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SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES A study o f social media strategies on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter exemplified through the fashion industry MASTER THESIS CAND.LING.MERC English, Marketing Communication & PR Marlene Hviid Britt Jakobsen Department of Business Communication, School of Business and Social Science, AU Supervisor: Poul Erik Flyvholm Jørgensen January 2013
Abstract This thesis is an analysis of social media strategies within the fashion industry. The main focus of the thesis is based on the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, fashion blogs, and the upcoming micro blog and photo-‐sharing device Instagram. Three fashion brands, British Topshop, Danish Samsøe & Samsøe, and American Marc Jacobs have been used as examples, and their individual social media strategies have formed the basis of the analysis. The purpose of the thesis has been to investigate which strategies create positive brand attitude in the fashion industry ranging from high street fashion to luxury fashion. To create a basic understanding of the topic in question, a background chapter was written in which the reader can learn basic information about the three brands, the fashion industry in general as well as the various social media types, and how they are used in the world of fashion. This serves as a guide for the reader and provides a basic understanding of the overall theme. Furthermore, the technical terms within the social media world are explained. After this we found it relevant to include a chapter explaining the data collection and the applied method. Seven semi-‐structured in-‐depth interviews formed the data and were carried out step by step according to a so-‐called topic guide, which we created in the initial phase of the thesis. In order to select relevant respondents for our interviews we used specific segmentation criteria determined by means of variables such as age, gender, interest, and occupation. Furthermore, we managed to select respondents of six different nationalities. In order to legitimatise the thesis we applied and discussed theories created by well renowned theorists within the field of consumer behaviour, buying behaviour, communication strategies, social media and blogging. All theories were gathered from scientific articles, texts and publications and elements such as validity and topicality were taken into account. Hereafter the collected results of the interviews were presented in the analysis and exemplified via quotes and statements from the seven respondents. Each answer has been thoroughly examined and analysed as every opinion was of great value to us. The analysis was
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based on the theories presented in the earlier chapters and formed the basis on which the discussion was carried out. The purpose of the discussion was to establish a nuanced answer to the research question of the thesis, namely: “Is it true that a social media strategy entailing competitions, events, and visual content from the company creates positive reactions among consumers?” Based on a hypothesis stating: “It is our assumption that social media are very important for every company, as a strong online presence will result in a positive brand attitude. However, it should be noted that a strong online presence just as well could create a negative brand attitude, if not done correctly and if it does not satisfy the needs of the consumers. We believe that consumers expect daily interaction on various social media to keep them interested – and those daily posts should be diverse and preferably containing visuals as that is an evident way to generate attention. Furthermore, we would argue that fashion blogs are closely connected to a brand’s social media strategy, as they are great sources of inspiration for consumers and should be used actively by brands. In order to confirm or disconfirm this hypothesis, we raise the following research question.” Through the discussion we were able to examine the research question and the raised hypothesis. While some of our assumptions proved true, the opinions of the respondents disproved others. Generally, the respondents liked visuals and events, whereas competitions were perceived as annoying and a waste of time. Blogging, as a part of the social media world, was regarded as being a great source of inspiration yet not as idolising as alerted in the theory on the matter. Moreover, the issue of English versus native language was accounted for and proved to very much be a question of appearing international or not. Overall, it was difficult to gather unambiguous answers to the questions, as taste and believes are a very individual matter. In order to validate the thesis a paragraph concerning criticism was written. Here the relevance and the news worthiness of the used sources, theories and respondents were discussed and accounted for.
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Finally the results of the findings and the main interest areas were summed up in the conclusion and reflected upon. This was finished off with a “Do’s and Don’ts” list that served as a brief overview of the overall results. In the back of the thesis references and appendixes can be found. Number of characters: 4,200
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Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................ 12 1.1 MOTIVATION ...................................................................................................................................................... 12 1.2 HYPOTHESIS ....................................................................................................................................................... 12 1.2.1 RESEARCH QUESTION ........................................................................................................................................................ 13 1.3 METHOD ............................................................................................................................................................. 13 1.4 THEORY .............................................................................................................................................................. 14 1.5 STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................................................................ 14 1.6 DELIMITATION ................................................................................................................................................... 15 2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................... 17 2.1 THE FASHION INDUSTRY ................................................................................................................................... 17 2.1.1 CLASSES OF FASHION ........................................................................................................................................................ 18 2.1.2 CONSUMER TRENDS .......................................................................................................................................................... 19 2.1.3 THE THREE FASHION BRANDS ........................................................................................................................................ 20 2.1.3.1 Topshop ......................................................................................................................................................................... 20 2.1.3.2 Samsøe & Samsøe ...................................................................................................................................................... 21 2.1.3.3 Marc Jacobs .................................................................................................................................................................. 22 2.2 SOCIAL MEDIA ................................................................................................................................................... 22 2.2.1 DEFINITION OF SOCIAL MEDIA ........................................................................................................................................ 23 2.2.2 THE DIFFERENT SOCIAL MEDIA ...................................................................................................................................... 23 2.2.3 SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ............................................................................................................................................ 24 2.2.3.1 Facebook ....................................................................................................................................................................... 24 2.2.4 MICRO-‐BLOGGING SITES ................................................................................................................................................... 25 2.2.4.1 Twitter ............................................................................................................................................................................ 26 2.2.5 PHOTO AND VIDEO-‐SHARING SITES ............................................................................................................................... 26 2.2.5.1 Instagram ...................................................................................................................................................................... 27 2.2.6 BLOGS ................................................................................................................................................................................... 28 2.3 THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA WITHIN FASHION ................................................................................................ 29 3 DATA AND METHOD ....................................................................................................................................... 32 3.1 METHOD ............................................................................................................................................................. 32 3.1.1 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................ 32
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3.1.2 DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................................................................................ 33 3.1.2.1 Structure of Data Collection .................................................................................................................................. 33 3.1.3 TOPIC GUIDE ........................................................................................................................................................................ 35 3.2 INTERVIEWS ....................................................................................................................................................... 35 3.2.1 INTERVIEW STAGES ........................................................................................................................................................... 36 3.2.2 CONTENT MAPPING AND CONTENT MINING QUESTIONS .......................................................................................... 37 3.3 APPROACH ......................................................................................................................................................... 38 3.3.1 PARTICIPANTS .................................................................................................................................................................... 38 3.3.1.1 Segmentation ............................................................................................................................................................... 38 3.3.2 DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................................................................................. 40 3.3.2.1 Topic Guide .................................................................................................................................................................. 41 3.3.3 INTERVIEW PHASES ........................................................................................................................................................... 42 3.3.4 EXAMPLE FROM INTERVIEW WITH PARTICIPANT 1 ..................................................................................................... 42 4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ....................................................................................................................... 45 4.1 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR .................................................................................................................................... 45 4.1.1 BUYING BEHAVIOUR .......................................................................................................................................................... 45 4.2 COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES ......................................................................................................................... 46 4.2.1 LOGOS, ETHOS, AND PATHOS ........................................................................................................................................... 46 4.2.1.1 Logos ............................................................................................................................................................................... 47 4.2.1.2 Ethos ............................................................................................................................................................................... 47 4.2.1.3 Pathos ............................................................................................................................................................................. 47 4.2.2 ABE-‐MODEL ....................................................................................................................................................................... 48 4.2.3 THE 7C’S FRAMEWORK .................................................................................................................................................... 49 4.2.3.1 Context ........................................................................................................................................................................... 50 4.2.3.2 Content ........................................................................................................................................................................... 50 4.2.3.3 Community ................................................................................................................................................................... 51 4.2.3.4 Customisation ............................................................................................................................................................. 51 4.2.3.5 Communication .......................................................................................................................................................... 51 4.2.3.6 Connection .................................................................................................................................................................... 51 4.2.3.7 Commerce ..................................................................................................................................................................... 52 4.2.4 COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................................ 52 4.2.4.1 Brand Attitude Strategy .......................................................................................................................................... 54 4.2.4.1.1 Implicit and Explicit Brand Attitude .............................................................................................................. 55 4.2.4.2 The Rossiter-‐Percy Grid .......................................................................................................................................... 55
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4.2.4.2.1 Low-‐Involvement Informational ..................................................................................................................... 56 4.2.4.2.2 Low-‐Involvement Transformational ............................................................................................................. 56 4.2.4.2.3 High-‐Involvement Informational .................................................................................................................... 56 4.2.4.2.4 High-‐Involvement Transformational ............................................................................................................ 57 4.3 SOCIAL MEDIA ................................................................................................................................................... 57 4.3.1 WEB 2.0, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND CONSUMERS ................................................................................................................. 58 4.4 BLOGGING .......................................................................................................................................................... 59 4.4.1 VALUE FOR BUSINESSES ................................................................................................................................................... 59 4.4.2 THE BLOGOSPHERE ........................................................................................................................................................... 60 5 ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................................ 63 5.1 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR .................................................................................................................................... 63 5.1.1 PEER INFLUENCE ................................................................................................................................................................ 63 5.1.2 BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF WOMEN .................................................................................................................................... 64 5.1.3 SEARCH FOR INFORMATION ............................................................................................................................................. 65 5.2 COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES ......................................................................................................................... 65 5.2.1 EPL AND ABE .................................................................................................................................................................... 65 5.2.1.1 Ethos Appeal ................................................................................................................................................................ 66 5.2.1.2 Pathos Appeal .............................................................................................................................................................. 66 5.2.1.3 Emotional Approach ................................................................................................................................................ 67 5.2.2 LANGUAGE ........................................................................................................................................................................... 67 5.2.3 CONTENT – CONTEXT – COMMUNITY – COMMUNICATION ........................................................................................ 68 5.2.3.1 Content ........................................................................................................................................................................... 68 5.2.3.2 Context ........................................................................................................................................................................... 69 5.2.3.3 Community and Communication ........................................................................................................................ 71 5.2.4 BRAND ATTITUDE .............................................................................................................................................................. 72 5.2.4.1 Involvement and Motivation ................................................................................................................................ 73 5.3 SOCIAL MEDIA ................................................................................................................................................... 74 5.3.1 COMPETITIONS ................................................................................................................................................................... 74 5.3.2 EVENTS ................................................................................................................................................................................ 75 5.3.3 VISUALS ................................................................................................................................................................................ 76 5.3.4 INSTAGRAM ......................................................................................................................................................................... 78 5.3.5 TWITTER AND TEXT-‐BASED POSTS ................................................................................................................................ 78 5.4 BLOGGING .......................................................................................................................................................... 79 5.4.1 THE VALUE OF BLOGGING ................................................................................................................................................ 79
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5.4.2 ARE BLOGGERS CELEBRITIES? ........................................................................................................................................ 80 6 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 82 7 CRITICISM ........................................................................................................................................................... 90 7.1 SOURCES ............................................................................................................................................................. 90 7.2 THEORIES ........................................................................................................................................................... 90 7.3 RESPONDENTS ................................................................................................................................................... 92 7.4 VALIDITY ............................................................................................................................................................ 92 8 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................................... 95 9 DO’S AND DON’T’S ............................................................................................................................................ 98 10 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................................... 100 10.1 BOOKS ........................................................................................................................................................... 100 10.2 ARTICLES ...................................................................................................................................................... 101 10.3 TV BROADCAST ........................................................................................................................................... 104 10.4 WEBSITES ..................................................................................................................................................... 104 10.4.1 FACEBOOK ......................................................................................................................................................................... 105 10.4.2 INSTAGRAM ....................................................................................................................................................................... 105 10.4.3 TWITTER ............................................................................................................................................................................ 105 11 APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEW 1 ..................................................................................................................... 107 12 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW 2 ..................................................................................................................... 112 13 APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW 3 ..................................................................................................................... 120 14 APPENDIX 4: INTERVIEW 4 ..................................................................................................................... 124 15 APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEW 5 ..................................................................................................................... 130 16 APPENDIX 6: INTERVIEW 6 ..................................................................................................................... 135 17 APPENDIX 7: INTERVIEW 7 ..................................................................................................................... 139 18 APPENDIX 8: BLOG POSTS ....................................................................................................................... 143
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19 APPENDIX 9: FACEBOOK COMPETITIONS .......................................................................................... 144 20 APPENDIX 10: FACEBOOK EVENTS ....................................................................................................... 145 21 APPENDIX 11: ”EVERYDAY LIFE” ON FACEBOOK ............................................................................ 146 22 APPENDIX 12: CELEBRITIES ON FACEBOOK ..................................................................................... 147 23 APPENDIX 13: INSTAGRAM POSTS ....................................................................................................... 148 24 APPENDIX 14: TWITTER AND TEXT-‐BASED POSTS ........................................................................ 149
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Abstract C Chapter 1: Introduction C Chapter 2: Background Information Social Media B Blogging M The Fashion Industry M Social Media in the Fashion World B Chapter 3: Method & Data Data Collection B Interview M Our Approach C Chapter 4: Theoretical Framework Consumer Behaviour M Communication – Logos, Ethos, Pathos M Communication – ABE Model M Communication – 7C’s B Communication – Brand Attitude B Social Media B Blogging M Chapter 5: Analysis Consumer Behaviour M Communication – Ethos, Pathos, Logos M Communication – ABE M Communication – Language M Communication – 7C’s B Communication – Brand Attitude B Social Media B Blogging M Chapter 6: Discussion C Chapter 7: Criticism C Chapter 8: Conclusion C Afterword C Appendixes C
C: In Collaboration M: Marlene Hviid B: Britt Jakobsen
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ”This it where it all begins… #get #ready”
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1 Introduction This master thesis is an analysis of social media strategies within the fashion industry. The main focus of the thesis will be based on the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, fashion blogs, and the upcoming photo-‐sharing device Instagram. The analysis and discussion are based on results from in-‐depth interviews. Three fashion brands (Topshop, Samsøe & Samsøe, Marc Jacobs) will be used as examples, and their individual social media strategies will be the foundation of the analysis. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate which communication strategies create positive brand attitude in the fashion industry ranging from high street fashion to luxury fashion.
1.1 Motivation Our motivation for choosing this research area is due to a general interest in social media and a wish to examine various social media strategies further. We regard social media as being one of the most important channels of communication and an inevitable area for most businesses. The fashion industry, as the one in question for the analysis, is well suited for a thesis about social media as it heavily depends on popularity and media coverage. From a more scientific point of view social media have experienced an enormous growth during the last decade and are on top of mind with most marketing managers. The fashion industry is an excellent choice for an academic paper on social media, as fashion, cars and other lifestyle brands are the ones most hyped online. Furthermore, pictures have become an essential part of social media, and the aesthetic world of fashion is highly dependant on visuals. Social media are an area in which not very much research has been conducted yet, and we believe that a thesis on the matter is of great relevance for conveying future knowledge.
1.2 Hypothesis It is our assumption that social media are very important for every company, as a strong online presence will result in a positive brand attitude. However, it should be noted that a strong online presence just as well could create a negative brand attitude, if not done correctly and if it does not satisfy the needs of the consumers. We believe that consumers expect daily interaction on various social media to keep them interested – and those daily
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posts should be diverse and preferably containing visuals as that is an evident way to generate attention. Furthermore, we would argue that fashion blogs are closely connected to a brand’s social media strategy, as they are great sources of inspiration for consumers and should be used actively by brands. In order to confirm or disconfirm this hypothesis, we raise the following research question.
1.2.1 Research Question Is it true that a social media strategy entailing competitions, events, and visual content from the company creates positive reactions among consumers? By asking this question, we hope to learn how the consumers process different social media strategies and which elements they regard as being appealing and which they find irrelevant or maybe even annoying. We believe that competitions and events are attention-‐pulling factors, and we see visuals as the key to keeping consumers engaged. We have an assumption that consumers wish to see different content from different brands depending on whether it is high street fashion or within the category of luxury goods. Therefore, we have chosen to exemplify our analysis through three companies that all belong to the fashion industry, yet they are very different in terms of their image and price range.
1.3 Method The method applied in the thesis is a qualitative analysis based on semi-‐structured in-‐depth interviews entailing non-‐Danish speakers interested in social media and fashion. Seven respondents have been selected for the purpose of interviews and form the basis of our data collection. In our search for respondents, our segmentation criteria have been gender, age, nationality, occupation, and personal interests, as these criteria where important in order to validate the analysis. Age and gender are important factors as women in their twenties dominate social media as well as being within the target audience of all three brands. Moreover, personal interest was of significance as our research demanded people with a certain interest in fashion and the world of social media. The data collected in the in-‐depth
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interviews are used in the analysis in order to confirm or disconfirm our hypothesis and research question. 1.4 Theory The analysis of the thesis is based upon several theories within the fields of communication, consumer behaviour, social media, and blogging. Consumer behaviour is important to cover as we have argued that the general buying behaviour of our respondents is significant to determine in order to understand their preferences. We apply a scientific article concerning buying behaviour (Grant and Stephen 2005). Regarding communication, we have found the Ethos, Pathos, Logos originated from Aristotle (Andersen 2007), the ABE-‐model, which is created by Percy and Elliot (Reynolds 2001), 7C’s Framework of web design by Rayport and Jaworski (2002) as well as theory about brand attitude and the Percy-‐Rossiter Grid (Percy and Elliot 2009) relevant. The Ethos, Pathos, Logos approach and the ABE-‐model help determine which buttons to push in order to attract the attention of the consumers. The 7C’s Framework is applied to Facebook pages and accounts for which features are important as it determines the consumers’ expectations to online communication. Brand attitude is highly relevant as our research question asks what creates positive reactions, and such reactions can only be measured if the respondents have an attitude towards the brand or at least the industry in general. Social media theory is examined on basis of online communication by Kotler and through a scientific article regarding brand attitudes and web 2.0. Finally, blogging has been surveyed through three articles, which discuss the value and impact of blogging. We would argue that blogging and social media cannot be kept apart, especially since many companies use bloggers as an active part of their social media strategy. All theories have been selected carefully to secure relevance and coherence between the data collection and the analysis in order to provide the best possible answer to the research question.
1.5 Structure We have chosen to the structure our thesis by dividing it into chapters. The chapter following the introduction is background information in order to ensure basic knowledge of social media and the fashion industry, as well as the brands in question in the analysis. The
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background chapter is followed by chapters regarding data and method and the theoretical framework. The method chapter introduces theory regarding in-‐depth interviews and segmentation, and it also contains a description of the approach applied in the interviews. The theory chapter briefly defines the selected theories, which we have applied in the analysis. Afterwards the analysis is carried out, and it is divided into paragraphs connected to the different themes of the thesis. Hereafter, the findings of the analysis are discussed thoroughly. Following the discussion is a short chapter on criticism in which we present the difficulties we have stumbled across in our research. Lastly, the findings and results are summed up in the conclusion and exemplified in an afterword that states the do’s and don’ts for fashion brands. A bibliography entailing all the applied literature and online sources is to be found in the end, followed by interviews as well as other relevant appendixes.
