Social Media, Word of Mouth, and Consumer Purchase Decisions During COVID-19 At Viva City Cafe

This study aims to determine the effect of social media and word of mouth on consumer purchasing decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic at Viva City Cafe. The method used is to distribute questionnaires to all customers who have purchased products that cannot be counted. The results showed that there was no significant influence between social media on consumer purchasing decisions, there was a significant influence between word of mouth on consumer purchasing decisions and there was an influence significant difference between social media and word of mouth on consumer purchasing decisions. This research is relatively new and hasn't been carried out by many previous researchers.


INTRODUCTION
Social media is an online media, with users able to easily participate, share, and communicate with many people widely, even abroad.Many things are done through this social media, to find friends and upload photos and videos.Furthermore, even today, many millennials use social media to earn income from content and for existing product marketing activities.Social media used for marketing is usually used for outreach and interaction and attracts others to view and visit links containing information about products and others.So, it is natural that companies use its existence as the easiest and cheapest (low-cost) marketing medium.(Bambang D Prasetyo et al, 2018).
Competing through social media is currently a new challenge for business people, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic; this is the fastest marketing medium and the easiest in marketing techniques.Social media marketing utilizes technology, channels, and software from social media, which aims to create communication, delivery, exchange, and offer of value to stakeholders in a company (Solomon, 2017).Social media marketing is a form of marketing used to create awareness, recognition, memory, and even action for a brand, product, business, individual, or group, directly or indirectly, using tools from the social web, such as social networks.
Social media is a new set of communication and collaboration tools that allow for interactions previously unavailable to the ordinary person (Brogan, 2010).We can see the table below, which shows the growth of internet users in Indonesia in the last five years.Based on the table above, 204 million social media users in Indonesia will be active until EAJ (Economic and Accounting Journal) -Vol.6, No. 2, May 2023 -Firdaus, Mahfudoh, Inayatuddiniyah 142 *Corresponding author's e-mail: inadaffa90@gmail.comhttp://openjournal.unpam.ac.id/index.php/EAJ2022.This user data attracts business people to make social media a mainstay of promotional media for their experience.Of the many social media platforms Viva City Cafe customers use, the implementation still needs to be improved in using social media for promotion.Because only Instagram is used as a media promotion, it also rarely posts products to be promoted, and there are no operators in charge of operating social media to promote, so social media is not used for marketing these products.New web technologies are making it easier for everyone to create and, most importantly, distribute their content.Posts on YouTube, for example, can be reproduced and viewed by millions of people for free.Advertisers do not have to pay much money to publishers or distributors to place their ads.Now advertisers can create content that is interesting and seen by many people (Dan, 2010) Apart from social media, there are other marketing techniques, including Word of Mouth, which also positively impact consumer buying behavior.Word Of Mouth has an essential role in influencing consumer attitudes and behavior.It is also stated that WOM strongly influences purchases compared to other traditional communication media, such as advertisements and purchasing editorial recommendations (Pradana, 2015).Most Word of Mouth occurs naturally; consumers start by talking about the product or place they consume or visit to others about the experiences they have had.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hurt all business actors, including Viva City Cafe.During the Covid-19 pandemic, cafes were empty of customers, and automatically, fewer people were talking about Viva City Cafe.Because before Covid-19, most people who came to the cafe got information about Viva City Cafe through conversations from one person to another or recommendations from friends who have previously visited Viva City Cafe.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Social media is media that is designed to facilitate social interaction that is interactive or two-way.Social media based on internet technology has changed the pattern of information dissemination from one too many audiences to many audiences to many audiences.Social media is also an effective business promotion tool because anyone can access it to make the promotion network more comprehensive (Paramitha, 2011).Social media become confident and believe in the reliability of the website.Social Media allows users to present themselves and interact, work together, share, communicate with other users, and form social bonds virtually (Nasrullah, 2012) According to (Solikha, 2019), social media indicators are as context is the grammar, form, or framework for delivering messages to audiences in a specific format.Communication is conveying messages to others to inform and change attitudes, opinions, or behavior either orally (directly) or indirectly (through the media).The five elements are what, where, for whom, and with what effect.Collaboration is working together between the giver and recipient of the message interactively to make the message more effective and efficient.Connection is a relationship established and maintained between the buyer and the recipient of the message.
