IMPACT OF SOCIAL MARKETING ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR - A STUDY BASED IN KOLKATA

Abstract

Social marketing means designing and implementing of programs so that social ideas may beinfluenced.Itinvolvesconsiderationssuchasproductplanning,communication,pricing.Itcanbesaid to be a purpose driven platform which aims at bringing improvement in the targeted society.Itisdifferentfromotherformsofmarketingbecauseherein,thesocialmarketerseekstoinfluencebehaviournotforhisownbenefitbutforthebenefitofthesocietyingeneral.A major problem here is that often marketers are unable to keep their eye on what is called thebottomlineofsocialmarketing.Theythinkthat alltheymust doisprovideinformationorchangebeliefs.Often,theyareoftheopinionthattheirgoalisto"getthewordout"orto"changeattitudes"without asking whether either of these activitieswill actually lead to the desired behaviour. However, the goal is bigger than that. The emphas is should be on behaviour andtheactualchange,socialmarketersmustmovetoadoptafanaticalemphasisoncustomerwhoisultimately,theking.The emphasis on behaviour also pushes marketers to have an appropriate evaluation criterion forevery decision they make. Marketers can attempt to influence behaviour throughbehavioralshapingorreinforcementstrategiesbut,ultimately,consumersdohavethechoicenottobuy.Thus,themajortalentofmarketersliesininfluencingvoluntarybehaviour,andthesearethetalentstheymustalsoapplytosocialmarketing.Havingsaidthis,itisalsoimportanttounderstandthatsocialmarketing need not necessarily involve behaviour change- the aim is to adopt, modify, abandon,ordiscourageacertainbehaviour.Thispaperisanattempttostudytheconsumersideofthestoryinsocialmarketing,tounderstandtheirattitudesandopinionsandtheirperceptionofsocialmarketing.Varioustoolsofanalysishavebeenusedtostudytheimpactofsocialmarketingonconsumerbehaviourandthesamehavebeenrepresented through charts and graphs. The paper also provides recommendations that marketerstodaycanadopttoensure thattheirmarketingeffortsdonotgetmisdirected.

Keywords: Social marketing, consumer behaviour, word of mouth, stimulus, social cause