Social Media Monitoring: Lush Cosmetics

       

       Founded in 1995, Lush Cosmetics is a company that makes fresh, handmade cosmetics under the standards of natural ingredients and cruelty-free practice. Starting in England, the company now has 830 stores in 51 countries that sell a variety of products such as soaps, shower gels, shampoos, hair conditioners, bath bombs, bubble bars, face masks, hand and body lotions, and cosmetics for a variety of skin types.
       Lush is known for its activism and contributions to various charities. They maintain a strong presence online, being a cult favorite of beauty bloggers and vloggers, and are especially popular during holiday seasons as they produce limited time products for festive pampering. I plan to use social media monitoring to examine their online procedures and interactions with customers, as well as to track their promotion of their Holiday/Christmas product releases during this season.

Lush's Online Presence
       Before getting into the nitty-gritty of statistical analysis, it is important to gather first impressions about the brand's online presence and how they market themselves.

Lush.com

       Their website is bright and gives off a magical vibe. They are currently in the thick of promoting their Halloween treats, so all of the visuals revolve around the limited edition items that will be around until the first few weeks of November. They have links to their blog and charity work first and foremost. Having these two links up front proves that Lush places a lot of stock in their charity work and their employees (who run the blog). The page not only shows what matters to them, but it showcases the colorful and festive nature of their products through interesting visuals. Scrolling down, they have widget links to their other social media sites for easy access.

Lush's Facebook

       Lush's Facebook carries on the aesthetic of their website, but brings a more personal tone with their posts. Although a majority of their posts are on their products, they take the time to post on other aspects of natural, cruelty-free living, such as the post above that provides vegan recipes. They link to their blog, share posts from causes that they support, and pictures of happy employees at various stores around the nation.

Lush's Twitter

The lovely @DesiPerkins talks about getting that gorgeous #glow from our Feeling Younger skin tint! Check it out: https://t.co/FFJl7fJxMR
— LUSH Cosmetics (@lushcosmetics) October 6, 2014

        Their Twitter follows the same format as their Facebook, but there is more of an emphasis of embracing the groundswell and crowdsourcing. They retweet a lot of tweets from customers that share experiences with products or tweets from bloggers (like above) that review (and in turn advertise for) their cosmetics. They also tweet pop culture references and find ways to tie them in to their products.

Lush's Instagram

       Because most of Lush's products rely on their interesting scents and smells, having intriguing visuals of their items can make up for the lack of scent when browsing online. Their Instagram is colorful and they try to have videos as well as pictures. When Shark Week was on Discovery Channel this year, they posted a lot on their Instagram to raise awareness on shark poaching.

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Just in case you needed another reason to help save sharks.Tune in to Shark Week tonight at 9/8c.

View on Instagram

Lush's YouTube 

       Lush uses their YouTube a lot, and all of their products on their website have accompanying embedded YouTube videos showing how to use them and what they look like in action. Like their Instagram, this serves as a platform to demonstrate the full experience of their products.

Analytics and Data

Addictomatic.com

       I searched "Lush Cosmetics" on Addictomatic to see how the brand is talked about by others online. News results from Ask.com and Bing both came up with trends in talking about Lush as "sustainable" and in terms of donations and protecting the environment. "Fresh" and DIY recipes were also common results, which ties into Lush's mantra of handmade products. Addictomatic also reinforces the visual presence that Lush has online, coming up with a lot of results in YouTube (featured are beauty vloggers that demonstrate products and show off what Lush goodies they have collected in "haul" videos) and Flickr where there are a lot of featured holiday items (tis the season!!).

IceRocket 

       I searched "Lush Cosmetics holiday" on IceRocket to see what blogs were saying about the 2014 holiday line. There is a spike at the end of September, as the weather changes and Halloween products are being sold in stores, and predictably the hype rises again during October when Lush released their products. Blogs are a great venue for crowdsourcing and customer reviews, as seen in this post that came up with the search, that describes each holiday product  and provides pictures. The spike around October 12th is due to the exact date that Lush released the products and announced new additions to their Christmas line. I expect the blogs to continue to talk about the products through the Christmas buying period. The percentages of blog posts talking about Lush's holiday products are low though. This is an area that can garner a lot of hype. As Lush puts a lot of focus into their visual online presence, maybe they should look into reaching out to written blogs as well.

