1. Introduction
The advancement of information technologies in the 21st century, also referred to as the information technology era, is transforming human interaction, as well as social, economic, and cultural aspects of life. The emergence of new communication technologies provides individuals with media opportunities to express their thoughts and emotions. In our time, the environment known as social media is quickly increasing its sphere of influence. Individuals write their opinions and share various photos and videos on social media. Due to its continuous updating and easy accessibility, social media is considered one of the most ideal environments for people to communicate and share information. Various social media platforms have a wide range of tools for users to share and interact with their content. Through social media, users can easily share photos and video images with others. Many platforms allow users to temporarily share stories from photos and videos. Users can broadcast live video on social media platforms and interact with followers in real time. Businesses and brands can use social media platforms for their advertising and marketing efforts. Social media platforms allow users to send private messages and chat with each other. Users can like and comment on the content of other users, thus enhancing engagement and ensuring user involvement. People use social media platforms to follow news sites, share ideas, socialize, have fun, shop and much more. Social media has become a powerful and effective platform for communication and content sharing. This study, which aims to examine how phenomena impact consumers’ shopping process during social media marketing activities, will also provide insights into the state of phenomena. The questionnaire form used for the study was created by utilizing Google form and conducting face-to-face interviews with internet users residing in Istanbul province. The data obtained by 330 people were analyzed using the SPSS statistical program. Anova and t tests and correlation analysis were performed during the analysis process. The hypotheses, which were determined based on the model created according to the study’s situation, have been proven to be suitable. It has been confirmed that the phenomena have an impact on consumers’ purchasing behavior, and it is recommended that these findings be applied in various industries because of the identification of sector-specific disparities.
2. Social Media and Marketing
The small world phenomenon, initially introduced by sociologist Stanley Milgram in 1967, has been further supported by the emergence of web-based communication among people (Onat & Alikılıç, 2008: pp. 1111-1143) . Social media is the simplest definition of social networking sites that facilitate communication between web users through activities like sharing content and leaving personalized comments (Kirtiş & Karahan, 2011: pp. 260-268) . He states that the ultimate goal in defining social media is to simplify the interaction between individuals, content, and data, and he believes that this interaction should encourage the development of new working methods, social structures, and technical presentations (İyiler, 2009) . In simpler terms, social media refers to online tools and websites that facilitate interactive communication, allowing individuals to exchange thoughts, interests, and knowledge (Sayımer, 2009) .
Features of social media (Zafarmand, 2010, p. 10) ;
Participation: Social media fosters the collaboration of individuals with an interest in the communication medium and eliminates the barriers between viewers, listeners, and the medium itself.
Openness: Most social media services welcome participation and feedback. These services facilitate voting, commenting and information sharing.
Reciprocal speaking: While content is typically delivered to internet users in a one-sided manner through traditional media, social media can be viewed as a platform for two-way communication due to the inclusion of feedback and content evaluation.
Community: People who create communities on social media platforms can establish effective connections with one another.
Connectivity: Most types of social media succeed because they connect to other websites, resources, and individuals. Social media is primarily about sociology rather than technology.
Creating Content in Media: The production of media content is no longer limited to skilled individuals, institutions, and organizations. Now, anyone with basic computer knowledge can publish and share their thoughts, experiences, photos, videos, and the content they create on social media.
Creation of New Layer of Influencers: Social media users are called the new layer of influencers because everyone can freely share content on their own media.
