CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDTY
In recent times some school of thought believes that traditional media of mass communication has continue to loss its large audience to the current arrival of the conventional media. This is as a result of the immediate satisfaction derived from the new media. The traditional media like the television which combines both sound, visual and audio which was seen as one of the best medium of communication has faced a lot of setback. This innovation can be attributed to the arrival of smart phones which solves the problem of delayed feedback in the contemporary society. However, the Federal Polytechnic Bida student like their counterpart in any higher institution in the world have been diverting from television to the internet using smart phones like ipad, blackberry, tablet etc. to get aware or make a decision on the product they go for. Today, electronic media play a crucial role in all the domains of life and has therefore become highly significant. All businesses need efficient marketing in order to increase their sales. The traditional ways of trade and commerce were largely dependent upon the system of transportation and slow means of communication. Electronic media has therefore accelerated trade which have brought about electronic development and has lowered additional cost. The rationale behind any adverting placed through the various forms of electronic is to cause action and get the required feedback from the prospective customers. The kind of feedback an advertise receives depends largely on the perception of its target audience.
According to Sternberg Kalat (2005) “Perception is the set of cognitive processes through which we interpret the messages our senses provide” Our perception generally synthesizes sensations and assign meaning to them by taking into account our expectations, our prior experiences and sometimes our culture. The conventional media like facebook, twitter is changing the way we receive our messages. The recent boom of twitter is showing it’s the new methods of receiving information or advertising as marketers as well as private organization tap into it as a result of its numerous users. In this present generation people have become so attached to the conventional media that youths and students spend reasonable amount of time surfing the net. Firms can use a social platform to spread information about their activities and promote their brand. Facebook, one of the most popular social platform, provides such an opportunity to firms using a feature called spun shred stories where users use the “like” option to approve of a particular product, service or message.
Basically, there are some social group that also influence the way students or consumers perceive message received through Electronic media. According to S Gupta and Ratna V.V. (2004:150) “Family as social group also play an important role in influencing consumers’ behavior. The family acts as both a primary and reference group. The family operates as an economic unit earning and spending money.” The family functions as directly in consumption of the product. Students who are numbers of a family are influenced in product selection and brand selection / purchase by the family they grew up in. it is therefore important for markets to understand the nature of family’s influence on its members and the way in which purchase decisions are made by the members so that they can effectively programmed to place their advertising properly in the various electronic media. The conventional media which includes the internet and email have acted in facilitating the traditional media in terms of feedback. This is as a` result of the advert of the internet. Internet have emerged as the most powerful communication medium so far known to mankind.
The explosive growth of the internet advertising industry is very reminiscent of the early days of television advertising. Based on a research carried out by S. L Gupta and V.V. Tatna (2004) in their book Advertising and sales promotion management, it was estimated that in United State alone by 2004, citizens will spend $16 billion a year on health care over the internet, this is as a result of an online Advertising placed previously about the advantage of using a particular Health Services. In 1999 $450 million was spent on purchasing prescription drugs online alone. More than 32 million adult a year currently 90 online for game related content. Advertising expenditure as at 1999 in USA was 4.7 billion alone and it is expected to rise in the years to come. The internet grew from purely academic origins, it is still a mixture of things and even though it is today predominantly commercial, it is not exclusively a commercial environment. The paradigm shift in internet usage from an academic to a commercial environment is taking place and advertising world is taking advantage of that. Two methods of internet advertising are in email and on web sites. Both have useful applications. Email advertising is most often text based, tagging along on a consumer’s incoming messages.
Conversely, web advertising usually include multimedia content, utilizing banners, buttons and sponsorships on websites. Neither email or websites are limited, however, websites advertising can be as small as a line of text with an embedded hyperlink to the advertiser’s site and email advertising can include graphics. This may implies that messages or advertising on the conventional media are not totally truth is credible because there is no censorship or gate keeping and there is every tendency for the advertiser to over blow their products online using graphics whereas in the real sense the exact product might be difficult to locate. This is done to attract their prospective buyers and increase sales. Consequently, challenges remain for advertisers and agencies that are looking to deploy rich media campaigns, as well as for publishers trying to offer reach media inventory. One of the most critical problems with electronic marketing is that the magnitude of it overwhelms most users. Thus, the same issue we’ve witnessed with traditional media is occurring in electronic advertising.
The consumer becomes indifferent and ignores the vast majority of messages aimed at him. No advertiser can assume that it’s message will generate the exact action intended for all receivers selective perception therefore magnifies the possibilities of an advert reaching the target audience and falling to achieve its purpose. Online marketing has been a significant tool to convey messages. It is mode of media through which advertising or promotion of tangible and intangible products, cultures and other messages can be done (Cho et as 2007). Social marketing has seen a rapid growth however it has a risk of not meeting its full potential because of the perception of potential customers (Andreasen, 2002).
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Advertising which in recent times have being done through the traditional media have lost its large audience to the arrival of the conventional media. This to large extend have result to people losing their interest in the traditional media and also, the magnitude of message found on the electronic media overwhelms most users which result in them been indifferent and ignore the vast majority of messages aimed at them. The result of this will be the advertiser not getting the desired feedback, increase in sales and promotion of their product. There is also the issue of the advertiser not been fully aware of the attitude and cycographic composition of their prospective customers.
1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The study is aimed at assessing the following:
1. Investigate students perception on seeing an advertising on electronic media e.g. facebook, twitter, whatsapp, television, radio etc.
2. Investigate the effects of advertising on electronic media.
3. Factors that determine the perception of students.
4. Investigate the willingness of users / students to be exposed to conventional media network website advertising.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION
1. How effective are messages or advertising on electronic media?
2. Are students more exposed or comfortable with advertising messages on conventional media?
3. Are there any visible social influence traceable in their lives as a result of advertising from electronic media?
4. How do students perceive messages / advertising on electronic media generally?
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The completion of this research work will help find out some of the weakness or edge the conventional media have over the traditional media and aid in improving it so that advertising through the traditional media can also yield the same result as it’s counterpart. It will also help to understand how people especially the students perceive advertising on electronic media.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study is restricted to Federal Polytechnic Bida and emphasis will be laid mostly on the students of the institution.
1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
Due to the limited time frame given to embark on this research work, the researchers is limited to the Federal Polytechnic student’s due to the following reasons:
Insufficient Finance: The cost of research materials for this study is on the high side and one may even encounter difficulty in sourcing for materials due to the lack of fund.
Time Constraint: Time wait for nobody. No matter how much time is allocated to the project, it may still be insufficient due to time administered to questionnaire and research.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Perception: The way in which something is regarded, understood or interpreted.
Electronic Media: Are media that uses electronics or electro mechanical energy for the end user (Audience) to access the content of a message.
Influence: The power or ability to affect beliefs or action.
Advertising: It is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.
Students: Are group of persons studying in school especially older children with one or similar objectives of acquiring knowledge in colleges, polytechnics or universities.
