The Use of Social Media Advertising on the Purchase Decisions of Consumers in the Restaurant Business Sector: A Case Study of Mutare, Zimbabwe

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate the use of social media advertising on the purchasing decisions on the restaurants of consumers within the restaurant business sector in Mutare, Zimbabwe. The investigation was to note the evidence-based strategies for restaurant businesses in Mutare to improve their marketing visibility on the use of social media advertising on consumer behaviour of people in the town. Guided by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM, the research explored the relationship between social media marketing strategies, brand perception, consumer behaviour, and purchase decisions. This was with special references to the restaurant businesses operating in Mutare. A quantitative descriptive research design was adopted. The restaurant businesses operating in Mutare are counted to 50 and it is from the list of businesses that the researcher selected 30 restaurant businesses in Mutare which constituted the field of study. From the targeted population, the researcher selected a sample of 60 consumers who received some administered questionnaires and 7 key informant respondents were interviewed through the use of a structured interview question from 10 selected restaurants. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to determine correlations among variables. The study's findings revealed that social media is a significant factor for consumers in Mutare when discovering and selecting restaurants, with platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok serving as primary digital platforms. Visual content, specifically food presentation and restaurant ambiance, emerged as the most significant driver of consumer interest and visit intention. Major challenges hindering changes include delivery delays, poor communication and a mismatch between the visual presentation on social media and the physical product. To mitigate these issues, the study recommended that restaurant businesses in Mutare improve their real-time engagement with customer feedback, maintain consistency in food quality and leverage local brand ambassadors to enhance brand trust and perception.