1.6 Delimitation As this master thesis is written in the field of communication, there are social media areas that will not be covered. This includes the more marketing and economic oriented field of return of investment (ROI), which could also have been interesting to look into, as every field of communication is only relevant if it results in profit at the bottom line. Furthermore, search engine optimisation as well as search engine marketing (SEO/SEM) are not to be discussed in the thesis as it differs too much from the research question, which we wish to answer. However, both topics are relevant to the marketing of every brand, as online visibility create more awareness to the brand. Moreover, the area of media design will not be focused upon, as this would be too comprehensive for this thesis, which focuses more on the effect rather than the creation of social media design. This thesis is only focused on the communication objective ‘brand attitude’ and not the remaining three objects: category need, brand awareness, and brand purchase intention. Brand awareness has been excluded from the thesis, as we would argue that awareness of a certain brand is already present when consumers choose to follow a brand on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. The intention is if anything to create loyalty and ensure continuous interest.
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CHAPTER 2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION ”This is what it’s all about #fashion #socialmedia @samsoesamsoe @marcjacobsitl @topshop”
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2 Background Information The aim of this chapter is to introduce the fields that our thesis lies within. As the thesis is exemplified through three fashion brands, we find it relevant to state the development of the fashion industry and to give a short introduction of the three brands in question. Moreover, as we are writing a thesis on the basis of online communication and media strategies this chapter will introduce social media as well as the combination of fashion and social media.
2.1 The Fashion Industry The fashion industry is a global industry, where fashion designers, manufacturers, merchandisers, and retailers from all over the world collaborate to design, manufacture, and sell clothing, shoes, and accessories. The industry is characterised by short product life cycles, erratic consumer demands, an abundance of product variety, and complex supply chains. In the United Kingdom alone the fashion industry’s contribution to the GDP in 2009 was estimated to £37 billions, and in 2008 British consumers spent over £46 billions on clothes and shoes only (Fox 2010). Also fashion weeks are increasingly becoming rentable for the four fashion capitals of the world: New York, Paris, Milan and London, which are some of the most popular and most visited. As an example London Fashion Week makes £20 millions a year for the capital and draws in orders of £100 millions. In the United States CNN Money puts Wall Mart on top of the fortune five hundred for the second year in a row, declaring the retail industry to be one of the country’s most essential (CNN Money 2011). Finally, in Denmark the business site Top1000 names the retail industry to be the second largest in the country. However, they also point out that it is an industry, which to some degree is depending on season, making Christmas time the most vital period of the year (Top1000.dk 2012). This year the fashion industry was once and for all firmly established as a highly relevant field when political leaders from all over the world were gathered at a conference in Rio de Janeiro to discuss how to make fashion more sustainable. In an article from the British newspaper The Guardian the development in the fashion industry during the last 20-‐30 years is discussed. The article points out that from the late 1980’s to now there have been a dramatic shift in the number of collections and the time it takes to produce. While it used to be common
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to have two main collections a year, it is now normal to have as much as 18 collections per year. This tendency has obviously also changed the supply-‐chain system and changed the buying behaviour of the retailers. Their customers increasingly demand fast and cheap fashion, which has also meant a shift in the demographic placement of suppliers. Today, almost three quarters of the world clothing export is produced in developing countries with the top three exporters being Asia with 54%, South America with 14%, and Africa with 6% (Pasquinelli 2012). Over the course of decades, large fashion retailers have acquired significant power as they are in direct contact with the end customer and can therefore influence preferences. Clothing is now cheaper than at any time in history. In the US prices fell by 8.5 % from 1997-‐2010 while prices of all other products rose by 57.3 % in the same period. In the UK, between 2003 and 2007 garment prices fell by an average of 10 %, and in 2006 people bought a third more clothes than in 2002. As a direct consequence, textile production has doubled over the last thirty years. In 1977 the total demand amounted to 31 million tons of fibres. In 2007 this figure had risen to nearly 8 million tons. The above is a clear indicator of the very large field that the fashion industry covers. It is an industry in constant development and a global actor which now more than ever before needs to consider its actions looking at it from a socially responsible point of view.
2.1.1 Classes of Fashion Similar to societies divided by social classes this is also the case in the fashion industry. At the lowest end of the price range the so-‐called high-‐street brands can be found. These are the shops that sell clothes, shoes etc. which the ordinary public can afford. The term is British and can be found in several street names like ‘Kensington Highstreet’ in central London (Oxford Dictionaries). Often these stores put a greater effort in competing on price rather than quality. However, during the last decade the high-‐street brands have proven highly successful in capturing the tendencies as soon as they appear on the catwalk. This enables them to sell
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contemporary fashion but on a budget that most people can afford. Good examples of high-‐ street brands are H&M, Topshop and Forever 21. At the other end of the spectrum there is the luxury category. There is no standard definition of luxury but most people in Europe and the United States associate luxury with being expensive, high quality and prestigious. There are two models of luxury brand; the first one is brands with a long and proud history behind them and which are rooted in a famous designer. This type of brands is often seen in the European fashion houses like Chanel and Prada. The second model is brands without the long historical background, which instead create a story for themselves as well as establishing an image based on innovative marketing strategies. These brands are often American “newcomers” in the fashion industry. Good examples of this genre are Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs (Schroeder 2006: 75). Lastly, the middle part of the spectrum should be explained. Several brands can be placed in between high-‐street fashion and luxury fashion. These are brands, which often express quality, an eye for details and an overall more commercial style. The price is typically affordable but not exactly budget friendly. Banana Republic, Samsøe & Samsøe and Levi’s fit into the category.
2.1.2 Consumer Trends Identifying and understanding consumer trends is a highly important element in fashion market research. Watching trends helps a company develop intuition and gain inspiration. It is essential to acknowledge that consumer needs will change simultaneously with political, economic, and social changes. The author of the book Marketing Fashion (Posner 2011: 121) divides tendencies in consumer behavior into groups in order to understand the different trends. Of relevance for this thesis are the tendencies labeled Perfect Pieces, Generation G, Sellsumers, and Fashion Online. Perfect pieces refer to the fact that consumers increasingly prefer well-‐considered fashion items. They want basics in good quality designed to last for seasons and seasons. Classic fashion emblems are items such as the perfect trench coat, the little black dress or well-‐fitted jeans. A growing online culture has made way for the so-‐called
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Generation G, which is short for generosity. This term covers the increasing tendency of donating, doing charity, swapping clothes, recycling, organic preferences and carrying about the community in general. Sellsumers describes the development of innovation and participation among consumers. As a result of the global recession consumers no longer merely consume, a growing number also sell creative output to corporations or fellow consumers. These three categories can all fit in the last grouping namely Fashion Online. A majority of consumers have one or several times purchased fashion items online, a trend that is growing by the minute. Not everyone lives near a shopping mall or a certain fashion store, which makes online shopping a perfect solution. Fashion e-‐tailers are experiencing phenomenal growth and the popular British online retailer ASOS reported sales up 104 % by March 2009. All elements are relevant to consider when trying establishing the needs and preferences of a brands target group.
2.1.3 The Three Fashion Brands As the analysis is exemplified through three fashion brands, which have been chosen on basis of national origin (a Danish, a British and an American brand) and price range, a brief introduction to the brands will be found here.
2.1.3.1 Topshop Topshop is a British high-‐street fashion brand based in London and specialises in fashion clothing, shoes, make-‐up and accessories. The company is owned by the knighted businessman Sir Philip Green; it was founded in 1964, and now has over 300 stores in Britain alone. Besides from large flagship stores in London, New York and Chicago, boutiques in Europe, Asia and Australia the company’s webshop ships to more than 100 different countries worldwide (Topshop About Us). The biggest of the flagship stores is placed on Oxford Circus in London and besides from its enormous size of 8,400 m2, which makes it the largest retail store in the world, its services include a nail bar, a one-‐hour tailoring service, a hair salon by catwalk hairdresser Daniel Hersheson, an EAT café and sandwich bar, and a one-‐hour delivery service whereby customers can place an order to the store and their products will be delivered to them by a Vespa scooter within an hour. Topshop is part of the Arcadia Group,
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which also owns a number of other retail chains such as Topman, Burton, Etam, Evans, Miss Selfridges, and Dorothy Perkins. The image and style of Topshop primarily appeals to urban teenagers and women in the early and mid-‐twenties and generally has an easy affordable price range. Furthermore, the company is known for its cooperation with high profiled British celebrities like Kate Moss and Pixie Lott and for its strong code of conduct regarding the environment and sustainability. Topshop is involved in several charity organizations such as Fashion Targets Breast Cancer and Age UK. However, The Arcadia Group has been criticised for the pay and conditions of both overseas and UK workers by anti-‐sweatshop groups. Sir Philip Green denied Sunday Times allegations in 2007 that his firm used overseas sweatshops where workers in Mauritius were paid pitiful wages. In 2010, Sir Philip was again accused of using sweatshops, this time by Channel 4's Dispatches programme. It was asserted that he was using factories in Britain in which workers were paid less than half the legal minimum wage, an accusation Sir Philip Green did not admit to either.
2.1.3.2 Samsøe & Samsøe The Danish company was established in 1993 in Copenhagen by the two brothers Klaus and Preben Samsøe. In 2000 the businessmen Per Ulrik Andersen and Peter Sextus took over the company and established the head office in Copenhagen. What started off as a jewellery brand today sells and produces men’s wear, women’s wear, shoes and accessories. In 2004 Samsøe & Samsøe launched its first women’s line, in 2008 the first shoe collection, and in 2011 a denim line. The company was this year nominated for the Danish E-‐commerce Award and for the Best Danish Brand at DANSK Fashion Award (Samsøe & Samsøe: About Samsøe) as well as nominated as the Basic Brand of the Year in 2011 at Costume Awards. Presently, the company has flagship stores in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway as well as a Scandinavian acknowledged webshop. Samsøe & Samsøe is known and popular for its very Scandinavian and quite minimalistic design. Its main target audience is men and women at the age of 18-‐30 with an urban and socially active lifestyle. They are typically students or recently qualified who are economically responsible and want value for money. The brand itself describes the collections as a reflection of unique personality, credibility, innovation and quality.
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2.1.3.3 Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs is an American fashion designer and hereby the head designer for Marc Jacobs as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line with more than 200 retail stores in 80 countries. The Marc Jacobs brand was founded in 1993 under the name Marc Jacobs International Company. Furthermore, Marc Jacobs has been the creative director of the French fashion house Louis Vuitton since 1997, a career patch that was made into a documentary in 2007 called Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton. Marc Jacobs is on Time Magazines ‘2010 Time 100’ list of the 100 most influential people in the world and ranked 12th on Out Magazine’s 2011 list of "50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America” (Marc Jacobs Biography). His evolvement in the gay community was clearly expressed when he in 2009 designed shirts demanding the legalisation of gay marriage. During the last decade Marc Jacobs has become a prominent fixture of the New York City celebrity scene, having become something of a celebrity himself. The audience for his fashion shows typically includes high-‐class celebrities and other socialites, who also often are used as campaign models for his collections. Most of his collections make references to the fashions of past decades from the 1940s to the 1980s. While the main line Marc Jacobs, especially due to its price range, usually appeals to women with a certain income, the diffusion line appeals to a much broader target audience. The sub line Marc by Marc Jacobs however still belongs to the luxury category but by selling smaller items such as perfumes and accessories it makes it more affordable for the broader public. Especially handbags from the fusion line are wildly popular in the US as well as in Europe. Besides from women’s clothing, bags, perfumes and accessories Marc Jacobs also designs men’s wear and the children’s line Little Marc. Finally, Marc Jacobs as a designer has won a range of awards among others Women’s Wear Designer of the year in 2010, Accessory Designer of the year in 2005 and Men’s Wear Designer of the year in 2002.
2.2 Social Media As the main theoretical basis of the thesis is social media, this part offers an insight into how social media can be defined, how social media works, and introduces the different social media types with focus on the ones analysed later in the thesis.
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2.2.1 Definition of Social Media The definition of the term “social media” varies from author to author, however a simple way to explain this omnipresent phenomenon is: “The term social media refers to the collection of technologies that capture communication, content and so on across individuals, their friends, and their social networks” (Treadaway and Smith 2010: 24). The definition by Treadaway and Smith (2010) includes all the well-‐known social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, as well as the photo and video-‐sharing sites You Tube, Flickr, and Instagram. In the book Social Media At Work the definition is: “The various electronic tools available to help accelerate and improve our ability to connect, communicate, and collaborate” (Jue, et. al. 2009: 43). The two definitions are alike and centre on communication, content, connection, and collaboration. All C-‐words that are heavily linked to the activities that goes on online. Another expert on the area of social media is Eric Qualman, and he focuses on the value that is created and shared via social media and its efficient influence on outcomes – that is what he calls Socialnomics (Qualman 2011: xxi). Socialnomics are what companies gain when they are efficient online and have a strong online presence and a spot-‐on media strategy and must therefore be the goal for all companies with a wish to do well in terms of strong media coverage.
2.2.2 The Different Social Media As briefly mentioned, social media is a term that covers a range of different sites with different purposes and that requires different actions. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr, Instagram, Pinterest… All names that are thrown out in the open and that are all some kind of social media, however, they are not the same. And then there are blogs, are they social media as well and how do personal blogs fit in with the other social media sites. Lets have a look. Treadaway and Smith (2010: 27-‐29) argue that there are three types of social media sites. ‘One-‐Size-‐Fits-‐All’ sites offer everything the heart desires within social media. Connecting with friends, uploading photos and videos, writing status-‐updates, joining groups. Facebook is an obvious one-‐size-‐fits-‐all site. ‘The-‐One-‐Trick-‐Pony’ are social media sites that only do one thing, but they are good at what they do. It could be widgets, applications, sites for mobile
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photos and so on. Twitter is a good example of one-‐trick-‐pony, as it does one thing, which is micro-‐blogging. Writing short messages (140 characters) to communicate with followers and the Twitter search. The third type of social media sites is called ‘Hybrid Social Media Website’, and they tend to focus on one function but at the same time incorporating other social networking features into the platform. Both Flickr and YouTube are hybrids as their main functions are photo or video-‐sharing, but they also have many social networking functions.
2.2.3 Social Networking Sites As a matter of fact, social networks exist just as much offline as they do online, as they are simply groups of people or communities sharing common interest, perspective, or background (Treadaway and Smith 2010: 24). Online social networking sites are Facebook, Google+, MySpace and other sites alike where people create a profile to build a network and to interact with friends (iCrossing). LinkedIn is an example of a social networking site for business, and it is the biggest of its kind in the world.
2.2.3.1 Facebook Facebook was launched in 2004 by the founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and four of his fellow Harvard University students. This story was captured in a book in 2009 called “The Accidental Billionaires” and the year after it became an international Block Buster hit when it was turned into the movie by the name “The Social Network”. Facebook has been the market leader of social networking sites since April 2008 and exists of sponsored advertising, self-‐serve advertising, and virtual gifts (Treadaway and Smith 2010: 30). According to Facebook itself the social networking site had 1 billion monthly active users in October 2012, out of which 166 million of them are from the US. With its availability on many mobile devices, Facebook allows users to continuously stay in touch, send messages, video chat and share photos with friends and family regardless of where they are located in the world. On a more corporate level Facebook is widely used as a fan page for pop stars, brands, and even politicians. This allows the so-‐called ‘fans’ to interact and communicate with their ‘idols’ on a more low key level. A brilliant example of this was Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign whose clever
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use of Facebook is said by fans as well as critics to have ensured him the seat as the president of the United States (Qualman 2012: 64-‐66). Facebook has been said to change the way businesses interact with their customers and the way the company is promoted (Hamilton 2012), and there are several ways in which brands can use the Facebook. First of all, the Facebook page of a brand is a community for customers and a great place to communicate with fans. The function as a community also includes a level of customer service when fans ask questions regarding a specific product or write complaints. Here it is important to remember that a wall on a Facebook page is public, and answers to posts must always be considered or offer to solve a problem. Word of mouth is another relevant feature of communication on Facebook, as it is very simple for customers to share a brand or product that they like. Facebook is also a great place to involve customers and make them feel connected to the brand. Asking for opinions or advices is heavily used and it is an easy way to engage fans. Furthermore, the Facebook page is a good place to share news regarding the brand, much like writing a press release. The involvement of customers can be gained through events promoted on Facebook, which also create exposure and help building trust and engagement among fans. Likewise, competitions on Facebook is a common way to increase visibility, however it must be run through a Facebook app in order to meet the Facebook promotion rules (Hamilton 2012). Within fashion the main focus of Facebook it to generate ‘likes’ on the fan page and to encourage engagement. Facebook advertising is heavily used by fashion brands such as Burberry, Chanel, and Gucci, however the demand is not immediate return of investment due to the fact that fashion advertising, both print and online, are more focused on brand value, awareness, and editorial mentions (Strugatz 2012).
2.2.4 Micro-‐Blogging Sites According to the article in iCrossing (Mayfield 2008) micro-‐blogging sites combine blogging with instant messaging and social networking. With more than 1 million users Twitter is by far the most prominent micro-‐blogging site, while other sites such as Pownce and Jaiku are much less familiar.
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2.2.4.1 Twitter Twitter was founded in 2006 and it is a more limited social networking site, as the main function is to write short messages with a maximum of 140 characters that can be read, written, and shared by anybody with a Twitter account, called tweets. People and brands alike can be mentioned in a tweet by applying symbol @ (e.g. @topshop), and if an interesting tweet appears, it can be retweeted by any user and shown on that person’s or brand’s Twitter profile. Hashtags are an important feature on Twitter as well as on Instagram in order to categorise the tweets. By putting a hashtag in a tweet users can click on it and see other tweets alike (e.g. #fashionweek #newyork #marcjacobsintl). Today, over 1 billion tweets are sent every three days and provide a great opportunity for brands wishing to connect with followers. Twitter is an ideal way to tell important news, participating in cultural events, broadcasting context, and to connect directly with consumers. The micro blog is highly used by celebrities, journalists, politicians, and other public figures (Twitter). Through the use of hashtags Twitter users are becoming more involved with brands, and it is therefore important to know the best way to use Twitter in a business objective in order to engage with customers efficiently and effectively. An article from The Social Examiner mentions ways for businesses to use Twitter. First of all, a brand should organise who they follow in order to minimise unnecessary noise. As Twitter is a channel of social media it does imply ‘conversation’, so it is important to read the tweets in the Twitter community, to look for direct messages and mentions, and to make a search for the brand name. Furthermore, as pictures are gaining ground fast it is a good idea to include pictures as statistics show that people are then more likely to read the tweet (Kingston 2012).
2.2.5 Photo and Video-‐Sharing Sites iCrossing (Mayfield 2008) calls photo and video sharing sites for ‘content communities’ and points out that they are much like social networking sites, however different as the communities focus on sharing one particular type of content. YouTube is the world’s largest video-‐sharing site with over 100 million videos viewed per day and it is used by private
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people and businesses alike. YouTube is viral by nature as it is easy to paste videos onto blogs or other websites (Mayfield 2008: 24). Flickr has been the main photo-‐sharing site for years, and members can upload photos and choose to make them public or share them only with family and networks (Mayfield 2008: 24). Another example of a well-‐used photo-‐sharing site is Pinterest.
