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Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol II
Table of Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Company Description .................................................................................................. 1
1.2. Background...................................................................................................................1
1.3. Products ....................................................................................................................... 3
2. Analysis of Strengths and Weaknesses ............................................................................. 3
2.1. Facebook ........................................................................................................................3
2.2. Instagram ......................................................................................................................12
2.3. Pinterest ......................................................................................................................14
2.4. Twitter ......................................................................................................................15
2.5. Vine ......................................................................................................................18
3. Strategic Recommendations...............................................................................................20
3.1. P.O.S.T. ......................................................................................................................20
3.2. Listening Program.........................................................................................................21
3.3. Social Media..................................................................................................................27
3.4. Six Types of Visual Content ........................................................................................ 34
3.5. Consumer-Brand Relationships ....................................................................................37
4. Conclusion...........................................................................................................................39
References................................................................................................................................... I
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol III
Table of Images
Image 1.1 Current logo of Barbasol ..........................................................................................1
Image 1.2 Historical advertising images used by Barbasol .......................................................2
Image 2.1 Barbasol Facebook timeline ......................................................................................4
Image 2.2 Use of current topics..................................................................................................5
Image 2.3 Movember..................................................................................................................6
Image 2.4 Missing community expectations ..............................................................................7
Image 2.5 Missing authenticity...................................................................................................8
Image 2.6 Lack of participation in dialogue ...............................................................................9
Image 2.7 Missing encouragement of peer-to-peer interactions...............................................10
Image 2.8 Advocates: Bobby Ding...........................................................................................11
Image 2.9 First post on Instagram.............................................................................................13
Image 2.10 Barbasol pins on Pinterest......................................................................................15
Image 2.11 Crew SC tweet .......................................................................................................16
Image 2.12 Barbasol sweepstake ..............................................................................................17
Image 2.13 Responsiveness on Twitter ....................................................................................18
Image 2.14 Vines connected to Barbasol..................................................................................19
Image 3.1 Social technographics profile of customers of Barbasol..........................................20
Image 3.2 “The 8 Stages of Listening”.....................................................................................22
Image 3.3 Google Alerts for Barbasol ......................................................................................23
Image 3.4 Utilizing Twitter Search for Barbasol......................................................................24
Image 3.5 Sentiment analysis on Twitter using “Sentiment 140” ............................................25
Image 3.6 Review of Barbasol “Soothing Aloe” on Amazon ..................................................26
Image 3.7 Behind the scenes of Barbasol ................................................................................29
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol IV
Image 3.8 Example of an old school advertising image of Barbasol........................................30
Image 3.9 Shay Carl..................................................................................................................31
Image 3.10 Webisde idea for Barbasol.....................................................................................33
Image 3.11 Example of a comic ...............................................................................................34
Image 3.12 Example of a meme ...............................................................................................35
Image 3.13 Example of an infographic.....................................................................................36
Table of Figures
Figure 2.1 Facebook strengths and weaknesses .........................................................................3
Figure 2.2 Instagram strengths and weaknesses .......................................................................12
Figure 2.3 Pinterest strengths and weaknesses .........................................................................14
Figure 2.4 Twitter strengths and weaknesses ...........................................................................15
Figure 2.5 Vine strengths and weaknesses ...............................................................................19
Figure 3.1 The three Cs of the Relationship Era.......................................................................37
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 1
1. Introduction
1.1. Company Description
Barbasol is an American manufacturer of men shaving cream. The brand’s parent-company is
Ohio-based Perio Inc. who purchased Barbasol in 20011
and which also features a female shaving
cream line called “Pure Silk”. The mission of Perio, and therefore also the mission of Barbasol, is
satisfying customers by maintaining a high quality of “customer service, combined with a sincere
commitment to the values of quality and trust, [which] create a second objective of company
value.” The company has always produced its products solely in the United States and is proud to
announce this. Their target audience is men who wet shave their face on a daily basis.2
Image 1.1
Current logo of Barbasol
Source: www.barbasol.com
They started to make their presence on Social Media in 2011 and they are currently active on
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Their first Facebook post was on Monday, 25 June
2011, and ever since then, they have gained 40.208 followers.3 They currently have 255 followers
on Instagram where their first post was made in 2013.4
Their first tweet on Twitter was made on
February 2011 and they gained 7.814 followers over the years.5
They joined YouTube on June 25
2012, where they currently have 372 followers.6
1
Perio Inc. (2015). About Us. Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015.
2
Barbasol.com. (2015). Barbasol home page. Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015.
3
Facebook. (2015). Barbasol Facebook page. Last Accessed: December 9th 2015.
4
Instagram. (2015) Barbasol Instagram page. Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015.
5
Twitter. (2015). Barbasol Twitter page. Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015.
6
YouTube. (2015) Barbasol YouTube channel. Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 2
1.2. Background
The company was founded by MIT Professor Frank Shields in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1919.7
The
shaving cream was manufactured under the company that Frank Shields started before inventing
Barbasol, which was Napco Corporation. After a while, the sales outgrew the Napco Corporation
and the Barbasol Company was created in 1920, which was owned by Mr. Shields for 42 years. In
1962, however, Pfzeiser bought the company Barbasol. By the 1990's, their brand equity had
diminished and in 2001 Pfzeiser sold the company to Perio, Inc. The early advertising of Barbasol
was very popular as they used not only printed advertising, but also used celebrities to promote
their products during the 1920's and 1930's. An example of a variety of ads they used can be seen
in image 1.2 below. In 1938 they sponsored a car in the Indianapolis 500 Race and painted it to
look like a can of Barbasol. Then from 2001-2009, they started advertising more on television and
in 2012 they signed a five year contract with Major League Soccer side Columbus Crew that
would see the brand become the club's shirt sponsor.8
Image 1.2
Historical Advertising Images used by Barbasol
Source: www.barbasol.com
7
Barbasol.com. (2015). Barbasol home page. Last Accessed: December 2nd2015.
8
Wikipedia (2015). Barbasol. Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 3
1.3. Products
Barbasol, America’s no. 1 men’s shaving cream, begun with the iconic Original Thick & Rich
Shaving Cream. With its “beard-busting powers” the brand’s shaving cream formula suits men
with tough beards and sensitive skin.9
In recent years, the Barbasol brand has experienced more
growththan it has in the last 40 years, with a growing range of shaving cream varieties, pre-shave
face wash and after shave, sold in a variety of packages and sizes.10
These include, Soothing Aloe,
Pacific Rush, Mountain Blast and Barbasol Brisk after Shave.
Thanks to its iconic packaging, the Barbasol original shaving cream was famously featured in the
first Jurassic Park film. This was one of the most recognized brand integrations of all time, and
now, 22 years later, the two iconic brands have partnered once again and have released a wide-
reaching national television and digital and social media campaign for the Jurassic World movie.
This very successful brand integration has resulted in the creation of limited edition Barbasol
shaving cream collector cans.11
Additionally, thanks to the novelty of the brand, Perio Inc. has
released a line of Barbasol T-shirts. Some of their shirts hold a relatively comedic and proud tone,
reflecting their recent comedic advertisements. A selection of the shirts read “It’s like America on
your face” and the simple “Made in America”.12
The release of these new merchandise reflects well
upon the Barbasol brand, showing that consumers are not just invested in their shaving products,
but it also reinforces that there are avid supporters of Barbasol as a classic and iconic brand.
2. Analysis of Strengths & Weaknesses
2.1. Facebook
Barbasol is currently active on Facebook with its own Facebook page. There are some
characteristics regarding their presence on this platform which count as either a strength or a
weakness. The following analysis is based on the “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing”,
and is summed up in figure 2.1.13
9
Barbasol.com (2015) History. Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015.
10
Perio Inc. (2015). Perio Inc. The Makers of Barbasol and Pure Silk. Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015.
11
Barbasol.com (2015). What's New: Barbasol Shaving Cream Partners with Universal Pictures for Jurassic World.
Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015.
12
Brand Channel. (2015). 22 Years After Jurassic Park Debut, Barbasol Sets Jurassic World Tie-Ins. Last Accessed:
December 3rd 2015.
13
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Facebook. Week 7 Lecture. JMS462.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 4
Figure 2.1
Facebook strengths and weaknesses
Source: Barbasol Facebook page; on the basis of “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing”
As shown in figure 2.1, the Facebook page of Barbasol features several strengths and weaknesses.
The strengths are the characteristics that should be emphasized and embraced, while the
weaknesses should be taken into consideration for possible changes to use the Facebook page to
its full potential and provide Barbasol with a starting point to success.
Image 2.1
Barbasol Facebook timeline
Source: Barbasol Facebook page
The strengths of the Facebook page include the use of cohesive branding, being up to date, and the
solicitation of a call to action.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 5
Regarding the use of cohesive branding, it can be said that Barbasol uses its logo as a profile
picture and includes a collage of different Barbasol related images as its cover photo, which both
can be seen in image 2.1 above. People can directly see what brand they are looking at without
doing any further research. The tone of voice used in the different posts is coherent and therefore
underlines Barbasol’s cohesive branding. Because of this, visitors of the Facebook page will
automatically be able to connect their experience with the brand presented to them.
