Perception of digital marketing messages on social networks among older school-aged children

Introduction

Digital marketing is an integral part of today's modern times. It is connected with the use of information technologies, such as the Internet and mobile devices, without which it would be difficult for many people to imagine everyday life. It makes it easier for businesses and brands to reach potential customers virtually anywhere because its use is not tied to a specific location. The use of social media marketing, a part of digital marketing, has great potential to reach a precisely defined segment without much difficulty. Social networks are a space where brands can repeatedly reach a wide audience in one place using different advertising formats. The target group of children plays an important role in this area.

The importance of the presented article and research lies in the expansion of the hitherto known characteristics of the selected target group and its attitude towards marketing on social networks. Despite the fact that this type of marketing is very widespread in the world and in our country, there are still few researches in Slovakia that deal with the perception of digital marketing from the point of view of older school-aged children. The problem is more often dealt with by foreign researchers, therefore we consider it essential to give it space and with our articles to contribute to the creation of a more comprehensive view of the attitude of Slovak children towards the advertisements of brands and influencers on social networks.

1. Digital marketing

According to Mikuláš (2017), digital marketing belongs to one of the youngest and fastest developing areas of contemporary marketing and marketing communication in the world. According to Kim (2019), digital marketing offers new opportunities to reach and inform a potential customer and at the same time convince him to buy the offered product or service. Its growth is related to the emergence of digital media, the common feature of which, as Báčiková (2018) states, is that they operate on the principle of encoding information into a binary system. Digital media, which include mobile phones, applications and various websites, are the result of the digitization process, which, according to Tihinen (2016), is one of the biggest trends in today's changing society and business. According to Parviainen (2017), the digitization process or digitization is the transition of analog data, such as images, videos or texts, into their digital form. Brennen and Kreiss (2014) agree that the process of digitization is the result of the increase in the use of digital and computer technologies in the environment of organizations and industries in various areas of business. Henriette (2015) sees digitization as an opportunity to give products and services a digital form and thereby elevate them in the eyes of potential customers and provide an advantage over those products and services that do not have a digital form. According to Báčiková (2018), digital media offer an opportunity to communicate relatively cheaply without major restrictions, while privacy is protected by encryption of the given information. Thanks to digital media, it is possible to stay connected despite the great distance between the communicators without major problems. If a problem or error occurs, the system evaluates it and immediately corrects it with the help of coding.

Digital marketing is currently a very widespread type of marketing in the world. Chaffey (2019) summarily characterizes it as the use of digital media, data and technologies, with the help of which it is possible to communicate marketing messages to consumers in order to fulfill set goals. The author states that the basic goal of companies that use digital marketing is to present their products and services to current and potential customers through modern technologies. They want to understand their consumers, create a relationship with them, on the basis of which they perceive them as individuals, not a faceless mass, therefore they use elements of integrated marketing communication in their strategies. They want to make full use of their marketing activities in the field of digital technologies and invest a considerable amount of money in them. According to Guttmann (2020a), up to 325 billion US dollars were spent worldwide on promotion through digital technologies in 2019, with a decrease in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but an increase to 389 billion dollars is expected in 2021. For comparison, in 2016, digital marketing spending was around $194.6 billion. According to Eurostat research (2020), in 2018 every fifth company within the European Union carried out some kind of electronic business.

In practice, according to Báčiková (2018), we come across several terms that are mistakenly considered synonyms. These are mainly the concepts of digital marketing, internet marketing, online marketing and their various variations. In the first case, the term digital marketing is an umbrella term for all others, so the remaining names are part of digital marketing. Yogesh (2019) characterizes digital marketing as a type of marketing that uses digital technologies to promote products and services, mainly the Internet, but also, for example, graphic advertising, mobile phones or other types of digital media. In the case of Internet and online marketing, it would be possible to talk about words with a similar meaning, according to Bala (2018), among other authors. However, Janouch (2014) does not agree with this opinion, who characterizes Internet marketing as an opportunity for brands to achieve their marketing goals using the Internet, while, no different from traditional marketing, it tries to influence a potential customer, convince them to buy, then retain them and build a relationship with them. Internet marketing mainly focuses on communication, but it also deals with creating the optimal price. According to the mentioned author, online marketing is the use of the Internet for marketing purposes, but in this case the term also includes activities carried out on mobile phones, tablets and other devices of this type.

There are many digital marketing tools that brands use to present their marketing strategies to selected target groups of consumers. In the following part, we will take a closer look at several selected tools from among the wide range of choices in relation to social networks, we will characterize marketing on social networks, influencer marketing and individual social networks in more detail.