2.2.5.1 Instagram The new kid on the playground is the mobile photo-‐sharing device Instagram, which is the photo-‐sharing app this thesis will deal with. Instagram is brand new, established in October 2010 and bought by Facebook in 2012 for $1 billion. The basic use of Instagram is uploading mobile photos taken with the application, which can be downloaded to any iPhone or Android phone, and perhaps adding a layer to make the picture faded or vintage. During the uploading the photo is given a short text and hashtags as known from Twitter. Like on Twitter people can follow private people or brands, and the hashtags enable searching a topic or a brand. To be efficient on Instagram a company has to monitor hashtags surrounding the brand and “like” the posts that the company finds interesting (Allen 2012). According to an article published on Forbes Magazine website (Olenski 2012) more and more of the biggest brands join Instagram, and according to a study by Simply Measured 40 % of the brands on Interbrand’s top 100 are present on Instagram. Numbers from the first half of 2012 show a remarkable growth of Instagram users: from 15 million early in 2012 to over 80 million users in July 2012. According to an article by The Social Media Examiner (Au 2008) Instagram can be an important platform for businesses if used correctly. An obvious way for brands to interact on Instagram is to show pictures of collections, give an insight to the origins of the product, glimpses from ‘behind the scenes’ of the brand, showing the product in use which is also a perfect opportunity to invite user-‐generated content (UGC) by asking fans or followers to show their own pictures of the product and the way they use it. Another excellent use of Instagram is to show sneak-‐peeks and previews, glimpses into the everyday life at the office, to take the followers of the brand to fairs or events, to introduce employees, and last but not least showing celebrities engaging with the product.
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Recently, on the daily television show Go’ Morgen Danmark the topic of photo-‐sharing devices was discussed. The interview was primarily focused on Instagram and the use of the app. It was argued that one of the greatest advantages of Instagram is the fact that ‘pictures create conversation between people’ and that it is a great way to ‘get out there’. Instagram is easily used as a PR tool and the expert mentioned how fashion bloggers are very skilled at using Instagram to show new trends. The photo-‐sharing app is extremely direct as pictures are uploaded almost at the same time the event is happening, additionally Instagram enables people to get really close to brands, bloggers, or celebrities (TV2 Go’ Morgen Danmark 2012).
2.2.6 Blogs Blogs and fashion-‐based blogs in particular have become increasingly popular during the recent years. The term blog is a portmanteau of the word “web log” and is a website where private persons or celebrities report about their everyday life via pictures and text based posts. It is also becoming common that politicians as well as private companies have their own blog. Concerning fashion blogs, which is our field of interest, the main idea is to inspire “followers” with new outfits on a daily basis (Qualman 2010: 18-‐25). While blogs started off as a privately based concept it is today a so-‐called industry. The most popular fashion bloggers are usually a part of a blogging community where a wide range of bloggers are gathered on a shared platform such as Blogloving, Bloggers Delight, and Fashiolista. When blog forums were first initiated, it was common that the bloggers were given products in response to publicity on their sites. Today networks actually pay their bloggers as regular employees making it a way of living for the most popular ones. It is a well-‐known fact that the personal recommendations usually are the preferred ones, as they seem more credible then regular advertisements. Therefore large companies such as Coca Cola, Ecco, Samsung, L’Oreal and Bestseller make use of bloggers in their marketing strategy as this has a more trustworthy effect in the minds of the consumers. The Danish fashion company Bestseller has cooperation agreements with a range of bloggers, where each blogger is carefully chosen to match each particular brand. Currently the Bestseller brand Vila has contracts with four bloggers from Denmark, Germany, USA and Britain in order to reach
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as broad a target audience as possible. Also the Scandinavian shoe concern Bianco regards bloggers as a vital marketing strategy, so much that it has chosen to focus on media coverage via blogs instead of printed advertisements (Lange 2012). In Britain the most popular style blogger, Susanna Lau, has more than 300,000 unique users a month (Salter 2010) and in the United States The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman is named one of the most influential blogs worldwide with more than 13 million page views each month (Amed 2011).
2.3 The Use of Social Media Within Fashion In this chapter of the thesis we have argued that social media and the fashion industry are closely connected. That fashion marketing and communication cannot happen in the world outside of the social media circus, and it is therefore important to know how to communicate online. This argument is verified by an article written on the website The Next Web (Weber 2012) in the wake of New York Fashion Week in January 2012, and the article points out that ‘fashion is a natural fit for social media’. Consumers take pictures of themselves wearing clothes and use fashion brands to show others who they are. Fashion blogs are still becoming more and more influential, and brands are dependant on blog personalities to design, style, and blog about new products. An article on the CNN website (Grinberg 2012) states that social media bridges the gap between brands and consumers and it is making the otherwise rather closed world of high fashion more accessible. Once a designer shows her or his collection on the runway during the metropolis biannual fashion weeks, it is on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in an instant. Perhaps frightening for some the exposure on social media can be of great help for the brands, as they will soon know what styles are popular among consumers. Due to the greater access to brands consumers now expect dialogues on social media. Danish fashion expert and creative director of GrenaaBuchard, Uffe Buchard, also puts emphasis on social media’s influence on the fashion industry. In one of his regular columns in the fashion magazine ELLE he points to the fact that the international fashion world now actively uses social media in every aspect possible (Buchard 2012: 92). Moreover, he refers to a survey, which has showed that the more a brand is shown on social media and other
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websites the more is sold on both the webshop and in the physical stores. This indicates, that what was believed to be the end of retailing, is actually beneficial for brands (Buchard 2012: 93). Furthermore, calculations tell that half of all purchased items in the stores up until 2016 are made due to online media coverage (Buchard 2012: 93). The perfect match of fashion and social media is stated by the fact that some of the most effective brands online are within the category ‘fashion’. The online retail giant ASOS uses lots of user-‐generated content, Topshop has over 200,000 followers only on Instagram, Marc Jacobs is highly popular, Victoria’s Secret has been named to have an expert strategy and has nearly 17 million likers on Facebook, Levi’s is a strong user of Instagram, the luxury online fashion shop Net-‐A-‐Porter is awarded for creativeness, and according to Women’s Wear Daily the three luxury brands Gucci, Burberry, and Dior have all passed 5 million likers on Facebook. Numbers from London Fashion Week in September 2012 clearly showed how much fashion infiltrates social media; Twitter won the race of most fashion commentators closely followed by blogs and Facebook. The two brands that racked up the largest number of tweets were Burberry with 20,924 and Topshop with 9,161 tweets, and that rank still held true when blogs were taken into account (Styles 2012).
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CHAPTER 3 DATA & METHOD ”We know all this through #interviews and #7nicepeople #thanksforparticipating”
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3 Data and Method Chapter 3 shed light on the way we have conducted information to be used in the analysis. The chapter only features the method that has been applied in the thesis and for that reason neither quantitative analysis such as questionnaires nor the qualitative method ‘focus group’ will be explained further.
3.1 Method Method is the term defining the way to conduct information to be used in the analysis and as this chapter will show we have collected our data through in-‐depth interviews.
3.1.1 Qualitative Research Questions As this thesis is built on the basis of qualitative research, coherence between the research question and the method applied is important. Only by insuring coherence valid and reliable data can be generated (Ritchie and Lewis 2003: 47). Ritchie and Lewis (2003: 48) argue that research questions need to be: -‐
Clear, intelligible, and unambiguous
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Focused, but not too narrow
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Capable of being researched through data collection: not too abstract, or questions that require the application of philosophy rather than data relevant and useful, whether to policy, practice, or the development of social theory
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Informed by and connected to existing research or theory, but with the potential to make an original contribution or to fill a gap
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Feasible, given the resources available
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Of at least some interest to the researcher
As a researcher one needs to consider if the research questions are clear, of value and interest, and how they relate to existing research.
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3.1.2 Data Collection There is a distinction between naturally occurring data such as observations and conversation and generated data trough in-‐depth interviews or focus groups. To be able to choose the researcher must consider aspects such as context, complexity of the subject, researcher and participant interpretation, and accessibility (Ritchie and Lewis 2003: 56-‐57). As mentioned, generated data in qualitative research are in-‐depth interviews and focus groups. The choice depends on three factors: the type of data sought, the subject area, and the nature of the study group (Ritchie and Lewis 2003: 57). In-‐depth interviews are focused on individuality that provides the possibility of an in-‐depth investigation into a person’s perspective, understanding of the personal context, and detailed subject coverage. Focus groups are less effective in relations to the individual accounts, but are on the contrary very useful if interaction between participants is important to the study. Focus groups are effective in relations to attitudinal research, creative thinking, or solutions and strategies.
3.1.2.1 Structure of Data Collection In-‐depth interviews and focus groups are sometimes grouped together to form an unstructured data collection, however the term “unstructured” is misleading, as good in-‐depth fieldwork requires much planning (Ritchie and Lewis 2003: 109). Depending on the study carried out the level of structure and subject coverage differs. Generally speaking, data collection through focus groups is less structured than through in-‐depth interviews due to the fact that it is more difficult to impose a structure on a discussion and that focus group data emerges from the interaction between the participants. Ritchie and Lewis (2003: 111) point to the fact that a number of authors distinguish between two main types of qualitative interviews. Unstructured or non-‐standardised interviews that have broad agendas concerning a certain issue but the wording and order vary between interviews. The second type is semi-‐ structured or semi-‐standardised interviews, where the researcher asks questions the same way each time and where probing is more limited than in unstructured in-‐depth interviews. Ritchie and Lewis (2003: 114) stages the discussion in interviews and focus groups:
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Introduction
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Easy, opening questions; more surface level
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Background and contextual questions
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Definitional questions
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Core part of interview or group discussion – questioning and discussion are more in-‐ depth
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Move from circumstantial to attitudinal/evaluative/explanatory questions
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Move from general to more specific
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Follow chronological order
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Winding down
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Questions looking to the future, suggestions
The order in which topics are addressed vary between each interview or group discussions, however thinking the rational order and designing the topic is helpful. As the stages above indicate, the order is somewhat the same in both interviews and focus groups. Opening topics are meant to ease the participant into the interview or focus group, they should be straightforward, and the purpose is to get the participant talking. Opening topics are also a way to collect information that will be important in the later stages, such as demographic information. To keep the atmosphere light it helps to ask specific questions rather that continuing in the general topics. People find it easier to talk about an experience or behaviour than motivations, attitudes, or feelings. Conceptual questions such as a discussion of a definition or meaning are challenging and should be asked in a non-‐threatening manner to ensure the discussion does not seem like a test. By the end of the in-‐depth interview or focus group discussion it is helpful to include questions that summarise the participant’s attitudes or experiences. Finally, it is important to end the interview on a positive note (Ritchie and Lewis 2003: 112-‐113). During the interview or group discussion it can be helpful to use illustrations, as they can show examples of how general principles are applied in a specific situation (Ritchie and Lewis 2003: 128).
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3.1.3 Topic guide To ensure a flexible direction and documentation of the central aspects of the in-‐depth interview or focus group a topic guide is recommended. Regardless of the level of structure the researcher has an agenda of several topics or themes that he wants answered. A topic guide is a good tool to enhance consistency, as a topic guide steers the discussion in a certain direction and is most likely the only written document brought to the interview or focus group. Briefly said, a topic guide lists the key topics to be covered and works as an agenda for the in-‐depth interview or focus group discussion. The guides can vary from a single page to several in length depending on the amount of details the researcher prefers in the guide. It is preferable to keep the topic guide as short as possible, as a short guide encourages a more in-‐ depth data collection. The language used in the topic guide should not be worded as actual questions, but use single words or phrases on the topics explored. Topic guides usually include follow-‐up questions that are important to the qualitative data collection and are used to explore the particular attitude, motivation, or behaviour. Probing cannot be formulated beforehand as they depend on what the participant has said. Therefore, the researcher always has to come up with follow-‐up questions on the spot (Ritchie and Lewis 2003: 115-‐124). The term “projective techniques“ covers a range of strategies that are often used in market research in relations to a brand’s image or to develop advertising. The authors Gordon and Langmaid identify different types of protective techniques: “Association” to describe e.g. the personality of a brand. “Completion” where participants complete sentences or conversations. “Construction” to take the perspective of a third party. “Expressive methods” such as drawings or role enactment. The last one is “choice-‐ordering”, where participants are asked to rank items. It is important to keep in mind that often a straightforward discussion is enough, and the discussion does not have to make use of the strategies (Ritchie and Lewis 2003: 131-‐ 132).
3.2 Interviews The chosen method for the data collection in this thesis has been semi-‐structured in-‐depth interviews. According to the findings of Ritchie and Lewis (2003: 139) personal accounts are seen as having a central importance in social research. It is also discussed to which degree the
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interviewer should play an active role in the interview. Should the interviewer to some degree comment on the answers and try to find a deeper meaning and engage in a conversation or should he or she keep neutral and merely ask static questions. For the intended purpose of the carried out interviews a mix of both strategies seemed suitable. The role of the interviewer has therefore been quite neutral, however when certain questions were answered unfulfilling or awoke a special interest, extra questions were asked in the hope of achieving a deeper understanding. Douglass & Moustakas (Ritchie and Lewis 2003: 140) mention the heuristic approach where emphasis is put on the personal experience of the participant and see the interview process as a kind of collaboration between researcher and participant, sharing reflections and enquiry. This has been a highly relevant strategy in this interview process as the aim of the thesis is to gather personal views on various social media strategies. Feminist research approaches such as Finch & Oakley also stresses the value of women interviewing women and discuss the pros and cons of researcher and participants having similar socio-‐demographic characteristics and experiences in common. From a researches point of view, or at least for the intention of this thesis, it has proven particular appropriate in order to create a joint understanding of the questions asked and the overall subject in general.
3.2.1 Interview Stages Richie and Lewis (2003: 144-‐146) divide the interview process into six different levels. Stage one, arrival: we chose to carry out all interviews at a venue chosen by the participant in order to make them feel as comfortable as possible. Stage two, introducing the research: in the initial face of setting up the interview meeting we sent out e-‐mails to all participants to give them a brief overview of the subject. We also had an expectation that this might make them think about their own experience with various social media types before the interview had even begun. Stage three, beginning the interview: to give the participants and easy start we started of all interviews with factual questions about background, nationality and age. Stage four, during the interview: this stage is for shaping the main body of the interview. Here we tried to listen carefully to the answers given and asked additional questions if necessary to achieve a fuller meaning. Stage five, ending the interview: in this stage Richie and Lewis
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(2003) suggest that the interviewer somehow indicates that the interview is coming to an end. We chose to use phrases such as “the final topic to be discussed” or “only a few questions left” in order to let the participant know that time is running out and maybe encourage them to explain their last thoughts on a particular matter. Stage six, after the interview: this stage is referred to as the participants turn to ask the questions. Here the main role of the interviewer is to reassure any confidentiality issues, the purpose and use of the answers and of course to give a warm thank you to the participant.
3.2.2 Content Mapping and Content Mining Questions Richie and Lewis (2003: 168-‐169) also sum up the main principles of carrying out an ideal interview. To achieve breadth and depth the interviewer should ideally ask a combination of content mapping questions and content mining questions such as: “How would you describe your buying behaviour?” (Content mapping questions) Answer: “The best word for it must be spontaneous. Or if I spot something trendy that I feel I really can’t live without. Right now for example I’m on a serious search for leather pants…” “So does it therefore also vary a great deal how much money you spent on shopping pr. month?” (Content mining questions) This should be seen in connection to the difference between probes and prompts (Ritchie and Lewis 2003: 167). While probes are responsive questions to find out more about what have been raised, they therefore relate directly to something that has already been said by the participant. Prompts on the other hand are questions raised by the interviewer. This method is used when the researcher wants the participant to reflect on something else the interviewer finds relevant. Finally Richie and Lewis put great emphasis on the importance of asking open and broad questions and asking them in a clear and easy understandable way.
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3.3 Approach The methodology of this chapter was applied on our own data collection and in-‐depth interviews. This paragraph explains the way in which it has been used and provides examples of our own experience with the interviews.
3.3.1 Participants Our chosen participants were carefully selected on basis of age, occupation, nationality and interest. It was important to us that the participants had a general interest in fashion as they would otherwise not have had any particular knowledge of the topic in question. Furthermore, as our thesis is an analysis of social media communication it was also relevant that the participants were active online. The participants are all between 22 and 27 years and present or former students at college or universities as this demographic are the biggest group of active social media users. From a start we were very determined on interviewing female participants, as collections from Marc Jacobs, Topshop, and Samsøe & Samsøe are predominantly aimed at the female sex. This is seen in the spokespersons and campaign models of the brands and in the overall marketing strategy where females are primarily used. Moreover, statistics show that females are the most active users on social media, and photo-‐ sharing devices such as Pinterest and Instagram are in particular dominated by women. The same holds true for the blogosphere, which is also dominated by women whether it being the bloggers themselves or their followers. Lastly, we wished to gather a broad cultural view on the topic of the thesis, a wish that was fulfilled by having respondents from six different nationalities spread over Europe, The US and Africa.
3.3.1.1 Segmentation A clear segmentation of the target group is of great importance for successful marketing. Fashion consumers will have a variety of different needs depending on their lifestyle and personality. The typical classification criteria are age, gender, occupation, financial situation, lifestyle, location, purchasing behaviour, and spending habits (Posner 2011: p. 105-‐116). Especially lifestyle plays a crucial role in segmenting fashion consumers as clothing needs and style preferences are highly influenced by a person’s type of work, peer groups and leisure
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activities. There are a number of different segmentation variables, the most common being Demographic, Geographic, Physographic & Behaviroal and Usage & Benefit. All variables are exemplified in the model. DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES • Gender • Age • Generation • Ethnicity • Marital status • Life stage • Occupation • Education • Income • Social grade classi{ication
PSYCHOGRAPHIC & BAHAVIOURAL VARIABLES • Lifestyle • Social aspirations • Self-‐image • Value perceptions • Purchasing motives & behaviour • Interest & hobbies • Attitude & opinions
GEOGRAPHIC VARIABLES • Region • Urban / suburban / rural • Residential location • Housing type • Climate
USAGE & BENEFIT VARIABLES • Bene{its sought from products • Usage rates • Volume of purchases • Price sensitivity • Brand loyalty • End-‐use of product
Source: Posner 2010, Segmentations Variables Another form of demographic segmentation is to divide consumers by generation. Here the effect of the political, economic and social situation someone is born into is taken into consideration. It hereby accounts for the period when a consumer comes of age as a teenager or young adult, as this will play a central role in shaping their attitude towards fashion, style and consumerism in general. A number of theorists have given their suggestion to a generation timeline and therefore several different divisions exist. Generally speaking the so called “Baby Boomers” are born between 1943-‐1964, “Generation X” between 1968-‐1981, “Generation Y” 1982-‐2000 and “Generation Z” 2000-‐2020. As the three companies of interest have already defined their target group, our focus will be on the segmentation of respondents. Considering that all of our respondents are between the age of 22 and 27 they all belong to Generation Y. This generation has experienced pressure from parents to succeed and overachieve as great amount of money have been spent on their college education. Generation Y has also been called the IPOD generation, short for Insecure, Pressurized, Over-‐taxed and Debt-‐ridden (Posner 2011: 110.). These people have grown up with technology and increasingly live their lives online. They understand branding and
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marketing, they communicate via social media and are happy to create their own online content. Generation Y is placed between generation X and Generation Z. While people who belong to generation Y generally are said to live their own lives, generation X is characterised by a need for close friendship and big social groupings like illustrated by the television show Friends which gained massive popularity among the people of generation X. It has been termed ‘the lost generation’ and many X’s were in their early years marked by parental divorces, fear of Aids and recession. When growing up a big group of the X’s have become so called ‘yupsters’ who are labeled as creative urban professionals who are corporate, yet have a hip and individual fashion style. The offspring of the before mentioned generation X and Y, is the Z generation. This group is the youngest in the generation parameter and therefore not much knowledge about this group presently exists. However, it is predicted that this generation will take the Internet and its many opportunities for granted, as they have no knowledge of a time before the World Wide Web existed, they are the so-‐called Web 2.0 generation.