From a marketing perspective, social media can only be considered as new technology and new tools to connect well and effectively with consumers (Safko, 2010: p. 5) . Examples of the impact of social media include blogs such as Justin Bieber, who uploads videos of his own compositions to YouTube, and Trend-Web and Pucca, who have more hit singles than daily newspaper circulation. Social media marketing refers to any strategy that allows brands, companies, products, and individuals to utilize social networking tools, including blogs, microblogging, social networks, social flags, and content sharing, to engage in both direct and indirect marketing activities, thereby generating attention and awareness (Gunelius, 2011) . A 2011 study by Emarketer predicts that 88% of US businesses will be utilizing social media by 2012 (Emarketer, 2023) . Social media marketing refers to the process of facilitating connections between individuals and large, targeted, and hard-to-reach audiences through online social channels (Weinberg, 2009: p. 3) . Akar (2010) defines social media marketing as “increasing the visibility and promotion of goods/services on the internet through the use of social media sites”. Social media marketing uses social media sites to offer products and services and to increase awareness of a business or organization on the Internet (Akar & Topçu, 2011: p. 41) . According to Weber (2007a) , social media has not changed the role of marketing. Marketing through social media tools is once again centered around market focus, customer communication, and loyalty creation; however, it requires the implementation of a fresh marketing approach (Kotler et al., 2017) .
Weber (2007b) suggested that companies should discard traditional one-way marketing communications that solely tell their own story and instead focus on empowering customers to express themselves in marketing and share their company’s narrative on social networks. The categories of public relations, content production marketing, and viral messaging are also taken into consideration for social media marketing activities (Miletsky, 2010: pp. 81-82) .
Public Relations: As users generate an increasing amount of news and stories that disseminate from traditional media platforms to online communities, public relations professionals are endeavoring to engage with the intended audience through social media.
Marketing Content Production: Blogs, videos and different content created for marketing should be organized with the characteristics of a relevant audience in mind.
Viral Messaging: The content produced by companies that utilize social media marketing should have the potential to go viral. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) offer five media usage and social engagement recommendations for companies and brands looking to engage in social media marketing. Social media is about participation, sharing and collaboration and not about direct advertising or sales (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010: pp. 59-68) . Consumers who feel that they are being accurately understood and trust that companies are being truthful with them play a crucial role in the success of social media campaigns by actively engaging and interacting with them (İşlek, 2012) . Social media allows companies to engage with end users in a more timely, direct and cost-effective way than traditional means of communication (Kaplan & Haenline, 2010: pp. 59-68) . He posted a Makie series on YouTube and many collaborators uploaded their presentations to the content sharing site Slide-Share (Neti, 2011: pp. 1-15) . As a result of this campaign, 234,000 Facebook users were defriended (Hoffman & Fodor, 2010: pp. 41-49) . Social media is not only suitable for large multinational companies, but also for very large corporations, SMEs and even non-profit government agencies (Kaplan & Haenline, 2010: pp. 59-68) . Unlike traditional message delivery tools such as newspapers, news and TV channels, marketing using social media can build relationships and interactions with customers (Drury, 2008: p. 275) . One of the key levels of social media is that these messages and interactions are simply accessible and viewable through future users of social media (Powell et al., 2011) . Companies are increasingly using social media to reach existing buyers, win new buyers, build trust, increase recognition and protect the brand’s image (Mills, 2012: pp. 162-169) . Consumers are actively engaging in marketing content produced by firms due to the growing interest in user-mediated content, typically found on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia (Ayswarya et al., 2019: pp. 628-638; Heinonen, 2011: p. 356) . On the other hand, not using social media can be risky and future marketing opportunities can be irrevocably lost (Powell et al., 2011) .
Blogs
Blogs, which were initially used mainly by individuals and groups but have more recently been adopted by businesses, derive their name from weblogs, and they are websites that offer ideas and comments to a broad audience (Akar, 2010: p. 45) .
Blogs are one of the fastest and most familiar classifications of Web 2.0 applications and require no expertise or technical background to create articles on any topic, in any preferred style (Blog, 2018) .
Followers can evaluate and comment on articles and content that are published on blogs where users share about their daily lives, business lives, or personal expertise (Arıemre, 2018) . In this way, the reader can follow the author and the author can learn about the reader (Dağıtmaç, 2015: pp. 48-49) .
Blogs have similar functionality to web pages, so you also have the possibility to add text, images, video and audio (Yağmurlu, 2011: pp. 5-15) . This is because anyone can comment on a blog, it is cheap or often free to edit, requires no specialized software, is easy to update content and does not require advanced computer skills (Dikmen, 2011: p. 180) .