Another strength of the Facebook page of Barbasol is that it is up to date. It uses current topics, as
shown in image 2.2 where they wish their consumers a happy Independence Day, to freshen up its
news feed and keep customers interested in the Facebook page. Even though they used their typical
shaving cream cans to make up the stripes of the flag, the image itself does not seem too
promotional in the eyes of the consumers. It therefore does adhere to the 80/20 rule of using non-
promotional content 80% of the time, while the other 20% can be used for promotional messages.
However, the company could post even more non-promotional content because sometimes there
are breaks in between two posts that could easily be filled.
Image 2.2
Use of current topics
Source: Barbasol Facebook page
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 6
Barbasol also solicits a call to action in its post, as seen in image 2.3 where they ask consumers to
donate to the Movember Foundation USA. Although this foundation is not part of the company
Barbasol, the connection between the two organizations is easily made as the Movember
Foundation uses “non-shaving” as a symbol to help raise money for men’s health issues.14
Image 2.3.
Movember
Source: Barbasol Facebook page
Barbasol as a shaving company can easily help boost awareness for this project as it addresses the
same target audience and addresses the same topic but from a different angle. It therefore engages
14
Movember Foundation. (2015). Home page. Last Accessed: December 5th 2015.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 7
its consumers in a way that goes beyond promotion but still might lead them to brand trial and
purchase because they favor the cause Barbasol promotes. Also, every action consumers take on
behalf of a company, increases the level of involvement they have regarding this company.
Although they already use some form of solicitation of a call to action, Barbasol could improve
this and use a wider variety of forms of action. They could, for example, call for a comment using
a question which would be less effort for the consumers compared to donating to a charity or
signing up for sweepstakes, as seen on the Facebook page. By not implying these methods,
Barbasol might miss out on important engagement.
The weaknesses of the Facebook page include the lack of clearly defined community expectations,
authenticity, participation in dialogue, enabling peer-to-peer interactions, and fostering advocacy.
Barbasol does not feature any kind of community expectations on its Facebook page as can be
seen in image 2.2. Without clearly defined community expectations, people might not know
exactly why a brand is on Facebook without any form of rules and the kind of behavior considered
appropriate for this platform may be unclear. They might be confused about how to interact with
the brand and therefore not interact at all. In order to easily present goals of the presence on
Facebook and to allow for open interaction with consumers, Barbasol, and any other brand, should
feature community expectations on their Facebook page.
Image 2.4
Missing community expectations
Source: Barbasol Facebook page
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 8
Another drawback is the missing form of authenticity given on the page. The company hardly ever
adds a “human touch” for its content and hardly ever speaks in the first person, as displayed in
image 2.5. There is no form of proof that real people are working on the page as there are no
initials, no pictures or biographies or even short introductions of the people working on it.
Therefore, Barbasol does not put the human side first and consumers are not able to tie a person to
the social media page.
Image 2.5
Missing authenticity
Source: Barbasol Facebook page
Another unfortunate weakness is the missing participation in dialogues. The company hardly ever
replies to any form of comments given by consumers which is unfortunate as it is an easy way of
communicating with them and engaging them. Even questions by consumers regarding their
products, as seen in image 2.6, are ignored or neglected which communicates a sense of ignorance
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 9
towards its customers’ needs. Barbasol should pay closer attention to this form of communication
because consumers might get the feeling the brand is only interested promotion and not in them.
Image 2.6
Lack of participation in dialogue
Source: Barbasol Facebook page
Additionally, as Barbasol does not react to any form of comments at all, it does also not enable
peer-to-peer interactions even though there are plenty of opportunities to do so. Two approaches
to this are either answering consumers’ questions with the brand itself or tying their question to
someone else’s request. Looking at image 2.7, which is a longer list of comments below the post
in image 2.6, Barbasol could easily ask the consumers who already purchased their Barbasol
Jurassic World bottle to give feedback on it or to answer some questions. For example, the question
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 10
of Kimberley Deeley could be answered with a statement like, “major retailers – Kaze Trinidad or
Bobby Ding, where did you get yours?” This would enable a direct peer-to-peer interaction as they
might start discussing different kinds of retailers, the price, or even the quality of the product. Also,
the one answer given by Barbasol could have been more positive in a way of thanking her for her
interest and then advising her on different retailers. Barbasol, again, misses out on a big
opportunity to get consumers engaged.
Image 2.7
Missing encouragement of peer-to-peer interactions
Source: Barbasol Facebook page
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 11
The last weakness according to the “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing” is that Barbasol
does not foster advocacy in any way. This could either be achieved by empowering fans to speak
out on behalf of the brand, encouraging positive word of mouth or asking for opinions. Scrolling
through their Facebook page, it becomes obvious that Barbasol never asks for customers’ opinions
and that the only questions used are rhetorical ones. Looking back at image 2.5, customers’
opinions could have easily been encouraged adding a phrase such as, “What do you think about
our new design?” This would have allowed consumers to actively look at them and give feedback
to the brand. This adds to the sentiment coming from the missing participation in dialogues, that
the brand is not actually interested in their consumers’ opinion. Another thing that became obvious
scrolling through their Facebook page, is that Barbasol already has one brand advocate – Bobby
Ding. He comments on almost every single post, as can be seen in image 2.7 and 2.8, and although
the brand never likes or even replies to any of his comments, he is still loyal to the brand and buys
every product they bring to the market.
Image 2.8
Advocates: Bobby Ding
Source: Barbasol Facebook page
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 12
Barbasol could easily embrace this engagement and foster Bobby’s advocacy instead of ignoring
him entirely. Looking at his involvement with the brand, he would probably feel honored to get in
direct contact with Barbasol. If the company continues to ignore their biggest fans, they might feel
left alone and go look for alternative brands that give them a better brand experience.
To sum it up, the Barbasol Facebook page has some strengths that can be embraced and should be
improved. Unfortunately, it also includes a huge amount of weaknesses that should be repaired in
order to help the brand be successful on social media
2.2. Instagram
Visual content marketing is fast becoming an important tool for marketers; platforms like
Instagram encourage consumers to engage with brands through a feed which is dedicated solely to
visual stimulation. The presence of Barbasol on Instagram is currently relatively weak. With just
255 followers, and 35 posts since 2013, there are a number of areas where Barbasol could improve
on this platform. The overall strengths and weaknesses of the presence on Instagram are displayed
in figure 2.2 below.
Figure 2.2
Instagram strengths and weaknesses
Source: Barbasol Instagram Page; on the basis of “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing”
In its infancy, it appears that the Instagram account of Barbasol was used as a tool to spark
engagement with consumers; a number of its’ first posts are captioned with the hashtag
“#shavingcreamfight”. However, the level of engagement on these posts are low. Image 2.9
displays the first post published by Barbasol. Although this post, and the following posts fairly
similar to this one, reflects an attempt to convey humor, it is an example of what Barbasol needs
to work on. Simply captioning their content with the hashtag “#shavingcreamfight” is fairly
ambiguous and thus the post becomes almost irrelevant. However, this also highlights that even in
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 13
its initial introduction to Instagram, Barbasol had the intention to not only market products, but
move from marketing into engagement, posting themed content, and not product promotion.
Barbasol needs to post more purposive content, and the purpose of hashtags such as
“#shavingcreamfight” needs to be communicated clearer in order for consumers to fully
understand and engage with it. It is not enough to simply hashtag posts, but it is the strategic use
of these types of hashtags that can significantly boost the exposure of their posts and in turn
encourage high levels of engagement.
Image 2.9
First post on Instagram
Source: Barbasol Instagram page
More recently, Barbasol have showed signs of attempting to post content that aims to evoke a
certain emotion from its consumers. Looking back at chapter 2.1, image 2.8 is representative of
this. It is an example of the type of positive congruent content that brands should aim for.15
It is
relatable and reminiscent and is the kind of content that conveys certain emotional responses to
represent brand personality and authenticity. It is also an example of how they post consistent
content across their platforms as this was also a featured Facebook post. Having a consistent brand
voice across the different social media platforms allows Barbasol to establish a flow between these
15
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Visual Content. Week 8 Lecture. JMS462.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 14
platforms, however it is important that not all posts are the same on each platform. Furthermore,
Barbasol has been utilizing Instagram as a platform to host contests and projects. For example,
their partnership with the Jurassic World theme has showed higher rates of engagement by
encouraging consumers to enter competitions for a chance to win prizes. They need to continue to
harness the power of popular hashtags; this will boost the exposure of their posts significantly.
However, some aspects of the Instagram account of Barbasol are weak; posts are of poor quality
and there does not seem to be any consideration of the visual variables involved in creating an
aesthetically pleasing or engaging post.
2.3. Pinterest
Barbasol is not currently active on Pinterest as shown in figure 2.3 below. Pinterest is a photo
sharing platform where users can interact with each other by sharing photos and pinning them to
their pinboards. It is the fastest-growing platform in terms of popularity and its users are very
engaged. Followers can view your boards and the pins you have pinned, and then decide whether
to pin something they like or not. Pinterest would be an excellent opportunity for Barbasol to
engage with a larger audience.
