Research2(2)

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Chapter One – Introduction

According to First Research, the US cosmetic, beauty supply, and perfume store (beauty

store) industry includes about 15,000 stores with combined annual revenue of about $14 billion

and is forecasted to be about $265 billion by 2017. This is an immense market, considering it is

comprised of mostly women. When paired with Business Source data suggestion that 47% of

women check their social media pages daily, an ideal marketing technique makes way. We live

in a world surrounded by social media. It's part of everything we do, and everything we do is

part of social media. It's the future of our country and the future of marketing, but is social

media effective for marketing cosmetics?

The nature and purpose of this study is to be able to present our findings and research

to a cosmetic company with the hopes of generating new ways for them to gain customers and

boost sales through social media platforms. By including age demographics, location

demographics, behavior analysis’ and research of the influential medias in our research, we will

be able to help our client target consumers. This research will allow our clients to target many

consumers via social media, by breaking down who purchases makeup, why they purchase

makeup, what amount they spend on makeup, and how effective they think social media

marketing currently is to their buying habits.

We expect that our research will show many opportunities for social media marketing of

cosmetics. The data collection and analysis will hopefully show what women want and where

they want it when it comes to cosmetics on social media. By finding out who uses social media

and how they feel about social media marketing that currently exists, our clients will be able to

focus on what is effective and what needs to be developed more. Through our findings we will

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collaborate the most effective social media marketing solution that will drive sales for our

customer. This information is imperative to marketing these products accurately and

appropriately for sales growth.

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Chapter Two - Secondary Data Research

Social media has revolutionized the way that cosmetic companies connect and engage

with consumers worldwide. Today social media is used as a line of communication between

target audience and the cosmetic companies themselves. The data research suggests that social

media marketing is the up-and-coming area for marketers all over. Just under ¾ of consumers

under the age of 35 learned of new brands through social media (Statista 2012). Social media

provides a very high level of customer engagement and is able to enhance communication with

their consumers, meaning they are able to generate feedbacks.

More importantly cosmetic companies are able to use social media platforms to more

accurately target and approach their consumers. A study done by Social Media Examiner shows

that social media marketing increased exposure by 92%, as of May 2012 (Social Media

Marketing 2013). Consumers are seeing and trying products they may never have had interest

in before. This shows incredible potential for new products to make way into consumers’

homes. According to an Ispos study on Statista.com in April 2013, 32% of women made a

purchase based on a social media post and 36% based on a social media advertisement (Share

of U.S. Consumers 2012). In 2012, worldwide social media revenue was at 16.9 billion dollars,

according to a Gartner study (Social Media Marketing 2013).

With social media becoming part of everyday activity, it’s important we take this as an

opportunity for marketing to grow. Evidence shows that “at least half of Twitter and Facebook

users said they have become more likely to talk about, and recommend/ purchase company

products after following the company on social media (The Atlantic, 2011).

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Chapter Three - Methodology

For our research, we needed to reach over 100 women. We decided that an online

survey would be the easiest way of collecting that much data. Through this technique, we were

able to reach women of all ages from all over the state of Rhode Island.

Survey

Gender:

Male

Female

This question was important because we’re looking for data specifically from

women, so this gave us the opportunity to weed out the unneeded data.

Age:

18 to 20

21 to 24

25 to 29

30+

This question was necessary so we could differentiate the women we were

getting information from. Age can have a big effect on women’s use of

cosmetics, as well as social media..Younger generations typically spend more

time on social media and use different social media platforms than older

generations. The type of cosmetics used also differ between age.

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Race/Ethnicity:

African American/Black

American Indian/Alaskan Native

Asian

Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander

Hispanic/Latino

Caucasian/White

2+

Different races and ethnicities have varied opinions on the use of cosmetics and

even social media. Some countries don’t allow either, so this may impact some

women when they come to America.

What is your current education level?

No high school diploma

High School Diploma/GED

Undergrad

Graduate

Masters

Education level is important to give us an understanding of their spending habits.

Higher education levels usually have a more disposable income to spend on

items, such as cosmetics. The information we gather will tell us if they are in fact

using it as so.

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Which county do you live in?

Bristol

Kent

Newport

Providence

Washington

Where a person currently lives greatly impacts their choices about fashion and

cosmetics. Rhode Island has everything from the city, to the beach, to the

countryside, this could show us if one area has a more prevalent cosmetics use

than another.

What is your attitude towards cosmetics?

Couldn’t be bothered Never leave the house without it

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

If a woman “couldn’t be bothered” by cosmetics, then no type of social media

marketing will have an effect on them. Meanwhile, if they “never leave the house

without it”, these are the women we’re interested in reaching.

How much have you spent on cosmetics in the past 30 days?

$1 to $20

$21 to $50

$51 to $75

$76 to $100

$100+

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The more money a woman spends on cosmetics, the more likely they are

to learning new techniques and products.

After seeing this tutorial, how interested are you in finding out more about the products

used?

Whatever Tell me now!

0 1 2 3 4 5

This question gives us an idea of what women are looking for when they see

cosmetics on social media. We know that the quicker you convey information the

more likely you are to catch a person’s attention. We believe pictures/tutorials

are the most successful form of social media marketing for cosmetics, since they

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are the easier at catching someone's attention, and this question will show us if

that’s true.

How likely are you to purchase cosmetics based on the following?

Very Unlikely Unlikely Undecided Likely Very

Likely

Facebook reviews o o o o o

In store sale prices o o o o o

YouTube tutorials o o o o o

Pinterest techniques o o o o o

Instagram influences o o o o o

Personal preference o o o o o

This is the most important question. Knowing what impacts a woman’s cosmetics

purchase can tell us everything we need to build a successful marketing plan.