YouTube: Founded in 2005 by three PayPal employees and acquired by Google in 2006. It is a social media platform where users can share, upload, view and comment on videos (YouTube, 2018) . You can use YouTube to enjoy different types of videos, search for original content, learn new things, share and get information about products/services you want to buy (Sıradışı Digital Experience Studio, 2016) .
Some popular social media platforms:
LinkedIn: LinkedIn, a business-oriented platform, allows professionals to build their business networks and share work-related content.
Snapchat: The popularity of Snapchat comes from its use for sharing ephemeral content, particularly stories, filters, and live streams.
WhatsApp: WhatsApp, a platform focused on messaging and voice calls, allows users to communicate with each other for free.
TikTok: TikTok is particularly favored by young users due to its sharing of short and entertaining videos.
Pinterest: Pinterest, a visual discovery platform, allows users to save images and videos to boards and discover content based on their interests.
Reddit: With forums and communities on different topics, Reddit is a discussion platform where users can participate according to their interests.
3. The Concept of Phenomenon and Social Media Phenomena
Edmund Husler, the founder of phenomenology, one of the most important philosophical movements of the twentieth century, stated that this philosophical approach, based on the recognition of essence rather than appearance, can also answer the question “What is essence and how can we comprehend it?” (Öktem, 2005: pp. 27-55) . From a phenomenological perspective, we often perceive the observable aspects of objects, images, events, and phenomena, yet we struggle to comprehend their essence and ultimately overlook them. Because the essence of something is often not in a simple, easily recognizable structure, but in the true purpose of its existence. The concept of “essence” refers to matter that has been simplified by removing unnecessary details, that exists at the appropriate time, and that is perceived in a way that the phenomenal identity of matter aligns with its intended purpose. Accordingly, the space and time theory of Immanuel Kant, considered the father of critical philosophy, is associated with the concept of “phenomenon”. Phenomena are creations that we form by perceiving patterns of time and space, by perceiving things that are unfamiliar to us through our senses (noumena), by designing them in specific ways, and by connecting them to the present and personalizing them as our own phenomena. According to Kant, this current is not an empirical insight detached from our external experience, but an aprioric phenomenon underlying our perception (Cottingham, 2015) . One of the two elements of phenomenology, logos, which describes what exists, necessitates discourse; therefore, discourse is necessary for phenomenology. The aim is to create a state of consciousness that manifests itself as it appears and reveals the existence of beings (İyiler, 2009) . In today’s society, the primary method used to enhance the exposure of a concept or theme originated from a concept is by effectively communicating its visual identity to the intended audience through various visual communication channels, utilizing technical hardware and software. In today’s fast-paced life, the widespread use of art and design with technological possibilities pushes artists and designers to use new means of expression and media, in the context of communication. In this schema, the completeness of language, thought, space, and being serves as the foundation for all knowledge, and the primary subject, the individual, is able to comprehend the entire phenomenal structure through two main cognitive abilities: vision and reason (Demirtaş, 2003: pp. 50-60) . The phenomena that surround us constantly and that we perceive through our senses are both simple and complex; they exist in fragmented groups, and the individual structures that exist within this intricate whole are either unidentifiable or flawed in our perception. The main reason for this phenomenon is the intricate mixture of data that is unintentionally generated when objects combine, making it difficult to differentiate a distinct and comprehensible visual design amidst thousands of similar designs.
4. Method
4.1. Purpose of the Study
Social media platforms enable brands and consumers to communicate continuously and effectively without time and space limitations. The majority of users follow influencers who offer routine suggestions and recommendations based on their experience, which may lead to their recognition as key thought leaders in the digital environment. We intend to investigate the impact of utilizing social media marketing techniques on the influencers’ status through this study.