2. Marketing communication on social networks

With the advent of the Internet, the use of social networks has become an integral part of people's lives around the world, which is also confirmed by Clement (2020a), according to which as many as 4.14 billion active users were registered on social networks in October 2020. Social media is defined by a basic feature that is a key factor in its high popularity. According to Rohill (2017), these are interactive websites that are part of Web 2.0, the social web. This means that users are directly and actively involved in the creation of content according to their own ideas, they can create personal profiles, which can be used to bring together different communities. Users can share created content, i.e. pictures, videos, events, blogs or reviews of brands and their products, as well as their thoughts and opinions via the Internet for other users, this is so-called user-generated content. Mangold and Faulds (2009) break down social media that can be used in brand promotion, primarily social networks and sites for sharing videos, photos, music or texts, but also sponsored blogs, sales websites or podcasts, as well as informative websites and, among other things, online educational courses. According to Luta (2020), Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube are examples of the most visited social networks in Slovakia in 2020.

Social networks are an accessible and wide space for brands that want to make their business visible, because it is easy to reach potential customers. Tuten (2013) highlights the positive impact of social networks, through which companies can communicate with consumers, while the given experience can positively influence them to buy a product from the brand's offer. Chikandiwa (2013) sees social networks as an opportunity for companies to improve their position among the competition in the market in an interactive way. Brands are aware of the potential of social networks, so they try to use its possibilities to the maximum. According to Eurostat statistics (2020), up to 48% of the total number of companies in the European Union use social networks in their marketing communication in 2019. This means that almost half of the companies try to promote their products or services in this way, or establish contact or deepen the relationship with their customers. According to the aforementioned statistics, proof that social networks are gaining in popularity is also the fact that the given percentage of companies was still 20% lower in 2013.

Mangold and Faulds (2009) state that the main goals of brands using social networks are to use them to reach and reach specific groups of potential customers, and secondly, they want to ensure that communication takes place on the side of the given consumer. In the case of the second goal, a certain amount of interaction between the addressed customers is essential for brands, i.e. the intention is to use word-of-mouth (WOM), that is, according to Přikrylova (2019), word of mouth. The author defines this term as a form of personal communication, the primary function of which is the exchange of information about products and services and satisfaction/dissatisfaction with them between individual customers, namely family, friends, colleagues and other close people. According to Yogesh (2019), the biggest advantage of social media marketing is its ability to precisely target the customer, based on demographic data, and the personalization of the brand, which is perceived more personally by the customer. The author also positively perceives the possibilities of positive or negative reactions of consumers to advertising posts, such as giving a like, the possibility of sharing with friends or adding a comment, as well as links to an e-shop or blog with more extensive information about the brand's products.

Constantinides (2014) singles out two brand approaches to social media marketing. The first of them is based on their passive use. This means that the brand perceives social networks as a possible source of customers, while it is also an information database not only about the needs of the market, but also about the competitive environment, or the wishes and past experiences of consumers. The second approach is the opposite, active. The latter uses social networks as a direct sales tool and through them addresses new and maintains relationships with current customers. It strategically adapts its offered products and services to current market requirements and creatively creates content that it later shares on its profiles.

According to Yogesh (2019), social media optimization (SMO) is an essential part of quality communication on social networks. Similar to SEO, SMO is a type of strategy whose task is to bring as many new potential customers as possible directly to the offered products through the brand's website. Chaffey (2020) defines SMO as a structured approach to improving the effectiveness of social media in order to increase the number of followers with whom mutual interactions will take place so that the given activities contribute to the fulfillment of the brand's marketing goals regarding, among other things, increasing awareness or acquiring new customers. Yogesh (2019) lists the ways in which this tool can be used. One option is to add links to social media profiles to the content, for example on the brand's website, more specifically it can be an RSS feed (news feed format) or an option or a share button. Another option is to support marketing activities by regularly updating statuses, tweets or blog posts to engage users. According to Chaffey (2020), it is necessary to monitor the results and record the progress of the campaign, for example, using Google Analytics or Social Media Dashboard analytical tools.

2.1 Influencer marketing

An integral part of marketing on social networks is influencer marketing, which is used by brands in an attempt to bring the offered products and services closer to their customers. Přikrylová (2019) defines influencer marketing as a type of personalized marketing communication that takes place through influential individuals, influencers, whose mission is to influence potential customers, their followers, to buy products or services of the given brand. According to the author, it is possible to consider various celebrities, athletes, actors, YouTubers or important well-known customers as influencers. Influencers act as consumers of a specific product provided by a brand and try to testify about their positive attributes from the user's point of view through posts on social networks. Přikrylová draws attention to the fact that influencers are mostly not perceived as direct bearers of the brand's primary marketing content, the brand wants to achieve this through other tools. Lou and Yuan (2019) consider influencers on social networks primarily as a "generator" of content, who has the status of an expert in a certain field, has a significant number of followers and, thanks to the regular production of high-quality posts, represents a benefit for brands in case of cooperation. According to Thomas (2004), brands should mainly be concerned with increasing awareness among potential customers, which influencers can achieve due to their wide audience. According to research by the Influencer Marketing Hub (2020a), the value of the market in the given area reaches up to 9.7 billion US dollars, which is an increase of 8 billion compared to 2016. The research also shows that up to 91% of marketers consider influencer marketing to be an effective form of marketing communication, while 80% of them said that they want to invest more than 10% of their budget for promotion in this area.

