Ever since social media hit the scene, every aspect of our lives has been impacted in every way possible – spending habits, being one of them.
You may not have realized it yet, but it’s true, social media has become a big influence on how we spend our money.
If you are one of the 3.196 billion social media users in the world, then keep on reading to learn about the bad and the ugly effects of social media to your finances.
Spending money you wouldn’t have otherwise.
Both big and small brands use social media as a marketing tool. Nowadays, it’s so easy to find your favorite brands on any social platform. It’s nice to stay updated with the latest buzz, whether it’s about their newest product, crazy offers, or upcoming sales.
Same goes for the random ads we see on Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and Twitter. Thanks to our cookie-enabled browsers, these ads tend to follow us anywhere we go.
The disadvantage of all these is that it’s also easy for you to get enticed into making a purchase that we don’t even need in the first place.
So if you find yourself on social media websites pretty frequently, you have to be wise enough to know when to say no.
Purchasing products/services endorsed by celebrities.
Celebrity endorsement is nothing new. But these days, it has become way easier for celebs to get in touch with us, consumers. And aside from famous celebrities, bloggers, Youtubers and other social media influencers are becoming big endorsers too. Having all these people tempting us to try out products is not good for our bank accounts.
And nowadays, most people’s buying decisions aren’t based on legit product reviews anymore but on which products and services their idols use and “swear by.”
Keeping up with the Joneses.
This idiom refers to the comparison of oneself to one’s neighbor as a benchmark for social class. Failure to “keep up with the Joneses” is then perceived as inferiority.
This phenomenon has been around for so long but it still continues to invade most of the people’s purchasing decisions. Even more so these days, thanks to social media.
In today’s modern world, it’s so easy to find out what your friends, coworkers, neighbors or whoever around you, are up to. They post about their recent travels and purchases, making you feel bad and wanting to keep up. As a result, you make wrong spending decisions based on what you see others do and have, which is very bad.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Remember, no one’s going to post about having debts to pay or maxing out credit cards just to pay for those fancy meals, expensive bags and lavish vacations.
At the end of the day, what you see on Facebook or Instagram isn’t the whole story. So there’s no reason to always “keep up.”
To sum it all up, you need to be a smart social media user to protect yourself from falling for these traps or you’ll end up with a pile of debt and an empty bank account.
