobile sets and on a very affordable price. The service providers have also shifted their trend from voice to data and are offering more attractive data packages.

Similarly, the social sites have adapted to these smaller devices. Now, almost every site is accessible on smart phones. This has increased the connectivity and presence on the sites as well (Fuchs, 2017; He et al., 2017; Moon and Kwon, 2011).

This advancement in technology of the current era has significantly changed the concept of online and internet advertising. With the launch of social media websites, the corporations and advertisers have changed their focus from general advertisement techniques to the specific advertisement techniques and medium for getting appropriate results. The corporations can advertise their products or services on the social media which can enable them to reach potential customers around the globe (Maina, 2016). This social media not only provides a global reach to the potential customers but also provides an interactive and viral means advertising. The reach and popularity and interaction of social media helps corporations in getting positive results

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on social media websites in the form of informing, persuading, obtaining reviews and reminding the potential customers about their products or services (Ngai et al., 2015;

Priyanka and Srinivasan, 2015).

There are a lot number of social networking websites in the world. However, the popularity, reach, number of users and frequency of usage of social networking websites matter a lot when we see in the perspective of advertisements by the corporations. Hence, preparing a list of important social networking websites with the above mentioned concerns can be handy for the corporations interested in social media advertising. According to Maina (2016), there are top twenty (20) popular social media websites being used in the world. He explains that these social networking websites include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Youtube, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Flickr, Reddit, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Quora, Vine, Periscope, BizSugar, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Digg and Viber respectively. The author recommends these websites for advertising irrespective of size and nature of business. But, the reach, popularity and associated costs with the social media websites are not equal. Therefore, a corporation has to decide about the ultimate advertising on some certain social media website/websites to obtain maximum benefit from advertising.

Comparison of Social Networking Advertising Websites

It is very useful if we can make a useful comparison of social networking advertisement websites in terms of number of users and popularity. The higher the number of users are, the higher effectiveness of an advertisement is there. Among all

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types of social media advertising, facebook advertising is considered to be the most important type of advertising due to its usefulness, reach, cost and achievement of desired results. This comparison would be very helpful for the corporations in deciding a specific or some specific social networking websites as their planned advertisements.

Maina (2016) has provided this useful comparison of top twenty (20) social networking websites in terms of users, features and popularity. This comparison is briefed as follow:

i. Facebook

Facebook is the most popular social media network website on the Internet with the highest number of users. Since its inception in 2004 up to 2016, it has reached more than 1.59 billion monthly active users around the globe. This global reach and popularity has attracted the corporations to advertise their product and services irrespective of their nature and size of business. Currently, more than one (01) million business enterprises are advertising their products and services on facebook. In comparison to other social media network website on the Internet, it is considered and rated best by the corporations.

ii. Twitter

Twitter has limited the users to 140 characters for an update or post. This can be an important hurdle for the corporations if they want to advertise here on twitter.

Surprisingly, this has been proven wrong by the users and the corporations. There are more than 320 million active monthly users on twitter, since its inception in 2006, who pass on information to others with the limitation of 140 characters. Twitter allow users

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to share video, picture and other links which may carry a huge advertising information for the potential customers around the world. In spite of sharing advertising content, corporations can also see customers’ reviews, answer questions, and release latest news updates.

iii. LinkedIn

It is an important social networking website which was launched in 2003.

There are more than 400 million registered users on LinkedIn who are also professionals around the world. Most of the professionals in the world create LinkedIn account in order to be in touch with this most popular social media site for searching people in similar industries or interests with the purpose of sharing professional interests and information. Due to the above reasons, this website is available in 24 languages of the world.

iv. Google+

It was launched in December, 2011. After its launching, it has joined various big leagues and consequently registered 418 million users who are also active as reported in December, 2015. It is placed as number four among the most popular social media websites. It has feature which make it as must-use tool for small business enterprises. However, big business enterprises are also using it as a medium of advertisement.

v. YouTube

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It is an important type of social media website launched in 2005 which uses videos as its contents. In the category of video-based social media website, it is considered as the largest and most popular social media website. As far as the number of active users are concerned, more than one (01) billion visitors visit the website on monthly basis. One another surprising fact about YouTube is that it is the second most popular search engine being used around the world coming after Google. The corporations advertise their products and services on YouTube in the form of links and videos. Such huge number of visitors makes it an attractive place to advertise to the corporations.

vi. Pinterest

Pinterest was launched in 2010. It is deemed that Pinterest is a newcomer in the field of social media and social networking website. However it has more than 100 million users. It displays digital bulletin boards where the business enterprises can pin their advertisements. As per the classification of users is concerned, more than half of the users of Pinterest are women. Hence, a business engaged in products or services which are related to females must not miss this social media networking website as an opportunity and medium of advertisement.

vii. Instagram

Instagram was launched in 2010. Like Pinterest, it also consists of visuals as its contents. This social networking website has more than 400 million active users. The website is owned by the parent company Facebook. Hence, a majority of almost 95%

of Instagram users are also the users of facebook. This website provides extra features