Word of mouth is an effective marketing strategy for reducing promotion costs.It is a marketing effort that triggers consumers to talk about, promote, recommend, and sell our products/brands to other customers (Sumardy, 2011).Word of mouth can affect others, their image, thoughts, and decisions.Word-of-mouth communication arises when consumers are satisfied with a product or very disappointed with the product they bought.When consumers are satisfied, they will tell other consumers *Corresponding author's e-mail: inadaffa90@gmail.comhttp://openjournal.unpam.ac.id/index.php/EAJabout the product (Tatik, 2013).Word of mouth This is usually quickly accepted by consumers because those who convey it are those they can trust, such as experts, friends, family, and mass media publications.Some WOM indicators (Sumardy, 2011) are as customers do the talking which talks about the product to others.Customers do promote which customers promote products to others.Customers do sell, and the customer suggests purchasing the product from others.
Consumer purchasing decisions are selecting two or more choices (Schiffman, 2008).Furthermore, consumers take action after purchase based on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction.According to (Abdurrahman, 2015), Indicators of consumer purchasing decisions are personal factors unique to a person, and various personal factors can influence purchasing decisions.Personal factors are classified into three.That is, demographic factors relate to who is involved in making purchasing decisions.These factors include individual traits such as gender, age, race, ethnicity, nation, income, cycle, family life, and occupation.Situational factors are the circumstances of external conditions when consumers make purchasing decisions.The level of consumer engagement is aimed at the extent to which consumers consider their decisions before buying a product.
Psychological factors in a person partially determines the person's behavior, affecting his behavior as a consumer.Psychological factors include Motivation is the internal energy force that directs a person's activities towards meeting needs or achieving goals.Perception is selecting, organizing, and interpreting input information to produce meaning.Abilities and Knowledge Ability is the ability and efficiency to perform specific tasks.Marketers are interested in the ability of an individual to learn, where the learning process is a change in one's behavior caused by information and experience.Attitude refers to positive or negative knowledge and feelings towards a particular object or activity.Personality is all the internal traits and behaviors that make a person unique.A person's personality comes from heredity and personal experience.Man lives amid society.Of course, man will be influenced by the society in which he lives.Thus, consumer behavior will also be influenced by society or the social factors that surround it.Such social factors include Family Roles and Influences.Concerning consumer behavior, the family directly influences consumer purchasing decisions.Each family member has different needs, wants, and tastes.
The reference group can serve as a comparison and source of information for someone so that the behavior of the reference group members when buying a branded product will undoubtedly be influenced by the reference group.A social class is a group open to individuals with a similar social level.In social classes society is divided into classes in stages; some are high, and some are low.Culture affects how a person buys and uses products, as well as consumer satisfaction with those products, because culture determines the products purchased and used.
Social media can increase consumer purchasing decisions during covid 19 at viva city café due to good communication in promotions so that it can influence purchasing decisions.This explanation is supported by the theory of Bambang D Prasetyo et al. ( 2018), which states that social media is online media, with users who can easily participate, share, and communicate with many people widely, even abroad.Previous research, which stated that social media could improve consumer purchasing decisions, was carried out by (Pamungkas, 2016).Therefore, the hypothesis can be arranged as follows: H1: Social-media has a significant effect on consumer purchasing decisions during Covid-19 at Viva City Cafe.
Word of Mouth can improve consumer purchasing decisions during covid-19 at Viva City Cafe.It is because customers recommend purchasing products from others.So that it can influence the purchasing decision.This explanation is supported by the theory of (Latief, 2018), which states that word of mouth is a reliable communication channel because these events come from customers who have consumed a product or used company services, and get satisfaction, then recommend it to others about their experience.Previous research stated that word of mouth could increase *Corresponding author's e-mail: inadaffa90@gmail.comhttp://openjournal.unpam.ac.id/index.php/EAJconsumer purchasing decisions was conducted (Joesyiana, 2018).Therefore, the hypothesis can be arranged as follows: H2: Word of mouth has a significant effect on consumer purchasing decisions during Covid-19 at Viva City Cafe.
Social Media and Word of Mouth significantly affect consumer purchasing decisions during covid-19 at Viva City Cafe.It is because, at the same time, visitors who have visited and purchased their products then give good reviews and are satisfied.Then they post on social media that this causes many people to know about the cafe's existence, including prices, products, and services.It is supported by the theory (Abdurrahman, 2015), which states that consumer purchasing decisions are actions consumers take to buy a product or service.Each manufacturer carries out various strategies so consumers decide to buy their products.Previous research stated that social media and word of mouth could increase consumers' purchasing decisions made by (Pamungkas, 2016).Therefore, the following hypothesis can be developed: H3: Social-media and word of mouth simultaneously have a significant effect on consumer purchasing decisions during Covid-19 at Viva City Cafe.

