Audience Perception and Believability of Social Media Advert In Nigeria( A study of Facebook)

Abstract

The research examines audience perception and believability of social media advertisement with a focus on Facebook adverts among University of Lagos Students. The rationale for carrying out this study is on the observation that lots of companies and individuals are now promoting their brand online particularly through social media. Survey research method was used and questionnaire was also adopted to gather data from over 100 respondents that were drawn among UNILAG students using non-probability sampling method. Also, the data collected were analysed in frequency and percentage tables. Findings show that many of the respondents trust and patronise products and services shared on Facebook. They also admitted that they clicked on like, share, comment and view advert on social media very often. The challenges facing social media users in patronizing goods and services online were attributed to fear of been duped, poor browsing data and service to stay long on a social media and blogs. It was recommended that companies and individuals should watch over some sites that may be using their name or related to dupe people online. All effort should be developed to ensure that fraud is minimized to the barest minimum, so that people especially, the internet users can have a rest of mind to shop online and receive their products and services.