Figure 2.3
Pinterest strengths and weaknesses
Source: Pinterest; on the basis of “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing”
This social media platform should be of great interest to Barbasol because it is quickly outgrowing
other sites when it comes to buying stuff from a social media platform.
As you can see in image 2.10 below, a lot of pins have been uploaded to Pinterest that represent
the brand. This is an excellent opportunity for Barbasol to create a community, which according
to lecture 4 from our class is one of the most important aspect about social media, because there
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 15
is no longer a marketing funnel, but a constant cycle that requires a constant engagement with the
community.16
Image 2.10
Barbasol pins on Pinterest
Source: Pinterest
2.4. Twitter
Figure 2.4
Twitter strengths and weaknesses
Source: Barbasol Twitter page; on the basis of “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing”
16
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Funnels and Communities. Week 4 Lecture. JMS462.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 16
Twitter is a platform that offers brands the opportunity for real-time marketing; to engage with
current, trending topics. If used strategically and creatively, relevant topics and popular hashtags
can encourage the social promotion of a brand. Twitter is designed to be a short and to-the-point
platform and thus brand messages must be strategic and concise. There are a number of areas in
which Barbasol have utilized the platform successfully, as outlined in figure 2.4 below
Firstly, Barbasol frequently posts promotional content relating to the Major League Soccer and
Columbus Crew SC twitter pages. They offer prizes such as autographed team balls, jerseys and
other Crew SC gear. This type of content is highly engaging and is also used as an opportunity for
Barbasol to spark conversations between their consumers. They give frequent shout outs to those
followers who won the prizes, highlighting that they are successfully creating a space where
consumers can connect with each other. An example of Crew SC related posts is displayed in
Image 2.11. Posts like these represent how Barbasol have successfully understood trending topics
and have utilized them as an opportunity to connect with a community or group that they want to
associate their brand with.
Image 2.11
Crew SC tweet
Source: Barbasol Twitter page
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 17
Furthermore, Barbasol have (naturally) involved themselves in the Movember movement. This is
a great way to encourage social promotion and engage consumers. Posting content in relation to
the Movemember cause with shaving tips such as “go with the grain, not against”, is a great way
to involve their brand in mentions of the very popular trend. They also use these trending topics
as a platform to promote their products. Image 2.12 is an example of how Barbasol have used the
platform to engage consumers and involve themselves in popular movements by encouraging
consumers to comment to win a prize. It is an example of how they have noticed what is trending
and adding their brands personal spin on the topic by creating an interesting hashtag such as
“#BarbasolMo”. These kind of posts are strategic, and posting relevant content is a good way to
boost engagement with potential consumers of the brand.
Image 2.12.
Barbasol sweepstake
Source: Barbasol Twitter page
Additionally, Barbasol appears to track their brand mentions on Twitter, this is an important stage
of listening. It enables them to learn what the Twitter audience mentions about them, add
somewhat of a human touch in response to these comments, as well as spark peer-to-peer dialogue
between the people on Twitter. Image 2.13 demonstrates how the brand has used Twitter to address
certain comments that may be harmful to their brand. They not only show responsiveness to
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 18
complaints, but they also respond to customers who have questions about the competitions they
host with comments such as “good job!” and “best of luck to you!” This is the type of response
that shows that Barbasol are aware of their brand mentions and use Twitter as a tool to demonstrate
credibility and responsiveness.
Image 2.13
Responsiveness on Twitter
Source: Barbasol Twitter page
One area in which Barbasol could work on is posting a broader range of content. This could
potentially boost the level of engagement they have. One way in which they could possibly do this
is by monitoring who their influencers are. If they can identify those influencers who have a large
following and are relevant in the field of shaving, they may be able to reach a larger base of
consumers and potential customers of the brand.
2.5. Vine
Vine is a seven second social media platform in which users are able to craft short videos and
upload them to their personal site. Vine is a platform in which many brands have created a strong
social media presence with their followers. For example Target, Gap and Volkswagen have an
excellent presence on Vine, because of their creativity.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 19
Figure 2.5
Vine strengths and weaknesses
Source: Vine
Barbasol is currently not present on Vine but could have an excellent presence regarding their
product, because there is already content created by users on Vine featuring the product, as can be
seen in image 2.14 below. These videos are perfect examples of how important User Generated
Content is and in what way brands can embrace this.
Image 2.14
Vines connected to Barbasol
Source: Vine
Vine is an excellent opportunity for Barbasol to convert a weakness into a strength by taking the
lead on becoming a brand that is not only present on Vine but also being a strong brand with
interesting visual content for its consumers or just followers.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 20
3. Strategic Recommendations
3.1. POST
The book “Groundswell – Winning in a World transformed by Social Technologies” describes “a
social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather
than from traditional institutions like corporations”.17
The Groundswell POST method defines a
four step approach to a social media marketing strategy. It is common for companies to execute
their social media strategy backwards, for example they begin with what type of social media
platform they want to use, or an end goal such as the goal to create a brand community. The
P.O.S.T approach to planning informs marketers about the order in which they should start
planning their social media planning. The first stage, is to identify their consumers’ social
technographics and assess their activities online. The demographic that Barbasol appeals to would
range from males aged 18+, the majority of them in the age bracket of 25 - 34. As demonstrated
in Forrester’s social demographics tool displayed in image 3.1, the majority of this demographic
group are joiners and spectators.
Image 3.1
Social technographics profile of customers of Barbasol
Source: http://empowered.forrester.com/tool_consumer.html
17
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Groundswell. Week 3 Lecture. JMS462. p. 4.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 21
This information should inform Barbasol on the latter part of the POST framework which is
technology and perhaps the type of content and platforms they should use to reach out to their
consumers. As joiners and spectators, Barbasol’s consumers are viewing content on social
networks such as Facebook, but are not likely to upload content about the brand, write reviews or
organize content about them.
Knowledge of their customers’ usual social media activity also informs Barbasol on the objectives
they should strive for. Based on the analysis of their activity on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter,
Barbasol should have a specific goal to support and energize customers on these platforms and to
evangelize others. The approach adopted by Barbasol on the different platforms is quite
inconsistent; they seem to be more responsive on Twitter than on Facebook. Thus, Barbasol should
aim to develop and foster an environment where consumers can engage with each other. For
example, in the case of Bobby Ding, there have been missed opportunities to really engage with a
potential brand advocate. An example of the type of objective they could set could be: to increase
and encourage the number of consumer-to-consumer interactions on Facebook, by 75% by March
2016, by empowering brand advocates and introducing posts like “fan of the week”.
The third stage of the POST framework is strategy. This is the section where marketers should
plan for how the relationship with customers will change. For example, with the objective in mind,
Barbasol would want to cultivate a closer, two-way relationship with their best customers in order
to firstly, encourage brand advocacy and secondly, to encourage the groundswell to engage with
their posts on a more advanced level, rather than just the basic “like” and “share” on Facebook.
Last of all is technology; since Barbasol are aware of their consumer’s demographic, they appear
to be present on the appropriate social media platforms. However, the content Barbasol posts
should be more strategic in terms of their use of hashtags, the type of visuals they should post, the
empowerment of brand advocates and fostering brand discussions between consumers.
3.2. Listening Program
Social Media Listening is “the process of monitoring and analyzing online conversations about a
company, its brands, and its services in order to identify areas of potential brand strength
(opportunities) and weakness”.18
As mentioned in class, “The 8 Stages of Listening” characterize
18
Mokalis, Alexa (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462. p. 5.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 22
companies according to their degree of monitoring, analyzing, and participation on conversations
with customers on social media. These eight stages are shown in image 3.2 below.
Image 3.2
“The 8 Stages of Listening”
Source: Mokalis, Alexa: “Social Media Listening”
Based on the analysis in Chapter 2, Barbasol seems to be stuck in between stages two and three.
Stage two is the “tracking of brand mentions”, which only analyzes how often people mention the
brand online. This stage is solely focused on quantities and through only shallow tracking,
companies in this stage are unable to fully grasp opportunities given to them. The third stage
instead is “identifying market risks and opportunities” and it is the stage in which companies start
to listen, use the opportunities given to them, and identify potential flare-ups.
On the one hand, looking back at the Facebook analysis in Chapter 2.1, Barbasol does not seem to
have a goal for his presence and therefore does not use their information for anything resourceful.
Because of this, Barbasol could be characterized as being in stage one of the listening process. On
the other hand, referring back to Twitter in Chapter 2.4, Barbasol actually listens to what their
customers say and answers their requests. It grasps opportunities to talk to their customers and thus
can be characterized as being in stage three. Therefore, in general, Barbasol can be characterized
as stuck between stages two and three, with two being too little for their overall effort, and three
being too much for what they are doing right now.
The goal of every listening program should be to reach stage eight, which is “being proactive and
anticipating customers”. Brands in this stage initiate actual conversations with their customers and
embrace the fact that they are already listening. They “anticipate[ ] what customers will say or do
before they’ve done it”. They find “the right resources to guide prospects and customers” through
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 23
looking at historical data, which is how they act proactively. Also, companies fix problems before
they happen and thereby reduce customer frustration.19
Barbasol could reach stage eight through managing all the stages leading to it. They would need
to manage stage three as mentioned above plus all stages above it. This would mean they need to
improve their campaign efficiency as part of stage four; start to measure customer satisfaction as
part of stage five; manage stage six which is responding to customer inquiries; and improve
customer understanding to manage stage seven.