RESEARCH METHOD
The research method used in this study is the descriptive-quantitative statistical method, which emphasizes the analysis of numerical data (numbers) processed by statistical methods.In contrast, the form of hypothetical formulation uses the formulation of associative hypotheses.

Data Collection Techniques
Because the population size of VivaCity Cafe customers is uncertain, the technique used to determine the number of samples the author uses techniques or formulas according to the theory (Maholtra, 2010).According to Maholtra mentioned in the marketing research book should be at least four or five times the number of question items.So in this study, researchers determined a sample of 96 respondents obtained from 24 x 4 (Number of question items).This study used a questionnaire distribution technique.

Sample Collection Techniques
The type of population in this study is infinite, meaning that the population is all customers who visit Viva City Cafe, but the exact number is unknown.According to Maholtra (2010) mentioned in the marketing research book should be at least four or five times the number of question items.So in this study, researchers determined a sample of 96 respondents obtained from 24 x 4 (Number of question items).

Data Analysis Techniques
The data analysis technique in this research is quantitative.In this study, the data used is panel data, namely that is time series and crosssectional, where the data method uses statistical calculations.The regression model in this study is as follows: *Corresponding author's e-mail: inadaffa90@gmail.comhttp://openjournal.unpam.ac.id/index.php/EAJBased on the table empirically, it is known from social media to be in the range between 22 -40, so the data range is 18 (40 -22).From the table above, we can also obtain the average value = 33.60,median = 33.00,mode = 33, standard division = 3.420, and variance = 11.694.
Based on the table empirically, it is known from social media to be between 30 -6, so the data range is 24 (30 -6).From the table above, we can also obtain the average value = 22.69, median = 24.00,mode = 24, standard division = 4.194, and variance = 17.586.
Based on the table, empirically, it is known from the consumer purchase decision variables are in the range between 16 -50, so the data range is 34 (50 -16).From the table above, we can also obtain the average value = 41.64,median = 42.00,mode = 40, standard division = 4.540, and variance = 20.613.Based on the results in the chart image above, the histogram chart gives a pattern deviating to the right, which means that the data is usually distributed.Because it deviates more and more to the right, the data is declared normally distributed.This study shows no multicollinearity problem because the Tolerance value is more significant than 0.10, and the VIF value is greater than 10.00.Based on the test results above, for the social media variable, with significance levels of 0.185 > 0.05, Ho is accepted, and Ha is rejected.So social media does not significantly affect purchasing decisions.
Based on the test results above for the wordof-mouth variable with significance levels of 0.001 < 0.05, Ho is rejected, and Ha is accepted.So, word of mouth significantly affects purchasing decisions.
From the results of the table above, it can be seen that probability value = 0.000 < 0.05; because the significance value of the test is much smaller or below the value of α = 5%, it can be concluded that the combination of the two independent variables consisting of social media variables and word of mouth has a simultaneous positive.
It can be concluded that Ho was rejected and Ha was accepted, which means that social media and word of mouth simultaneously positively and significantly influence consumer purchasing decisions.
Purchasing decisions are influenced by social media variables and word of mouth by 28.3%; other factors influence the remaining 71.7%.

Discussion
Social media does not significantly affect consumer decisions in making purchases during Covid-19 at Viva City Cafe.It is because there are no special officers at Viva City Cafe who advertise the cafe on social media, so there are still many visitors who do not know about the existence of the cafe and also the social media that is used as a marketing medium for Viva City Cafe is only the Instagram application which can also cause social media to be ineffective in advertising the cafe.So social media has no significant effect on purchasing decisions, as previous research stated that social media did not have a significant effect on consumer purchasing decisions made by (Sugito, 2019).
Word of Mouth significantly affects consumer decisions in making purchases during Covid-19 at Viva City Cafe.It is because many customers recommend buying products to other people, and most visitors to Viva Cafe know more about the cafe or its products through word of mouth from one visitor to another who has visited.Alternatively, buy their products and give good reviews to other visitors.It spreads the information faster.So word of mouth significantly affects purchasing decisions.Previous research which stated that word of mouth had no significant effect on consumer purchasing decisions was carried out by (Joesyiana, 2018).
Social Media and Word of Mouth significantly affect consumer purchasing decisions during covid-19 at Viva City Cafe.It is because, at the same time, visitors who have visited and purchased the product then give good reviews and are satisfied, and then they post on social media so.That this causes many *Corresponding author's e-mail: inadaffa90@gmail.comhttp://openjournal.unpam.ac.id/index.php/EAJpeople to know about the existence of cafes, including prices, products, and services, so social media and word of mouth simultaneously have a positive and significant influence on consumer purchasing decisions.Previous research stated that social media and word of mouth could improve consumer purchasing decisions (Pamungkas, 2016).

CONCLUSIONS
Based on the research results and discussion about the influence of social media and word of mouth on consumer purchasing decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic (case study at Viva City Café).There is no significant influence between social media (X1) on purchasing decisions (Y).There is a significant influence between word of mouth (X2) on Purchase Decisions.There is a significant influence between social media (X1) and word of mouth (X2) on Purchasing Decisions.
In the data collection process, the information provided by the respondents in the questionnaire sometimes does not show the actual opinions of the respondents; this happens because sometimes the different thoughts, assumptions, and understandings are different for each respondent, as well as other factors such as the honesty factor in filling out the respondents' opinions in the questionnaire.Time, cost, and human resources limitations made this research less than optimal.For other researchers who will research buying decisions at Viva City Cafe, they can explore other factors that have a more significant influence than social media and word-of-mouth factors.However, this does not rule out the possibility that this research study can be a reference for research that looks at the same factors as those that have been studied.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Growth of Internet Users in Indonesia in the Last 5 Years

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: Most Used Social Media Platforms