Effects of Social Media on Purchase Intention for Cosmetic Products among Nigerian Undergraduate Students

Social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok have become essential channels for cosmetic companies to promote their products and reach their target audience. Undergraduate Students, in particular, are active users of social media and are increasingly influenced by online content when making purchase decisions. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of social media on purchase intention for cosmetic products among Nigerian undergraduate students. The specific objectives were to: 1) Examine the effect of Facebook on purchase intention for cosmetic products among Nigerian undergraduate students; 2) Ascertain the influence of YouTube on purchase intention for cosmetic products among Nigerian undergraduate students; and 3) Find out the effect of TikTok on purchase intention for cosmetic products among Nigerian undergraduate students. The descriptive research design was adopted for this study while the survey method was used to elicit primary data from the respondents by means of structured questionnaire. The target population of this study comprises 14,547 undergraduate students of the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus who registered for the current session of 2023/2024. The sample size for the current study was 400. This study adopted both stratified and convenience sampling technique to choose respondents. The result of data analysis revealed the following findings in this study: 1) Facebook, YouTube and TikTok have significant and positive effect on purchase intention for cosmetic products among Nigerian undergraduate students. Based on the findings of this study it was recommended that cosmetic companies in Nigeria should intensify the use of Facebook to enhance patronage of their products; handle YouTube properly to influence the consumers to purchase their products; and intensify their use and presence on TikTok to enhance consumers intention to purchase their products.