They would need to master stage eight by actively engaging in a conversation with their customers
and thereby finding the needs and wants they might not necessarily be aware of themselves. The
brand should also implement questions or call to action in their posts on virtually every platform
to receive more feedback on how they are doing and in what way they could improve.20
To reach the final stage, Barbasol would ultimately need to make use of a variety of listening tools
that provide specific data about their customers and their success on social media. These tools each
work with individual platforms and can therefore be used to measure the overall success of that
platform and to listen to customers on that specific platform.
Image 3.3
Google Alerts for Barbasol
Source: www.google.co.uk/alerts#1:2
19
Mokalis, Alexa (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462. pp. 42-51.
20
Mokalis, Alexa (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462. pp. 42-51.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 24
A basic listening tool to utilize is Google Alert. This service will notify its customers when their
trade name, product, or specific keywords are mentioned online. The tool does not differ between
positive or negative comments but simply sends out notifications following a mentioning and
therefore demands for a person that actively checks the published content. 21
Image 3.3 above
shows how the Google Alert website looks like.
Image 3.4
Utilizing Twitter Search for Barbasol
Source: https://twitter.com/search?q=Barbasol&src=typd
As they are already quite active and successful on Twitter, they might be interested in a listening
program for this platform, such as Twitter Queries. Through typing in the brand name (Barbasol)
21
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462. p. 54.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 25
on the website search.twitter.com, they will find tweets related to the brand. To find tweets
including specific keywords, it is possible to use the brand name and the keyword (e.g. Barbasol
shave) to receive a list of tweets featuring this keyword.22
Barbasol would be able to see the Tweets
regarding their company, as shown in image 3.4, and use them to make choices for feature
campaigns, adjust their current communication plans, and so on.
Adding to that, they could use sentiment coding analysis tools to find comments that are either
positive or negative. Although both sorts of comments are equally important,23
it might help them
find trends among their customers they might either want to embrace or stop. Image 3.5 below
uses the tool “Sentiment 140” for a sentiment analysis on Twitter.
Image 3.5
Sentiment analysis on Twitter using “Sentiment 140”
Source: http://www.sentiment140.com/search?query=Barbasol&hl=en
As we can see, most of the tweets regarding Barbasol are positive. But those sentiment analysis
algorithms should never be fully trusted as they only categorize the tweets concerning specific
22
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462. p. 55.
23
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462. p. 31.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 26
keywords and do not have a feeling for sentiment coding like sarcasm and humor.24
The red
highlighted comment on image 3.5 is an excellent example for this. The program categorized it as
negative, probably because the use of the words “rusty, tetanus laced” but in fact, the tweet is
positive and praises the long life span of the product and gives the Barbasol can the image of a
hero through the use of the word “back-up”. Therefore, all categorized tweets should also be
checked by a human being who has a feeling for the language the tweets are written in.
Another tool Barbasol should make use of is answer sites. People that have questions may have
already posted their question in a forum on an answer site. The brand could find those questions
and, again, use them for choices concerning feature campaigns, adjust their current communication
plan, and so on.
Image 3.6
Review of Barbasol “Soothing Aloe” on Amazon
Source: http://www.amazon.com/Barbasol-Thick-Shaving-Cream-Soothing/dp/B001SGLDCO
As Barbasol produces tangible products, they should also look into review sections of their
distribution channels to see how “the groundswell” reacts to their products and thinks of them. As
24
Mokalis, Alexa (2015) ROI & Recap. Week 13 Lecture. JMS462. p.53.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 27
displayed in image 3.6 above, which shows the reviews for a Barbasol product, the customers seem
to be satisfied with Barbasol and therefore like to share their satisfaction with the rest of the world.
These reviews will be seen by people doing research on possible future purchases, which is the
zero moment of truth.25
Therefore, it is extremely important for Barbasol to listen to the reviews
and use them for possible adjustment.
One important aspect that needs to be considered in terms of social media listening is that every
piece of information always needs to be put into context. Nothing on the internet happens in
isolation and therefore brands should always include analyses of their competitors’ actions and
status among customers. If the context is missing and one does not know how the general sentiment
concerning a specific industry or product area is, any piece of information becomes useless no
matter what listening tool has been used.26
There are many more listening tools available that vary in quality of results and even cost of using.
Regardless of the specific type of listening tool, it is very important Barbasol finally starts to
actively listen on social media and the internet to not miss out on trends concerning their own
brand and to make use of their potential. Therefore, the implementation of a listening program can
only be highly recommended for the brand Barbasol.
3.3. Social Media
The overall presence on social media of Barbasol is fairly bad. Except for Twitter, there is no
platform that is used to its full potential and some platforms are even not used at all, such as
Pinterest and Vine, and therefore it seems as if Barbasol does not pay close attention to coherency.
Specific recommendations for each platform can help Barbasol gain the professionalism that is
missing throughout their social media presence.
Facebook
As for Facebook, the “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing” that have been used for the
analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Barbasol in Chapter 2.1 can be used as a guideline to
specifically improve the Facebook page and behavior of Barbasol. Each criteria will work as an
25
Mokalis, Alexa (2015) Funnels & Communities. Week 4 Lecture. pp. 18-29.
26
Mokalis, Alexa (2015) ROI & Recap. Week 13 Lecture. JMS462. p.53.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 28
important element of a whole cohesive Facebook page that will successfully reach and embrace
its customers where they already are.
The above mentioned strengths concerning the cohesive branding, being up to date, and solicitation
of a call to action should therefore be embraced and improved if possible. Also, eliminating the
weaknesses is a necessary step in building a successful brand appearance on Facebook.
As mentioned above, they should definitely imply community expectations to specifically make
sure what exactly the Facebook page is for. Also, they should start to act more authentic as to
present themselves as human beings instead of just an unreachable company. They should also
participate in their customers’ dialogues to give them direct answers to requests and also get to
know their customers better. Adding to this, they should encourage peer to peer interactions and
foster the advocacy that is obviously already existing.
Facebook should not be seen as an isolated channel but rather as one piece of a broader social
media appearance. Therefore, the platform needs to work cohesively with other platforms used by
the brand. If Barbasol follows these guidelines for their Facebook page, the brand is very likely to
successfully be on social media and build a long-lasting relationship with their customers.
Instagram
Going back to Instagram, it can be said that due to the fact that some of the content that Barbasol
posts on Instagram is of poor quality and are pictures of pictures, Barbasol does not appear to have
an authentic presence. One way in which they could improve this, is to post more “behind the
scenes” pictures of their everyday operations. Content like this can be appealing to consumers and
helps the brand to feature their everyday operations on a reputable social media feed; revealing a
certain intimacy between the brand and consumers.
Barbasol has begun to post content like this (such as pictures of the actors featured in their
commercials), however, they do not make strategic use of any hashtags to broaden the exposure
of their posts. Image 3.7 shows examples of typical “behind the scenes” pictures Barbasol could
post on Instagram. These type of warehouse photographs offers an insight into their everyday
operational activity; adding to the authenticity and credibility of their presence on this platform.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 29
Image 3.7
Behind the Scenes of Barbasol
Source: http://www.slashfilm.com/jurassic-world-barbasol/, http://www.slashfilm.com/jurassic-
world-barbasol/
This is the type of post that also offers an opportunity to harness strategic hashtags. It promotes
their partnership with Universal and the release of their new limited edition Jurassic World shaving
cream cans. By grouping hashtags such as #LimitedEdition #JurassicWorld and #Barbasol, they
are able to broaden the exposure of their posts and associate the brand name with another popular
hashtag, thus reaching a larger audience on Instagram.
Additionally, another possible option for Barbasol and the type of visual content they could post,
is featuring customers using their products. Appealing to customer’s personal posts can rapidly
increase engagement. Fans of the brand could post pictures of them using their shaving cream,
perhaps a ‘before and after’ picture of their beards, and caption it with a hashtag like #Barbasol
#CloseShave. Posting User Generated Content is a great way to increase levels of engagement, as
well as helping to create a more human element to the brand.
If Barbasol follows these recommendations for Instagram, their page will be of more interest to
their customers. Also, it will work together with their other social media platforms and build a
harmonious brand image.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 30
Pinterest
Pinterest has a big potential for brands that can provide visuals and engage users thereby. As
outlined in Chapter 2.3, Barbasol is not currently active on Pinterest and therefore misses out on
all the opportunities on that platform.
Barbasol also should firstly embrace the content that is already pinned to different boards by users
of Pinterest and secondly create their own boards with different themes connected to Barbasol and
their products.
The way that Barbasol could improve their presence on Pinterest is by creating boards that
represent different themes. They should create a “Throw Back Thursday” board and have old
school advertising images of Barbasol, such as the one in image 3.8. They could also create a board
with beards, another board with mustaches, and have certain images that represent the quest of
shaving. Another theme they could use to create engagement is by re pinning images of Barbasol
being used by users.