According to Dewey (2014), when trying to promote specific brand products in their strategies, influencers typically focus on creating photos of the brand or product, making extensive use of hashtags, filters, and photoshop, which can make them a micro-celebrity. Uzunoglu and Kip (2014) state that the influencer's attractiveness can help him gain admirers, who, precisely because of this fact, start regularly following his added posts, for example on Instagram. According to Saul (2016), famous influencers have several common characteristics that make people like them. It's about a sense of humor and an original look at different topics, these attributes are the reason why people can identify with and trust the given persons more, and it's not a problem for them to share their posts. Rothe (2018) highlights the power of influencers, who can better and more relevantly reach the brand's target group, thanks to the use of WoM, therefore, according to the author, they are definitely of immense benefit to the brand. Influencers have the power to positively influence or change the opinion of consumers and their followers, therefore it is essential that brands try to reach out and acquire new customers through them.

Diaz (2017) lists three categories into which influencers can be classified according to the size of their fan base, the highest ranking being celebrity influencers, followed by social media influencers, and finally micro-influencers, whose audience and reach are significantly smaller than the first two. Brands can consider which influencer to reach based on their follower count. The amount a brand is willing to pay for a post varies based on the number of followers. It is essential for the brand to choose a person for cooperation whose lifestyle and values ​​match the given brand as much as possible, but also the level of audience involvement, which is a very important factor in the decision-making process.

2.2 Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok

Clement (2020b) reports that these networks ranked first in the ranking of the most popular social networks in the world in the number of active users for October 2020. Facebook ranked first, followed by YouTube, followed by chat applications, followed by Instagram and TikTok. Each of the social networks has special formats created for advertising purposes, which we will gradually introduce in this subsection. On all platforms, products and services can be promoted without the use of funds, simply by creating a public profile and adding your own content. However, if the company wants the offer to be seen by a larger number of people who exactly fall into their target group, social networks give the opportunity to strengthen their campaign with paid formats.

Facebook provides brands with a wide range of ad formats to invest in regularly to increase awareness and sales. According to Mohsin (2020), advertising revenue for Facebook in the first quarter of 2020 was up to 17.44 billion dollars, which represents an income from each user of 6.95 dollars. According to sources on the social network Facebook, Inc. (2019) in 2018, up to 90 million brands around the world promoted through it. According to Iqbal (2020), 72% of marketers said they are trying to use Facebook's capabilities in their marketing strategies. Law (2019) states that the price of PPC ads on Facebook varies depending on factors such as the scope of the campaign or how many potential customers the brand wants to reach. On average, the prices per click can range from 50 cents to 2 dollars, depending on the specific advertisement and the size of the monthly budget that the company sets.

Facebook for Business (2020) provides several examples of specific sponsored opportunities to use Facebook for promotion. The essential types are image and video ads. Video ads can be shared within the main page or in the stories section, which will disappear after 24 hours. This type of ad can be created even if the brand has not created a video, but only consecutive images creating movement, in which case Facebook will create a GIF. According to research by Buffer (2019), 81.2% of marketers and brands said they use this method of communication with customers. Facebook for Business (2020) also presents carousel and collection ads, which are suitable to use if a brand wants to promote several products at once. The limit is ten, while it is also possible to create a panorama in this way and the user can be transferred to the brand's e-shop by clicking. Slideshow ads represent another type of promotion option, they are videos with engaging movement that can be played even by users with slow internet. Part of Facebook's chat application, Messenger is also a means of promoting products and services, with ads being displayed to users directly in the chat. The last type are playable ads, which are interactive, mostly they are ads for games, and within the ad you can try out how to control the game and then download it to your mobile phone.

Instagram is a very popular type of social network according to official information from Facebook for Business (2019) 78% of people consider brands on Instagram to be popular, 77% perceive them as creative and 76% as fun, 74% as relevant and 72% as committed to the goal of building a community. According to the given statistics, up to 83% find new products and services thanks to Instagram, and 80% decide on their purchase based on advertisements, while 46% actually buy the product. These numbers mean for brands that they should try to reach customers through Instagram, as it is a relevant source of specific customer target groups for them.