4.2. Research Population and Sampling
The main population for this research consists of individuals living in Istanbul. According to June 1, 2023 data, the number of people living in Istanbul is 15 million 907 thousand 951 people (TUIK, 2023) . Because the cost and time constraints make it impossible to reach the entire main population, a voluntary sampling method was chosen, although the probability of the group representing the main population is unknown. In order to determine the status of marketing methods on social media, all internet users over the age of 18 were included in the research. Accordingly, in this study, 330 people in Istanbul were interviewed face-to-face between March 1, 2023 and April 31, 2023 and filled out the questionnaire prepared in Google Form. Convenience sampling is the act of the surveyor completing the questionnaire with the person they find to be convenient (Nakip, 2003: p. 784) . The demographic characteristics of the consumers were evaluated and the consumers were stratified in the values determined as strata, taking into account the 90% confidence interval and the error rate of 0.10 within the study population consisting of social media users and internet phenomena here. Stratified Sampling is a sampling system in which subgroups in the population are guaranteed to be represented in the sample (Balcı, 2013: p. 100) .
4.3. Data Collection Technique
Data were obtained using the survey method within the framework of the model presented in the study. The first part of the questionnaire consisted of demographic variables such as gender, marital status, age, education, income and occupation. In this sense, the second part of the study, the phenomenon effect, was obtained by creating a data-based perspective. The survey applied in this direction includes data from consumers using social media in Istanbul.
The original Social Media Marketing Activities scale developed by Yadav and Rahman (2017) , which is one of the variables in the survey used to collect data in the research, has a five-factor structure. There are a total of 15 questions: interaction 3 questions, informativeness 3 questions, personalization 3 questions, trend 3 questions and word of mouth 3 questions. These scale expressions were adapted into Turkish by (Yüksekbilgili, 2018: p. 155) . The scale is designed as a 7-point Likert type, however, a 5-point Likert scale was used in this study. In the original study, Hair, Black, Babin, and Anderson (2014) evaluated the reliability of the scale according to the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient, and they stated that the scale could be considered reliable. If the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient is greater than 0.70 (Hair et al., 2014) . The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value of the original scale was determined as 0.86. The scale was originally adjusted according to a 7-point Likert-type scale. In our study, the questionnaire form was created according to a 5-point Likert scale.
As the second variable in the study, the scale items used to measure the Effect of Phenomena on Consumers’ Purchase Decision were taken from the study developed by Bora Semiz and Zengin (2019) . Perceptions towards social media phenomena and attitudes towards the purchase decision process were measured with a 5-point Likert-type scale. In our study, a scale consisting of a total of 23 statements with five sub-dimension factors, namely Need Identification, Information Search, Evaluation of Alternatives, Purchase Decision, Post-Purchase Evaluation, was used to measure this dimension. The methods used to calculate the data are supported by known studies. Necessary permissions were obtained from the authors for all scales used in the study.
4.4. Limitations of the Research
Due to cost and time constraints, the study was conducted only in the province of Istanbul. Therefore, generalizations cannot be made across Türkiye.
4.5. Research Model
The phenomena that serve as the guiding subject for social media areas, where people’s governorships spend most of their time, are the focus of our research. The model used in our study to determine this process was created in Figure 1 below.
4.6. Hypotheses of the Research
The hypotheses are constructed in the following manner; these hypotheses will be used to attempt to determine the relationship between the phenomenon and social media situations in the study.
HYPOTHESIS 1
H1a Social media phenomena’s posts about the products that consumers are considering to purchase affect consumers’ purchasing behavior.
H1b Social media phenomena’s posts about the products that consumers intend to purchase have a positive effect on consumers’ purchasing behavior.
HYPOTHESIS 2
H2a Consumers’ social media activities related to the products they intend to purchase affect consumers’ purchasing behavior.
H2b Social media activities related to the products that consumers intend to purchase have a positive impact on consumers’ purchasing behavior.
4.7. Data Analysis
Validity and reliability analysis results for the scales in the pilot study for the questionnaires used in the study
Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient results for the scales and sub-dimensions used in the study are given in Table 1. According to the results, the reliability of the scales and sub-dimensions used in the study was determined as “high reliability”.
