Publication Details

Year Published

2019

Publication

BioProducts Business. 4(3): 27-40.

Abstract

Numerous studies have investigated the impact social media has had on business performance. However, until recently, there has been limited research regarding social media in the U.S. wood products industry. In 2013, a mail survey was conducted to investigate the use of social media as a marketing tool and to examine the factors affecting its use in the wood products industry. Although this research yielded valuable information, the consumer side of social media use was not studied. Thus, a follow-up study was conducted in 2017 through an online survey to determine how social media marketing impacts the decision-making process of wood products consumers. The survey also examined how respondents use social media to gather information about natural resources and related activities. The top three natural resource activities that respondents used social media to gather information about were (1) natural resource recreation, (2) natural resource disaster preparedness, and (3) natural resource related hobbies. Out of 928 respondents, 58% indicated using social media to gather information before purchasing wood products. The top three social media outlets used for gathering data were Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Respondents also listed having information available on the internet and having prior knowledge or awareness of the brand as important factors that influenced their decision to purchase a wood product.

Keywords

Citation

Montague, Iris B.; Gazal, Kathryn Arano; Wiedenbeck, Janice K. 2019. Social media use in the wood products industry: Impact on the consumer purchasing process. BioProducts Business. 4(3): 27-40. https://doi.org/10.22382/bpb-2019-003.