3.3.2 Data collection As our study has the purpose to investigate different social media strategies in order to define which strategies create positive reactions among consumers we have chosen to collect our data through in-‐depth interviews. Opinions and reactions to social media and fashion are both ‘light’ subjects and by choosing interviews it was possible for us to gain detailed subject coverage and to investigate personal perspectives. Having considered the aspects and our wishes for our data collection we chose semi-‐structured interviews where the same questions were asked in all interviews and probing questions were limited. A tool we found very useful in carrying out the in-‐depth interviews was our topic guide that we made in advance to our first interview. It holds the main topics that we wished to cover in the interviews and we used it as a guide for conducting the different interviews. We aimed to keep the guide short in order not to structure the interviews too tight and we avoided wording actual questions, as that would limit the in-‐depth data collection.
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3.3.2.1 Topic Guide
PERSONAL INFORMATION -‐ Name -‐ Age -‐ Occupation -‐ Nationality CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR -‐ Shopping behaviour -‐ Money spend on shopping per month -‐ Highstreet or luxury -‐ Preferred brands THE FASHION INDUSTRY -‐ Interest in fashion -‐ Search for information -‐ Knowledge of Samsøe & Samsøe, Topshop and Marc Jacobs SOCIAL MEDIA -‐ Use o f social media -‐ Knowledge of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram -‐ BRANDS ON SOCIAL MEDIA o Presence on social media o Frequency of posts o Comment on posts o Engage in discussions o Correspondent between posts and brand image § Higstreet vs. commercial vs. luxury brands o Language of communication BLOGS -‐ Knowledge of fashion blogs -‐ Brands on blogs -‐ Purchase based on blog post STRATEGY – COMPETITIONS -‐ Associations -‐ Participation -‐ Value, price, complexity STRATEGY – EVENTS -‐ Association -‐ Invitations, d iscounts, music, dj, refreshments, goodiebags STRATEGY – VISUALS -‐ Role on engagement -‐ Pictures from: events, everyday-‐life-‐at-‐the-‐office, new collections, fairs, fashionable people wearing the brand -‐ Instagram STRATEGY – TEXT POSTS, TWEETS -‐ Retweeting on Twitter -‐ Tweets #topshop -‐ Text-‐based posts ROUNDING U P -‐ Anything missing -‐ Last comments -‐ Thank you!
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3.3.3 Interview phases As mentioned in the methodology the interview process is generally divided into six different levels. Namely: arrival, introducing the research, beginning the interview, during the interview, ending the interview and finally after the interview. All of the interviews were carried out on venues chosen by the individual participant. We met participant 1 and 2 at a café of their choice, participants 3, 5 and 7 invited us to their homes to carry out the interview while we interviewed participant 4 and 7 via Skype, as both girls were located in the US. We put great emphasis on making the participants feel at home and in relaxing surroundings, as we felt that this would be a highly important strategy in order to make them talk freely and open up for their private views and feelings. As mentioned earlier we informed the participants about the theme of the project before we meet up with them. A week before each interview we sent out emails with a brief description of our project and which topic areas they could expect to be asked about. This was mainly done to prepare the participants, also in the hope that they might then have had time to consider their views and hereby be able to give well thought of answers. We gave each interview an easy start by asking basic factual questions about age, occupation and nationality. This was again done to make the participants feel comfortable and of course also to provide us with basic information about the people we were interviewing as it could maybe to some level explain their opinion on certain matters. In order to obtain as much relevant information as possible and also maintain the relaxed nature of the interview, we sometimes asked additional questions – especially if we felt that the participant had a particular interest in the exact topic. At the same time we tried to make our questions seem open and broad to gather as much personal views as possible.
3.3.4 Example from interview with participant 1 I: How would you describe your buying behaviour? (Open question) R1: The best word for it must be spontaneous. Or if I spot something trendy that I feel I really can’t live without. Right now for example I’m on a serious search for leather pants…
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I: So does it therefore also vary a great deal how much money you spent on shopping a month? (Additional question) R1: Yes. Some months I spent almost my entire salary on shopping – especially in months where new collections are in stores. Other months I might only buy a single item from H&M. I: Are there any brands in particular you prefer? (Follow up question) R1: Well… My absolute favourite brand most be H&M’s Trend line! I: Okay. So would you say that you primarily shop in high street stores, luxury or somewhere in between? (Establishing her buying behaviour) R1: The main part of my wardrobe is from high street brands – where as I sometimes invest in more luxurious items such as handbags, sunglasses or maybe even a winter coat. I like following trends, which is easier to afford it you buy high street. To finish of the interviews we let the participants ask questions and explained in which way we could use their answers in our research. Furthermore, we also offered them to listen to their own responds afterwards and gave them the opportunity to receive the transcribed version via email.
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CHAPTER 4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ”We know all about #communication #consumerbehaviour #socialmedia #blogging”
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4 Theoretical Framework In this chapter the applied theories concerning consumer behaviour, communication strategies, social media, and blogging will be explained and connected to the analysis, which is to be found in the following chapter.
4.1 Consumer Behaviour The main area of interest in this thesis is how consumers/users/followers/fans react to certain effects and impacts on various social media and blogging sites. Considering that the survey is based upon fashion brands it is also of great relevance to examine how the buying behaviour is influenced. As mentioned earlier the focus is on female consumers as they form the biggest number of product and service purchases, and they also represent the largest part of all online buys (Bushman 2007). Surveys show that whether shopping in malls, catalogues, boutiques, on the web, or via telephone, women desire a greater amount of personal customer contact. They do not necessarily want to be bombarded by salespeople the minute they enter a store, but they want to know that someone is available to answer any questions they may have. If a woman is shopping on a website, she wants to be able to reach someone if a question arises. Providing a customer service telephone number on the website is considered a major benefit by female consumers. This also holds true regarding social media sites, where most women expect that questions or comments are answered quickly and sufficiently. When it comes to making purchases, companies should concentrate on the benefits the product will provide for the woman, her family, her friends or her company, instead of focusing on the product’s special effects. 4.1.1 Buying Behaviour In their paper Communicating Culture Grant and Stephen (2005) examine the buying behaviour of “tweenage” girls and their mothers regarding fashion clothes. Even though the respondents in question of this thesis are between 21-‐27 and therefore not “tweenagers” we still find the paper useful as it explains the buying behaviour of females in general. In their
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survey they found that female consumers are most likely to spend their money on clothes and shoes. Furthermore they also placed Topshop on the top five list of favourite brands as they are known for their ability to copy the popular fashion houses. The authors argue that young girls’ shopping is founded by their mothers, who have a similar interest in fashion. These girls have a great awareness of brands and are highly influenced by pop celebrities as well as friends. It is pointed out that the main influential factors are attitudes towards brands, family, peer groups and consumer socialisation. An attitude is defined as an overall favourable or unfavourable evaluation of a product or service. A consumer’s attitude to a brand is very influential in the decision-‐making process, and these attitudes can be shaped by many factors such as education, economic circumstances, family and friends, age, experience and social background. Generally it is argued that much consumer behaviour is performed under the influence of others as the very foundation of human behaviour is learning from others and feeling accepted. The importance of branding is also discussed and it is argued that a strong brand is the heart of good marketing as it attracts consumer preferences and builds a defensive wall against competitors. It is key to create a brand that the consumers want to be associated with in order to establish a self-‐image to other people. The ideal situation is to create loyalty among the customers and make them feel that the brand represents who they want to be. In the paper the main points are enhanced to be that the buying behaviour of female shoppers is marked by a wish to feel accepted and cool, knowledge about the brand and trend and popularity above price.
4.2 Communication Strategies These paragraphs introduce the communication strategies that we have chosen to apply to the analysis presented in the next chapter. The theories in question Logos, Ethos, Pathos, the ABE Model, the 7C’s framework and theory concerning brand attitude and the Percy-‐Rossiter Grid, all of which are applied in the analysis in chapter 5.
4.2.1 Logos, Ethos, and Pathos In the following various communication strategies will be explained and discussed, as these are essential to influence buying motivation and behaviour.
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The highly used message appeals Logos, Pathos and Ethos are products of Aristotle’s classic Greek rhetoric and are used to explain how the sender of a given message can gain approval and support by appealing to the receiver’s beliefs and feelings (Andersen 2007: 90-‐99). All three are common communication strategies and are frequently used either separately or mixed together in text productions such as advertisements, press releases, articles, web texts etc. In the following the different appeal types will be explained, discussed and exemplified.
4.2.1.1 Logos The Logos appeal is the most straightforward one and is used to reach out to the receiver’s rational decision making. Facts and objective arguments are applied to convince the receiver that the message it trustworthy and ideal. A language style marked by the logos appeal is characterized by a neutral choice of words and intellectual arguments such as cause, generalizing, classifications and parallels. Example: “These t-‐shirts are better for the environment as they are made from organic cotton”.
4.2.1.2 Ethos Ethos, on the other hand, is a more sender-‐oriented type of appeal. Here the main purpose is to appeal to the receivers’ trust and confidence in the sender’s authority. In other words, the bigger the ethos the better. The point is to make the receiver feel that the communication of the sender can be trusted due to the sender’s position as a strong authority. Most commonly the ethos appeal makes use of arguments based on statements or announcements from experts, celebrities or authorities such as politicians within the specific topic. Example: “My all time favourite item is the skinny jeans from Topshop” says Kate Moss, fashion model.
4.2.1.3 Pathos Lastly, Pathos is a receiver-‐oriented approach. The purpose is to appeal to the receiver’s spontaneous and creative feelings. It has an immediate effect on the receiver and is directly connected to the particular communicative situation. When applying Pathos the choice of words is usually emotional argument types which are linked to feelings like hope, love, hate,
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fear and norms. Pathos is often used in speech rather than in text. However, since the emerge of the Internet the appeal form have been frequently used in short web texts, ads and on micro blogs. Example: “This dress will make you feel like the queen of the night”. A very important point to make is that the effect of the three appeal forms varies greatly. The communicative situation should be well analysed in order to decide which strategy is the most appropriate. In some cases the appeal forms can work together whereas other situations have the best outcome by being based on only one appeal type. Furthermore Logos and Pathos correspond closely to theories about brand attitude strategy ideas based upon involvement and motivation (Percy and Elliot 2009: 10-‐11). The logos appeal is ideal for situations where the motivation is negative, for example when a problem needs to be solved, as the factual and informational feel of the appeal can help convince the receiver that what is being implied is true. When dealing with positive motivations the Pathos appeal is the obvious choice by connecting positive feeling to the brand attitude strategy. Furthermore Aristotle also argued that credibility is essential for the Logos appeal to work whereas attractiveness is key in the Pathos appeal. 4.2.2 ABE-‐Model Another theory connected to this subject is the ABE-‐model created by Rossiter and Percy (Reynolds 2001: 183-‐209). The model, which is short for Attributes, Benefits and Emotions, was originally created for the analysis of advertisements. The majority of the findings can, however, also be applied to online communication and social media strategies in general. Briefly explained Attribute is defined as what the product has, such as the physical features of the product (e.g. organic cotton) or the objective characteristics of a service. Benefit refers to what the buyer wants, which can either be positive (reward e.g. good quality knitwear) or negative (relief e.g. a solution to at problem). Lastly Emotion is what the buyer feels meaning a feeling associated with the brand like excitement, indulgence etc. On a more general level the authors argue that main division should be between Attribute and Benefit. They point out that an Attribute focus should be applied when the brand is positioned for an expert target audience, as experts know the benefits that derive from the attributes. Or as an alternative to
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emotion focus for a brand competing in a category in which other brands offer identical benefits. A Benefit focus on the other hand is suitable if the brand is hard to imitate or has a negative motivation. Considering that the theme of this thesis is the fashion industry and hereby high street and luxury clothing and accessories, we argue that the motivation is always positive whether being low or high involvement motivations. This especially holds true as a great deal of the respondents already has a positive brand attitude towards the three companies in question, since several of the respondents follow them on various social media sites and state that they are interested in fashion. The most relevant strategy will therefore be the Attribute or Emotional approach. It should, however, also be noted that the authors argue that sometimes a mix of the two also can be highly successful. They recommend the Emotion focus for a brand that only has easy to imitate benefits and is always combined with a positive motivation. As an example of this type of brand they highlight the very popular and widely discussed ads of the fashion brand Benetton from the 90’s which were known from their simplicity and yet explicit provoking theme (Reynolds 2001: p. 205). Another brilliant example is L’Oreal’s well-‐known slogan “Because you’re worth it” referring to their beauty products for women. To apply a purely emotional strategy focus should be on indulgence, memories, humour etc. and subjective characteristic should ideally be used to draw attention to the emotional consequences of using the brands. Summing up the authors emphasize that the ABE-‐model only indicates which message to apply in ads and as a communication tool. It is not a model of how consumers and the general receivers of the message will interpret it. Instead the model should be regarded as a guide of how to match brand values with consumer expectation.
4.2.3 The 7C’s Framework Within marketing communications the 7C’s framework is commonly used in relations to web design. Kimmel (2005: 185-‐) as well as Fill (2005: 585-‐589) discuss the 7C’s framework (Rayport and Jaworski 2002). The seven elements are context, content, community, customisation, communication, connection, and commerce, and the authors claim that
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integrated marketing communication depends on how well the elements work together. The 7C’s framework is introduced in relation to e-‐commerce and website design we would argue that the elements may just as well be applied to any other online communication channel.
CONTEXT
COMMERCE
CONTENT
THE 7 C'S FRAMEWORK CONNECTION
COMMUNITY
COMMUNICATION
CUSTOMISATION
4.2.3.1 Context Context is the balance between functionality concerning navigation and the aesthetic look and feel of the site such as colours, graphics, and design. Fill (2005: 586) claims that high fashion and luxury brands focus on aesthetic styled sites whereas other sites are predominantly functional. It is one of the first considerations to be made as it is argued to be what create loyalty among consumers.
4.2.3.2 Content Content is what is actually presented on the website (or in the case of this thesis on the Facebook page, Twitter account, or Instagram profile) and relates to text, audio, or video. It is the planned messages of the company – what the company intends consumers to see or hear regarding the brand. According to Fill (2005: 587) content can be considered as: Offering mix, which is the balance between information, products, and services. Appeal mix is the combination of functional appeals (attribute and benefits) and emotional appeals (feeling and
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brand engagement). Multimedia mix is audio, text, graphics, images, and video. The last is timeliness mix, which is how often a site needs to be updated.
4.2.3.3 Community Community equals interaction between users, and it is highly relevant in relations to this thesis as communities form the basis of the very meaning of social media sites. A community is given much importance as users create value for one another. Where Kimmel’s (2005) opinion differs from today’s view on communities is that he argues that user interaction can be harmful for a brand as it provides the users with a place to post negative reviews on products or reputation.
4.2.3.4 Customisation Customisation refers to a site’s capability to adapt to the individual needs of the user. Rayport and Jaworski (2002) differentiate between customisation by the company (tailoring) and customisation by the individual (personification).
4.2.3.5 Communication Communication is the ability to engage in two-‐way communication. It is a concept that has emerged and developed with the rise of the Internet and it is opposed to traditional channels such as television, print, and direct mailing. This C is very relevant in relations to social media as two-‐way communication instead of one-‐way communication is the pull for many consumers, but it has also been one of the biggest challenges for companies in regards to social media.
4.2.3.6 Connection Connection is the linking from one website to another, and it is especially used on commerce sites. Also, links to corporate websites are often found on brand’s Facebook page or Twitter account.
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4.2.3.7 Commerce Commerce is the way a company can engage in transactions with the users, and here it is important that the company provides accurate information about availability, shipping, and costs. As written, the importance of the 7C’s Framework is found in the company’s ability to combine all the C’s in order to create integrated marketing communication. However, as our thesis is not one about corporate websites, not all C’s are relevant due to the fact that such elements as “commerce” always take place on the webshop of the company and not via social media. Commerce is only relevant in relations to links to certain products posted on social media sites of the company, and that would be the C “connection”. “Content” and “context” are always important elements no matter the type of online site and the two C’s “community” and “communication” are essential to the analysis of social media as well as two of the biggest advantages of social media for businesses.
4.2.4 Communication Objectives According to Percy and Elliot (2009) a communication strategy consists of four communication objectives: category need, brand awareness, brand attitude, and brand purchase intention.
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CATEGORY NEED BRAND AWARENESS
• An objective only when it is necessary to remind the target of his or her need for the category or when you must sell the target audience the need • Always an objective in order to enable the target audience to identity the brand in enough detail to purchase or use the brand
BRAND ATTITUDE
• Also always an objective because there must be some other reason to select one brand over another
BRAND PURCHASE INTENTION
• Not often a speci{ic objective for advertising expect when brand attitude is positive and a "reason to buy" now is required, but always an objective for promotion
Source: Percy and Elliot 2009, Potential Communication Objectives Category need is a perception that can be established by the advertiser, and when successful the target audience feels a need for the product and thereby demands it. There are two situations in which category need can be established and where it becomes a communication objective. The first is when the consumer is reminded of a forgotten, but previously existing, need. However, the situation of reminding a consumer of a need is only applied to products that are infrequently used. The second situation of establishing category need is when the need has not yet been present, but the product is sold to the consumer through campaign and promotion. It is a communication objective for all new products and products aimed at new users (Percy and Elliot 2009: 194-‐196). The second communication objective is brand awareness, which is the target audience’s ability to identify the brand. Here it is important to note that brand awareness is not always linked to the brand name, but perhaps a familiar package or the colour of the product. The identification of a brand can happen by either recognising the brand or recalling the brand. Brand recognition is when a brand is recognised at the point of purchase and the consumer is reminded of the category need. On the other hand, brand recall is when a certain category
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need is stimulated by the recall of a brand, which might have been seen in an advertisement or in a magazine (Percy and Elliot 2009: 199-‐201). The brand purchase intention relates to the consumer’s decision to purchase a brand, not the actual buying but the intention. It is not often a communication objective for advertising, but brand purchase intention is always an objective in regards to promotion (Percy and Elliot 2009: 197-‐198). As brand attitude is the objective that will be used in the analysis, a thorough survey of the theory will be in the next paragraph.