Instagram is owned by Facebook, so it's not unusual for them to give brands a very similar range of ad formats to choose from. According to Instagram for Business (2020a), everyone interested in advertising must have their Facebook page created, without this it will not work. On Instagram, ads can be shared through stories, photos, videos, carousel ads, or ads sorted into collections, and ads in the search section. Newberry (2020) introduces another type of advertising option, namely IGTV, from which brands receive 55% of the profit from each of their uploaded ads. This is an opportunity for creators to share longer videos that can be longer than 3 minutes. Just like on Facebook, Instagram also offers the possibility to set the amount of advertising expenses per month. Instagram for Business (2020b) also lists other options for how brands can bring their products and services to the attention of customers using Instagram. One of them, which is currently very popular, is adding price tags to displayed products. That is, when the user clicks on the image, the price of each product will be displayed. According to statistics, this method can increase CTR (click-through rate) by 32% and reduce the cost of one click by 47%. According to Newberry (2020), with all mentioned types of ads, there is an option to provide the user with a click-through button on the brand's e-shop. The labeling of this button varies depending on any brand selection, it may say download, learn more, order now, shop now, etc. Miles (2014) states that a hashtag is a good choice to categorize your posts. Through the hashtag, brands can tag their company, collection on each post or invite their customers to do so when they take a photo with a product of their production, showing their audience where they bought it.

YouTube is an advertising tool for companies that want to show their customers how a product actually looks or how it is used through video. According to Shalavi (2018) statistics, up to 70% of customers say they want to learn about products through brand videos on YouTube. According to Clement (2020c), advertising revenue for 2019 was $15.15 million for the platform, which is about 9.4% of Google's total annual revenue, which includes the video website. This amount is not as big as one might expect from a company of this size, but this social network has potential.

YouTube Help (2020) introduces several types of ad formats skippable in-stream and non-skippable in-stream ads are maximum 15 second ads that play before, during or at the end of a video. Video discovery ads are an ad format that appears at the top of search results. Another type are microspots, these are 6-second short ads played before, during or after the end of the video, while users do not have the option to skip the ad. Out-stream ads special ads for mobile phones that reach potential customers on the websites of Google partners. The last type are masthead ads available on all devices, the essence of which is to play the ad to the user without sound. Thanks to the mentioned formats, it is possible to precisely target and reach a selected group of users/customers who, by clicking on the video, can get to the purchase of a specific product in the e-shop.

One of the newest forms of social media marketing is TikTok, or its Chinese version, DouYin. Wang (2020) characterizes it as a social application for the younger part of the population, through which it is possible to share short, peculiar, mostly humorous videos with a length of about 15 seconds, the point of which is about common aspects of life such as humor, beauty, dance, fitness and others. There are trends, viral videos, the essence of which is that people repeat, for example, a dance or a joke, and then share their version of the video. According to Clement (2020d), the application was downloaded 738 million times in 2019 and has 440 million active users in 2020. Young people hope to become "TikTok famous" through the app, that is, to gain fame through their videos on the network, which brands are very aware of and try to use to their advantage. According to MediaKix (2020), user engagement is very high, reaching a daily value of up to 70%. The unexpected COVID-19 pandemic certainly helped the success of this application, during which people spent more time at home and thus shortened it by recording videos. According to Hu (2020), TikTok is a tool that can be used to reach especially younger consumers and then influence them with the help of their peers, with whom they can relate to buying a product.

TikTok for Business (2020) and Hu (2020) list several promotional tools that marketers and brands can use to harness the power of the medium to their advantage. Open screen ads are less than 5-second video ads displayed to users before opening the main page in the application. In-Feed ads reach a precisely targeted group of potential customers by appearing between the user's individual TikTok videos as if they were one of them. Branded Effects is the most popular type of advertising, in which the brand provides the video creator with a virtual sticker or effect related to the product, which is then incorporated into the creator's video plot. Custom challenge or Branded Hashtag Challenge is an advertisement whose task is to involve the users of the application in some challenge or trend that will revolve around the given product, e.g. skin care using a specific product. TopView are ads that affect all the senses, they are placed so that they can be seen by as many users as possible with a length of up to 60 seconds. Brand Takeover are static or dynamic ads that aim for high visual quality that grabs attention at first glance. According to Hu (2020), TikTok represents an opportunity for brands to use short amateur videos to introduce their product or service to target groups through ordinary users.

According to research by Buffer (2019), up to 93.7% of marketers and brands said that they use Facebook most often in their marketing communication, 80.9% answered that advertising activities on Instagram were also involved in the strategy, 60.8% of them have created sponsored posts on YouTube and, according to the given statistics, only 0.8% said that they also focused on the social platform TikTok when promoting their products and services. Companies and brands do not forget the power of influencers in their strategies. According to statistics from the Influencer Marketing Hub (2020b), 82% of marketers consider Instagram to be the best social network for influencer marketing, 41% indicated YouTube and 23% TikTok. Only 5% consider Facebook suitable for promotion through influencers, which is a big difference compared to previous research regarding the use of advertising formats of these social networks.