Image 3.8
Example of an old school advertising image of Barbasol
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/58969076342279746/
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 31
Twitter
After analyzing the Twitter account of Barbasol, there are a number of recommendations that
could be suggested in order to engage with the Twitter audience on a deeper level than they are
currently achieving.
First of all, one objective that they appear to be successful in, is creating a space in which the
Twitter audience can not only communicate with Barbasol, but also, communicate with each other
too. One way in which they could continue to foster this kind of environment, as well as enhance
the level of engagement, is to monitor who the potential advocates and potential influencers of
their brand are. By contacting an influencer, and perhaps giving them samples of their products
and asking them to talk about the brand, Barbasol will be able to reach a wider audience on Twitter;
more specifically, those who may not already be aware of their presence on the platform. For
example, if they were to get in contact with an influencer, well-known for his beard, they could
ask the influencer to try out their products and discuss them on the social media platforms.
Image 3.9
Shay Carl
Source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HABgt5wHlT0/maxresdefault.jpg,
http://40.media.tumblr.com/2d2cf7f754d598813e9dd1c3de759197/tumblr_nehg46yaz81so18ulo
1_1280.jpg, http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NyNn24OEyGg/0.jpg
For instance, one man who has an incredible reach on social media is Shay Carl. Shay Carl is a
huge YouTube personality, he is well known for making daily vlogs on YouTube; he currently has
779K followers on Twitter, and 1,559,823 YouTube subscribers. Shay Carl is well-known for
many aspects of his life, including his famous beard. If Barbasol could contact influencers like
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 32
Shay Carl, pictured in image 3.9, then this would be an excellent opportunity for Shay Carl to
mention their brand, post an honest review about them on his Twitter and YouTube accounts and
thus expose his fan base to the Barbasol brand.
Additionally, by engaging with these types of influencers, Barbasol could spark a lot more
engagement between consumers and those huge YouTube and Twitter personalities; and it would
all have begun with their brand.
Vine
Vine is another channel that Barbasol should work on to reach their customers. Going back to the
importance of visuals discussed in lecture,27
we must remember that visuals are one of the main
ingredients in order for a social media campaign to work. Barbasol should utilize testimonials,
how to do videos, and most importantly webisodes.
The testimonial videos should be of consumers who use Barbasol to shave their epic mustaches
and beards. This could be more of a humoristic testimonial instead of a very serious one in order
to create an incongruent type of content. This approach combines oddity and humor with positive
associations to create an “all good type” of content as stated on our lecture on Visual Content.
The second type of videos that will create a strength for Barbasol would be the how-to type of
videos, in which Barbasol might be clever enough to hire epic bearded and/or mustached manly
men. These manly bearded men would create videos in which they show how to shave specific
mustaches or beards in different ways using Barbasol and represent their entire process in seven
seconds.
The third type of video that Barbasol should concentrate on making should be webisodes. This
idea consists of having beards and mustaches combating alongside Barbasol against the daily evils
of humanity, which also could be humoristic in order to capture the attention of the audience. This
would go back to the same concept of incongruences that permit a brand to be random and funny
while delivering their message and product. Image 3.10 below features an example of how User
Generated Content can be turned into a webisode. “#shavesunday with Barbasol” could be a
webisode where, for example, a group of students living in the same dorm meet in the bathroom
each Sunday evening where they shave and talk about their weeks and what happened. Barbasol
27
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Visual Content. Week 8 Lecture. JMS462.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 33
could use these characters to create exciting storylines and it would also enable the possibility of
several episodes without repeating content.28
Image 3.10
Webisode idea for Barbasol
Source: https://vine.co/u/979538234403328000
Besides all the individual efforts to be made on each platform, it remains to be said that it is highly
important that the brand works cohesively. Therefore, the appearances on each platform should
work in cohesion and harmony and deliver a unified brand experience. This does not mean that
identical content should be used on the different platforms as this is very uninteresting for the
consumer and does not use each platform’s specific aptitude. It rather means that all platforms
28
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Visual Content. Week 8 Lecture. JMS462. p. 68.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 34
together should work as a harmonious unity with each platform being an important element in the
chain.
3.4. Six Types of Visual Content
Adding to the recommendations on Social Media, Barbasol could use a variety of visual content
to improve its social media appearance. Right now, they are only using photos as visual content
but they could tremendously improve their social media appearance by implementing different
forms of visual content. Seeing the same kind of content can get uninteresting after a while, so
using a variety of tools would not only switch up their timelines, but also entertain and engage
consumers in a more diverse way. It can also be stated that brands using multiple forms of visual
content tend to have a higher return rate on their pages. The six types of visual content brands can
use are comics, memes, infographics, photos, videos, and visual note-taking, which leaves five
new types for Barbasol to utilize, as they are already using photos.
Image 3.11
Example of a comic
Source: knowyourmeme.com
Barbasol could use comics as a way to engage more customers by showing them something
unexpected which makes comics more engaging than photos or videos. Through their rarity, they
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 35
do not feel like selling and are therefore a nice way of entertain followers. Barbasol could for
example feature “shaving guides” in a comic style or show comics including beard jokes as seen
in image 3.11 above.
Another way of using visual content is the utilization of memes. Memes are pictures that include
some kind of text and make them seem funny, wise, and so on. They are very popular among the
groundswell and are a fun and engaging way of transporting information. Most of the published
memes are actually made by regular people instead of companies so they represent the power of
the Groundswell mentioned in Chapter 3.1. Memes can be used to show a brand’s authenticity,
something Barbasol should use regarding the analyzed weakness in Chapter 2.1. Research found
that there is a huge number of memes connected to beards and shaving so Barbasol could actively
use them and thereby use actual User Generated Content or use them as a source of inspiration to
come up with their own ideas for memes. One example of a meme they could post is shown in
image 3.12.
Image 3.12
Example of a meme
Source: Memegenerator.net
Also, Barbasol could use infographics on their social media pages as a powerful way to present
research, tell stories, and make information more accessible, easier to read and more entertaining.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 36
People will have to put in effort to understand the information provided to them and get actively
engaged that way. Barbasol has many different topics that could be covered by an infographic,
starting at the history of the company, over the general background of shaving and or even general
information about “facial hair” as shown in image 3.13. This could be an easy way for Barbasol to
make use of topics that their consumers really care about.
Image 3.13
Example of an infographic
Source: coroflot.com
Videos are another type of visual content that could easily be utilized by Barbasol. The amount of
videos posted on social media has significantly grown over the recent years and every smartphone
has a video camera so that creating personal videos is very easy. Barbasol could for example use
videos to show the growth of a beard or the trimming of it, or even ask consumers for their videos
of their best way to shave their beard. This will embrace both videos and consumer generated
content.
The last visual content to mention is visual note-taking. It is an assembly of information that make
it look like a doodle but it is therefore a fun way to present the information you have. People will
have to spend time processing all the information provided to them and thus it turns them from
passive receivers to active decoders of content.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 37
All these various types of visual contents have different ways of showing information and are each
best at showing information in a specific way. These types could be used on every social media
platform, but it should always be kept in mind what the platform is best at. Barbasol could utilize
all different types of content to improve their social media pages mentioned above and gain a
higher return rate.29
3.5. Consumer-Brand Relationships
The good relationship between a brand and its consumer is crucial for the success of a brand. The
Groundswell Era introduced in Chapter 3.1 has both permitted and obligated a brand to be more
connected with its customers. According to our lecture on funnels, the social media age has
changed the previous linear funnel to a cyclical one, in which constant engagement is mandatory
for a brand to have a positive relationship with a consumer.30
Figure 3.1
The three Cs of the Relationship Era
Source: Garfield, B., & Levy, D. (2013).” Can't buy me like”
29
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Visual Content. Week 8 Lecture. JMS462.
30
Mokalis, Alexa (2015) Funnels & Communities. Week 4 Lecture. pp. 18-29.
Credibility
CongruencyCare
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 38
Another important concept to use and create an effective consumer-brand relationship is to apply
three Cs of Trust that are explained on “Can’t Buy Me Like”. These three Cs include credibility,
care, and congruency, as shown in figure 3.1.
Credibility is the beating heart of national branding with the presumption that the marketer can be
depended upon to meet the terms of the offer made. A clear example on how Barbasol could create
credibility is by making an interactive video campaign that explains how Barbasol and certain
products of Barbasol help in the shaving process and use visual testimonials to represent their
videos to create credibility.
We then have Care, which explains that brands need to stop thinking about consumers as a target
audience and instead care about consumers and their lives, and construct their business to be as
helpful as possible. Barbasol can engage its consumers with care by simply being more engaged
and responsive on their social media platforms. For example many of the posts made by Barbasol
are intended to sell or be funny, but the caring part is left out. They could be more caring by simply
responding accordingly to all the positive comments and posts made on their social media accounts
as mentioned in the previous recommendations.
Last but not least, the book explains how Congruency is imperative in order to fully connect with
consumers, “it is not just conduct to which the public is attuned. People are increasingly reading
the body language of corporations in search of the intangibles: beliefs, values, purposes.” One
clear purpose that is of great concern to consumers is that of the environment. Barbasol could start
a campaign to encourage all of its consumers to recycle their aluminum cans. They could also start
a series where they encourage their consumers to upload videos in which consumers show how
they recycle their cans.