4.7.1. Scale Statistics
Descriptive statistics for the Need for Social Approval Scale and its sub-dimensions are given in Table 2. When analyzing the averages, it can be observed that the highest average is found in the sub-dimension titled “Social Media Marketing Activities Activity Mean” with a score of 3.29, while the lowest average is observed in the sub-dimension labeled “Social Media Marketing Activities Likes Mean” with a score of 3.26.
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Table 1. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient results for the social media marketing activities scale and its sub-dimensions and the effect of phenomena on purchasing scale used in the study.
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Table 2. Descriptive statistics for the need for social approval scale and its sub-dimensions.
Frequency distribution and descriptive statistics for the “Activity” sub-dimension items of the social media marketing activities scale are shown in Table 3. When analyzing the frequency distribution and descriptive statistics of the items in the “Activity” sub-dimension of the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale, it is observed that the item “Social Media Marketing Activities 9” has the highest average of 3.48, while the item “Social Media Marketing Activities 8” has the lowest average of 3.10. The frequency distribution and descriptive statistics for the items of the “Like” sub-dimension of the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale reveal that the item “Social Media Marketing Activities 12” has the highest mean of 3.60, while the item “Social Media Marketing Activities 13” has the lowest mean of 3.02. The frequency distribution and descriptive statistics for the items of the Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing Scale show that the item “Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing 1” has the highest mean of 3.34, while the item “Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing 2” has the lowest mean of 2.46.
4.7.2. Frequency Values
In terms of demographic variables, when the frequency distributions of the individuals participating in the survey were analyzed according to their gender, it was found that the rate of female participants was 66.1% and the rate of male participants was 33.9%.
According to the results obtained from the data on the frequency distribution of the participants according to their marital status, the rate of married participants was 43.0% and the rate of single participants was 57.0%.
According to the results of the frequency distribution according to the age groups of the individuals participating in the survey, it was observed that the highest cluster was in the 23 - 32 age group with 40.6% and the lowest cluster was in the 58 and over age group with 2.4%.
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Table 3. Frequency distribution and descriptive statistics for social media marketing activities scale, “activity” sub-dimension items.
According to the frequency distribution of individuals according to their educational status, it was observed that 3.9% of the participants had primary education, 13.3% had high school education, 38.5% had associate’s degree, 33.6% had bachelor’s degree, and 10.6% had graduate education.
Frequency distributions according to the monthly income of the individuals show that 30.6% of the participants have a monthly income of 0 - 8.500 TL, 21.8% have 8.501 - 11.500 TL, 20.9% have 11.501 - 15.500 TL, 10.6% have 15.501 - 19.500 TL and 16.1% have 19.5001 TL and above.
Finally, according to the frequency distribution of individuals according to their occupational status, it is observed that the largest cluster is in the Student group with 27.9% and the least cluster is in the Retired group with 5.2%.
4.7.3. Scale Statistics
When analyzing the frequency distribution and descriptive statistics averages for the items belonging to the Activity dimension of the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale, it becomes apparent that the item “Social Media Marketing Activities 9” has the highest mean of 3.34, while the item “Social Media Marketing Activities 4” has the lowest mean of 3.12.
The frequency distribution and descriptive statistics for the items of the Like dimension on the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale revealed that the “Social Media Marketing Activities 12” had the highest mean of 3.35, while the “Social Media Marketing Activities 14” had the lowest mean of 3.07.
Descriptive statistics for the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions are given in Table 4. When analyzing the averages, it is clear that the highest average is 3.25, which means “Social Media Marketing Activities Activity Mean” sub-dimension, and the smallest mean was found to be in the “Social Media Marketing Activities Activity Mean” sub-dimension with 3.21.
Frequency distributions and descriptive statistics for the items regarding the impact of the event on the purchasing scale are shown in Table 5. When analyzing the frequency distribution and descriptive statistics for the items of the Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing Scale, it can be evident that the highest mean is in the item “Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing 1” with 3.22 and the lowest mean is in the item “Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing 9” with 2.48.
