Social media has shifted the marketing landscape by introducing new, world- wide dimensions. With the incorporation of social media platforms to promote a variety of products, marketing strategies are changing. Due to shifts in consumer behavior, social media usage and related applications are rising at an unprecedented rate. Social media is a tool which is revolutionizing the marketing industry. In the modern world, social media has become an indispensable tool for buyers as well as sellers. Social media has an impact that extends beyond enhancing consumer engagement and brand awareness (6). These platforms support strategic decision-making by offering crucial information and insights. Businesses can better understand their target market and improve their branding and marketing strategies by tracking social media metrics and implementing sentiment analysis(5).

Demand in the domestic market has risen significantly in recent years for organic farmers.

In India, social media is essential for promoting organic food products and increasing awareness among different consumer segments. Now days consumers are treating Social media as a highly reliable and effective tool and marketers are using it to educate buyers about their product and influence consumer’s choice. This empirical study aims to discover whether customer of Madhya Pradesh prefer to shop online for organic food products or not and how social media promotions impact their buying choices.

The Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare National Centre for Organic and Natural Farming reports that Madhya Pradesh has the most organic-certified land, followed by Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. In FY 24, India produced approximately 3.6 million MT of certified organic products, including all types of food items such as Oilseeds, Sugarcane, Pulses, Fiber, cereals and millet, cotton, aromatic and medicinal plants, tea, coffee, spices, fruits, dry fruits, Processed foods, vegetables, and more(3). The production process is not restricted to the edible industry; it also yields functional food items, organic cotton fiber, etc.(1) Social media channels (SMC) make it effortless to shop and provide you access to a variety of organic products.(2) On a global scale the consumption of organic foods is rising as consumers' concerns about their own personal health(4).

As per the available statistics, India rank 2nd in terms of World's Organic Agricultural land and 1st in terms of total number of producers. (Source: FIBL & IFOAM Yearbook, 2024).

According to APEDA, Ministry of Commerce & Industries, Government of India the production and cultivation area for organic products in FY24’ is that -

Table-1

Source-APEDA, Ministry of Commerce &Industries, Government of India

In India there is demand supply gap in the case of organic food. For the production of organic food very limited area of land is available and very few farmers are ready to adopt this farming. Even Madhya Pradesh is at first position in organic food production but still a sizable portion of consumers are not much aware about the organic food products and it’s benefits. Now a days Marketers are using social media (SM) as a very powerful and reliable promotional tool to raise awareness and influence consumers.

For the better understanding Literature collected on two topics: consumers’attitudes towards organic food products, and the role of SM in promoting and marketing organic food productsto the customers are presented in the following sections.

Social media’s role in consumer decision making process

Social media plays a great role in shaping modern branding strategies and fostering brand growth (10). SM advertisements are similar to user-generated word-of-mouth marketing. Through SM, consumers are able to find out important information about organic products [11]. Marketing and promoting organic products, social media channels (SMC) are significant and beneficial tools [12]. An understanding of the function of social media in product advancement can be acquired from the reviews stated above. The promotion of products with social media boosts consumption, improves the consumer's opinion of the product, builds awareness, and encourages happy customers to recommend it to others [13].

Objective- To know the role of social media in shaping consumer’s buying intention and actual buying behaviors towards organic food products.

Hypotheses model-

H1: Is there any relationship between type of organic food purchased and type of social media used.

H2: Is there any relationship between type of organic food purchased and Reason of purchasing Organic food.

H3: Is there any relationship between type of social media platform used and the level of satistaction from organic

Figure1 (Source–Pictograph developed)

Data Reliability and Validity

Table-02 is showing Data reliability and validity.

*CR: Composite Reliability

**AVE: Average Variance Extracted

***Norms: Discriminant Validity—AVE >Square of Correlation

****Norms: Convergent Validity—AFL>0.7

The tested data and variables demonstrate reliability, along with convergent and divergent validity. Additionally, the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) Measure of Sampling Adequacy is reported at 0.738, indicating a satisfactory result.

A deep study of consumers’ demographic and socio-economic status is crucial for marketers to understand their buying behavior. In this study, it has been inferred that 54.5% of the organic product consumers surveyed are men, while 45.5% are women. Among the consumers of various age groups, 18.2% are aged between 31 and 40 years, and 71.8% are aged below and 30 years. Nearly 47.3% of the samples are well-educated, i.e., post graduates. Additionally, 33.6% consumers are having income of less than Rs. 25000 and only18.2 % consumer’s income is above 100000.

Table2 Reasons for preferring online buying of organic products.

Source: Primary Data

Table no. 2 shows the reasons observed by the researcher for buying organic food products online, listed in an order as follows: more choice of branded organic products, Genuineness of the product, more choice of brands, economic prices, easy avability and Genuity of the product respectively.

Table3 More products online than physically.

Source Primary Data

Table no.3 shows that very few people of Madhya Pradesh prefer to buy organic food products online where as 31.8% never buy these products online.

Table4 Consumers awareness about social media and advertisement for organic products.

Source Primary Data

Tableno.4 suggests that more that50% of people are aware/highly aware about advertisements on social media platform and its benefits to their life. Whereas 13% people are not aware about advertisements related to organic food products.

Table5 Social media platform explored by the consumers for seeking about new product.

Source Primary Data

Table no. 5 depicts the very interesting finding that Instagram is leading social media platform followed by Twitter, Youtube, linkedIn and others among all type of people. Advertisement through this platform are having more impact as compare to the other platforms.

Table6 Satisfaction with online purchase of organic products.

Source Primary Data

Table no. 5 depicts the very interesting finding that Instagram is leading social media platform followed by Twitter, Youtube, linkedIn and others among all type of people. Advertisement through this platform are having more impact as compare to the other platforms.

Table6 Satisfaction with online purchase of organic products.

Source: Primary Data

Table no.6 revealed that organic food consumers are highly satisfied with its fast delivery services. Whereas least satisfied by its low discounting offers.

Limitation and future scope-

These are the study's limitations since there were merely a few variables and a small sample size used. The results of the above study provide limited insight to those consumers who consume organic food only. The results of the study offer more scope to extend this study further on a large sample size by covering a large demographic area.

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