The Effectiveness of Tiktok as a Means of Hedonic Product Promotion in the Digital Era: Case Study in Indonesia

Abstract

Digital technology has developed rapidly nowadays, and affects all areas of life, including the business activities. Currently, many companies use the popularity of electronic social media to promote their products and brands. There are many types of social media that are popular among consumers, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (X) and the last one is TikTok. Since 2016, social media users have had access to TikTok, a short video application originally devoted to music and created by Bytedance. Recently, TikTok has rapidly gained popularity among social media users. However, there has not been much social and business research into the effectiveness of TikTok in influencing consumer attitudes and behavior towards products and brands. on the other hand, the concern of the government, society and some consumers regarding the need to preserve the environment and consume environmentally friendly products is urgent. Therefore, a lot of research is needed that combines two things; The first is the effectiveness of social media in encouraging consumer buying behavior, and the second is consumer concern for consuming environmentally friendly and green products. This research aims to test whether promotional activities on TikTok social media can influence a consumer's brand trust and brand engagement; and do brand trust and brand engagement influence the intention to purchase environmentally friendly products? To answer the research hypothesis, this study employed the Purposive Sampling method with 283 participants, including students, alumni, and colleagues of Duta Wacana Christian University, to examine the effectiveness of TikTok as a means of promoting hedonic products in the digital era. This research using survey methods with questionnaire; and researcher using purposive random sampling as a sampling technique. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method was used to process the data and evaluate the research model and hypotheses. The SEM analysis and hypothesis testing results indicate that consumer activity on social media has a positive and significant effect on consumer trust in brands that are often promoted via social media. Additionally, the social media marketing variable has a positive and significant effect on the Brand Engagement variable. The study found that both the Brand Trust and Brand Engagement variables had a positive and significant impact on Purchase intention variable, indicating a desire to purchase a particular brand. The results suggest that consumers who wish to purchase products through TikTok are typically active on the platform and have a sense of trust and engagement with the brand.