The Role of Social Media Marketing, Social Media Usage, Advertising Content, Brand Awareness and Consumer Purchase Decisions in Cosmetics in Pakistan

Abstract

The cosmetic industry in Pakistan has undergone a major digital revolution, and social media has become a major platform for consumers to explore, evaluate and ultimately purchase beauty products. This study examines the combined impact of the three variables—social media marketing, social media use and ad content on the consumer purchase behavior, with the mediating effect of brand awareness between the digital stimuli and the actual purchase behavior. To gather information from the consumers of cosmetics 300 consumers were selected from 5 major cities of Punjab (Sialkot, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Gujrat) by using structured questionnaire both online and offline. The data were then analyzed using the Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis with SmartPLS 4.0 software which was applied to measure the reliability, convergent and discriminate validity of data. According to the results, the highest direct impact on brand awareness is the advertising content, followed by social media marketing and social media use, which are all statistically significant. It was found that brand awareness was the most powerful predictor of consumer's purchase decision and it significantly affected the relationship between each of the three independent variables and the purchase decision. The findings suggested that cultural relevance and quality of digital content can build a potent sales-enhancing tool for cosmetics brands in Pakistan, besides being a mere branding strategy. The study can also be related to the literature in this field as it has introduced it in the context of an emerging markets environment from South Asia and given practical recommendations to the marketers to develop a more effective, awareness building social media strategy.