Social Mention 

       Social Mention provides us with numerical statistics on what the internet is saying about Lush Cosmetics. What can be gathered by this information is that feedback about Lush is generally very positive. With the sentiment being 24:1 and the passion being close to 50%, it is clear that consumers are happy with their products and are willing to convey that online. The percentages for strength (likelihood that it is being talked about on social media) and reach (amount of new people talking about the brand) are on the low side, but because of the level of sentiment and passion, this could be because the brand has a smaller following that are dedicated and excited about Lush. Keywords show that people are likely to buy products online ("shipped") and that "handmade" is yet again a key factor of the brand's image.

Google Trends

       Google Trends solidifies that Lush gains popularity and interest during the winter holiday season (all of the high peaks, especially after 2009, are at December) because of their holiday collections and specials. News articles that accompanied the peaks revolved around political statements and protests that the brand participated in. Below shows the distribution of the brand throughout the internet, showing concentrations in the United Kingdom and North America, where most of the stores are located.

Initial Conclusions

       Lush targets the environmentally conscious consumer. They campaign for communities and positive self-image. Although their presence on social media isn't extreme in strength or reach, they have cultivated a loyal and strong fan base that keeps up with brand changes and talks highly of them online. Visuals remain an important factor of their presence and hype to make up for the lack of smell and touch on the Internet. The brand has grown a lot from its humble beginnings in the mid-90s to a brand that is breaking into the international market. They use various forms of social media and are consciously trying to create a larger, but still loyal and enthusiastic group of consumers.

       

Social Media and Self-Worth

     

       Most social media sites and communities include a like-system, in which users can show interest and increase popularity of original posts. Although this is a valid way to get feedback from followers and friends, it inevitably ties in with personal self-worth. More likes means that more people appreciate your posts and in a time where social media is where we tend to represent ourselves it unavoidably becomes linked to ones self-esteem.

       SheKnows is a website that gathers news stories, DIY activities, and advice from experts in various fields. The site has a slant towards women and promoting feminist equality throughout all facets of society. Their YouTube channel updates regularly with a variety of series and topics. The video above is one from their series where they interview kids on their opinions of society and how it functions. In this case, the girls discuss how social media can cause anxiety and issues due to the like/popularity system that it seems to rely on.

       This is where the idea of FOMO enters - the fear of missing out. Applications like Snapchat and Instagram are very socially inclined and people tend to use them to exhibit activities that they are participating in or people that they are hanging out with. In the age of social media, there are constant reminders of and copious opportunities to display one's social life, and because of this those that might be left out are constantly reminded of that fact. 

The fact that @MAD_aboutyouu and @charlesisgross were together last night and i wasn't there <<<< #FOMO
— Melissa Charles (@charliehorsee) October 19, 2014

       Searching #FOMO on Twitter shows a lot of results, though most of them are silly or jokes. The anxiety that comes with FOMO and getting the most likes on a post drives people deeper into the social media sphere. Although these likes are ultimately trivial, in a world that relies and revolves on social media they become everything and inevitably linked to one's own self-worth and popularity. As these are already volatile aspects of teenager's lives, it can be distressing and all-consuming especially as social media puts a quantifying factor on reputation.

       Because of the nature of likes and bragging on social media, there is an obvious trend in such sites causing depression in users. A teen who usually gets 200 likes whenever she uploads a new profile picture only gets 50 in the first couple of hours: even though this does not quantify the teen's actual worth, the discrepancy in likes is sure to cause anxiety and the assumption that the picture isn't beautiful or exciting. It is the quantification of popularity in social media, the permanent determinant of acclaim that anyone can see that causes insecurities and the need for attention.

       What can be done about this? As represented in the video above, a strong step forward is to encourage dialogue about social media and its effects. Even though there are some discouraging trends in teenage social media use (such as the popularity implications discussed above), teens seem to generally be aware of its dangers and predictabilities. By opening up discussions on the "real life" social and mental implications of social media, it not only helps this digital generation to understand their actions, but it also encourages considering overall impact. As one of the girls in the video explained, teens are often discredited and assumed to not know as much as their adult counterparts despite teens having more experience with digital media because it is all they have ever known. If we encourage dialogue and education on social media, maybe FOMO and the need for likes will be more understood instead of an unavoidable condition of social media and self-worth.