An Assessment Of Facebook And Radio Advertisements On The Purchasing Habits Of University Students.
[A CASE STUDY OF GODFREY OKOYE UNIVERSITY THINKERS CORNER ENUGU]

INTRODUCTION

1.1.          BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Information is the oil that drives the wheel of socialization and human development. Human beings as integral components of the society depend on it, probably to know the government policies and how it affects them or it could as well revolve around some elementary issues such as sports and entertainment.  Like a popular aphorism will posit: “a person who is uninformed is deformed.”

Advertising is the publicizing of goods and services in order to achieve higher sales. According to Kennedy(2017) says that advertising is salesmanship in print and  Presbrey (2017)could not agree less, to him advertising is a printed ,oral and illustrated art of selling. Similarly Advertising Practitioners’ of Nigeria (1993),advertising is a form of communication through media about products ,services and ideas paid for by an identified sponsor. Advertisements could be carried through the traditional media which includes radio, television, billboards etc and the new media which includes Facebook , Instagram ,twitter etc which usually has a higher population of young users, we also have different categories of mass media audience but for the purpose of this research we will be looking at the active audience. According to Okunna (2012) an active audience chooses which medium they expose themselves to ,they are also active in deciding which

which sections and programmes of the selected medium to choose. This means that an active audience on radio could decide to tune for the sole purpose of listening to news programs ,while an active facebook user could decide to go online just or to meet new people and not see products being advertised, there are various modes of advertisements both on new and broadcast media ,it could be through   internet pop ups which appear while browsing and it usually advertises products that would be found appealing to that particular user or there could be o5ther cases of advertisements slid in between very interesting programmes as is the case with the broadcast media.

Purchasing habits in consumers have evolved from going to the conventional market and word of mouth. The conventional market having to do with the marketing campaign trying to find out where the target audience are and making their advertisements appear in these places through the use of the broadcast media. An example being in the past we bought things based on the advertisements made by either the radio or television stations. Practical examples include; indomie’s very popular advertisement which was aired on television stations and made catchy and entertaining to the extent indomie became the general name for all noodles in the country.

 But in recent years, people buy things not based on what they see on Facebook but they buy also from Facebook. As media critique David Shaw said, the internet has the potential to be the best sales tool and the best advertisement and direct marketing tool ever devised. Our case study being Facebook, focuses on social networking ,and allows its users to express themselves, share emotions and as well publish their views on issues on the internet or happening around them .It also gives room for meeting new people, sharing and discussing ideas hence the tag “social media” .It gives advertisers the easy access to their target market thereby assisting in making sales easier. Ever since its inception, it has had a large followership.

Moriarty et al (2014) asserts that by 2007 the smaller but still popular Facebook had created a community of 24 million members, comprising mainly of young adults and adults. Considering the ever changing and competitive field of advertising, marketing advertisers and marketers always looking for new and easier ways to reach their target audience and what better place than a site with a large population of youths who would  be exposed to their advertisements on products and services.

So in this study, we are going to discover which of these two mediums radio and Facebook have the higher influence on the purchasing habits of undergraduates (Godfrey Okoye university students).

1.2        STATEMENT OF PROBLEM.

Advancement in information and communication technologies has impacted every sphere of our human endeavor. This effect is also felt in the advertising sector.

Before the dawn of the new media, advertising existed mainly on the mainstream media. However today, advertising has gone beyond the mainstream media to social media. Along similar lines, McMahon, Gay and Carlier (2016) posits that emergence of social media and subsequent trend of change in media consumption are pushing businesses to adopt social media, specifically Facebook as one of the advertising and marketing tool. In the same vein , Straley (2010) in her study found that half of all the consumers said that they had already purchased something or switched to another product or brand because of an advertisement or recommendation they received through social media.

On the other hand, radio as a broadcast medium is attributed with the speed of message delivery and ability to transmit message input without distortion. In fact Nwosu and Nkamnebe (2006,p.6a) rightly states that “ radio and television also have a higher believability or credibility rating among a higher percentage of the Nigerian population.

However, in the midst of these debates, arguments and significant attributes of each medium, little is done to ascertain which of these medium exerts more influence on the purchasing habits of people, especially the youths. In addition, despite these arguments, there is still limited literature on comparative studies on the influence of these medium on the purchasing habits of people, specifically on the youths. This is in order to determine that despite the adoption of social media among the youths, does advertisement on radio influence their purchasing habit as much as the adverts on Facebook.

It is against this backdrop that this work seeks to fill this gap in literature by an assessment of radio and Facebook on the purchasing habits of Godfrey Okoye university students.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​1.3          OBJECTIVES

According to Farrugia et al (2010) research objectives are the specific aims of the study and should be clearly stated in the introduction of the research protocol and so the objectives of this research includes;

1. To determine the extent to which Godfrey Okoye university students are exposed to advertisements on radio and facebook.
2. To ascertain which media channels are preferred by Godfrey Okoye university students for advertisement information.
3. To determine the extent to which each medium affect the purchasing habits of Godfrey Okoye university students.

1.4          RESEARCH QUESTION:

The following research questions were raised .

1. To what extent are Godfrey Okoye University students exposed to advertisements on radio or facebook?
2. What media channels are preferred by Godfrey Okoye university students for advertisement information?
3. What media channels better influences the purchasing decisions of Godfrey Okoye university students?

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Earlier studies has shown that there are various ways the media influences youths, however this study restricts itself to an assessment of Facebook and Radio on purchasing habits of  Godfrey Okoye university thinkers corner ,Enugu

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

This study is relevant for the following reasons. It would serve as guide for people in the advertising agencies and business owners for them to know how best to get the attention of the youth and by what medium. It turns the spotlight away from existing studies which are pre-occupied by research on advertisements on the broadcast and recently on social media exclusively. However, little have been done in comparing the effectiveness of advertisements in both medium especially with the advent and diffusion of social media on all age groups. It would determine what medium between facebook and radio has the greater influence on youths purchasing habits. It would serve as a referral for those working under both media for them to know the strongest and weakest points..

4. OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Influence: the power to affect, control or manipulate something or someone.

Broadcast media: a type of medium used in information dissemination like the radio and television.

Social media: Social media is defined as the online tool people use to share content, profiles, opinions, insight, experiences and perspectives thus facilitating conversation and interaction online between groups of people..

Purchasing habits; Purchasing habits can be defined as purchase of the same brand over and over again, more due to absence of dissatisfaction than because of a positive loyalty.