4.2.4.1 Brand Attitude Strategy Brand attitude is, as with brand awareness, always an objective, and the purpose can be to create, increase, maintain, modify, or change the attitude towards the brand. Creation of brand attitude is the purpose when introducing a new brand or presenting a brand to a new category of users. If the brand attitude is moderately favourable, it can be an excellent idea to increase the attitude. If the majority of the consumers have a strong positive brand attitude, the purpose will be to maintain that level of positive attitude. To modify a brand attitude is basically to reposition a brand, and the change of brand attitude is when a significant part of the target audience holds a negative brand attitude. When discussing brand attitude there are characteristics that are important for the understanding of the theory. First of all, brand attitude is dependent on what consumers want from the brand now – underlying reasons why people behave as they do. The motivation for certain behaviour and an understanding of this motivation is essential knowledge. Second, studying brand attitude shows two components, what someone knows about a brand based on benefit beliefs and how someone feels about a brand. The belief component is the ability of the brand to satisfy the motivation whereas the feeling component is generated by the motivation itself. Third, it is important to keep in mind that brand attitude is a relative concept, and no brand is likely to meet all criteria of the consumers (Percy and Elliot 2009: 201-‐207).
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4.2.4.1.1 Implicit and Explicit Brand Attitude In an article by Madhavaram and Appan (2010) it is argued that there have been two main developments in the last two decades, which are important for web-‐based marketing communications. First, the immense growth of the Internet as commerce and communication channel and second, the recognition of two brand attitudes. Brand attitude is given much importance in relation to influencing the behaviour of consumers and focus has therefore been on formation or change of such an attitude. Previously, explicit brand attitude had sole focus, however research has shown that implicit brand attitude, which are attitudes people are not consciously aware of, is useful in predicting brand preference, product usage, and brand recognition (Madhavaram and Appan 2010: 190). Our respondents’ brand attitudes will be analysed and exemplified through the use of our three brands in question: Samsøe & Samsøe, Topshop, and Marc Jacobs. Mostly, it will be an analysis of the respondents’ explicit brand attitudes.
4.2.4.2 The Rossiter-‐Percy Grid Percy and Elliot (2009: 209) argue that involvement and motivation are two extremely important factors in the understanding of how and why purchase decisions are made. Rossiter and Percy have integrated the two factors into a strategic grid. In the case of involvement, there is a difference in what is required when dealing with low-‐involvement and high-‐involvement purchase decision. To build positive brand attitude with low-‐involvement decisions the target audience only has to pay attention to the message and learn something positive about the brand. On the other hand, when concerned with high-‐involvement decisions it is not enough to pay attention and learn, the message must also be accepted or believed in in order to build positive brand attitude. In regards to motivation it is crucial to understand what motivates the purchase. Furthermore, it is important to note that motivation is linked to emotions. When dealing with positive motives a mood is created (trans-‐ formational) and negative motives are providing help to solve a problem (informational).
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Informational
Transformational
(negative)
(positive)
Involvement
Motivation
Low
High
Source: Percy and Elliot 2009, Brand Attitude Strategy Quadrants from the Rossiter-‐Percy Grid 4.2.4.2.1 Low-‐Involvement Informational This brand attitude strategy deals with low-‐risk purchase driven by negative motivations. Due to the fact that the motivation is to solve or avoid a problem, information about the brand benefits must be provided. The message should therefore have a benefit claim, which is easier to apply, as the message does not have to be believed as true by the target audience. Examples of product categories applying the low-‐involvement informational strategy are washing powder and toilet tissue (Percy and Elliot 2009: 210). 4.2.4.2.2 Low-‐Involvement Transformational Still dealing with low-‐risk purchases, however, with this brand attitude strategy the motivation is positive and the key is not to provide information but to show the emotional portrayal of the benefit, and it must suggest emotional authenticity. Good examples of low-‐ involvement transformational product categories are snack brands such as chocolate or ice cream and accessories like nail polish (Percy and Elliot 2009: 211-‐212). 4.2.4.2.3 High-‐Involvement Informational This strategy deals with purchase decisions with a perceived risk due to either cost or psychological considerations and purchase with negative motivation. As was the case with the low-‐involvement informational strategy a solution for a problem is searched for and
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information must therefore be provided. Due to the risk at stake even more information is necessary. An example of high-‐involvement informational brand attitude strategy is insurances (Percy and Elliot 2009: 213-‐217). 4.2.4.2.4 High-‐Involvement Transformational The last strategy deals with purchase decisions, which involve risk and that have positive motivation. Once again, because of the risk the message must be perceived as true and as was the case with low-‐involvement transformational strategy there is a need for emotional authenticity. As the strategy is high-‐involvement there is a further need for the target audience to be able to personally identify with the brand. Good examples of high-‐involvement transformational brand attitude strategies are an expensive sports car or high fashion clothes. Both purchase categories need to arouse the feeling of thrill driving the car or the glamour of wearing the clothes (Percy and Elliot 2009: 217). The Rossiter-‐Percy Grid is applied in the analysis in the next chapter in relation to two of the four strategies mentioned above, as the thesis is exemplified through two low-‐involvement transformational brands and one high-‐involvement transformational brand. The two factors, motivation and involvement, are both of great importance to brand attitude and are therefore analysed on basis of the data collection.
4.3 Social Media Today, the connection between companies and people exists in the digital world, perhaps more than it does in the ‘real world’ and Kotler states: “The Web has fundamentally changed customers’ notions of convenience, speed, price, product information and service.” (Kotler et al. 2008: 839). Kotler argues that there exist four major online marketing domains. Business to consumers (B2C) is the one having been paid the most attention to and it is the selling of products and services to the final consumers. Business to business (B2B) is another form of online marketing that is also growing. Consumer to consumer (C2C) occurs on the Internet between people interested in the same products or services where they exchange information (Kotler et.al. 2008: 839-‐844). C2C marketing is interesting in the case of this thesis, as a
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growing number of consumers look to blogs for product information and reviews. In relation to online marketing blogs offer a fresh, original, personal, and cheap way to reach the target audience of the brand. Furthermore, more and more people go to social networking sites to share their thoughts, which are the reason why both blogs and social media have been taken over by companies as they are using these sites to carefully target the consumers. The fourth domain is consumer to business (C2B), which is the communication that happens from the consumers to the companies.
4.3.1 Web 2.0, Social Media, and Consumers In a paper by Berthon et al. (2012) web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers are discussed. Though the terms are related, they still have to be thought of as independent. ‘Web 2.0’ is the well-‐known term used for the technology that has enabled the swift in focus from company to consumer, desktop to the web, individuals to communities, and publishing to participation (Berthon et al. 2012: 262). Web 2.0 has given rise to the other two terms. ‘Creative consumers’ are the producers of content on social media to a greater extent than companies. The social media, as Facebook or Twitter for instance, are the vehicles that carry out the content, such as text, pictures, or videos, which are generated by the consumers (often called user-‐generated content). This user-‐generated content varies much and might begin with an informal discussion of a product on a social networking site, and it might end as a review in text or photos. The next step is for the consumers to become involved in the promotion of a product in self-‐created videos (Berthon et al. 2012: 263). The third term ‘social media’ is a result of the technological foundation of web 2.0. In general, social media consists of text, pictures, videos, and networks, and the different types social media are presented in the background information chapter. Social media creates a channel through which consumers and companies can interact and it is argued that the real power of social media is the fact that all are ‘connected’. To effectively use social media and engage consumers Berthon et al. (2012) propose five presumptions to keep in mind, however, not all presumptions are relevant to the thesis and will therefore not be mentioned. Berthon et al. (2012) presume that in the social media age local almost always become global. The understanding of the phrase is that whether a local event or crisis it is known throughout the world in an instance. A good example of relevance for this thesis is the British fashion brand Burberry. During London
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Fashion Week the brand’s show was broadcast online and opinions on the collection was all over blogs and social media, regardless of whether people had attended the show or not. And in relations to the above presumption, Berthon et al. (2012: 267) argue that global phenomena are interpreted locally and an example can be found in the financially driven world of fashion. Though fashion is popular on social media, trends differ a lot from region to region. An analysis of European social media shows that whereas Zara and H&M are equally popular in Europe, Spanish are devoted to Benetton, the French to Promod, and British to Mango.
4.4 Blogging As mentioned earlier in the thesis there is a distinction between micro blogs and social networks as well as a difference between corporate and private blogs. All varieties are of great interest for the theme of this thesis, however private blogs and not corporate blogs will be the main focus. The article “7 Things You Should Know About Microblogging” (Educause 2009) argues that the effect of blogs and micro blogs are significant in various ways, primarily because they offer instant non-‐censured news. Furthermore, it is also pointed out that marketers can follow posts on blogs to track trends and mine data about the success of a given product. However, the downsides of blogging are also accounted for. Some people still see blogging as self-‐centred, untrustworthy and basically as a waste of time. This is most likely due to casual nature of blogs and the fact that everyone everywhere can express their opinion online.
4.4.1 Value for Businesses Another relevant issue to be discussed is if blogging is actually worthwhile for a business, a topic that is discussed by Newson et al. (2009: 41-‐46). Here it is argued that blogging can be used as a marketing tool. However, this will only be effective if the company has a clear conception of who their target audience is and what this audience responds to. Explained in a simple way blogging can be said to be highly relevant if the group of segmentation regularly looks to the Internet for news and updates. While it becomes irrelevant if the target audience are not frequent users of the Internet. Here the particular product should also be considered,
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as some products are more suitable for blogs than others. Fashion goods and lifestyle products in general are appropriate for blogs as trends and hypes can be created. The bloggers can rate a moisturizer for example and hereby recommend it to his or hers followers. All in all correspondence between product, blogger forum and the consumers is vital. If a popular blogger has more than a thousand followers but who are all at the age of 15-‐20 it does not really make sense to try to hype an anti-‐wrinkle cream or baby clothes.
4.4.2 The Blogosphere In an article by Rocamora (2011) it is argued that bloggers are becoming highly influential in the world of fashion. It is even pointed out that the influence of bloggers has reached the same height as celebrity endorsement. Five years ago actresses, singers and models would be found on the front row to the world’s most prestigious fashion shows, today they share the seats with the most popular bloggers. This development should of course also be seen in connection to the growing development in the blogosphere, which by 2008 counted no less than 184 million blogs and 346 million readers. Out of this number 2 million of them are listed as belonging to the fashion and lifestyle theme of interest. These 2 million can be divided in to themes such as street fashion, celebrities’ style or on a particular style item such as accessories. Rocamora (2011) mainly focus on what she calls independent blogs or personal style blogs. Here she argues that the followers of these blogs not merely have an interest in the outfits that their favourite bloggers post pictures of, but that they have a general interest in their lives as a whole. For some followers bloggers even become idols and a source of inspiration both regarding clothes, fitness and beauty routines, food habits and maybe even relationship advice. In the article it is also discussed that a blog sometime has the effect of an online diary where the blogger shares private details of his or hers life with the readers. An argument that holds true according to the bloggers themselves as 77 % of all bloggers in a recent survey said that the reason behind the blog was to express themselves creatively (Rocamora: 2011). This self-‐expression is according to the article often commented upon by the many followers and is in the majority of all cases positive feedback, as readers tend to idolize the bloggers whom they follow. Due to the development of technology readers of fashion blogs also demand higher and higher standards when it comes to graphic and layout on blogs. Especially photos as well as the venue where the picture is taken are expected to be
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of a certain quality and have uniqueness to it. As a last point the author argues that fashion blogs have enabled women who traditionally would be excluded from the fashion world because of their size to enter its visual scape. Even though bloggers are often praised by their readers to have an amazing body, a model-‐like appearance is certainly not a requirement to become a successful blogger. All of the three discussed theorists agree that bloggers are highly relevant peers and that a match between target audience and product is of vital importance. Furthermore, it is an inevitable fact that the blogosphere is a growing and highly influential medium.
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CHAPTER 5 ANALYSIS “What knowledge can we possibly have – we’re #experts”
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5 Analysis In this chapter the theories presented earlier in the thesis will be analysed on basis of the data collected through interviews. We have chosen to divide the analysis into four sections, as was the case of the theoretical framework. By dividing the analysis each topic of interest will be thoroughly surveyed and each respondent’s opinion will be valued in the analysis. This way, we have the strongest starting point for the discussion in the next chapter and the best possible opportunity for answering the research question asked in the introduction. Throughout the analysis we have chosen to mention the respondents as R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, and R7 in stead of writing either the full ‘respondent 1’ or the respondents’ names.
5.1 Consumer Behaviour The analysis of the consumer behaviour will focus on the influence of peers, the buying behaviour of women, and consumers’ general expectations to information search.
5.1.1 Peer Influence One of the most repeated theories regarding consumer behaviour is that people’s buying behaviour is highly influenced by peers in the shape of family, friends, and even celebrities. Generally, it is argued that most people have a need to fit in and feeling accepted. This feeling is often fulfilled via clothing and appearance as a whole. The results of the interviews show that several of the respondents actually prefer a personal and unique style rather than a mainstream style. Both R1 and R4 stated that they get more inspired when people’s personal style shine through more than when people try to copy someone else. R4 said “I like my friends’ personal expression through their choice of clothes” (appendix 4: interview 4, line 37) and hereby expresses that uniqueness is more important than merely fitting in. Also, celebrities as peers were questioned as the majority of the respondents claimed to be more inspired by street fashion, random people, and friends rather than celebrities. R2 stated that she feels more inspired by normal people than celebrities (appendix 2: interview 2, lines 167-‐ 169), and R5 said: “Pictures of random trendy people catch my eye so much more than model pictures” (appendix 5: interview 5, line 108) and finally R6 explained that she finds pictures
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more interesting if she actually knows the people on them (appendix 6: interview 6, line 89). Only R4 stated that she admires certain celebrities so much that she sometimes feels tempted to buy similar clothing (appendix 4, interview 4, line 120-‐121).
5.1.2 Buying Behaviour of Women Another theory is that female consumers are most likely to spend their money on clothing and shoes. When asked about their buying behaviour several of the respondents stated that they spend a big part of their earnings on fashion items such as clothing, shoes, makeup, and accessories. Many of them stated that their buying behaviour was quite planned out. R6 said: “I’m the ’save money for something very special’ type. For example this month I have saved up money to buy a jacket I have been craving for several weeks now. I guess you can say I’m a planner when it comes to shopping” (appendix 6: interview 6, lines 6-‐8). A testimony R7 strongly agrees on by stating: “I usually take my time looking through clothing and jewellery items in a store and then I keep mental notes on what sticks out to me the most. After perusing the entire store, I’ll go back to the items I liked most and decide if I want to try them on or buy them…” (appendix 7: interview 7, lines 7-‐9). As a contrast R1 and R2 referred to themselves as spontaneous shoppers unless they were searching for something very particular (appendix 1: interview 1, line 6 and appendix 2: interview 2, lines 7-‐14). Another point raised in the theory is that popularity is more important than price range meaning that female consumers are more concerned about buying stylish items rather than carrying about the actual price of it. This theory holds true to a certain level, however, a big part of the respondents state that their style is a mix of high street and luxury brands. R1 said: ”The main part of my wardrobe is from high street brands – whereas I sometimes invest in more luxurious items such as handbags, sunglasses or maybe even a winter coat. I like following trends, which is easier to afford it you buy high street” (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 16-‐18). Similar responds were gathered from R2, R3, R5 and R6 who all agreed that luxurious and expensive items should be timeless and useful whereas passing trends were more appropriate to buy from high street brands. Our two American respondents R4 and R7 seemed more concerned about price than the other participants. R4 stated: “I prefer buying things that are on sale so I try to shop at outlet and consignment stores most of the time so I can get more for my money…” (appendix 4: interview 4, lines 10-‐11) and R7 described herself as a “high street shopper” and listed the more budget
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friendly stores such as H&M and Zara as her favourite brands (appendix 7: interview 7, line 12).
5.1.3 Search for Information As argued in the theory female consumers prefer and even expect that information is easy accessible and that they are able to have a dialogue with the company. When asked where they search for information a vast majority said that they search online, a fact that was quite obvious in R3’s responds: “The internet of course” (appendix 3: interview 3, line 21). R1, R2, R5 and R7 all stated that fashion blogs were actually their main source of information. An ordinary Google search was also highlighted by some of the respondents as being effective (appendix 1: interview 1, line 34 and appendix 5: interview 5, line 29) as well as searching for information on Facebook via the brands’ Facebook sites (appendix 6: interview 6, line 25 and appendix 2: interview 2, line 43). Finally, some of the respondents also mentioned the connection between written and online media as the websites of famous fashion magazines were described as being a valid and a good source of information (appendix 6: interview 6, lines 24-‐27). R1 even used the term “easy accessible information” when she described the website of the fashion magazine Costume (appendix 1: interview 1, line 33).
5.2 Communication Strategies This part of the analysis mainly concerns the Ethos and Pathos appeals, the emotional approach of the ABE-‐Model, and the importance of language. Furthermore, an analysis of the four relevant C’s as well as brand attitude, motivation, and involvement will be carried out.
5.2.1 EPL and ABE Generally speaking purchases within the fashion industry are almost always associated with positive buying motivation. Therefore, the main interest of the analysis of Ethos, Pathos, Logos and the ABE-‐model will be based on the part of the theory concerning strategies suitable for positive motivation.
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5.2.1.1 Ethos Appeal A common strategy especially within the world of fashion is celebrity endorsement, which corresponds well with the Ethos approach. In appendix 12 we see examples of Marc Jacobs himself posing with the world-‐known super model Kate Moss as well as using the singer Taylor Swift as a model for his latest campaign. The same strategy is used by Topshop that, among others, posted a picture on Instagram of editor-‐in-‐chief for Vogue Japan, Anna Dello Russo, sitting on the front row at their latest fashion show (appendix 13). A strategy also used by Marc Jacobs who the day after posted a picture of Anne Wintour, editor-‐in-‐chief of American Vogue, sitting on the front row at his fashion show. It is commonly known that fashion magazines are highly influential in the minds of the consumers, a fact that is given truth by several of the respondents who mentioned the websites of various fashion magazines as being their main source of information (appendix 6: interview 6, lines 24-‐27 and appendix 1: interview 1, line 33). Furthermore, one of the respondents also highlighted the reality TV-‐ star Oliver Palermo as being one of her inspiration sources (appendix 7: interview 7, line 34).
5.2.1.2 Pathos Appeal In the collected data examples of the Pathos strategy can also be found. These are especially obvious in the more text-‐based posts (appendix 14) where the brands are asking the users questions like: “What is it that you love about our favourite store?” or wishing the followers a great evening to reach out to their feelings and getting them engaged in the communication. As also argued in the theory attractiveness is essential for the pathos appeal to work ideally. A theory R1 strongly agrees on when she mentions that she likes pictures of for example a pretty girl wearing the brands’ items (appendix 1: interview 1, line 109) and R3 as well who state that she would expect a fashion event to have a lot of trendy people participating (appendix 3: interview 3, line 68). Visually all three brands can be said to have understood the importance of attractiveness as they use models, celebrities, bloggers and other role models who generally would be described as having an attractive appearance (appendixes 8, 10 and 12).
