Social Media Marketing as a Tool of Consumer Brand Engagement (on the Example of Cosmetics Market)

Social networks are frequently used as a tool of marketing communications and customer brand engagement. Moreover, much attention is paid to the problem of effectiveness of SMM in scientific publications. The aim was to study the influence of various characteristics of the content communicated by cosmetic brand on the consumer engagement in cosmetics brands and to develop recommendations on how to use marketing communications in communities in social networks as a tool of consumer brand engagement. To achieve the aim, following tasks were completed: concept of engagement was examined, social networks were analyzed as a marketing tool, motivations for brand-related social media use were explored. Practical part of the work includes analysis of cosmetics brands communications in their communities on Vkontakte and their classification based on post content type, message interactivity and vividness. It was revealed how different is the customer engagement in cosmetics brands depending on post content type, vividness and interactivity. We also compared motivations of brand-related social media use for cosmetic and other brands. Content analysis and online survey were used in the present study. The present study makes an attempt to study the link between characteristics of the content communicated by brand (such as content type, post interactivity and vividness) and level of customer brand engagement measured by number of likes, comments and shares. The paper consists of introduction, 3 chapters, conclusion, references and appendix. The data was analyzed with the help of SPSS. The present study provided better understanding of how to communicate with consumers in social networks (especially brand communities) to provide higher level of customer engagement in brand. Finally, we gave recommendations how to stimulate various reactions of visitors of brand community and how to consider motivations that are important for those who visit brand communities in social networks.