4.7.4. Analysis of Research Variables in Terms of Demographic Variables
Whether there is a difference in the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and
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Table 4. Descriptive statistics for the social media marketing activities scale and its subdimensions.
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Table 5. Frequency distribution and descriptive statistics for the items of the effect of phenomenon on purchasing scale.
its sub-dimensions in terms of gender variable was analyzed by t-test. According to the results, a statistically significant difference was found in the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions used in the survey in terms of gender variable. The source of the difference is that the perception of Social Media Marketing Activities is higher among Female respondents than Male respondents.
Whether there is a difference in the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions in terms of marital status was analyzed by t-test. According to the results, no statistically significant difference was found in the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions in terms of marital status.
Whether there is a difference in the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions in terms of Age Group variable was analyzed by t-test. According to the obtained results, no statistically significant difference was found in the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions used in the survey in terms of Age Group variable.
According to the results obtained by examining whether there is a difference in the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions used in the questionnaire in terms of the Education Status variable with the ANOVA test, a statistically significant difference was found in the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions used in the questionnaire in terms of the Education Status variable. The groups that are the source of the difference were determined by TUKEY test.
According to the results obtained by examining whether there is a difference in the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions used in the questionnaire in terms of the Education Status variable with the ANOVA test, a statistically significant difference was found in the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions used in the questionnaire in terms of the Education Status variable. The TUKEY test was used again to determine the source of the difference and it was recorded.
Whether there is a difference in the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions used in the questionnaire in terms of occupational variable was examined by ANOVA test and according to the obtained results, no statistically significant difference was found in the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions used in the questionnaire in terms of occupational variable.
The other variable in the study, the Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing Scale, was analyzed by t-test to determine whether there is a difference in terms of gender variable. According to the results, a statistically significant difference was found in terms of gender variable in the Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing Scale used in the questionnaire. The source of the difference is that the perception of Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing is higher among Female respondents than Male respondents.
Whether there is a difference in the Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing Scale in terms of marital status was analyzed by t-test. According to the obtained results, no statistically significant difference was found in terms of marital status in the Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing Scale used in the questionnaire.
Whether there is a difference in terms of the Age Group variable in the Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing Scale was analyzed by t-test. According to the obtained results, no statistically significant difference was found in terms of the Age Group variable in the Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing Scale used in the questionnaire.
According to the results obtained by examining whether there is a difference in the Scale of Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing Scale used in the questionnaire in terms of Education Status variable with ANOVA test, a statistically significant difference was found in the Scale of Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing Scale used in the questionnaire in terms of Education Status variable. The groups that are the source of the difference were determined by TUKEY test.
ANOVA test was used to analyze whether there is a difference in the Scale of Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing in terms of Monthly Income variable, and a statistically significant difference was found in the Scale of Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing in terms of Monthly Income variable. The source of the difference was again determined by TUKEY test. In line with the results obtained by examining whether there is a difference in terms of occupational variable in the Scale of Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing with ANOVA test, a statistically significant difference was found in terms of occupational variable in the Scale of Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing used in the questionnaire. The groups that are the source of the difference were found with TUKEY test.
4.7.5. Correlation Results
The results of the correlation analysis on the relationships between the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions and the Purchase Impact of Events Scale variables are shown in Table 6. The correlation coefficients for the relationship between the Social Media Marketing Activities Scale and its sub-dimensions and the Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing Scale were found to
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Table 6. Correlation analysis results for the relationships between the social media marketing activities scale and its sub-dimensions and the effect of phenomena on purchasing scale variables.
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
be statistically significant. There is a positive relationship between the variables. In this case, an increase in one of the variables is expected to lead to an increase in the other variable.