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5.2.1.3 Emotional Approach The ethos and pathos appeals are closely connected to the ABE theory, which also describes different ways to catch the attention of the consumers. Here the emotional aspect is again the most relevant considering the theme of this thesis. To apply an emotional strategy it is argued that the focus should be on feelings associated with for example humour or indulgence. As an example Topshop uses humour in some of the pictures from ‘life at the office’, where followers can see the staff having fun and can hereby feel like they are being included in what goes on at the headquarters (appendix 11). Another example from Topshop is a tweet on Twitter saying: “We’re open – free nail art, drinks and festive snacks!” (appendix 15). Here Topshop aims at making the customers feel like they are cared for and being pampered. When the respondents were asked what they associate with events within the fashion industry four out of seven clearly stated that they expected snacks and refreshments (appendix 3, 4, 6, and 7). R7 stated: “It’s a way for a brand to have firsthand interaction with customers rather than hearing from them through social media. I would expect discounts, music, dj, refreshments, goodiebags to be on event invitations. And I think that brands will do their best to keep returning and new customers happy and satisfied.” (appendix 7: interview 7, lines 64-‐67). She hereby implies that she expects to be serviced and given things in the form of gifts or goodie bags, free food and drinks. Just like R7, R6 also mentioned discounts and special offers as an essential part for them to feel taken care off (appendix 6: interview 6, line 68). 5.2.2 Language The issue of language should also be analysed upon. The question raised in the interviews was whether the respondents preferred communication in English or in their native language. Considering that R5 and R7are Americans and therefore have English as their mother tongues their interviews will not function as data basis for this particular subject. Our German respondent stated that she found English communication professional and international and that companies should omit having both an native and an English Facebook page, as she would find that confusing (appendix 6: interview 6, lines 56-‐59). While R1, even though having British inheritance, on the contrary preferred that a brand had two different Facebook pages, one in the native language and one in English (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 74-‐77). Our Swedish respondent said: “Well my education is in English, so it doesn’t really bother me,
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but I would think that for others it might seem confusing to find a page in English and would think like ‘oh God it’s in English, then it doesn’t matter’, and they would give up finding something. And I think that it easily seems like the company is trying to be smart, you know when they write “we have this competition…” and you know that it’s a Danish or Swedish person writing it and you know that the audience is primarily Danish. It is weird that it all has to be so international when we are living in Denmark. I definitely expect Danish brands to have information in Danish, otherwise I think it’s way too smart! For example I really like Støy Munkholm’s website, that is in Danish.” (appendix 2: interview 2, lines 112-‐120). A statement our African respondent agreed on by saying that she thinks brands which communicate solely in English might risk losing consumers who are not that good in English. However, she also shared the view raised by R6 that an English based page can seem more international (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 50-‐52).
5.2.3 Content – Context – Community – Communication As explained in the previous chapter not all C’s of the 7C’s Framework is relevant to this thesis, and for that reason not all will be applied in the analysis. Content, context, community, and communication are the C’s in focus.
5.2.3.1 Content In this thesis content regards the functionality and aesthetics of the Facebook page of a brand, which in this analysis are the pages of Samsøe & Samsøe, Marc Jacobs, and Topshop. In the theory chapter it is argued that high fashion and luxury brands heavily incorporate aesthetic style whereas others focus on functionality. Our respondents were presented with the three brands’ Facebook pages and were asked to consider the social media strategy in relation to the image they had of the brands. They had clear opinions on especially aesthetics such as colours and design. R1 commented on the Marc Jacobs Facebook page that it was neither too personal nor too low key, but rather classic all the way through and professional (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 49-‐50). R2 had a clear definition of how the three brands would present themselves on Facebook as well as other
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social media sites: “… So I would definitely expect that Topshop was more colourful and pop smart, like for a younger audience and a bit more… what do you call it… you know short jeans, small tops and stuff like that. That I wouldn’t expect from Marc Jacobs, they would have more neutral colours and higher quality… expensive… Topshop has more crazy stuff… colourful things… And Samsøe & Samsøe is very Scandinavian, standard items” (appendix 2: interview 2, lines 95-‐99). An opinion, which was similar to R3 who said: “… Topshop should seem fun, young and wild. Marc Jacobs and partially Samsøe & Samsøe should seem more luxurious and classy in their communication. They need to match their image” (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 43-‐45). Also R6 shared those thoughts: “I would definitely expect something very different. For example I would expect Topshop to have post based on discounts, sales campaigns etc. Whereas if Marc Jacobs did that it would seem very wrong in my eyes. I would just expect Marc Jacobs to be more stylish” (appendix 6: interview 6, lines 47-‐49). R4 mentioned a difference from the image both Marc Jacobs and Topshop present online and then the experience she gets in the stores. “… Whenever I see their content on the internet, I normally expect to see similar items in the actual store, but oftentimes that is not the case since they want to impress more people on their sites than they do those that go in their stores, and so some of the clothes are disappointing or just completely different from what I expected…” (appendix 4: interview 4, lines 67-‐70). However, R5 was opposed to that statement, as she could definitely see similarities between the social media sites and the stores of the brands (appendix 5: interview 5, lines 57-‐58).
5.2.3.2 Context The context of Facebook pages is another important topic in the analysis of the C’s, and in relation to the thesis especially the multimedia mix consisting of texts, graphics, and images and the timeliness mix are important factors. The appeal mix is likewise important, but as it is analysed in the paragraph regarding the ethos and pathos appeals and the emotional approach it will not be elaborated upon here. The multimedia mix is what the brand intends the consumers to see, basically is it which visuals they choose to post on their Facebook page or Instagram account. All our respondents agree that visuals are the most important feature of brand pages. And two of our respondents mentioned pictures of new styles as being particularly interesting. As said by R1: “… New
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styles. For instance if they post a picture of a new bag…” (appendix 1: interview 1, line 45). Something that R3 agrees with: “… I like when they post pictures of new styles. Especially pictures taken by the staff in the different stores. It makes it very authentic. I prefer pictures and not a lot of text!” (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 30-‐31). The fact that not many of the respondents are in the seventh heaven about text posts will be elaborated on in the paragraph about the different social media strategies. The timeliness mix is about both how often brands are posting on different social media sites as well as whether the brands are at all present on social media or not. The frequency of brand posts on Facebook is truly a question that divides the respondents; they have all answered something different from each other. R1 believes brands should post at least once every day (appendix 1: interview 1, line 60), which is a statement that respondent 7 (R7) agrees with: “… I expect brands to post new information every day to keep their customers up to date” (appendix 7: interview 7, lines 43-‐44). However, if a brand choses to post every single day that would annoy R3 who would say that every other day would be perfect (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 36-‐37). A number of the respondents argue that posting once a week would be satisfying, as R1 claims: “I feel that Facebook is more personal than Instagram and therefore once or twice per week would be fine” (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 63-‐64). She is followed by R5 who says: “At least weekly. But then again it’s too much if it’s every day. I mean then it’s like… Your news feed will be completely full of it! And then it gets too much, and all of a sudden it has the opposite effect” (appendix 5: interview 5, lines 49-‐51). The balance mentioned by R5 about being out there and being there too much is a difficult one to nail. As she argues, too many posts do not seem beneficial, however, too few posts make consumers forget the brand. As R6 says in regards to posting: “A few times a week, so you don’t forget about them” (appendix 7: interview 7, line 42). Most of the respondents had strong opinions about brands, which were not at all present on social media, as stated by R3: “Everyone is present on social media. So if the company is not, they would seem very unprofessional. It would be so old-‐fashioned” (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 47-‐48). The fact that “everyone” is on social media is mentioned by another of our respondents, R5, when speaking of the online presence: “… It says something about the brand and its values… I mean everyone are on social media and every brand, company or organisation
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market themselves through those channels. To me it seems more serious if a fashion brand is present on social media. And it’s cool if you recognise something in the store that you remember that you saw on Facebook” (appendix 5: interview 5, line 61-‐64). R6 is even harsher in her announcement regarding online absence: “I would get very annoyed. Cause Facebook would be a place where I would search for information about the brand. And if they then didn’t have a webpage either I would just think they were not worth my time” (appendix 6: interview 6, lines 51-‐53).
5.2.3.3 Community and Communication Community in its basic sense refers to the interaction between the users of the website, or fans of the same brand, however, the importance of community in the thesis is the interaction between the brand and its followers or likers on the social media sites. The C of communication is closely linked to the C of community, as it is the possibility to engage in two-‐way conversation. Both community and communication provide the consumers with ways to interact with each other as well as the brand, and both challenge the brand in relation to so-‐called “bad press” as everyone can write anything about the brand, its products, or services. However, time has shown that there are more fans than haters, and social media sites have proven themselves suitable for customer service whether the customers have had a bad experience or a claim, it is a good place to make amends. Though social media is a stronghold for conversation, our respondents are not likely to engage with the brand in that way, as they all argue that they would never comment on posts or answer questions asked on social media. All seven of them appear very set on their opinions and nothing would ever change their minds because they believe commenting gets too personal and private. R2 says: “Never! I have never done that. I think it’s because it gets too private, and I think it’s too private if everybody can see that Nicoline likes this and this…” (appendix 2: interview 2, lines 84-‐85). In line of that comment, R5 argues that commenting and liking on Facebook makes it all too personal, and she has no need for people to know what she likes (appendix 5: interview 5, lines 77-‐78). And R6 agrees: “Never, that’s way to personal!” (appendix 6: interview 6, line 44).
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Furthermore, several of the respondents point to the fact that brands are not “true friends”, and as R3 puts it: “No, never comment. I might like a post, but that’s the most. I still want a distance to them, as they are not really my friends...” (appendix 3: interview 3: lines 39-‐40). She is supported by R1 who says that she only comment on her friends’ activities on social media (appendix 1: interview 1, line 67). Moreover, one of our respondents argues that commenting, liking and engaging with brands on social media becomes too time-‐consuming: “… Well, I think it gets too much, you know, it becomes a too big part of your everyday life… And no matter what the companies do, I don’t think I would do it [comment]. I think it would take too much of my time” (appendix 2: interview 2, lines 123-‐129).
5.2.4 Brand Attitude As written in the previous chapter, brand attitude is basically what people know about a brand and how people feel towards a brand. By awakening knowledge and feeling a brand creates an attitude in the minds of its consumers. Brand awareness, which was introduced briefly in the theory, is necessary in order to create a further brand attitude. The three brands in question where all known by our respondents with the exception that the two American respondents did not know the Danish brand Samsøe & Samsøe. As this brand is not present outside Europe the lack of knowledge among the Americans was expected of us. The other five respondents are or have been living in Denmark for a certain amount of time and did therefore know Samsøe & Samsøe as well as British Topshop and American Marc Jacobs, who are world-‐known brands. The five respondents that knew Samsøe & Samsøe all agreed that the brand is classic Scandinavian basis clothes, and R3 sees Samsøe & Samsøe as a ‘down to earth’ brand, which she really liked (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 80-‐81). A feeling that is visible from the other respondents as well. In regards to Marc Jacobs several of our respondents thought of the brand as very classy as mentioned by both R1 (appendix 1: interview 1, line 49) and R6: “I would just expect Marc Jacobs to be more stylish” (appendix 6: interview 6, line 49). Another respondent points to the fact that she really likes that Marc Jacobs’ advertisements, pictures, and communication are
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simple (appendix 7: interview 7, lines 29-‐30). All of our respondents had positive feelings towards the Topshop brand and R3 mentioned that she thinks Topshop is very good in regards to using Facebook in many different ways (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 27-‐28). Furthermore, R3 is also fond of Topshop’s ‘everyday’ posts, as she said: “I just saw on Topshop’s Facebook page that one of their PR employees had brought cute cakes to the office. I don’t know why – but I just really liked that picture” (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 82-‐83). R7 also specifically mentioned Topshop as a brand with a wide variety of designs, and she really liked that there was something for everyone (appendix 7: interview 7, lines 30-‐31). Only R4 did not have much of an attitude towards the brands, as she does not follow any of them regularly on social media (appendix 4: interview 4, line 71). R1 added that she does not follow many high street brands on Facebook, as she said: “… I have a feeling that they would post all the time and way too much” (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 39-‐40).
5.2.4.1 Involvement and Motivation An analysis of brand attitude also implies a review of the Rossiter-‐Percy Grid and its focus on involvement and motivation. As our thesis is exemplified through fashion brands, we would argue that the motivation is always positive. Consumers with a basic need for clothes only for the sake of warmth would never go out buying clothes in Topshop, Samsøe & Samsøe, or Marc Jacobs, as the brands are of no meaning to them. However, the thesis treats both low-‐ involvement in regards to Topshop and Samsøe & Samsøe and high-‐involvement with the Marc Jacobs brand, which has a price range starting at approximately 2,000 DKK. This means that the thesis deals with two examples of low-‐involvement transformational strategy and one case of high-‐involvement transformational strategy. The theory says that with positive motivated, low risk purchases focus should be to portray emotional benefits of the product rather than providing information. Especially Topshop is very good at picturing benefits, which is acknowledged by more respondents. R2 labels Topshop as ‘colourful, pop-‐smart, and crazy’ (appendix 2: interview 2, lines 95-‐98), which are the emotional benefits she believes the brand to possess. R3 pins down Topshop’s emotional benefits very specific: “… Topshop should seem fun, young, and wild…” (appendix 3: interview 3, line 43). R6 mentioned Samsøe & Samsøe as being good at establishing relationships with their consumers: “… I like that Samsøe
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& Samsøe for example invites you to events. It makes it seem like they want to be friends with you…” (appendix 6: interview 6, lines 32-‐34). As we have argued that Marc Jacobs purchases are high-‐involvement with positive motivation theory claims that there is a need for the message to be perceived as true, the emotions must appear authentic, and perhaps most importantly, there is a need for the consumer to personally identify with the brand. Several of our respondents mention authenticity and the importance of being able to relate to the brand in question, as said by R3: “[Discussing pictures]…Especially pictures taken by the staff in the different stores. It makes it very authentic…” (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 30-‐31). Photos of whatever is happening in the store, at the office, at the photo shoot of a new campaign form the basis on which consumers relate to the brand. As Marc Jacobs is high-‐involvement, our respondents also like and anticipate stylish photos by fashion photographers instead of low key iPhone photos alone, and R1 points to the fact that she follows Marc Jacobs on Facebook and Instagram simply because she loves the beautiful pictures that are posted (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 38-‐39), and R6 agrees as she says that she goes to the Marc Jacobs website just to admire the layout (appendix 6: interview 6, lines 31-‐32). Another take on the authenticity and personal identification with the brand is for Marc Jacobs to show pictures of people wearing the clothes whether that be celebrities or others that the consumers can relate to. R1 says that she loves it when pictures of someone wearing the clothes, shoes, or bags are posted, and it could easily just be a ‘pretty girl’ spotted on the street (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 107-‐110).
5.3 Social Media The analysis of social media will treat the three strategies mentioned in the research question, namely competitions, events, and visuals. The analysis will also touch upon Instagram as well as Twitter and text-‐based posts.
5.3.1 Competitions In the introduction we have argued that competitions are an important strategy for companies to apply to their social media approach as it generates attention and creates
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positive reactions among consumers. R3 acknowledges the need for competitions, as she said: “I can understand that it is a good way to create attention. But it’s not my favorite thing to read about or see on social media sites” (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 63-‐64). However, six out of seven of our respondents say that they would not participate in competitions, only R6 is positive towards the concept, as she has previously won a dress in a competition. Though she would only participate if it did not require a sign-‐up to the customer club (appendix 6: interview 6, lines 61-‐62). Several of the other respondents mention privacy as a great issue in regards to competitions. R1 says: “[Discussing competitions] Nope, not on Facebook. I wouldn’t want all my friends to see that I was trying to win some dress or something…” (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 82-‐83). A contention R3 strongly agrees with, as she says that she does not want her name ‘plastered all over peoples’ news feed’ and mentions a need for privacy if she was to participate in a competition (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 61-‐62). R7 simply states that she has never cared about entering any kind of competitions (appendix 7: interview 7, line 61). If a competition is merely promoted through Facebook and the actual participation happens in the store of the brand, R1 mentions that she then might participate if she happened to stop by the store (appendix 1: interview 1, line 86). Another aspect regarding competitions presented to the respondents is what it takes to excite them. R2, R5, and R6 all mention complexity or how much of an effort it takes to participate in the competition as elements deciding whether they would indeed participate or not. R6 puts it this way: “Complexity for the most part. It needs to be a simple contest if I am entering it. And the price of course needs to be something that I actually would like” (appendix 6: interview 6, lines 64-‐65). As referred to by R6 the price is another element important to most of our respondents. R4 states that usually the prices are not worth the time it takes to participate (appendix 4: interview 4, lines 93-‐95), and R3 simply wants the participation to be easy to answer and to be kept private (appendix 3: interview 3, line 66).
5.3.2 Events We have, furthermore, argued that events are another important social media strategy to apply to a brand’s social media strategy. Events within the fashion industry are used on a
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large scale and appendix 10 shows different Facebook events from Samsøe & Samsøe and Topshop. R7 has a well-‐thought explanation of what events in the fashion industry are: It’s a way for a brand to have first hand interaction with customers rather than hearing from them through social media…” (appendix 7: interview 7, lines 64-‐65). All seven respondents mention that they expect to be invited, and that the actual event will have snacks, refreshments, music entertainment, and several also mention campaign offer, discounts, or goodiebags. As said by R4: “…I get bored if there isn’t any of those things” (appendix 4: interview 4, lines 101-‐102). Moreover, more respondents say that they expect events by the three brands of the thesis to have trendy people participating. R3 says: “… And I would expect a fashion event to have a lot of trendy people in it” (appendix 3: interview 3, line 69), and R6 agrees as she expects to meet cool people at such events (appendix 6: interview 6, line 70). R3 mentions how she loves the pictures from the Samsøe & Samsøe X Cover [Danish fashion magazine red.] brunch, which took place during Copenhagen Fashion Week in August 2012 (appendix 10). One of the reasons why she likes them so much is because: “… Cause it’s a lot of fashion people all together enjoying a brunch in hip surroundings” (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 74-‐75). R2 would want to see pictures of people participating and if they were wearing something nice (appendix 2: interview 2, lines 183-‐184). Still, not all respondents are likely to go to an event promoted through Facebook. R1 finds the events a little superficial and as she puts it: “… I would just feel misplaced and like it was a waste of time – especially if there were no discounts” (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 95-‐96). Contrary, R2 believes that she would participate if she was told about the event in the store of the brand or by her friends (appendix 2: interview 2, lines 153-‐154).
5.3.3 Visuals Pictures are perhaps the most important aspect of social media, and our interviews centred on the subject several times, sometimes initiated by us and other times by the respondents. Moreover, this paragraph also shows a lack of our respondents’ interest in text-‐based posts on Facebook.
