The Role of Brand Awareness in the Influence of Instagram Advertising and Viral Marketing on Culinary Purchase Decisions

ABSTRACT

problems involving choices between two or more alternative actions or behaviors (Sitompul, 2021).Consumer behavior in making purchases can vary due to several factors that influence both the influence of the consumers themselves (internal factors) and influences from outside (external factors) (Dewi and Indiani, 2022).One of the factors that can encourage consumers to make real purchases is advertising through social media.
Advertising is a promotional tool used to introduce a product, brand or service to an audience to drive interest, engagement and sales.Social media has the advantage of conveying information to the desired social customers and there is no time or distance limit, as well as lower costs.One of the most popular social media is Instagram (Wibawa and Maradona, 2022).Features on Instagram have differences with other social media.There are several features that can be used to carry out marketing communications.Several previous studies regarding the effect of Instagram advertising on purchasing decisions have been carried out, one of which was research conducted by Gaber et al (2019), Pratiwi and Mahfudz (2021), and Alghamdi and Bogari (2020), found a positive impact of social media platforms, one of which is Instagram, on purchasing decisions.However, several different research results were obtained by Edbert et al (2014) and Kamaludin (2020) who obtained the results of the advertising variable which did not have a significant effect on purchasing decisions.
Apart from instagram ads, viral marketing is trending nowadays.Viral marketing is a technique that replaces word of mouth (WOM) where marketers create campaigns focused on the goal of spontaneously spreading it by sending it to friends using social media (Osman et al., 2018).In viral marketing, consumers have influence in supporting the company's success in carrying out its marketing strategy, consumers are not only targeted marketing but indirectly influence consumers and act as company agents in marketing their products through viral marketing.Research conducted by Artanti et al. ( 2019), Reichstein and Brusch (2019) and Campos and Infante (2019) state that there is a high positive relationship in the viral marketing dimension and customer purchasing decisions.However, several different research results were found by Rahayu (2020) and Saktiendi (2022) who obtained viral marketing results that did not have a significant effect on purchasing decisions.
Due to the inconsistency of the research results described above, this research requires a mediating variable, namely brand awareness.Brand awareness is the perception of how far customers can remember or recognize the brand under different conditions.The purpose of advertising a product is to influence audience attitudes and instill a memory in consumers in the form of brand awareness.Brand awareness in a marketing context is a picture of the ability of potential consumers to recognize or remember that a brand.Research by Muslichah et al (2019) states that the level of awareness of food and purchasing decisions has a positive and significant effect.
In this study, the people of Denpasar City were used as research subjects with the consideration that Denpasar City is a business center in the Province of Bali (Purnamawati, 2022).Since its presence in Bali, the internet has remained concentrated in urban areas, namely Denpasar and its surroundings.Based on BPS data, it can be seen that the people of Denpasar City have the highest average per capita consumption compared to other districts, even above the average consumption of the Province of Bali.Thus, Denpasar is the right area to observe consumer buying behavior in order to obtain an accurate and comprehensive picture of consumer buying behavior, especially in the culinary field.

HYPOTHESIS
Based on this explanation, the hypothesis proposed in this study is as follows: H1: Instagram advertising has a positive and significant effect on purchasing decisions .H2: Instagram ads have a positive and significant effect onbrand awareness.H3: viralmarketingpositive and significant effect on purchasing decisions.H4: viralmarketingpositive and significant effect on brand awareness.H5: Brand awarenesspositive and significant effect on purchasing decisions.H6: Brand Awarenessable to mediate the influence of Instagram ads on purchasing decisions.H7: Brand Awarenessable to mediate the effect of viral marketing on purchasing decisions.

RESEARCH METHODS
This study uses explanatory research with culinary businesses used as research objects.The sample in this study was the people of Denpasar City, as many as 140 people aged 25-34 years and actively using Instagram.Data collection was carried out through a questionnaire.The data analysis technique used is inferential analysis using Partial Least Square.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Based on the results of the research, there are several implications that emphasize the real benefits of research results to encourage and improve purchasing decisions which can be explained as follows.