All of these three Cs of trust create that unique and profound consumer-brand relationships and
make “an individual not simply consume a brand but join it”. The relationship with a consumer
era is here, and a brand like Barbasol should be on the lead towards creating this relationship with
its consumers. 31
31
Garfield, B., & Levy, D. (2013). Can't buy me Like. pp. 47-48.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 39
4. Conclusion
To sum it up, Barbasol is a company with a lot of potential for a successful presence on social
media, as outlined in this case study.
Their appearance on various platforms features both strengths and weaknesses. As previously
mentioned in the analysis, several of their strengths on social media platforms include the
participation on current topics they post about, the responsiveness on Twitter, and an engaged
community throughout different platforms. The weaknesses on the other hand include not
embracing the community’s engagement by not being responsive, missing out on valuable
opportunities such as Pinterest and Vine, and not being able to foster the advocacy some of their
followers on these social platforms demonstrate.
They are yet to fully embrace their potential and make use of the variety of options available to
them. The level of professionalism with which they operate their different social media sides varies
from platform to platform, as analyzed above. Barbasol should therefore try to gain a consistent
level of professionalism on each platform as to receive cohesive branding and form specific
expectations for their presence on social media.
The recommendations in this case study can work as a guideline to improve the social media
appearance of Barbasol, with each recommendation being a specific tool to gain this improvement.
These tools can work either in isolation or as different tactics of a greater improvement strategy.
If Barbasol follows the recommendations outlined in this case study, the brand is very likely to
improve their appearance on social media and gain long-term success throughout the various
platforms. This could translate into deeper levels of engagement and a stronger presence of the
brand in general.
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol I
References
Books:
Garfield, B., & Levy, D. (2013). Can't Buy Me Like: How authentic customer connections drive
superior results. New York, N.Y.: Portfolio/Penguin
Lectures:
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Groundswell. Week 3 Lecture. JMS462.
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Funnels and Communities. Week 4 Lecture. JMS462
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Facebook. Week 7 Lecture. JMS462
Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Visual Content. Week 8 Lecture. JMS462
Mokalis, Alexa (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462
Mokalis, Alexa (2015) ROI & Recap. Week 13 Lecture. JMS462
Internet:
Barbasol.com. (2015). Barbasol home page
Available: http://www.barbasol.com/
Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015
Barbasol.com (2015) History
Available: http://barbasol.com/index.html#history
Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015
Barbasol.com (2015). What's New: Barbasol Shaving Cream Partners with Universal Pictures for
Jurassic World
Available: http://barbasol.com/Barbasol-Whats-New.html
Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol II
Brand Channel. (2015). 22 Years After Jurassic Park Debut, Barbasol Sets Jurassic World Tie-Ins
Available: http://www.brandchannel.com/2015/05/15/barbasol-jurassic-world-051515/
Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015
Facebook. (2015). Barbasol Facebook page
Available: https://www.facebook.com/closeshaveamerica/timeline
Last Accessed: December 9th 2015
Instagram. (2015) Barbasol Instagram page
Available: https://www.instagram.com/barbasolshavecream/
Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015
Movember Foundation. (2015). Home page
Available: https://us.movember.com/
Last Accessed: December 5th 2015
Perio Inc. (2015). About Us
Available: http://www.perio-inc.com/about-perio-inc.html.
Last Accessed: December 2nd, 2015
Perio Inc. (2015). Perio Inc. The Makers of Barbasol and Pure Silk
Available: http://www.perio-inc.com/products.html
Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015
Twitter. (2015). Barbasol Twitter page
Available: https://twitter.com/BarbasolShave
Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015
Wikipedia (2015). Barbasol.
Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbasol
Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015
Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol III
YouTube. (2015) Barbasol YouTube channel
Available: https://www.youtube.com/user/BarbasolShaveCream/about
Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015

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JMS462-CaseStudyBarbasol-Gunning-Inzunza-Schmitz

  • 1.
  • 2. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol II Table of Contents 1. Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Company Description .................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Background...................................................................................................................1 1.3. Products ....................................................................................................................... 3 2. Analysis of Strengths and Weaknesses ............................................................................. 3 2.1. Facebook ........................................................................................................................3 2.2. Instagram ......................................................................................................................12 2.3. Pinterest ......................................................................................................................14 2.4. Twitter ......................................................................................................................15 2.5. Vine ......................................................................................................................18 3. Strategic Recommendations...............................................................................................20 3.1. P.O.S.T. ......................................................................................................................20 3.2. Listening Program.........................................................................................................21 3.3. Social Media..................................................................................................................27 3.4. Six Types of Visual Content ........................................................................................ 34 3.5. Consumer-Brand Relationships ....................................................................................37 4. Conclusion...........................................................................................................................39 References................................................................................................................................... I
  • 3. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol III Table of Images Image 1.1 Current logo of Barbasol ..........................................................................................1 Image 1.2 Historical advertising images used by Barbasol .......................................................2 Image 2.1 Barbasol Facebook timeline ......................................................................................4 Image 2.2 Use of current topics..................................................................................................5 Image 2.3 Movember..................................................................................................................6 Image 2.4 Missing community expectations ..............................................................................7 Image 2.5 Missing authenticity...................................................................................................8 Image 2.6 Lack of participation in dialogue ...............................................................................9 Image 2.7 Missing encouragement of peer-to-peer interactions...............................................10 Image 2.8 Advocates: Bobby Ding...........................................................................................11 Image 2.9 First post on Instagram.............................................................................................13 Image 2.10 Barbasol pins on Pinterest......................................................................................15 Image 2.11 Crew SC tweet .......................................................................................................16 Image 2.12 Barbasol sweepstake ..............................................................................................17 Image 2.13 Responsiveness on Twitter ....................................................................................18 Image 2.14 Vines connected to Barbasol..................................................................................19 Image 3.1 Social technographics profile of customers of Barbasol..........................................20 Image 3.2 “The 8 Stages of Listening”.....................................................................................22 Image 3.3 Google Alerts for Barbasol ......................................................................................23 Image 3.4 Utilizing Twitter Search for Barbasol......................................................................24 Image 3.5 Sentiment analysis on Twitter using “Sentiment 140” ............................................25 Image 3.6 Review of Barbasol “Soothing Aloe” on Amazon ..................................................26 Image 3.7 Behind the scenes of Barbasol ................................................................................29
  • 4. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol IV Image 3.8 Example of an old school advertising image of Barbasol........................................30 Image 3.9 Shay Carl..................................................................................................................31 Image 3.10 Webisde idea for Barbasol.....................................................................................33 Image 3.11 Example of a comic ...............................................................................................34 Image 3.12 Example of a meme ...............................................................................................35 Image 3.13 Example of an infographic.....................................................................................36 Table of Figures Figure 2.1 Facebook strengths and weaknesses .........................................................................3 Figure 2.2 Instagram strengths and weaknesses .......................................................................12 Figure 2.3 Pinterest strengths and weaknesses .........................................................................14 Figure 2.4 Twitter strengths and weaknesses ...........................................................................15 Figure 2.5 Vine strengths and weaknesses ...............................................................................19 Figure 3.1 The three Cs of the Relationship Era.......................................................................37
  • 5. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 1 1. Introduction 1.1. Company Description Barbasol is an American manufacturer of men shaving cream. The brand’s parent-company is Ohio-based Perio Inc. who purchased Barbasol in 20011 and which also features a female shaving cream line called “Pure Silk”. The mission of Perio, and therefore also the mission of Barbasol, is satisfying customers by maintaining a high quality of “customer service, combined with a sincere commitment to the values of quality and trust, [which] create a second objective of company value.” The company has always produced its products solely in the United States and is proud to announce this. Their target audience is men who wet shave their face on a daily basis.2 Image 1.1 Current logo of Barbasol Source: www.barbasol.com They started to make their presence on Social Media in 2011 and they are currently active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Their first Facebook post was on Monday, 25 June 2011, and ever since then, they have gained 40.208 followers.3 They currently have 255 followers on Instagram where their first post was made in 2013.4 Their first tweet on Twitter was made on February 2011 and they gained 7.814 followers over the years.5 They joined YouTube on June 25 2012, where they currently have 372 followers.6 1 Perio Inc. (2015). About Us. Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015. 2 Barbasol.com. (2015). Barbasol home page. Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015. 3 Facebook. (2015). Barbasol Facebook page. Last Accessed: December 9th 2015. 4 Instagram. (2015) Barbasol Instagram page. Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015. 5 Twitter. (2015). Barbasol Twitter page. Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015. 6 YouTube. (2015) Barbasol YouTube channel. Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015.