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All respondents agree on the fact that pictures play an essential role on social media, as R2 puts it: “…it’s what you expect when you are on social media…” (appendix 2: interview 2, line 157), and R3 said: “… Pictures are what catch our eye. Good and funny pictures are essential” (appendix 3: interview 3, line 77), and R5 says that pictures are what catches her attention(appendix 5: interview 5, line 100). R1 clearly states what she does and does not like in regards to pictures on social media such as Facebook and Instagram: “I hate when companies post random pictures from the office, staff events etc. I, however, love when they post pictures of someone wearing their clothes, shoes, bag etc. And it doesn’t even have to be a famous person. It could just be a pretty girl spotted wearing it on the street…” (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 107-‐109). Along the line with this respondent’s thoughts is R5 who is not able to se what ‘life at the office’ pictures has to do with her (appendix 5: interview 5, line 111). On the contrary, R6 states that she loves ‘behind the scenes’ pictures because she thinks that these pictures give the brand a more human touch (appendix 6: interview 6, lines 79-‐80), and R3 is likewise positive towards these pictures, she claims that there is a difference between what pictures you expect from the three brands: “Again, it depends on which brand it is. If it is a luxury brand, I would expect high class pictures from a fashion show. While I would love to see pictures from the office and the stores from a more down to earth brand like Samsøe & Samsøe” (appendix 3: interview 3, lines 79-‐81). One kind of pictures all respondents claim to be very fond of is ‘street style photos’ which all three brands post regularly. R2 likes these pictures because they are more personal (appendix 2: interview 2, line 172), and R5 argues that street style pictures catch her attention much more than model photos (appendix 5: interview 5, line 108). On the contrary, not many of our respondents like pictures from fashion shows, which are often seen on the Marc Jacobs Facebook page and Instagram account. R1 says that she finds it such a long process from the catwalk to the stores, so it seems far into the future (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 104-‐105), and R5 thinks it gets boring to look at (appendix 5: interview 5, line 113). Two of the respondents (R4 and R7) claim that pictures from events are important, and R7 states: “I think pictures from events are important, you’re able to see how the brand interacts with people interested in their product. Also, I guess it shows the support a brand gets from people…” (appendix 7: interview 7, lines 70-‐72).
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5.3.4 Instagram As mentioned in the theory photo-‐sharing sites and micro blogging are a growing phenomenon. When our respondents were asked if they were familiar with the photo sharing side Instagram, all seven agreed that they at the very least knew what it was. R2 said that she does not use Instagram at all (appendix 2: interview 2, lines 34-‐35), something that also goes for R5 who stated: “I only have a profile on Facebook” (appendix 5: interview 5, line 20). R3 and R6 said that both of them have Instagram accounts, but that they did not really use it that much. R6 explained this by saying that she found Facebook easier to use instead. Finally R1, R4 and R7 seemed like frequent users of Instagram based on their answers to the question. R1 said that she follows Marc Jacobs on Instagram (appendix 1: interview 1, line 38), and both R4 and R7 stated that out of all the social media sites they use, Instagram is the preferred one. R4 explained that she is on Instagram at least 4-‐5 times a day (appendix 4: interview 4, line 29) and R7 said: “Of the three mentioned I use Instragram the most.” (appendix 7: interview 7, line 16). Finally R4 and R7 both highlighted Instagram as their favourite photo-‐sharing device. R4 said: “I love Instagram! I think it is the number one way I keep up with various fashion blogs and brands because it combines all of the pictures and things that I want to see under one cohesive and easy social media app.”. (appendix 4: interview 4, lines 126-‐128), and R7 stated that she thinks Instagram is a great way to showcase a different side of creativity through photography. (appendix 7: interview 7, line 72-‐73).
5.3.5 Twitter and Text-‐based Posts Micro blogging has also gained ground, however it is not the social media sites that is used by any of the respondents. But two of them answer that if they had a Twitter account, they would find humorous tweets worth retweeting or perhaps an upcoming event (appendix 4: interview 4, lines 133-‐134 and appendix 7: interview 7, lines 77-‐78). In relation to Twitter we asked our respondents about their opinions on text-‐based posts on Facebook (appendix 14). R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, and R6 all state that they find text-‐based posts boring and that these kinds of updates do not catch their attention unless they are accompanied by pictures. Only R7 is positive towards text-‐based posts, as she says: “I think it’s an interesting way to engage in conversation with people. It’s also a great way for brands to
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hear feedback from people who keep up with their sites” (appendix 7: interview 7, lines 80-‐81). And even though she does not pay much attention to the posts, R5 says: “… but at the same time, when I think about it, then it’s kind of pleasant… It’s a way to be more personal with the people who have liked the brand” (appendix 5: interview 5, lines 120-‐122). Only few of the respondents engage in conversation on Facebook, such as answering questions asked by the brand. R3 says she might have done it once or twice, but that she in general finds it unneccesary (appendix 3: interview 3, line 85), and R7 simply states that she is terrible at engaging in conversation on social media (appendix 7: interview 7, line 75).
5.4 Blogging As argued in the theory chapter a vital factor for determining the effect of blogs is that the respondents in question actually read blogs. All seven respondents stated that they follow fashion blogs – some more than others. R1 said that she follows 5 different blogs on a regular basis (appendix 1: interview 1, line 53), R6 follows up to 15 different blogs daily (appendix 6: interview 6, line 19) and explained it with: “I don’t want to miss out on anything” (appendix 6: interview 6, line 20). R4 however stated that she does not read blogs often but only sometimes (appendix 4: interview 4, line 49). This draws a picture of all seven respondents being active in the blogosphere to a certain extent.
5.4.1 The Value of Blogging One of our main areas of interest has been to determine if blogging is actually worthwhile looking at it from a business perspective. When asked the question: “If one of the bloggers you follow is wearing something you find cool or mention a brand or a product, could that inspire you to buy it as well?” A majority of the respondents said that it would inspire them at the least. R1 stated that she would never go out and buy the exact same thing, but that she would try to find something similar and giving it her own unique style (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 58-‐60). A statement R2 strongly agrees on (appendix 2: interview 2, lines 65-‐69). R5 referred to blogs as a good place to lure off new tendencies (appendix 5: interview 5, line 46) while R7 said it depends on the price range and if she can afford it (appendix 7: interview 7, lines 37-‐ 39). She explained this by saying that if an item was out of her budget, she would try to find
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something similar from a cheaper brand. Finally both R3 and R6 admitted to having bought something just because they saw it on a blog. R6 even stated: “I don’t really want to admit it, but yes. For example a brand like Kenzo is so hyped by bloggers right now that everyone wants to own a Kenzo sweatshirt. So I guess the influence of bloggers has a great effect on many of us...” (appendix 6: interview 6, lines 38-‐40). She hereby implies that even though most people might find it embarrassing to admit that they copy bloggers and their style it is actually where a lot of hypes and tendencies are started.
5.4.2 Are Bloggers Celebrities? This leads us to another theory point namely the question of idolising bloggers and to which extent they are regarded to be on the same level as celebrities. As one theorist argues followers have a tendency to idolise bloggers the same way they would idolise a pop star or a famous actor. However, none of the seven respondents implied that this is the case. It seems more likely that they regard them as normal people with an excellent sense of fashion and styling. The only example comes from R7 who mentioned Olivia Palermo (appendix 7: interview 7, line 34), a reality star known from the TV-‐show The City and for her good taste in clothing and accessories. Besides from being a TV-‐star she has her own fashion blog, which R7 follows on a regular basis. Olivia Palermo is however not the only celebrity who blogs, this is an increasing tendency. Again it should be noted that these celebrities became idols before they became bloggers. Connected to this issue is the question of how personal the bloggers should be in their communication. While the examined theory argues that followers want to have personal interactions with their preferred bloggers and have a general interest in the private lives, the majority of the respondents either had a different view on the matter or just did not emphasise it as being important. R1 said: “I used to follow two more, but they became too personal for me. I hate it when bloggers talk too much about their personal life. I want to read about fashion and trends and that is it!”(appendix 1: interview 1, lines 53-‐55). She hereby clearly states that she does not find private details relevant at all, and that her sole purpose of reading blogs is to follow trends.
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CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION ”And this is what we found out in the analysis #getready #discuss”
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6 Discussion This chapter contains the discussion of the findings retrieved from the analysis. We have chosen to divide the discussion into the following paragraphs: behaviour, celebrities, pictures, events, competitions, privacy, frequency, and finally language. In the discussion we aim to find the answers to the hypothesis written in the introduction, and the research question will be answered in the conclusion in the next chapter. First, no matter how successful brands are online, the value of the brand is always measured by profit. For that reason the buying behaviour of the consumers is a continuously relevant aspect to look into. All seven respondents are interested in fashion and are therefore also girls who like spending money on shopping for clothes, shoes, and accessories. Here it should be noted that the majority of our respondents are students and are therefore expected to have a limited disposable income. A visible difference among the respondents is that some are spontaneous shoppers whereas others are planning their shopping. Though theory argue that style is more important than price, our analysis shows that not all of our respondents agree with this fact. From the interviews a cultural difference can be traced, as the two American girls (R4 and R7) are more price-‐conscious and label themselves as solely high street shoppers. This is a contrast to the European respondents (R1, R2, R5, and R6) who all described their styles as a mix of luxury and high street. When they are shopping for luxury goods, quality and timelessness are important factors as the goods should last long. The visible difference between the American and the European respondents can perhaps be explained by the historical development within fashion. While European fashion houses like Chanel, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Prada etc. are grounded in history and have existed since the early twentieth century, American fashion houses are rather young and lack the same historical background. Fashion brands such as Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, and Alexander Wang are all relatively new and emerged in the 1990’s. This indicates that Europeans have a longer history of shopping luxury than the Americans, and that is perhaps the answer to why our European respondents choose to save up for expensive items.
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Theory also claims that a person’s buying behaviour is established by a need for fitting in, whereas our respondents say they prefer a unique style rather than having a ‘mainstream’ look. This contrast can be explained by the fact that the theory is based on tweenage girls, and our respondents are young adults who might be more secure in their style. Second, celebrities influence many aspects in regards to this thesis, and their roles as influencers will therefore be discussed. In theory celebrities are mentioned as important peers when it comes to fashion inspiration. However, only one out of seven respondents mentions celebrities as a direct inspiration, instead the respondents felt more inspired by ‘random’ people and by their own friends. As we have argued in the analysis, the appeals within fashion are heavily dependent on emotional benefits, and celebrity endorsement is therefore much used by brands. Nevertheless, based on the interviews we would argue that people famous for their acting skills, voice, or participation in reality TV are not the most suited for the job of influencing consumer purchase decisions. Instead brands should focus more on celebrities known for the professional knowledge within the fashion industry. Roles which Anne Wintour and Anna Dello Russo are good examples of, as they are editor-‐in-‐chiefs of prestigious fashion magazines. This statement is verified by several of our respondents, who mention fashion magazines as great sources for information. Another aspect that is heavily marked by celebrities is the blogosphere both in relation to celebrities as bloggers and in relation to idolisation of bloggers. One of our respondents mentions a reality star who blogs as a great inspiration, but she is the only one speaking positively about celebrity blogs. The theory concerning blogger idolisation is somewhat contradicted by the majority of our respondents, who claim that they have no interest in the blogger’s personal life and solely read them for fashion inspiration. We would, however, argue that the theory proves correct to some extent, as multimillion companies such as Coca-‐Cola, L’Oreal, and Bestseller use bloggers as marketing strategies. Those companies would not do so if it did not prove beneficial on the bottom line. Therefore, being perceived as celebrities or not, bloggers must have a certain effect on consumers similar that of idols. Fashion brands have taken in Instagram and are frequently posting pictures of celebrities sitting front row at a fashion show. Celebrities are huge users of Twitter, and when they participate in any kind of event they always tweet about it to let their followers watch from the side lines. Based on this
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we therefore state that celebrities whether being used as bloggers or on Twitter or Instagram are effective PR tools for brands within the fashion world. Third, in the hypothesis we argue that visuals are an important tool in generating consumers’ attention. In line with the discussion of celebrities our respondents point to the fact that they like pictures of street style fashion, as it shows the clothes in real life situations and on real people. Furthermore, several respondents feel that pictures are the most important feature of brand pages, an argument that highly support our hypothesis regarding visuals. This also gives truth to the Pathos approach, which claims that an important factor is attractiveness in order to validate image and reputation through visuals and especially pictures. In the interviews we presented the respondents with different pictures posted on Marc Jacobs, Topshop, and Samsøe & Samsøe’s Facebook pages (appendixes 11 and 12) in order to investigate what they liked the most. The respondents did not see eye to eye on whether photos from the everyday life at the office were interesting or not. However, exactly these pictures are gaining more and more ground, and brands seem to really like posting them. Some argued that these pictures have nothing to do with them, whereas others thought it gave the brand a more ‘human touch’. As we from the beginning have chosen to exemplify our thesis through three brands, which belong to different classes of fashion, we had an assumption that the brands would have to interact differently from one other. It is a belief that is shared by our respondents as they mention that Marc Jacobs should post high-‐class photos from fashion shows, whereas the more down to earth pictures fit the image of Samsøe & Samsøe well. Furthermore, various respondents consider Topshop and humour a good match and point out that they like when the brand is applying funniness to its posts. This corresponds with the emotional aspect of the ABE-‐Model, which emphasises the importance of humour. As all our respondents find pictures to be of great importance on social media, we predict that the photo-‐sharing app Instagram has a bright future, as it combines the best of Facebook and Twitter. Two of our respondents even listed Instagram as their absolute favourite social media.
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Fourth, though our research question implies that competitions are of great importance when establishing positive reactions among consumers, our respondents are not as easily convinced. The general perception is that competitions are necessary to generate attention, however, six out of seven of the respondents would not participate, as they argue that it is a waste of their time and that the price is rarely worth the effort. We would argue that it appears that the respondents have seen through the strategy of the brands and therefore regard competition as a publicity scam to generate more likes on their Facebook pages. If someone participates in a brand’s competition, it is shown on that person’s news feed and is hereby an easy way for brands to create publicity. This is a fact that is acknowledged by more of our respondents. Another issue raised by the respondents is that they have a hard time accepting that competitions on social media are public, and that everybody is therefore able to see if they are entering. Overall, privacy is a lot more crucial to the respondents than we had ever expected. We had the perception that if the brand was cool enough, followers would gladly be associated with the brand. Fifth, the other element of our research question is events, which we argue is likewise important to create positive reactions. At a beginning note it is evident that events are more popular than competitions in the minds of the respondents. Especially give-‐aways such as goodiebags, snacks, and drinks seem important for the respondents, as it gives them a feeling of being appreciated. However, they do not attend at all costs, as they argue that they would only participate if they were personally invited or knew people at the event. The great draw of events it that they connect people with common interest, and as all our respondents are interested in fashion, they are very fascinated by style and trends of the people attending. From a brand’s point of view the purpose of hosting an event is to create overall attention to the brand, goodwill, customer care, and of course getting consumers to visit the store to encourage purchase. Our examples of events that were showed to the respondents (appendix 10) show a diverse range of events, from store-‐happenings to fashion week come-‐togethers
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and parties for customers. Here it is important to notice that it is not enough to simply post the event on Facebook and later to show pictures from the particular scenery. Followers on Facebook need to feel that their participation is of great important to the brand and not just a media stunt. Sixth, even though social media as well as blogging have been labelled forums for self-‐ promotion, and that theory states that followers wish an insight into the private lives of their preferred bloggers, a different view was given by the respondents. Several said that they had no interest in the bloggers’ personal lives; one even indicated that she would stop following a blog if it became too personal. This is a contradiction to what was believed in the theory, namely that bloggers are sometimes seen as advise gurus. Furthermore, in regards to privacy there is a clash between the respondents’ wish for all brands’ social media activities to be personal, but then not be willing to put a little bit of their own personality into the brand. It is visible when respondents clarify that they only like pictures they can relate to, and that street style photos are superior to campaign shoots. The respondents expect the brands to be personal, down to earth, and even seeming like they want to be friends with the consumers. Quite ironic since several of the respondents state, that they would never interact with the brands by commenting or even liking a photo, as they believe that to be way too personal. Nevertheless, if taking a look at the brands’ Facebook pages it is evident that even though our respondents are not willing to like or comment, a lot of other people are. In regards to privacy one of our respondents points out that (appendix 1: interview 1, lines 63-‐65): “I feel that Facebook is more personal than Instagram and therefore once or twice per week would be fine. Instagram, however, is more public and picture oriented, so here I would like to see new stuff each day.” This indicates that Instagram appears to be a more open social media site, where people are more tolerant towards frequent post of pictures, as it does not interfere with their personal lives to the same extent as Facebook does.
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Seventh, as we argue in the hypothesis, social media is important for every company. We therefore found it relevant to explore our respondents’ take on the matter. When they were presented with the question about online presence all seven of our respondents were surprised by the existence of brands with no social media presence at all. It must be said that such a thing is not common. However, the Danish jewellery brand Rebekka Rebekka has no social media existence, but the brand does have a website. One of the respondents uttered great annoyance by the fact, as she argued that she always make a search on Facebook, when she wishes to collect information about a brand or its products. Several pointed to the fact that online absence equalled unprofessionalism and frivolousness. One respondent indicated that brands might even lose potential consumers if they were nowhere to be found on social media. All statements that correspond well with our assumption presented earlier. Furthermore, we expected consumers to want daily interaction with the brand, which they follow. Yet the answer to the question of frequency is not a simple one to answer. The only thing the respondents truly agreed on was the fact that social media sites should be updated regularly. Only half of the respondents agree with the hypothesis, which states daily interaction. Surprisingly, many of them thought daily posts would be annoying and a waste of space on their news feed. However, the question confused the respondents, and they had difficulty deciding on an unambiguous answer and had to reason with themselves to come up with an answer. An example is respondent 2 (appendix 2: respondent 2, lines 76-‐78): “… So I would say… Well I can’t see how a company could use a Facebook page if they only posted once a month. That’s 12 posts a year, and that’s nothing. So of course, they should post once a week, at least…” This proves that it is not a subject, which they have a clear take on and perhaps not something they have thought of before being asked the question. It is an issue, which is difficult to give a straight answer to, as each individual has its own opinion on the topic. Meanwhile there is a noticeable difference between the three social media sites in question. Whereas it for tweets on Twitter or pictures on Instagram seem more allowed updating daily and perhaps even several times a day according to the respondents, this is not the case with Facebook.
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Lastly, the language of the online communication was debated in the interviews, as it was a question that divided the respondents. On the one hand, online communication in English was argued to be professional and to set an international standard. On the other hand, as our respondents valued personal ties several preferred customised pages for each language. As one respondent points out being a Danish brand, communicating primarily with Danes, but writing in English seem like the brand is trying too hard to be international, and it then turns out to be a disadvantage.
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CHAPTER 7 CRITICISM “We’ve had a few obstacles along the way #sources #validity #respondents”
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7 Criticism To evaluate this thesis the relevance of the applied theories will be discussed to determine whether they have been adequate in relation to the analysis. Furthermore, the use of sources is critiqued in terms of topical relevance, validity and accessibility.