Table 2. Indirect Relations
Based on the results of the analysis of the effect of Instagram advertising on purchasing decisions, tcount (0.092) < ttable (1.96) with a significance level of 0.540 > 0.05, so that h0 is accepted, which means that Instagram advertising has no significant effect on purchasing decisions.The coefficient obtained is 0.057 indicating that the better Instagram ads cannot significantly increase purchasing decisions.
Advertising is the message of a brand or product that is conveyed to the audience through the media.The use of internet media as an advertising campaign today is very interesting because it is based on the very rapid development of internet users and increases significantly every year, encouraging companies to start thinking about using internet media as a medium to promote their products.Advertisements provided on the Instagram application play an important role in helping to market products with wide reach results.In this study, Instagram ads cannot have a direct impact on purchasing decisions.
The purchase decision is a final act on a choice of considerations.However, advertising cannot encourage consumers to make buying decisions if advertising is unable to provide problem solving for needs.This can be caused because the number of advertisements that are made does not have the power so that the advertisement will just pass by.Marketers are still unable to show attractive advertisements and unclear descriptions do not have a positive impact on increasing consumer purchasing decisions.These results are consistent with research Edbert et al (2014) and Kamaludin (2020) who obtained the variable results of Instagram advertising did not have a significant effect on purchasing decisions.Howevernot in accordance with the research by Khare (2020), Alghamdi and Bogari (2020), and Albakri and Ahmed (2021) who obtained the result that online advertising through Instagram media has a positive and significant influence on purchasing decisions.
Based on the results of the analysis of the effect of Instagram advertising on brand awareness, tcount (2.434) > t table (1.96) with a significance level of 0.015 <0.05, so h0 is rejected and ha is accepted, which means that Instagram advertising has a significant positive effect on brand awareness.The coefficient obtained is 0.344 indicating that Instagram advertising is able to significantly increase brand awareness.
Brand awareness is the ability of potential buyers to recognize and remember certain brands.One way to create and maintain brand awareness is to provide a distinct message that consumers can remember well about the brand.In this study, good Instagram advertising is proven to be able to create brand awareness.Online advertising via Instagram can be used as a form of promotion to convey marketing messages with a wider reach.So that advertising through Instagram media is considered the most effective and efficient media in reaching a wide audience in order to build and maintain brand awareness of a product.In addition, advertisements on Instagram are also considered as a complete promotional tool because apart from being able to cover a large number of audiences, there are elements in videos such as motion, sound, an atmosphere and dialogue that is able to communicate the message conveyed becomes easier so that it has an impact on purchasing decisions by consumers.This result is in line with previous research conducted by Datta and Kaushik (2019), Bearzatto and Charry (2019).Wörfel (2019), Lin et al (2019), Serts Makrides et al (2020) also found that advertising had a positive and significant effect on increasing brand awareness.
Based on the results of the analysis of the effect of viral marketing on purchasing decisions, tcount (5.643) > ttable (1.96) with a significance level of 0.000 <0.05, so that h0 is rejected and ha is accepted, which means that viral marketing has a significant positive effect on purchasing decisions in the city Denpasar.The coefficient obtained is 0.513 indicating that viral marketing is able to significantly increase purchasing decisions.
Viral marketing is a digital product marketing and communication concept that encourages someone to spread electronic messages to potential consumers in the social field.Next, this potential customer sends messages to other potential consumers exponentially.In this research viral marketing has been shown to be an effective and low-cost tool in online use to promote through individuals to email friends and colleagues without the involvement of the company, which can influence online purchasing decisions.This means that messages conveyed through viral marketing will make it easier for consumers to make decisions because of the behavior of consumers who are currently happy to try something that is being talked about by the public.These results are in line with those found by Osman et al (2018), Based on the results of the analysis of the effect of viral marketing on brand awareness, tcount (2.300) > ttable (1.96) with a significance level of 0.022 <0.05, so h0 is rejected and ha is accepted.This explains that viral marketing has a significant positive effect on brand awareness.The coefficient obtained is 0.283 indicating that viral marketing is able to significantly increase brand awareness.
Viral marketing is a method that can be used to promote products in a marketing communication activity.This approach can make people happily recommend products to others.In this study viral marketing was able to create brand awareness for the people in Denpasar City.This is because viral marketing has the power of word of mouth to convey messages to others through posts on social media.Messages conveyed through viral marketing will usually be heard and seen often so that consumers will easily remember them.So this marketing is very effective in increasing consumer awareness of a product.This is in accordance with previous studies conducted by Nguyen (2020), Idrissi et al (2019), Amani (2021), Cabrera (2021), and Taino et al (2021) also found that advertising has a positive and significant effect on increasing brand awareness..
Based on the results of the analysis of the effect of brand awareness on purchasing decisions, tcount (6.004) > ttable (1.96) with a significance level of 0.000 <0.05, so that h0 is rejected, ha is accepted, which means that brand awareness has a significant positive effect on people's purchasing decisions in Denpasar City. .The coefficient obtained is 0.429 indicating that brand awareness is able to significantly increase purchasing decisions.
Purchasing decisions are real purchases and a consumer always has a reason for the purchase action.In this study, brand awareness is one of the factors that also influence purchasing decisions.Through awareness of a brand, consumers do not need to spend a lot of time considering and making purchasing decisions.In a situation where the consumer is aware of a number of brands that fit the relevant criteria, the buyer is not likely to spend a great deal of effort in searching for information on foreign brands but will instead be directed to a brand which he deems capable of meeting his needs.A brand that has some level of brand awareness is much more likely to be considered, and therefore selected over brands that consumers are not aware of.Besides that, The strength of brand awareness under consideration can also be significant.An increase in brand awareness shown to increase the possibility of choice even without an accompanying change in attitude or perception.The results of the study are in line with the findings of Wulandari et al (2019), Arianty and Andira (2021) Muslichah et al (2019), Nofal et al (2020), Olanipekun and Adelekan (2022) which state that brand awareness has a positive and significant effect on purchasing decisions.
Based on the results of the analysis of the effect of Instagram advertising on purchasing decisions through the mediating role, brand awareness has a significant relationship, as well as a significant direct relationship.So it can be concluded that brand awareness is a partial mediation.Advertising a brand is one of the promotional efforts that many companies realize is an important tool for communicating with customers about the products and services offered.The selection of the media as an advertising medium must also be considered on how to find the most effective way of conveying messages that the general public really wants.One of the advertising media is Instagram.This is because when consumers think about buying a product, the first thing they will do is open the internet.looking for products, looking for comparisons with other brands and then making a decision, one of which is to buy.Thus, through Instagram advertising, it will provide information to consumers about the brand of a product which will continuously embed the brand in the minds of consumers.This will have an impact on increasing consumer decisions.This result is in line with previous research conducted by Usman and Navari (2019), Soomro et al (2020) Bahi (2020), Sitanding (2021), Simbolon (2022) which shows that brand awareness is able to mediate the influence of advertising on purchasing decisions.Through Instagram advertising, it will provide information to consumers about the brand of a product which will continuously embed the brand in the minds of consumers.This will have an impact on increasing consumer decisions.This result is in line with previous research conducted by Usman and Navari (2019), Soomro et al (2020) Bahi (2020), Sitanding (2021), Simbolon (2022) which shows that brand awareness is able to mediate the influence of advertising on purchasing decisions.Through Instagram advertising, it will provide information to consumers about the brand of a product which will continuously embed the brand in the minds of consumers.This will have an impact on increasing consumer decisions.This result is in line with previous research conducted by Usman and Navari (2019), Soomro et al (2020) Bahi (2020), Sitanding (2021), Simbolon (2022) which shows that brand awareness is able to mediate the influence of advertising on purchasing decisions.
Based on the results of the analysis of the effect of viral marketing on purchasing decisions through the mediating role, brand awareness has a significant relationship, as well as a significant direct relationship.So it can be concluded that brand awareness is a partial mediation.Social media has become an easy means for sharing information as well as being a material for discussion in business activities and sharing various kinds of information.Social media is an effective medium in selling both goods and services.Social media is also seen as a chain of messaging tools that will be distributed by others continuously.The message chain is known as viral marketing and can be used as a promotional medium that will create brand awareness in the minds of customers which in turn makes it easier for customers to make purchasing decisions.In line with previous research conducted by Zhou et

