The Impact of Self Concept on Selfie Marketing; A Study on Instagram

Abstract

Selfie marketing is the up and coming marketing trend on social media worldwide. Many international brands have already embedded it into their social media marketing campaigns due to its rather subtle marketing feel. Consumers do not feel they are being overtly marketed to when they see a selfie of a friend with any particular brand on social media. Self concept is not a new concept but it is now being incorporated in research in relation to social media selfie marketing campaigns to evaluate its impact on involving oneself in selfie marketing. Two elements of self concept have been taken into account for this research namely the actual self concept and the ideal elf concept. This research was done to access the likeliness that a high actual and ideal self concept would lead to more involved participation in selfie marketing on social media. The research was quantitative in nature and comprised of 350 responses from customers of upscale restaurants and cafes in Islamabad. The questionnaire comprised of closed ended questions. The data collected was analyzed through the software SPSS and a number of tests were performed for evaluation. The outcome of the analysis portrayed that actual self concept has an impact on user’s intention to part take in selfie marketing on social media but it is not too significant. The ideal self concept has emerged in this research as the more significant variable that has a very significant impact on a social media user’s intention to participate in selfie marketing. A stronger ideal self concept will lead to more selfies uploaded on social media with any particular brand. The implications of the research are that marketers can now better target the young generation via social media selfie marketing strategies that are aimed at helping them achieve their desired ideal self concepts. The limitations were mostly constraints of time due to which more variables could not be added and only a limited sample could be taken into consideration for the research. This study can be greatly enhanced if more variables are added and if there is a prolonged period of time to conduct the research. Better and more accurate results can be the outcome of such a research.