4.7.6. Regression Results
The opinion on the explanatory variable (independent variable) Social Media Marketing Activities was determined by a linear regression model based on the explained variable (dependent variable) Effect of Phenomena on Purchase. These values are shown in Table 7. According to the ANOVA test, the model was found statistically significant. In addition, the coefficient of determination (adjusted) of the model was calculated as 0.412. Accordingly, 41.2% of the variability in the Effect of Phenomena on Purchase variable is explained by the Social Media Marketing Activities variable through the linear regression model. There is a positive linear relationship between the two variables. According to the student-t test for the significance of the coefficients of the regression model, both coefficients are statistically significant. According to these results, the estimation of the regression line is
(Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing) = 0.471+ 0.722 (Social Media Marketing Activities)
According to the standard regression coefficient, an increase of 1 unit in the Social Media Marketing Activities variable is expected to cause an increase of 643 units in the Effect of Phenomena on Purchase variable.
The effect of the sub-dimensions of Social Media Marketing Activities on the Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing variable is shown with the linear regression model in Table 8. The significance of the linear regression model between the Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing and the sub-dimensions of Social Media Marketing Activities was analyzed with ANOVA test. According to the ANOVA test, the model was found statistically significant. In addition, the adjusted R-squared coefficient for the model was calculated as 0.418. This value indicates that 41.8% of the variability in the Effect of Phenomena on Purchasing is explained by the sub-dimensions of Social Media Marketing Activities through the linear regression model. When analyzing the coefficient estimates of the dimensions, the effect coefficient for both dimensions is found to be positive and statistically significant.
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Table 7. Linear regression model results for the variable of social media marketing activities, and the variable of the effect of phenomena on purchasing which are the sub-dimensions of the expectation of digitalization scale.
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Table 8. Linear regression model results on the effect of social media marketing activities sub-dimensions on the effect of phenomena on purchasing.
This result shows that positive perception in the dimensions of social media marketing activities of firms will also be reflected positively on phenomenon activity. In addition, when analyzing the standard coefficient values, it is evident that the effect of the liking dimension is higher.
5. Discussion, Conclusion and Suggestions
The increasing number of internet and computer users worldwide, along with the integration of the internet into various aspects of daily life such as news tracking, shopping, communication, and education, serves as a clear indication of the significance of modern communication technologies in today’s world. Today, the internet, along with the social media environment, has emerged as a significant addition to socialization, effectively addressing various temporal and spatial obstacles. In our society, individuals engaged in fast-paced and disconnected relationships are able to develop and sustain social connections through the aid of social networks. Social networks are emerging as socially complementary elements of individuals in society. They have a huge impact on society, changing some of our behaviors and habits. As in many areas, social networking technology offers many opportunities. The fact that social networks offer a wide range of usage features and possibilities allows users to meet their diverse needs and engage in various interactions. Social media marketing is an important strategy used by businesses and brands in today’s digital world to interact with their target audiences and increase brand awareness. The influence of phenomena, such as individuals who are popular on social media and have a large number of followers, on social media marketing activities, is significant.
Z. Yüksekbilgili, who utilized the scale developed by Yadav and Rahman (2017) , which is also addressed in the study, administered a questionnaire to 707 participants in his research. In my research, I collaborated with 330 participants. In Yüksekbilgili’s study, he emphasizes the need for a cautious approach in developing a social media marketing strategy, highlighting the significance of businesses and brands considering factors like appropriate selection of phenomena, ensuring authenticity and naturalness in collaborations, and ensuring compatibility between the values of the phenomena and brands for successful partnerships with the phenomena.
As a result, it is evident that incorporating phenomena into social media marketing studies is essential for understanding their impact, and business owners who recognize this are taking a significant step towards enhancing their future marketing strategies through collaboration. Businesses that proceed in this way have been found to have a critical value in successfully reaching the target audience.
In conclusion, the effect of phenomena on social media marketing is great and can be considered as an effective marketing strategy for businesses. However, it is critical for success that collaborations are properly managed and aligned with the target audience.
For today, where digitalization is completely effective in every field, social media should be considered as a marketing field for both businesses and those operating in the academic field. The phenomena that consumers happily shop for and are influenced by in this area may require further differentiation and categorization into mass and spatial classes. Conducting appropriate academic studies will contribute to the future as an academic field.