CONCLUSION
This research has investigated the relationship between Instagram advertising and viral marketing on purchasing decisions through the mediating role of brand awareness in the people of Denpasar City.The contribution of this research to existing theories is being able to prove the existence of such a relationship.Where the results of the study show that Instagram advertising does not have a significant positive effect on purchasing decisions, but the effect is significant through the mediating role of brand awareness.Meanwhile, the influence of viral marketing has a direct or indirect effect on purchasing decisions.Purchasing decision is a very important thing to note because it will be used by the company to create a marketing strategy that will be carried out.Based on this, a marketer needs to develop a strategy to improve the promotion function on social media.Indicators that can be of particular concern are the clarity of product information offered through Instagram ads so that they are conveyed correctly.Apart from that, the environment or the right moment when you are going to use a viral marketing strategy.This must be considered properly in order to be able to give an impression to consumers so that awareness of the brands offered can be created and ultimately have an impact on real purchasing decisions.Apart from that, the environment or the right moment when you are going to use a viral marketing strategy.This must be considered properly in order to be able to give an impression to consumers so that awareness of the brands offered can be created and ultimately have an impact on real purchasing decisions.Apart from that, the environment or the right moment when you are going to use a viral marketing strategy.This must be considered properly in order to be able to give an impression to consumers so that awareness of the brands offered can be created and ultimately have an impact on real purchasing decisions. .