3. Children of older school age and social networks

According to Šmahel (2014), children in the 21st century are surrounded by technology and it could be argued that they were born into the digital world. Laptops, computers, tablets or mobile phones are encountered at every step and it is practically impossible to avoid them or imagine what life would be like without them. Just like technology, the Internet is an inherent achievement of today's times. People, including children, use it on a regular basis. According to a study by Israel (2020) created for EU Kids Online, up to 72% of children in Slovakia between the ages of 9 and 17 connect to the Internet daily, most often using their smartphones. According to the same research, every fifth child in the given target group spends more than 4 hours on the Internet during the working day. This time increases during the weekend, when, for example, teenagers aged 13-14 are connected to the Internet for more than 7 hours.

Teenagers most often use Internet access for entertainment or as a communication tool to connect with their peers. It also serves them to express their opinions or attitudes and overall self-representation. For this purpose, social networks are created, which provide space for interaction between people, which children are looking for. Ahn (2013) claims that children have adopted the use of social networks not only for the purpose of searching for information, but also for the possibility of creating new contacts and maintaining the ones already created. The number of users of social networks grows with the age of the child. This follows from research by Ofcom (2017), which found that up to 89% of teenagers at the age of 15 have created a profile on at least one social network, which is more than 43% more than the children of the lower age limit of our target group at the age of 11. A study by Wang and Edwards (2016) showed that children's use of social networks can have a beneficial, positive effect on their ability to maintain relationships and help them create their own identity.

Currently, there are several social networks that are extremely popular among the children of our target group between the ages of 11 and 15. According to Clement (2020b), the most popular networks in the world include Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Children visit these networks on a daily basis, because they find relaxation and entertainment in them and can socialize through them. According to a survey by Slovenská sporiteľna (2018), on average, up to 71% of children in Slovakia use some kind of social network. Among them, Facebook and YouTube took the first places in our latitudes.

Ofcom's Media Lives research (2017) shows that children watch videos on the YouTube website far more often than they watch programs on television. The same research found that YouTube is a more attractive type of media for children because it offers them personalized content created by peers they can relate to. Up to 52% of children watch videos of vloggers on the platform, followed by unboxing videos, then videos from the "how to" category or videos with a game theme. Many popular YouTubers also create content on TikTok. Mostly it is a challenge, i.e. challenges of a dance and fun nature, which children really like to imitate. According to MediaKix (2020) statistics, 63% of users are between the ages of 10 and 29. According to the results of the research carried out by Ofcom (2017), teenagers who use Instagram and Facebook feel under negative social pressure because they have the need to present themselves in the best possible light in their surroundings and to become popular. Up to 90% say that people on social networks tend to be mean and unpleasant to each other, but on the other hand, 91% admit that thanks to social networks they feel happy and feel closer to their friends. On average, according to Siegel (2019) and Mohsin (2020), children spend the most time on YouTube, up to 7 hours and 22 minutes per day, on Facebook 58.5 minutes per day, followed by Instagram, where they are 53 minutes and the least time they spend on TikTok, 52 minutes per day.

In the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of social networks by the children of our target group is much more widespread and at the same time very important due to the needs of socialization at a time when separation is necessary in order to prevent infection. According to Nagato (2020), social networks are the ideal tool for children and teenagers to keep in touch with their peers even when schools are closed and classes are online. According to statistics from Clement (2020e), the use of electronic devices by children in the US increased by about half during the pandemic. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, 23% of children aged 11 to 13 spent more than four hours in front of screens, while after the outbreak in early 2020, this number increased to 47%. Research by Ofcom (2020) showed which social networks attracted more attention from children. These were mainly chat applications such as Messenger, but also Instagram and Snapchat. However, the greatest popularity among the younger part of the population was gained by the video platform TikTok, which, according to children, is excellent for killing time. They spent several hours a day on it, in addition to watching the content added by other users, they actively participated by sharing their own created videos.

4. Perception of marketing communications on social networks by school-aged children (research)

The goal of the research was to create a comprehensive profile of the perception of marketing communication on the social networks Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok by a selected target group of older school-aged children aged 11 to 15. The created profile can be used to better understand the target group and its opinions and attitudes towards the advertising of brands and influencers on social networks, which can be used in their communication strategies not only by experts in the field of marketing, but also by brands in an effort to attract the aforementioned segment. We chose these four social networks based on their high popularity. According to research by Ofcom (2019), the social networks Facebook and Instagram are among the most popular social networks among the children of our target group. Based on the results of the same research, the YouTube video platform is similarly popular among children, followed by the somewhat newer social network with a similar character, TikTok. According to Ofcom, it is used by approximately 13% of teenagers aged 12 to 15.