How much time do you spend on social media per day?

0 to 30 minutes

31 minutes to 1 hour

Less than 2 hours

2 hours or more

Social media usage will give us an idea of how important social media is to these

women. Infrequent use would suggest that anything they see isn’t important or

useful to them.

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Which social media sites do you use daily?

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Pinterest

Tumblr

YouTube

This will show us which social media sites are most effective to market to women

and whether text, pictures, videos or a combination is most important to social

media users based on the platform they use most. If a social media site has very

low usage, it’s not worth marketing there.

How many cosmetic artists do you follow on social media?

0 to 3

4 to 6

7 to 10

11 or more

This question gives us an idea of how many women already follow cosmetics on

social media. If they’re already seeing the marketing that’s being done, they’re

most susceptible to advanced social media marketing.

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Chapter Four - Data Analysis

Based on the data we were able to collect via survey research we are now able to better

understand our target market, from a age demographic, psychographic and geographic

standpoint. Based on the data we are now able to create an image of who is buying cosmetics,

what kind of cosmetics they are buying, who is spending how much, and whether or not social

media does have an impact on the purchasing habits of individuals in the Rhode Island

geographic area.

Our gatherings show that 164

individuals had taken our survey. Based on

these individuals answers, we are able to

assume that our target market is

predominantly; females between the ages

of 25-29, who live in Providence county,

have or are obtaining no more than an undergraduate degree, and who primarily spend more

than 2 hours per day on social media, with

Facebook being most popular. The cross

tabulations made are included in this

research to better correlate relationships

between the questions that were answered

and by who.

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We found that 49% of our survey

participants say they have not spent

more than 20 dollars on cosmetics in

the last 30 days. Through our first

cross tabulation, it appears that

Bristol County has the highest

percentage of people paying more than $75 on their cosmetics monthly. With Bristol County

having Rhode Island’s second highest median income at about $71,000 a year, it sounds

accurate that those consumers

would have more of a disposable

income to spend (US Places,

2015). It also appears as though

their level of education doesn’t

have an effect on the amount

they spend, which we didn’t expect to be the case.

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The next cross tabulation demonstrates the relationship found between the various

social media channels used to influence potential customers to buy, how likely they are to use

the website as a purchasing

behavioral tool, and the ages

on the respondents. Through

this we’re able to see that

social media does play a role

in the purchases of most

women in the age range of

25 to 29 years old. While the

“Very Likely” responses for the social media options are very small, “Likely” was the most

popular response from almost all of the age groups. Although Facebook may not phase many,

this illustration also shows that they are most influenced to purchase based on the influence of

YouTube tutorials, in store prices, Instagram influences, and by personal preference. This shows

that social media has potential to influence these women on their future purchases.

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Chapter Five - Conclusion & Recommendations

Based on the information we were able to gather from the individuals who took our

survey, we didn’t discover the information we expected. Although prior research shows that

social media has a very extensive influence on the purchasing behaviors of cosmetic consumers,

we found quite the opposite. The individuals who participated in our survey research answered

almost contradicting to expectations. For example, it was expected that there were going to be

a lot more individuals who followed multiple cosmetic artists on social media. Our survey

research provided that 108 out of 138 responses follow between “0-3” social media cosmetic

artist. We were also surprised to find only 9 out of 139 individuals spend over $100 per month

on cosmetics. The most shocking evidence found was the primary influence on their spending

behaviors. The ratio of buying influences of personal preference/in store sales: any social media

platforms were a shocking 71: 40!

Through out findings, we determined that social media marketing techniques for

cosmetics have not been effective and need to be revamped. Based on our findings, we believe

that cosmetic companies need to use social media as a ‘call to action’ through giveaways and

contests. If consumers are engaged with the company and their products, they’ll be more likely

to try new products or brands they wouldn’t have thought of. Through giveaways, they’ll also

be able to see what their consumers are looking for. Women aren’t going to enter a contest to

win a product they have no interest in. Better yet, when they win that product, they’re more

likely to tell their friends and family all about the product. This itself could increase social media

followers, as well as sales!

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The biggest change we would make to our survey would be having the ability to “drop”

people from the survey once they chose “Male” and/or “30+” on the survey. This would’ve

given us the ability to have data accurate for the demographic we were trying to research. We

also would’ve limited the use of survey questions using a slider. This type of response couldn’t

be used on cross tabulations so our data sets were incomplete. The questions we used sliders

on contained important information that could’ve helped prove how effective social media can

be.

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Works Cited

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November 2014 <http://0-mergent.firstresearch-

learn.com.helin.uri.edu/industry.aspx?chapter=0&pid=294>

“Infographic: Using Social Media to Build Brand Loyalty.” The Atlantic. July 2011. Web. 11 May

2015. <http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/07/infographic-using-

social-media-to-build-brand-loyalty/241701/>

“Rhode Island Median Household Income by County.” US Places. Web. 10 May 2015.

<http://www.us-places.com/Rhode-Island/median-household-income-by-County.htm>

“Social Media Targeting Effectiveness Gender 2013.” Statista. Ipsos; April 2-16, 2013.

Web. 29 September 2014.

<http://0-www.statista.com.helin.uri.edu/study/15449/social-media-marketing-in-the-

us-statista-dossier/>

“Share of U.S. consumers learning about brands via social networks as of

November 2012.” Statista. Ipsos; November 6-20, 2012. Web. 7 November 2014.

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“Social Media Marketing in the US.” Statista. Statista Dossier 2013. Web PowerPoint. 29

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