The Role of Social Media in Promoting Mobile Payment: A Qualitative Study of Consumers in Macao

The objective of this study is to identify the role of social media to promote mobile payment in Macao. Online focus groups were used for this study. There was a total of 18 participants attended online focus groups. The results showed that the age group of 18 to 30 used social media all the times and felt comfortable to receive promotion information of mobile payment through social media. Company can use social media in promoting mobile payment for age group 18-30, however, company needs to consider their concerned about the improvement of the existing mobile payment system such as offer a unified payment app in Macao and optimize the interface of mobile payment to be more user friendly. The age group of 31 to 49 did not have enough time to browse the information about mobile payment from social media. If a company can provide more attractive and engaging content helping consumers spend less time learning and browsing information, then social media can become an effective tool to promote mobile payments. The age group of 50-65 felt drawback about social media because they believed that there were a lot of fake information on the internet. To promote mobile payment for the 50-65 age group, free lectures, personal promotion, newspapers and TV are suggested.