The Impact of Perceptions of Social Media Advertisements on Advertising Value, Brand Awareness and Brand Associations: Research on Generation Y Instagram Users

The aim of this paper is to examine how consumer perceptions of social media advertisements affect advertising value and brand awareness. With a rapid increase in the number of social media users over the last ten years, a new advertising domain has become available for companies. Brands that manage social media well in their advertising strategies can quickly influence consumer decision-making and create awareness. However, in social media advertising, which is different from traditional advertising, creating content should be produced and this content should be perceived in a short time by consumers. To achieve this, it is necessary to build rapport with consumers and to present correctly what they wish to see in advertisements by creating awareness. In view of the increasing importance of social media advertising, the study examines how consumer perceptions of Instagram advertisements affect advertising value and brand awareness. This study was conducted with Generation Y consumers on the basis of their Instagram habits, a popular social media app. For this purpose, surveys were held with 665 participants who use Instagram. The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. According to the analysis results, Y-generation’s perceptions of Instagram advertisements have both a positive and negative impact on advertising value and brand awareness and brand associations.