  • 6. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 2 1.2. Background The company was founded by MIT Professor Frank Shields in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1919.7 The shaving cream was manufactured under the company that Frank Shields started before inventing Barbasol, which was Napco Corporation. After a while, the sales outgrew the Napco Corporation and the Barbasol Company was created in 1920, which was owned by Mr. Shields for 42 years. In 1962, however, Pfzeiser bought the company Barbasol. By the 1990's, their brand equity had diminished and in 2001 Pfzeiser sold the company to Perio, Inc. The early advertising of Barbasol was very popular as they used not only printed advertising, but also used celebrities to promote their products during the 1920's and 1930's. An example of a variety of ads they used can be seen in image 1.2 below. In 1938 they sponsored a car in the Indianapolis 500 Race and painted it to look like a can of Barbasol. Then from 2001-2009, they started advertising more on television and in 2012 they signed a five year contract with Major League Soccer side Columbus Crew that would see the brand become the club's shirt sponsor.8 Image 1.2 Historical Advertising Images used by Barbasol Source: www.barbasol.com 7 Barbasol.com. (2015). Barbasol home page. Last Accessed: December 2nd2015. 8 Wikipedia (2015). Barbasol. Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015.
  • 7. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 3 1.3. Products Barbasol, America’s no. 1 men’s shaving cream, begun with the iconic Original Thick & Rich Shaving Cream. With its “beard-busting powers” the brand’s shaving cream formula suits men with tough beards and sensitive skin.9 In recent years, the Barbasol brand has experienced more growththan it has in the last 40 years, with a growing range of shaving cream varieties, pre-shave face wash and after shave, sold in a variety of packages and sizes.10 These include, Soothing Aloe, Pacific Rush, Mountain Blast and Barbasol Brisk after Shave. Thanks to its iconic packaging, the Barbasol original shaving cream was famously featured in the first Jurassic Park film. This was one of the most recognized brand integrations of all time, and now, 22 years later, the two iconic brands have partnered once again and have released a wide- reaching national television and digital and social media campaign for the Jurassic World movie. This very successful brand integration has resulted in the creation of limited edition Barbasol shaving cream collector cans.11 Additionally, thanks to the novelty of the brand, Perio Inc. has released a line of Barbasol T-shirts. Some of their shirts hold a relatively comedic and proud tone, reflecting their recent comedic advertisements. A selection of the shirts read “It’s like America on your face” and the simple “Made in America”.12 The release of these new merchandise reflects well upon the Barbasol brand, showing that consumers are not just invested in their shaving products, but it also reinforces that there are avid supporters of Barbasol as a classic and iconic brand. 2. Analysis of Strengths & Weaknesses 2.1. Facebook Barbasol is currently active on Facebook with its own Facebook page. There are some characteristics regarding their presence on this platform which count as either a strength or a weakness. The following analysis is based on the “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing”, and is summed up in figure 2.1.13 9 Barbasol.com (2015) History. Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015. 10 Perio Inc. (2015). Perio Inc. The Makers of Barbasol and Pure Silk. Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015. 11 Barbasol.com (2015). What's New: Barbasol Shaving Cream Partners with Universal Pictures for Jurassic World. Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015. 12 Brand Channel. (2015). 22 Years After Jurassic Park Debut, Barbasol Sets Jurassic World Tie-Ins. Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015. 13 Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Facebook. Week 7 Lecture. JMS462.
  • 8. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 4 Figure 2.1 Facebook strengths and weaknesses Source: Barbasol Facebook page; on the basis of “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing” As shown in figure 2.1, the Facebook page of Barbasol features several strengths and weaknesses. The strengths are the characteristics that should be emphasized and embraced, while the weaknesses should be taken into consideration for possible changes to use the Facebook page to its full potential and provide Barbasol with a starting point to success. Image 2.1 Barbasol Facebook timeline Source: Barbasol Facebook page The strengths of the Facebook page include the use of cohesive branding, being up to date, and the solicitation of a call to action.
  • 9. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 5 Regarding the use of cohesive branding, it can be said that Barbasol uses its logo as a profile picture and includes a collage of different Barbasol related images as its cover photo, which both can be seen in image 2.1 above. People can directly see what brand they are looking at without doing any further research. The tone of voice used in the different posts is coherent and therefore underlines Barbasol’s cohesive branding. Because of this, visitors of the Facebook page will automatically be able to connect their experience with the brand presented to them. Another strength of the Facebook page of Barbasol is that it is up to date. It uses current topics, as shown in image 2.2 where they wish their consumers a happy Independence Day, to freshen up its news feed and keep customers interested in the Facebook page. Even though they used their typical shaving cream cans to make up the stripes of the flag, the image itself does not seem too promotional in the eyes of the consumers. It therefore does adhere to the 80/20 rule of using non- promotional content 80% of the time, while the other 20% can be used for promotional messages. However, the company could post even more non-promotional content because sometimes there are breaks in between two posts that could easily be filled. Image 2.2 Use of current topics Source: Barbasol Facebook page
  • 10. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 6 Barbasol also solicits a call to action in its post, as seen in image 2.3 where they ask consumers to donate to the Movember Foundation USA. Although this foundation is not part of the company Barbasol, the connection between the two organizations is easily made as the Movember Foundation uses “non-shaving” as a symbol to help raise money for men’s health issues.14 Image 2.3. Movember Source: Barbasol Facebook page Barbasol as a shaving company can easily help boost awareness for this project as it addresses the same target audience and addresses the same topic but from a different angle. It therefore engages 14 Movember Foundation. (2015). Home page. Last Accessed: December 5th 2015.
  • 11. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 7 its consumers in a way that goes beyond promotion but still might lead them to brand trial and purchase because they favor the cause Barbasol promotes. Also, every action consumers take on behalf of a company, increases the level of involvement they have regarding this company. Although they already use some form of solicitation of a call to action, Barbasol could improve this and use a wider variety of forms of action. They could, for example, call for a comment using a question which would be less effort for the consumers compared to donating to a charity or signing up for sweepstakes, as seen on the Facebook page. By not implying these methods, Barbasol might miss out on important engagement. The weaknesses of the Facebook page include the lack of clearly defined community expectations, authenticity, participation in dialogue, enabling peer-to-peer interactions, and fostering advocacy. Barbasol does not feature any kind of community expectations on its Facebook page as can be seen in image 2.2. Without clearly defined community expectations, people might not know exactly why a brand is on Facebook without any form of rules and the kind of behavior considered appropriate for this platform may be unclear. They might be confused about how to interact with the brand and therefore not interact at all. In order to easily present goals of the presence on Facebook and to allow for open interaction with consumers, Barbasol, and any other brand, should feature community expectations on their Facebook page. Image 2.4 Missing community expectations Source: Barbasol Facebook page
  • 12. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 8 Another drawback is the missing form of authenticity given on the page. The company hardly ever adds a “human touch” for its content and hardly ever speaks in the first person, as displayed in image 2.5. There is no form of proof that real people are working on the page as there are no initials, no pictures or biographies or even short introductions of the people working on it. Therefore, Barbasol does not put the human side first and consumers are not able to tie a person to the social media page. Image 2.5 Missing authenticity Source: Barbasol Facebook page Another unfortunate weakness is the missing participation in dialogues. The company hardly ever replies to any form of comments given by consumers which is unfortunate as it is an easy way of communicating with them and engaging them. Even questions by consumers regarding their products, as seen in image 2.6, are ignored or neglected which communicates a sense of ignorance
  • 13. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 9 towards its customers’ needs. Barbasol should pay closer attention to this form of communication because consumers might get the feeling the brand is only interested promotion and not in them. Image 2.6 Lack of participation in dialogue Source: Barbasol Facebook page Additionally, as Barbasol does not react to any form of comments at all, it does also not enable peer-to-peer interactions even though there are plenty of opportunities to do so. Two approaches to this are either answering consumers’ questions with the brand itself or tying their question to someone else’s request. Looking at image 2.7, which is a longer list of comments below the post in image 2.6, Barbasol could easily ask the consumers who already purchased their Barbasol Jurassic World bottle to give feedback on it or to answer some questions. For example, the question
  • 14. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 10 of Kimberley Deeley could be answered with a statement like, “major retailers – Kaze Trinidad or Bobby Ding, where did you get yours?” This would enable a direct peer-to-peer interaction as they might start discussing different kinds of retailers, the price, or even the quality of the product. Also, the one answer given by Barbasol could have been more positive in a way of thanking her for her interest and then advising her on different retailers. Barbasol, again, misses out on a big opportunity to get consumers engaged. Image 2.7 Missing encouragement of peer-to-peer interactions Source: Barbasol Facebook page
  • 15. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 11 The last weakness according to the “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing” is that Barbasol does not foster advocacy in any way. This could either be achieved by empowering fans to speak out on behalf of the brand, encouraging positive word of mouth or asking for opinions. Scrolling through their Facebook page, it becomes obvious that Barbasol never asks for customers’ opinions and that the only questions used are rhetorical ones. Looking back at image 2.5, customers’ opinions could have easily been encouraged adding a phrase such as, “What do you think about our new design?” This would have allowed consumers to actively look at them and give feedback to the brand. This adds to the sentiment coming from the missing participation in dialogues, that the brand is not actually interested in their consumers’ opinion. Another thing that became obvious scrolling through their Facebook page, is that Barbasol already has one brand advocate – Bobby Ding. He comments on almost every single post, as can be seen in image 2.7 and 2.8, and although the brand never likes or even replies to any of his comments, he is still loyal to the brand and buys every product they bring to the market. Image 2.8 Advocates: Bobby Ding Source: Barbasol Facebook page
  • 16. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 12 Barbasol could easily embrace this engagement and foster Bobby’s advocacy instead of ignoring him entirely. Looking at his involvement with the brand, he would probably feel honored to get in direct contact with Barbasol. If the company continues to ignore their biggest fans, they might feel left alone and go look for alternative brands that give them a better brand experience. To sum it up, the Barbasol Facebook page has some strengths that can be embraced and should be improved. Unfortunately, it also includes a huge amount of weaknesses that should be repaired in order to help the brand be successful on social media 2.2. Instagram Visual content marketing is fast becoming an important tool for marketers; platforms like Instagram encourage consumers to engage with brands through a feed which is dedicated solely to visual stimulation. The presence of Barbasol on Instagram is currently relatively weak. With just 255 followers, and 35 posts since 2013, there are a number of areas where Barbasol could improve on this platform. The overall strengths and weaknesses of the presence on Instagram are displayed in figure 2.2 below. Figure 2.2 Instagram strengths and weaknesses Source: Barbasol Instagram Page; on the basis of “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing” In its infancy, it appears that the Instagram account of Barbasol was used as a tool to spark engagement with consumers; a number of its’ first posts are captioned with the hashtag “#shavingcreamfight”. However, the level of engagement on these posts are low. Image 2.9 displays the first post published by Barbasol. Although this post, and the following posts fairly similar to this one, reflects an attempt to convey humor, it is an example of what Barbasol needs to work on. Simply captioning their content with the hashtag “#shavingcreamfight” is fairly ambiguous and thus the post becomes almost irrelevant. However, this also highlights that even in
  • 17. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 13 its initial introduction to Instagram, Barbasol had the intention to not only market products, but move from marketing into engagement, posting themed content, and not product promotion. Barbasol needs to post more purposive content, and the purpose of hashtags such as “#shavingcreamfight” needs to be communicated clearer in order for consumers to fully understand and engage with it. It is not enough to simply hashtag posts, but it is the strategic use of these types of hashtags that can significantly boost the exposure of their posts and in turn encourage high levels of engagement. Image 2.9 First post on Instagram Source: Barbasol Instagram page More recently, Barbasol have showed signs of attempting to post content that aims to evoke a certain emotion from its consumers. Looking back at chapter 2.1, image 2.8 is representative of this. It is an example of the type of positive congruent content that brands should aim for.15 It is relatable and reminiscent and is the kind of content that conveys certain emotional responses to represent brand personality and authenticity. It is also an example of how they post consistent content across their platforms as this was also a featured Facebook post. Having a consistent brand voice across the different social media platforms allows Barbasol to establish a flow between these 15 Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Visual Content. Week 8 Lecture. JMS462.
