A Study On Users’ Information Behaviorin Social Media Marketing Process

With the rapid development of social media, more enterprises have involved in the big wave of social media marketing. Meanwhile, the occurrence of social media has greatly changed the user’s information searching behavior in a quicker and easier way of obtaining marketing information. This paper intents to study on the user’s patterns in the information obtaining, sharing and utilizing, and also on the possible factors that have influenced their such behaviors, with a good will for attempting to help users improving their skills for information searching in social media system and a better usage of information obtained. It also hopes that the study may assist business enterprises in understanding better the information user needs and traits for the purpose o f providing better information services.Based upon the summaries of social media characteristics and user’s patterns in such a particular environment, the paper, first of all, targets “Micro Blog”and “We Chat” as the two social media have rapidly developed in recent years and been the most influential among the users. Then, for getting a multi-dimensional conclusion on the two social media’s outstanding aspects, the analysis includes four areas--user grouping; information service functions; information disse mination channels; and case studies. The study is drawn upon a questionnaire survey among users of the two social media in question, conducting descriptive statistics and factor analysis on user’s basic information, usage pattern, searching methods, factors influenced on user’s information search behaviors, and user’s cognitive knowledge of the social media studied, which generates a conclusion on the main characteristics on user’s information searching patterns, influential factors on the patterns and cognition and preference towards the two social media targeted. At the last but not least, upon all the facts and data generated, the research establishes a model of influential factors on user’s information search pattern, which is hoped to be a healthy sugge stion to how social media marketing systems encourage and guide users in their information searching with a better information service.