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of editing videos and images to be uploaded by the users on Instagram. Most of the users share posts relating to their hobbies such as travel, fashion, food and art. Hence, the corporations involved in similar type of businesses are keen to advertise on this social media and social networking website.

viii. Tumblr

Tumblr is a very complex social networking website which was launched in 2007. It is hosting more than 200 million blogs which have very interesting features helpful for advertisements. Various format for sharing information are available in Tumblr which make it unique than other social media websites such as quote posts, chat posts, video posts, photo posts, and audio posts. These vibrant feature and wide variety of format through which the advertisement contents can be shared by the corporations make it an attractive choice for advertisement.

ix. Flickr

This social media website is an online image and video hosting platform which was launched in 2004. It has more than 112 million active users who share at least one (01) million pictures/photos on daily basis with its footprint in more than 63 countries.

Such a huge image and video sharing feature make it a good for the corporations with reference to advertisement of their products and services.

x. Reddit

This social networking websites was launched in 2005 to share news and entertainment. Currently, it has 36 million registered accounts and 231 million

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monthly visitors. An interesting feature in Reddit is that if a post gets more positive votes, that post is appeared in the top category and vice versa. This website provides a platform for corporations to advertise their products and services.

xi. Snapchat

This is an application software which allows images/pictures/photos messaging which was launched in 2011. By the end of May 2015, more than 100 million daily active users. Moreover, round 18% of various social media users also use Snapchat.

This app provides a vibrant platform for corporations to advertise their products and services.

xii. WhatsApp

WhatsApp is an application software which allows instant messaging, audio messaging, image messaging and video messaging to the others who also have installed WhatsApp on their smartphones, personal computers or tablets. The application was launched in 2010 and it has more than one (01) billion active users who communicate with other on daily basis. This app provides good platform for corporations to advertise their products and services.

xiii. Quora

This is a question-and-answer social media website which was launched in 2009. It had more than 80 million monthly unique visitors up to 2016. This website is also used by the companies to advertise their products and services.

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xiv. Vine

This is a video sharing social media application software which was launched in 2012. It allows users to share short video clips of six (06) seconds. It had more than 40 million users up to 2016. Business enterprises around the world are getting benefit by advertising their products and services on vine.

xv. Periscope

This is live video-streaming mobile application which was launched in 2015.

Periscope declared its user accounts more than 10 million up to December 2016. This application is being used by various business organizations as a medium of advertising.

xvi. BizSugar

This is a social networking website, launched in 2007, specially designed for small business owners, entrepreneurs and managers. This business oriented social networking website allows its users to share videos, articles, blog posts, podcast, review and vote by the other users. This is used by the small business enterprises as a source of advertisement.

xvii. StumbleUpon

This is also a business oriented discovery engine which was launched in 2007.

This social networking website collects and recommends useful information for its users. It had more than 25 million users, more than 80,000 publishers, brands, and other marketers have used its “Paid Discovery” feature to promote their businesses up to 2016.

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xviii. Delicious

This is a social networking website which was launched in 2003. It bookmarks the websites to discover, store and share them as desired by its users. By the end of 2008, it had bookmarked 180 million URLs and acquired more than 5.3 million users.

Such a unique feature makes him prominent and an attractive website for advertisements by the companies.

xix. Digg

This is a social media website, launched in 2004, which aggregates the news with a curated front page that then refines stories for its users. These stories cover issues of all fields which can also be shared to other social media networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. The company claimed to have more than 11 million active monthly users. Off course, the businesses also advertise their products and services on it.

xx. Viber

Viber is an application software which allows Voice over IP (VoIP), instant messaging, audio messaging, video messaging, and image messaging for smartphones.

This application was launched in 2010. In April 2014, it had had round 600 million registered users and 230 monthly active users. This application is also used by the companies to advertise their products and services.

After this comparison, the researcher concludes that Facebook is the most popular and most widely used social networking website being used by the various

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people and organizations in the world. It also has the facility of sharing information in almost all formats such as text, audio, video, instant messaging, and images. Hence, the researcher has chosen Facebook as the major medium to be used by the companies for advertising their products and services.

2. 4 PREVIOUS STUDIES ABOUT FACEBOOK ADVERTISEMENT TO PURCHASE INTENSIONS

According to Maina (2016), Facebook is the most popular social media website in terms of total number of users and name recognition across all top twenty (20) most popular social media platforms. Ellison et al., (2007) narrates that facebook has become a part of almost everyone’s daily life. People are habitual of using this site for their updates and even gossips. Many believe that this site is playing a very great role in communications as well which fulfils the human desire of sharing his/her feelings and thoughts which he/she wanted others to listen. We can say Facebook has become a global white board where people can write and express whatever they want. Kelley et al., (2011) narrates that Facebook is equipped with a feature that one can chose to follow or join the People having similar believes, liking, political followings or even lifestyles. This site is part of social media as it influences masses to interact with each other in groups and one can form a network of people living around with similar habits, liking or disliking.

Most of the people start to believe and trust the sites on social media as they are interacting to them on daily basis. Facebook is one of those sites which has