Social Media Marketing of Natural Cosmetic Companies in the UK and in Finland : Four case companies
Lassila, Elina (2018)
Lassila, Elina
Oulun ammattikorkeakoulu
2018
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201901101192
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201901101192
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the successful marketing methods of natural cosmetic companies in the UK and in Finland. Moreover, the thesis investigates the role of berries in the social media marketing and in the products of the case companies. The case companies that were chosen to be investigated in the thesis are LUSH, The Body Shop, Dr. Hauschka, and Benecos.
Research part of the thesis includes triangulation since both qualitative and quantitative methods are implemented on the analysis of the effective social media marketing of the case companies and the role of berries in the marketing and in the products. An analysis was carried out by gathering data from the social media accounts of the case companies and analyzing it with IBM SPSS statistical software to investigate correlations between the variables. Effective social media marketing in this thesis means that the number of followers is growing, and the audience engages with the posts the company makes on social media. Furthermore, an email survey was conducted to the case companies to investigate opinions of the case companies on the research questions. The data on social media marketing was analyzed with the benchmarking method. The role of berries in the social media marketing was analyzed by going through the posts of the case companies on social media and looking for berries in the picture or in the description of the post. The role of berries in the products was examined by looking through the ingredient listings of the products on the case companies’ websites.
According to the results, natural cosmetic companies need to be active on social media and make people engage for the social media marketing to be successful. Posts about sustainability, ethical issues and new product releases make followers engage the most. Berries are not used in marketing and the utilization of berries in the products is not significant. According to the results of the survey, berries were not seen as anything special. There were no significant differences between the social media marketing methods in the UK and in Finland. The social media marketing was different within each brand. Although the companies in the UK were more active on social media. On average, they made more posts monthly and used more social media marketing channels. The thesis suggests the companies to localize their social media marketing and follow the current trends in the local market to make the marketing more successful.
Research part of the thesis includes triangulation since both qualitative and quantitative methods are implemented on the analysis of the effective social media marketing of the case companies and the role of berries in the marketing and in the products. An analysis was carried out by gathering data from the social media accounts of the case companies and analyzing it with IBM SPSS statistical software to investigate correlations between the variables. Effective social media marketing in this thesis means that the number of followers is growing, and the audience engages with the posts the company makes on social media. Furthermore, an email survey was conducted to the case companies to investigate opinions of the case companies on the research questions. The data on social media marketing was analyzed with the benchmarking method. The role of berries in the social media marketing was analyzed by going through the posts of the case companies on social media and looking for berries in the picture or in the description of the post. The role of berries in the products was examined by looking through the ingredient listings of the products on the case companies’ websites.
According to the results, natural cosmetic companies need to be active on social media and make people engage for the social media marketing to be successful. Posts about sustainability, ethical issues and new product releases make followers engage the most. Berries are not used in marketing and the utilization of berries in the products is not significant. According to the results of the survey, berries were not seen as anything special. There were no significant differences between the social media marketing methods in the UK and in Finland. The social media marketing was different within each brand. Although the companies in the UK were more active on social media. On average, they made more posts monthly and used more social media marketing channels. The thesis suggests the companies to localize their social media marketing and follow the current trends in the local market to make the marketing more successful.