Utilizing Sustainability in Instagram Marketing of Cosmetics: Case L´OCCITANE en Provence, Clinique and Garnier
Alaraudanjoki, Katja (2019)
2019
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2019112121808
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2019112121808
Tiivistelmä
The goal of this thesis is to find out how companies implement sustainability in their selected online marketing channels: company websites and company brand Instagram accounts. The case companies are large businesses that operate globally; L´OCCITANE Group, Estée Lauder Companies, and L´Oréal. The brands selected to examine on Instagram are L´OCCITANE en Provence from L´OCCITANE Group, Clinique from Estée Lauder Companies and Garnier UK from L´Oréal. The thesis is a case study about sustainable cosmetics online marketing.
The thesis begins with an introduction to the topic, an overall image of the sustainable business and sustainable cosmetics business. Next, it follows the theoretical topics of social media marketing, and content marketing. Thus, it is a desktop research. The main focus point of the thesis is an analysis of sustainable cosmetics in content marketing. The research question is: “How do three companies in the sustainable cosmetics industry make use of the sustainability of their products in marketing?” The main theoretical framework consists of; the three overlapping elements of sustainability, three levels of sustainability, the ecological aspects of sustainability and the social aspects of sustainability.
The research is made as a qualitative analysis and the materials used are company websites and selected online marketing accounts on Instagram by the company brands, suited for the analysis. Website information used in the thesis was currently available from all of the three companies. Further, Instagram research was made on the basis of a time frame of the past six months by analyzing words, videos, hashtags, and pictures. The research was conducted in October and November 2019.
The results showed that for all of the case brands there are a lot of opportunities to improve sustainability aspects presented on Instagram. For L´OCCITANE en Provence, it is recommended to add more diversity to the content, different themes, hashtags, pictures and so on. For Clinique, there could be more social campaigns and information about waste management, contribution to the environment done by the brand. For Garnier, the organic skincare line could be presented more, with different type of content. The brand could also show more how they do environmentally and socially good together with their customers. This could be done with different types of sustainability-themed campaigns on Instagram.
As a recommendation for further research, it could be beneficial to research sustainability marketing of another online marketing platform such as YouTube or Facebook. This thesis offers a good basis for future research regarding sustainability in the online marketing of cosmetics and other industries. Sustainability is a growing field in business to consider and the recommended theory model together with a content marketing plan can help businesses to implement it in practice.
The thesis begins with an introduction to the topic, an overall image of the sustainable business and sustainable cosmetics business. Next, it follows the theoretical topics of social media marketing, and content marketing. Thus, it is a desktop research. The main focus point of the thesis is an analysis of sustainable cosmetics in content marketing. The research question is: “How do three companies in the sustainable cosmetics industry make use of the sustainability of their products in marketing?” The main theoretical framework consists of; the three overlapping elements of sustainability, three levels of sustainability, the ecological aspects of sustainability and the social aspects of sustainability.
The research is made as a qualitative analysis and the materials used are company websites and selected online marketing accounts on Instagram by the company brands, suited for the analysis. Website information used in the thesis was currently available from all of the three companies. Further, Instagram research was made on the basis of a time frame of the past six months by analyzing words, videos, hashtags, and pictures. The research was conducted in October and November 2019.
The results showed that for all of the case brands there are a lot of opportunities to improve sustainability aspects presented on Instagram. For L´OCCITANE en Provence, it is recommended to add more diversity to the content, different themes, hashtags, pictures and so on. For Clinique, there could be more social campaigns and information about waste management, contribution to the environment done by the brand. For Garnier, the organic skincare line could be presented more, with different type of content. The brand could also show more how they do environmentally and socially good together with their customers. This could be done with different types of sustainability-themed campaigns on Instagram.
As a recommendation for further research, it could be beneficial to research sustainability marketing of another online marketing platform such as YouTube or Facebook. This thesis offers a good basis for future research regarding sustainability in the online marketing of cosmetics and other industries. Sustainability is a growing field in business to consider and the recommended theory model together with a content marketing plan can help businesses to implement it in practice.