7.1 Sources Concerning relevant books regarding our overall theme of the thesis, we had to deselect several publications as they were simply too out-‐dated. Many were even written before the emergence of social media and therefore did not take the massive effect of the Internet and its global consequences into consideration. However, we succeed in finding some contemporary books, which we were able to apply in the theoretical framework. Theories on consumer behaviour and communication strategies did not demand the newest editions in order to be valid, as this is not a subject connected to the online world alone. Because social media is a relatively new phenomenon, there is a limited number of scientific articles and theory on the subject. Due to that it has been necessary to apply more general communication theories and as an example we have applied the 7C’s framework of web design as an analysis tool for online communication through social media. As our thesis deals with the topic of how brands can create positive reactions from consumers, it would have been helpful if there had been any scientific material regarding brands’ actions on social media. Since this was not possible for us to find, we had to base the main part of our discussion of social media solely on the individual and personal opinions of our respondents.
7.2 Theories Regarding the applied theories some proved more applicable than others. Concerning consumer behaviour and buying behaviour in particular we used the following two articles: Business Strategy: Marketing to women (Bushman 2007) and Papers Communicating Culture: An Examination of the Buying Behaviour of Tweenage Girls and the Key Societal Communicating Factors Influencing the Buying Process of Fashion Clothing (Grant and Stephen 2005). Both were useful tools for understanding the buying behaviour of women as well as applying it in
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the analysis. However, the Grant and Stephen article was based on findings among girls younger than the target audience of the chosen brands. Nonetheless, we found the article sufficient in describing the behaviour of females in the fashion world. In regards to communication strategies we selected four theories highly relevant for the theme of our thesis. Both the Logos, Ethos, Pathos appeals as well as the ABE model focus on different types of appeals. Seeing as fashion is argued to be purely positive motivated not all the different appeal types were relevant for the thesis. To exploit the full potential of the above-‐mentioned models it would have been necessary to examine a broader range of product categories. Due to the focus of this thesis we found the Pathos and Ethos appeals most suited as well as the attribute and emotional approaches in the ABE model. The third model about communication strategies is the 7 C’s framework of web design. As the framework was originally made for the analysis of web design not all 7 C’s were considered relevant for the thesis. For that reason only the C’s concerning Content, Context, Community and Communication were useful analysis tools. Though the framework is a model made to understand web design it is still seen as being appropriate, as social media is online communication as well. The theory on brand attitude (Percy and Elliot 2009) is vital in order to fully understand which elements create positive reactions among consumers and it is therefore the only communication objective applied in the analysis. This objective concerns the combination of involvement and motivation whether being high or low, negative or positive (The Rossiter-‐Percy Grid). As previously argued negative motivation is not a relevant factor for this thesis. However, examples of both high and low involvement products are to be found in the thesis due to large differences in price range. As mentioned in the source criticism not much theory about social media is available. Therefore, we have applied Kotler’s theory on online communication as it deals with consumer-‐to-‐consumer communication as well as business-‐to-‐consumer communication. The paper Marketing Meets Web 2.0, Social Media, and Creative Consumers: Implications for International Marketing Strategy (Berthon et al. 2012) is introduced as it explains the importance of social media in connection to consumers. Finally, texts concerning blogging served as a tool for enhancing the understanding of consumers view on blogging. The applied texts Blogging and Other Social Media: Exploiting the Technology and Protecting the Enterprise
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(Newson et al. 2009) and Personal Fashion Blogs: Screens and Mirrors in Digital Self-‐portraits (Rocamora 2011) founded the basis of the analysis of the blogosphere. Even though this thesis does not treat ROI as a subject the question of value for business is still appropriate when dealing with the effect of blogging. We argue that collaboration with bloggers is beneficial for fashion brands as consumers regard bloggers as sources of inspiration.
7.3 Respondents Moreover, it was slightly difficult to find respondents that were non-‐Danish speakers as well as ones who had an interest in fashion and social media in general. We had chosen to select six to eight respondents, but it was only possible for us to get in touch with seven girls that matched our segmentation criteria. Furthermore, we found that not many of our respondents were active tweeters and therefore did not have much of an opinion on the matter. Also, only half of our respondents were users of Instagram, and that caused our thesis to concern Facebook more than the others of our chosen social media channels. Nonetheless, we managed to gather six different nationalities, which gave us a wide range of cultural diversity. With the exception of the two American respondents all remaining five knew the Danish brand Samsøe & Samsøe as they had either or did still live in Denmark. This secured the background knowledge needed to gather reliable answers. Furthermore, all seven respondents had a thorough understanding of the fashion world and social media, which made the interview process more thorough and provided us with answers highly useful for the analysis.
7.4 Validity As validity is important for establishing the scientific evidence of the applied sources an assessment of the used websites, magazines and articles will be found in the following paragraph. The chosen Internet websites have been legitimate, as we have avoided user-‐based websites such as Wikipedia and others alike. Instead we made use of acknowledge websites written by experts within their certain area of expertise such as social media, fashion and
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communication in general. We have applied articles from magazines and newspapers such as ELLE, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail and CNN, most of which were found on the respective websites of the newspapers. By searching for information via these channels we ensured that the collected information was of current interest. Though this thesis is based on English material we still chose to include some Danish sources (Elle, Jyllands-‐Posten and TV2) as all three concerns the main area of the thesis.
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CHAPTER 8 CONCLUSION ”To round it all up!”
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8 Conclusion “Is it true that a social media strategy entailing competitions, events, and visual content from the company creates positive reactions among consumers?” We asked this question at the starting point of our thesis, and throughout the pages we have sought to answer it in the most nuanced way possible. As the discussion has proved, it is not a question, which can be answered unambiguously. Opinions on social media are highly personal and therefore very difficult to simplify, and as a result our research question cannot be answered with either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. A social media strategy concerning competitions is perhaps the one most contradicted by our respondents. Competitions are seen as media stunts and as an easy way for brands to generate likes. Participation in such is believed to invade the privacy of the consumers, and competitions are regarded a waste of time. Therefore, only a minimum of the respondents has ever participated in a competition on a social media site, not even competitions arranged by their favourite brands. Respondents are slightly more attracted to a strategy entailing events, however, all seven of them make it clear that they have to feel personally invited in order to attend a fashion event. Also, the respondents mentioned the need for knowing people at the event so they would not feel misplaced. The majority of the respondents mention elements such as snacks, drinks, music, entertainment, and goodiebags or other offers as being essential. Furthermore, events in the fashion world are expected to be attended by trendy people functioning as inspiration for the invited guests. However, when we showed the respondents invitations from events promoted through social media, several of them were positive towards the look and feel and would consider attending the events. Had the research question only mentioned visuals as a main attractor for positive reactions, the answer to that would have been a loud and clear ‘yes’. All respondents said that visuals were the foremost important factor on social media. Yet the respondents were not in agreement regarding which visuals they preferred. While some liked down to earth ‘everyday’ pictures and street style photos, others were in favour of more stylistic, professional photos and campaign shots starring celebrities. As also argued in the hypothesis fashion blogs provide readers with lots of inspiration, and all respondents follow
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one or more bloggers regularly, which make blogs a great opportunity for brands to show off their products. The above paragraph shows the diversity of opinions collected from the respondents, and therefore it does not provide us with a simple and precise answer. However, if we were to give one it would be that ‘no’ the research question cannot be entirely confirmed. It contains elements, which are of great importance to a brand’s social media strategy, yet it is very important to keep the answers of the respondents in mind when deciding on how to behave on social media sites. Based on the knowledge collected through this thesis, we raise the argument that it would make sense to somehow keep strategies such as competitions more offline based, as the annoyance it creates among consumers is based on the fact that it intrudes their personal lives too much when it happens online. Likewise, it has been proved that all our respondents like local news and posts, and therefore it would be relevant to have posts originated from the stores such as pictures of the arrival of a new collection, local customer events and other things alike. Also, the thesis has showed that the respondents are huge fans of visuals, and for that reason we would argue that an Instagram account is of much more value for a brand than a Twitter account. It appears that pictures have a stronger hold on consumers than text-‐based posts, and whenever looking at a brand’s Facebook page it is difficult to even find posts, which do not contain a visual of some kind. Instagram is the most popular photo-‐sharing device at the moment, and due to the fact that it can easily be linked to the Facebook page of a brand, there is no excuse for not using it actively as a marketing strategy. Though it is difficult to pin down an exact strategy that works wonders on all consumers, our argument still holds true regarding the statement that online communication through social media it vital for brands. This is evident in the fact that all our respondents do not have high opinions of brands that are not present on the Internet, regardless if it is on a corporate website, a Facebook page, or other social media sites. No online existence is unprofessional and shows lack of commitment.
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AFTERWORD ”DO’s and DON’T’s for brands #wise #words”
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9 DO’s and DON’T’s A brief guide on how to interact on social media within the fashion industry: DO’s: -‐
Be present on social media!
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Remember that pictures are of vital importance as they create massive attention
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Instagram is the social media of tomorrow
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Treat your followers like friends
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Keep your Facebook page updated
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Use common people as trendsetters
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Events must always be well-‐prepared otherwise your customers find you unprofessional
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Have a clear definition of your target audience and act accordingly
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Use fashion experts as peers
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Match your image with your strategy
DON’T’s -‐
Do not rely on text-‐based posts
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Do not depend on Twitter; it is more for celebrities than brands
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If limited time, do not spend it on planning competitions – customers see right through it!
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Do not post several times a day on Facebook – you will scare more off than you attract
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Do not expect followers to engage in conversation without you making an effort
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Do not avoid online presence – that is perceived as unprofessional
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BIBLIOGRAPHY “All our sources… #books #articles #Internet”
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10 Bibliography 10.1 Books Andersen, T. H. (2007) Sæt ord på! Denmark: University of Southern Denmark. Fill, C. (2005) Marketing Communications. Engagement, strategies and practice. England: FT Prentice Hall. Jue, A. L., Marr, J. A. and Kassotakis, M. E. (2009) Social Media At Work. How Networking Tools Propel Organizational Performance. USA: Jossey-‐Bass. Kimmel, A. J. (2005) Marketing Communication: New Approaches, technologies, and Styles. USA: Oxford University Press. Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Wong, V., and Saunders, J. (2008) Principles of Marketing. Harlow, Essex: Prentice-‐Hall. Newson, A., Houghton, D. and Patten, J. (2009) Blogging and Other Social Media. Exploiting the Technology and Protecting the Enterprise. USA: Gower Publishing Limited Percy, L. and Elliott, R. (2009) Strategic Advertising Management. USA: Oxford University Press. Ritchie, J. and Lewis, J. (2003) Qualitative Research Practice. A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers. London: SAGE Publications. Schroeder, J. E. and Salzer-‐Morling, M. (2006) Brand Culture. USA: Routledge. Reynolds, T. J. (ed) (2001) Understanding Consumer Decision Making: the means-‐end approach to marketing and advertising strategy.
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Treadaway, C. and Smith, M. (2010) Facebook Marketing – An Hour A Day. USA: Sybex. Qualman, E. (2010) Socialnomics. How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business. USA: Wiley
10.2 Articles Allen, K. (22 May 2012) A Complete Guide for Brands on Instagram. Available at: http://prdaily.com/Main/Articles/11688.aspx [Accessed 28 December 2012] Amed, I. (3 October 2011) The Business of Blogging. The Sartorialist. Available at: http://www.businessoffashion.com/2011/10/the-‐business-‐of-‐blogging-‐the-‐sartorialist.html [Accessed 28 December 2012] Au, V. (3 October 2012) 10 Creative Ways to Use Instagram for Business. Available at: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/instagram/ [Accessed 28 December 2012] Berthon, P. R., Pitt, L. F., Plangger, K. and Shapiro, D. (2012) Marketing Meets Web 2.0, Social Media, and Creative Consumers: Implications For International Marketing Strategy. US: Kelley School of Business, Indiana University Buchard, U. (2012) Tweet Tweet. ELLE Magazine Denmark 49 Bushman, M. (2007) Business Strategy: Marketing to Women. Available at: http://voices.yahoo.com/business-‐strategy-‐marketing-‐women-‐365214.html [Accessed 28 December 2012] CNN Money (2011) Fortune 500. Our Annual Ranking of America’s Largest Corporations. Available at: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/index.html [Accessed 28 December 2012]
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DeAngelis, J. (29 August 2012) Instagram for PR: 4 Overlooked Ways to Use the App. Available at: http://prdaily.com/Main/Articles/12516.aspx [Accessed 28 December 2012] Educause Learning Initiative (July 2009) 7 Things You Should Know About… Microblogging. Available at: http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-‐things-‐you-‐should-‐know-‐about-‐ microblogging [Accessed 29 December 2012] Fox, I. (15 September 2010) British Fashion Industry Now Worth Nearly 21 bn A Year, Report Reveals. The Guardian [online]. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/15/british-‐fashion-‐industry-‐report-‐ business [Accessed 29 December 2012] Grant, I. J. and Stephen, G. R. (2005) Papers Communicating Culture: An Examination of the Buying Behaviour of Tweenage Girls and the Key Societal Communicating Factors Influencing the Buying Process of Fashion Clothing. UK: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd Grinberg, E. (10 September 2012) Social Media Brings Fashion to the Masses. CNN [online]. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/09/living/fashion-‐week-‐social-‐media-‐ technology/index.html [Accessed 28 December 2012] Hamilton, M. (20 February 2012) 15 Ways To Use Facebook Pages for Business. Available at: http://socialmediatoday.com/matt-‐hamilton/447628/15-‐ways-‐use-‐facebook-‐pages-‐business [Accessed 29 December 2012] Harbison, N. (4 September 2012) 25 Brands That Are Using Instagram effectively. Available at: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/25_brands_that_are_using_Instagram_effectively_125 61.aspx [Accessed 29 December 2012] Indvik, L. (24 July 2012) Fashion Retailer Integrates Instagram onto Product Pages. Available at: http://mashable.com/2012/07/24/free-‐people-‐instagram-‐olapic/ [Accessed 29 December 2012]
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Kingston, C. (10 July 2012) 16 Creative Ways to Use Twitter for Business. Available at: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/twitter-‐for-‐business/ [Accessed 28 December 2012] Lange, M. H. (19 August 2012) Modetip Giver Smør På Brødet. Jyllands-‐Posten. Madhavaram, S. and Appan, R. (2010) The Potential Implications of Web-‐Based Marketing Communications for Consumers Implicit and Explicit Brand Attitudes: A Call for Research. Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 27(2) 186-‐202. US: Cleveland State University Mayfield, A. (1 August 2008) What Is Social Media? Available at: http://www.icrossing.co.uk/fileadmin/uploads/eBooks/What_is_Social_Media_iCrossing_ebo ok.pdf [Accessed 28 December 2012] Olenski, S. (13 August 2012) More Brands Joining Instagram and with Good Reason. Forbes [online]. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/08/13/more-‐ brands-‐joining-‐instagram-‐and-‐with-‐good-‐reason/ [Accessed 29 December 2012] Pasquinelli, I. (16 January 2012) Rio 2012: What Can The Fashion Industry Do to Become More Sustainable? The Guardian [online]. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-‐ business/fashion-‐industry-‐sustainability-‐strategy [Accessed 29 December 2012] Rocamora. A. (2011) Personal Fashion Blogs: Screens and Mirrors in Digital Self-‐portraits. Fashion Theory, Volume 15, Issue 4 Salter, J. (21 January 2010) Britain’s Best Fashion Bloggers. The Telegraph [online]. Available at: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/beauty/news-‐features/TMG7037668/Britains-‐best-‐ fashion-‐bloggers.html# [Accessed 29 December 2012] Smith, A. (14 September 2012) Women Prefer Pinterest, Young Adults Choose Instagram – Study. Available at: http://mashable.com/2012/09/14/women-‐prefer-‐pinterest/ [Accessed 29 December 2012]
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Strugatz, R. (18 May 2012) Fashion World Mulls Facebook IPO’s Impact. Womens Wear Daily [online]. Available at: http://www.wwd.com/media-‐news/digital/forecasting-‐facebooks-‐ impact-‐5916205?full=true [Accessed 29 December 2012] Styles, R. (27 September 2012) Burberry Is Officially Top Fashion Brand on Twitter With 21,000 Fashion Week Tweets Trumping Victoria Beckham’s 17,000. The Daily Mail [online]. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-‐2209049/London-‐Fashion-‐Week-‐Burberry-‐ trumps-‐Victoria-‐Beckham-‐Twitter-‐thanks-‐One-‐Direction-‐Harry-‐Styles.html [Accessed 28 December 2012) Top1000.dk (2012) Sæsonudsving i Detailhandlen. Available at: http://www.top1000.dk/brancher/detailhandel/beskrivelse [Accessed 29 December 2012] Weber, H. (24 January 2012) How the Fashion Industry is Embracing Social Media. Available at: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/01/24/how-‐the-‐fashion-‐industry-‐is-‐embracing-‐ social-‐media/ [Accessed 29 December 2012]
10.3 TV Broadcast TV2 Go’ Morgen Danmark (2012) Instagram og Snapchat. [podcast] 20 December. Available at: http://go.tv2.dk/morgentv/id-‐61841118.html [Accessed 28 December 2012]
10.4 Websites Bloglovin: http://www.bloglovin.com/ Bloggers Delight: http://bloggersdelight.dk/ Facebook: http://newsroom.fb.com/Key-‐Facts Fashiolista: http://www.fashiolista.com/ Marc Jacobs: www.marcjacobs.com Marc Jacobs Biogaphy: http://www.marcjacobs.com/world-‐of-‐marc-‐jacobs/biography/ Samsøe & Samsøe: www.samsoe.com Samsøe & Samsøe, About Samsøe: http://samsoe.com/about-‐samsoe
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Simply Measured: www.simplymeasured.com Topshop: www.topshop.com Topshop, About Us: http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogNavigationSearchResultCmd? catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&langId=-‐ 1&viewAllFlag=false&categoryId=273012&interstitial=true&intcmpid=W_FOOTER_WK45_HP _UK_ABOUT_US&geoip=noredirect Twitter: https://business.twitter.com/basics/what-‐is-‐twitter/
10.4.1 Facebook Marc Jacobs’ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/marcjacobsintl Samsøe & Samsøe’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/samsoesamsoe Topshop’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Topshop
10.4.2 Instagram Marc Jacobs’ Instagram profile: http://web.stagram.com/n/marcjacobsintl/ Topshop’s Instagram profile: http://web.stagram.com/n/topshop/
10.4.3 Twitter Marc Jacobs’ Twitter account: http://twitter.com/MarcJacobsIntl Samsøe & Samsøe’s Twitter account: http://twitter.com/samsoesamsoe Topshop’s Twitter account: http://twitter.com/Topshop
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APPENDIXES ”Additional material useful for the understanding of the thesis #interviews and #examples from @samsoesamsoe @topshop and @marcjacobsintl”
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11 Appendix 1: Interview 1
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12 Appendix 2: Interview 2
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13 Appendix 3: Interview 3
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14 Appendix 4: Interview 4
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15 Appendix 5: Interview 5
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16 Appendix 6: Interview 6
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17 Appendix 7: Interview 7
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18 Appendix 8: Blog Posts
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19 Appendix 9: Facebook Competitions
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20 Appendix 10: Facebook Events
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21 Appendix 11: ”Everyday Life” on Facebook
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22 Appendix 12: Celebrities on Facebook
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23 Appendix 13: Instagram Posts
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24 Appendix 14: Twitter and Text-‐based Posts
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