4.1 Research questions

1. How do older school-aged children use social networks? With the first question, we wanted to find out which social networks our target group knows and which they actively use, i.e. whether they have created their own personal profile on them. As part of the given question, we were interested in how often, or if at all, the children of our selected target group visit social networks, as well as which specific electronic device children use to connect to social networks. The established question will help us to more closely characterize the target group from the point of view of its use of social networks.
2. How do children of older school age perceive brand advertisements on social networks? The second research question investigated how our target group views the advertisements of the brands they come into contact with when using social networks. As part of the second question, we also wanted to find out whether children follow any brands on their profiles and whether they ever noticed advertisements for brand products on social networks, as well as on which networks they came into contact with advertising. We wondered if they remembered the product or brand the ad was about. The answers to the question will help us find out what kind of presentation format the target group likes. Last but not least, we were interested in whether children considered or bought a product based on viewing an ad on social networks and what they thought about them from different perspectives.
3. How do older school-age children perceive influencer ads on social networks? With the third question, we investigated the children's opinion and attitude towards the given field of research. We were interested in whether children follow influencers on selected social networks and whether they noticed any marketing activity on their part. Following on from that, we wanted to find out which specific influencer and which specific product or brand they were promoting. As part of the third research question, as in the second, we were interested in whether the selected target group wanted or bought a product based on the influencer's advertisement. We investigated what characteristics from different points of view children would assign to an influencer's advertisement.

We assumed that there is a statistically significant difference in the frequency of visits to social networks between children in the period of pre-adolescence (11-13 years) and children in the period of their own puberty (14-15 years) on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok.

Langmeier and Krejčírová (2006) divide the period of adolescence into two groups, preadolescence (from 11 to 13 years) and puberty itself (from 13 to 15 years). For research purposes, we included children aged 13 in the first group, to avoid repetition and better clarity of data. The above-mentioned authors state that children in given phases of adolescence can be characterized by significant psychological and physical differences between individual groups. The children of our two target groups are regular visitors to social networks. According to research by Ofcom (2017), 46% of children aged 11 have created a profile on at least one social network. This number is 43% higher for children under 15, which means that 89% of children under 15 have a profile on at least one social network. According to the statistics of Clement (2020e), up to 47% of children between the ages of 11 and 13 spend more than four hours using the Internet in front of the screens of electronic devices.

We hypothesized that there is a statistically significant difference in the perception of brand ads on social networks and influencer ads on social networks by older school-aged children in terms of wit, in terms of beauty, in terms of length, in terms of sincerity, in terms of appeal, in terms of originality, in terms of price, in terms of usefulness, in terms of goodness.

Research by Veirman, Hudders, and Nelson (2019) shows that children seek out and identify with popular influencers who have gained a certain celebrity status and adopt their lifestyles and attitudes, as well as opinions about various products that they share on their social media profiles. According to a study by Duffett (2017), social media marketing communications targeting child consumers had a significant impact on each component of their attitude. The study also shows that it is more likely to influence adolescent girls, who develop a more favorable attitude towards the marketing activities of brands and influencers on social networks.

We hypothesized that there is a statistically significant difference in the frequency with which older school-age children purchase products promoted by social media influencers and social media brand advertisements.

De Jans and colleagues (2017) state that it is likely that children will form a relationship with their favorite influencers they follow on social networks, and thus the influencers will gain a certain power over them and become influential sources of information and inspiration, while this can have a significant impact on the decision-making process of children when making purchases. Research by Coates and colleagues (2019) demonstrated that school-age children who watched influencers promoting unhealthy sweets significantly increased their intake of unhealthy foods compared to children who watched influencers promoting non-food products.

4.2 Research file

For the needs of the research, we chose a basic research set consisting of children of older school age in the age range from 11 to 15 years who attend the second grade of elementary school. When choosing suitable respondents, we chose an available sample set, due to the short time of data collection, as well as due to the pandemic situation, which did not allow us to directly address the selected potential respondents. A total of 216 children filled out the questionnaire. Most of the respondents were girls, 128 of them, representing 59.3%. The representation of the group of boys was smaller, 88 boys took part in the research, which is 40.7%. The age of the respondents corresponded with the established criteria, while each age group is adequately represented. The average age of the children who filled out our questionnaire is approximately 12.96 years. In addition to gender and age, we were interested in which school year the children attend. It follows from the answers that the largest group were students of the ninth grade, or fourth grade, with 25.5% marking this option. On the contrary, the smallest group consisted of children attending the fifth grade, which is 14.4% of the total number of recorded responses. Another thing that interested us was the origin of the respondents, that is, from which region they come. Based on the answers received, it is possible to conclude that each of the eight regions of Slovakia has its own representatives in our research. The largest part of the respondents were children from the Prešov region, in the final number of 68 children, i.e. 31.5%, the smallest was from the Košice region with a percentage representation of 3.7%.

4.3 Results and discussion

The goal of our analysis was to create a comprehensive profile of the perception of marketing communication on the social networks Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok by a selected target group of older school-age children aged 11 to 15.

