A Study on Impact of Social Media in Buying Behaviour with Special Reference to Madurai City

In today’s digital era, social media has completely transformed the way consumers interact with brands and making purchase decisions. Platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have become powerful tools for product discovery, peer influence and brand engagement. This study aims to empirically examine the impact of social media on consumer buying behavior, with specific focus to brand awareness, peer recommendation, influencer content, and promotional strategies. Primary data was collected through questionnaire. On analyzing the responses, the result showed that consumer buying decisions are strongly influenced by social media, especially during the awareness and evaluation stages of the buying process. Notably, Instagram was identified as the most influential platform by 62% of respondents, followed by YouTube 24%, Facebook 13% and others 1%.