An empirical investigation for understanding the impact of social media marketing on consumer buying behavior

Social media has emerged as a crucial tool in modern marketing for encouraging customer involvement and influencing purchase decisions, especially in local businesses. Celebrity Endorsement (CE), Live Streaming (LS), Online Reviews (OR), Promotional Tools (PT), Trendiness (T) and Word-of-Mouth (WoM) are the social media marketing dimensions that are examined in this study, along with the mediating role of Emotional Appeal (EA) among Chinese community businesses. Using structural equation modeling the findings show that emotional appeal accounts for a smaller but significant portion of variance (R2 = 0. 017) while the suggested model explains 19.1% of the variance in consumer purchasing behavior (R2 = 0. 191). The greatest positive direct effects on CPB are shown by WoM (β = 0. 301) and Trendiness (β = 0. 238), highlighting the impact of peer communication and new trends on consumer decision-making. The moderate but positive direct effect of emotional appeal on CPB (β = 0. 070) confirms its mediating relevance. Overall, the results highlight the critical role that emotionally compelling trend-driven and socially interactive content plays in influencing consumer behavior.