Based on the results of our research from the first part of the analysis regarding the use of social networks by the children of our target group, it can be claimed that children aged 11 to 15 living in Slovakia have the closest relationship to the two social networks YouTube and Instagram. Half of the respondents indicated that they visit these two networks on a daily basis. Facebook and TikTok are worse in terms of popularity among the target group. Although children have a profile on the given networks, children visit the networks less often. In addition to the social networks selected by us, according to their own statements, children of older school age also frequently visit networks such as Snapchat, Messenger, Twitter or Twitch. The use of individual social networks varies depending on the age of the children, but it can be said that Slovak children spend their free time on selected networks. The results can be compared with research by Ofcom (2019), in which it was found that in 2019, children frequently used all of the above-mentioned social networks, with the exception of Twitter. According to the study, the most used networks are Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. However, Facebook has significantly lost its followers compared to 2015, similar to the results of our research. Research by Israel et al. (2020) found that up to 65% of children visit social networks every day, while in our country 50.9% of respondents answered. Instagram and YouTube dominated the answers to the questions of the questionnaire, so we dare to draw attention to the fact that it is through them that marketers and brands have the opportunity to reach the target group the most, so they should use them very carefully in their marketing strategies and reflect the specifics of the target group with regard to marketing communication.

The results of the research also show that up to 88.4% of children visit these social networks through their mobile phones, which gives them the freedom to visit the networks anywhere and at any time, and not be tied to just one place. The results of the study by Duffett (2017) are very similar to ours, according to the given research, up to 92.3% of children use mobile phones as the main device for connecting to social networks. In the same way, Slovak research by Israel and his collaborators (2020) confirms our findings and according to him, up to 72% of children use a mobile phone to connect to the Internet.

From the results of the next part of the analysis, the aim of which was to find out how children perceive brand advertisements on social networks, we found that 64.4% of children do not follow any brand on social networks. Those who follow brands most often marked the names of the brands Apple, Nike, Adidas, Samsung and Gucci. According to Jones and Glynn (2019), children follow brands because they have a relationship with them, and they are usually well-known brands worn by celebrities they want to get close to. The subject of this part of the research was, among other things, to find out if children noticed any advertising of brands on social networks, the results show that up to 92.1% of children noticed marketing activities on social networks by brands, while they were most noticed on YouTube and Instagram, less often on Facebook and TikTok. Children were most often shown advertisements for clothes (Dedoles, Nike, H&M) and games of unspecified brands. Research also shows that most children can recognize advertisements and accurately identify the brand they are targeting. A study by the authors Jonas and Glynn (2019) found that children use three basic processes when interacting with brands on social networks, first of all, it is about distinguishing, then reacting, and in the last step forming. Each of the processes and its interaction depends on the amount of activity of individual children on social networks. The differentiation process is most often applied to international brands, which can also be seen in the results of our research. The reaction process leads to opinion formation, while the formation is more effective if children follow several social networks at the same time, as is also the case in our results.

From the results, we also found that the children of the target group are the most sympathetic ad formats story/story, an ad with the option of clicking directly on the advertiser's page, and an ad appearing before a video. These three ad formats are frequently used on the social networks Instagram and YouTube, which confirms the findings mentioned above about the popularity of these two networks among children. Research by Ahmed (2020) found that people on social media make product purchase decisions based on social media ads mainly based on image (41.6%), typography (8%), design (4.8%) and colors used. From the above, we can see that the preferred advertising formats make the most use of images, which is why children may like them.

The next part of our analysis was devoted to the perception of influencer advertisements on social networks by children of the target group. We found that up to 76.9% of children follow some influencer, and it is most often on the Instagram and YouTube networks. Duklock, GoGoManTV, Selassie, MOMA and Lucypug are among the children of popular Slovak influencers. According to De Veirman and his colleagues (2019), children seek out influencers because they perceive them as popular and admired peers that they want to get close to. The children noticed an effort to sell some products in all the mentioned influencers. Influencers often do not label their brand endorsements directly as advertising, but respondents were able to identify such activities without any problems. As many as 74.5% said that they had seen advertising from influencers, mainly promoting games, clothes, cosmetics, or their own merch (products). Again, the most ads were seen on Instagram and YouTube, only a small percentage saw ads on Facebook and TikTok. According to the research of Veirman, Hudders and Nelson (2019), influencer ads have a great influence on children, they can influence them in the preference of brands, and children perceive them as authentic, therefore they trust them. In their research, Martínez and Olsson (2019) confirm the popularity of YouTube influencers among the children of our target group, as well as the claims that they contribute to the formation of opinions about promoted products. The results show that the children of our target group have a positive attitude towards influencers, are interested in them and notice what they do and what products they offer.

The subject of our research was also to find out what characteristics children attribute to the advertisements of brands and influencers and whether they differ from each other in their eyes. The results of the research showed that the target group perceives more positively influencers' advertisements on social networks. Of the nine compared categories, the most significant difference in perception can be observed in the case of attractiveness of advertisements and their fun, and the smallest in price. A more accurate comparison of the results can be seen in graph 10. Research by Taillon and his colleagues (2020) showed that the more attractive and likable an influencer is to his viewers, the more likely they are to follow him, develop a positive relationship with him and buy the products promoted by him. However, Cole (2019) states that influencers can resort to “buying” their followers and promoting fake actions to them in order to gain more viewers, thus destroying their reputation. However, other results show that the children of the target group more often thought about buying a product promoted by brands than influencers. Similar results were also obtained in the case of real purchases of products from advertisements. 64.8% of children said they had never bought anything promoted by influencers compared to 56.9% of children who indicated they had never bought a product advertised by brands. The graphical representation of the results can be seen in graphs 2 and 5. The results show us that children buy products from brand advertisements more often, despite the fact that they have a closer relationship with influencers and, as research has shown, perceive their advertisements more positively. According to Zarouali and other researchers (2017), an essential factor in buying a product from an ad on social networks is understanding how ads target and track the activities of their potential customers. Teenagers who perceived advertisements as randomly selected for them were more likely to buy the products offered than those who understood the invasion of privacy and were thus more skeptical of them. A study by Dhanesh and Duthler (2019) found that if influencers directly label their post as paid advertising, it significantly increases their level of trust with viewers, but it has no effect on the purchase of the promoted product. However, if followers are devoted fans of influencers, they will share their posts, and based on this, they feel that they have some control over the influencers and are therefore more likely to buy the products promoted by them. Ahmed (2020) states that ads on social networks must be created innovatively and effectively, and should focus mainly on the visual side of the ad, because potential customers first of all notice the images used, which influencers especially pay attention to.

The results of the research confirmed to us that there is a statistically significant difference in the frequency of visits to social networks between children in the period of pre-adolescence (11-13 years) and children in the period of their own puberty (14-15 years). Furthermore, we recorded a statistically significant difference in the perception of brand ads on social networks and influencer ads on social networks by older school-aged children. We also noticed a statistically significant difference in the frequency of purchase by children of older school age of products promoted by influencers on social networks and brand advertisements on social networks.

Among the limitations of our research, we can mention the insufficient size of the research sample. A total of 216 pupils took part in the questionnaire, which, according to the Center for Scientific and Technical Information of the Slovak Republic (2020), represents only 0.1% of all second-level pupils in Slovakia, so the results cannot be generalized to the entire population. The reason for this limit could be the insufficient distribution of our questionnaire among the target group, or the lack of interest of the addressed potential respondents in participating in the research. Among the limits of our research, we can include the inconsistency of the questions in the questionnaire, as we tried to create the questionnaire in such a way that it was not too compiled for its participants, it could happen that we did not list all the necessary questions, the answers of which could contribute to a greater informative value of our research. As another limitation of the research, we can mention the respondents' lack of concentration or low motivation when filling out the questionnaire, which was also reflected in some answers. Research participants may have been discouraged by the length of the questionnaire or the fact that some questions required verbal answers. As another limitation of our research, we can consider the short time of data collection (two weeks) and their subsequent evaluation, which could have caused a distortion of the results.

The results of our research could be used in further research, which would be focused on how older school-age children perceive specific advertisements of brands and influencers shared on social networks, emphasizing the fact that the advertisements would be for the same product. The research would use respondents' responses to indicate which specific influencers they saw advertising on social media targeting products from different brands. The research would also use the responses regarding the social media advertisements of specific brands for their products. The brand names of the products promoted by the brands themselves and the influencers coincided in many cases. Using this knowledge, further research can compare the perception of advertisements for the same brand by different communication styles. With this research, it would be possible to find out which type of advertisement (brand or influencer advertisement) for the same product will appeal to the target group more, which they perceive more positively and on the basis of which they would consider buying the given product.

Conclusion

The presented research represents a benefit in the field of marketing communication with the possibility of using the results both by the professional public and by workers in the field of digital marketing. Its results provide researchers with more detailed information about how a group of older school-age children living in Slovakia perceive marketing communication by brands and influencers on social networks. The results can serve as inspiration for marketing experts and brands in the creation of appropriate marketing communication aimed at the target group of older school-age children from 11 to 15 years old. The research brings insights, thanks to which it is possible to better target the ads of different brands on social networks. Research shows which social networks are most popular with children and which they visit most often. We also found out which electronic devices children use to connect to social networks, and this information can be used in the creation of a marketing strategy. From the results, we also find out which Slovak influencers brands and marketers should work with in their communication campaigns on social networks, because the target group is close to them, and thus they have a greater potential to reach this segment.

Authors: Mgr. Györgyi Janková, PhD. Mgr. Miriama Vaverčáková Department of mass media communication and advertising FF UKF in Nitra

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