  • 18. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 14 platforms, however it is important that not all posts are the same on each platform. Furthermore, Barbasol has been utilizing Instagram as a platform to host contests and projects. For example, their partnership with the Jurassic World theme has showed higher rates of engagement by encouraging consumers to enter competitions for a chance to win prizes. They need to continue to harness the power of popular hashtags; this will boost the exposure of their posts significantly. However, some aspects of the Instagram account of Barbasol are weak; posts are of poor quality and there does not seem to be any consideration of the visual variables involved in creating an aesthetically pleasing or engaging post. 2.3. Pinterest Barbasol is not currently active on Pinterest as shown in figure 2.3 below. Pinterest is a photo sharing platform where users can interact with each other by sharing photos and pinning them to their pinboards. It is the fastest-growing platform in terms of popularity and its users are very engaged. Followers can view your boards and the pins you have pinned, and then decide whether to pin something they like or not. Pinterest would be an excellent opportunity for Barbasol to engage with a larger audience. Figure 2.3 Pinterest strengths and weaknesses Source: Pinterest; on the basis of “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing” This social media platform should be of great interest to Barbasol because it is quickly outgrowing other sites when it comes to buying stuff from a social media platform. As you can see in image 2.10 below, a lot of pins have been uploaded to Pinterest that represent the brand. This is an excellent opportunity for Barbasol to create a community, which according to lecture 4 from our class is one of the most important aspect about social media, because there
  • 19. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 15 is no longer a marketing funnel, but a constant cycle that requires a constant engagement with the community.16 Image 2.10 Barbasol pins on Pinterest Source: Pinterest 2.4. Twitter Figure 2.4 Twitter strengths and weaknesses Source: Barbasol Twitter page; on the basis of “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing” 16 Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Funnels and Communities. Week 4 Lecture. JMS462.
  • 20. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 16 Twitter is a platform that offers brands the opportunity for real-time marketing; to engage with current, trending topics. If used strategically and creatively, relevant topics and popular hashtags can encourage the social promotion of a brand. Twitter is designed to be a short and to-the-point platform and thus brand messages must be strategic and concise. There are a number of areas in which Barbasol have utilized the platform successfully, as outlined in figure 2.4 below Firstly, Barbasol frequently posts promotional content relating to the Major League Soccer and Columbus Crew SC twitter pages. They offer prizes such as autographed team balls, jerseys and other Crew SC gear. This type of content is highly engaging and is also used as an opportunity for Barbasol to spark conversations between their consumers. They give frequent shout outs to those followers who won the prizes, highlighting that they are successfully creating a space where consumers can connect with each other. An example of Crew SC related posts is displayed in Image 2.11. Posts like these represent how Barbasol have successfully understood trending topics and have utilized them as an opportunity to connect with a community or group that they want to associate their brand with. Image 2.11 Crew SC tweet Source: Barbasol Twitter page
  • 21. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 17 Furthermore, Barbasol have (naturally) involved themselves in the Movember movement. This is a great way to encourage social promotion and engage consumers. Posting content in relation to the Movemember cause with shaving tips such as “go with the grain, not against”, is a great way to involve their brand in mentions of the very popular trend. They also use these trending topics as a platform to promote their products. Image 2.12 is an example of how Barbasol have used the platform to engage consumers and involve themselves in popular movements by encouraging consumers to comment to win a prize. It is an example of how they have noticed what is trending and adding their brands personal spin on the topic by creating an interesting hashtag such as “#BarbasolMo”. These kind of posts are strategic, and posting relevant content is a good way to boost engagement with potential consumers of the brand. Image 2.12. Barbasol sweepstake Source: Barbasol Twitter page Additionally, Barbasol appears to track their brand mentions on Twitter, this is an important stage of listening. It enables them to learn what the Twitter audience mentions about them, add somewhat of a human touch in response to these comments, as well as spark peer-to-peer dialogue between the people on Twitter. Image 2.13 demonstrates how the brand has used Twitter to address certain comments that may be harmful to their brand. They not only show responsiveness to
  • 22. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 18 complaints, but they also respond to customers who have questions about the competitions they host with comments such as “good job!” and “best of luck to you!” This is the type of response that shows that Barbasol are aware of their brand mentions and use Twitter as a tool to demonstrate credibility and responsiveness. Image 2.13 Responsiveness on Twitter Source: Barbasol Twitter page One area in which Barbasol could work on is posting a broader range of content. This could potentially boost the level of engagement they have. One way in which they could possibly do this is by monitoring who their influencers are. If they can identify those influencers who have a large following and are relevant in the field of shaving, they may be able to reach a larger base of consumers and potential customers of the brand. 2.5. Vine Vine is a seven second social media platform in which users are able to craft short videos and upload them to their personal site. Vine is a platform in which many brands have created a strong social media presence with their followers. For example Target, Gap and Volkswagen have an excellent presence on Vine, because of their creativity.
  • 23. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 19 Figure 2.5 Vine strengths and weaknesses Source: Vine Barbasol is currently not present on Vine but could have an excellent presence regarding their product, because there is already content created by users on Vine featuring the product, as can be seen in image 2.14 below. These videos are perfect examples of how important User Generated Content is and in what way brands can embrace this. Image 2.14 Vines connected to Barbasol Source: Vine Vine is an excellent opportunity for Barbasol to convert a weakness into a strength by taking the lead on becoming a brand that is not only present on Vine but also being a strong brand with interesting visual content for its consumers or just followers.
  • 24. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 20 3. Strategic Recommendations 3.1. POST The book “Groundswell – Winning in a World transformed by Social Technologies” describes “a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations”.17 The Groundswell POST method defines a four step approach to a social media marketing strategy. It is common for companies to execute their social media strategy backwards, for example they begin with what type of social media platform they want to use, or an end goal such as the goal to create a brand community. The P.O.S.T approach to planning informs marketers about the order in which they should start planning their social media planning. The first stage, is to identify their consumers’ social technographics and assess their activities online. The demographic that Barbasol appeals to would range from males aged 18+, the majority of them in the age bracket of 25 - 34. As demonstrated in Forrester’s social demographics tool displayed in image 3.1, the majority of this demographic group are joiners and spectators. Image 3.1 Social technographics profile of customers of Barbasol Source: http://empowered.forrester.com/tool_consumer.html 17 Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Groundswell. Week 3 Lecture. JMS462. p. 4.
  • 25. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 21 This information should inform Barbasol on the latter part of the POST framework which is technology and perhaps the type of content and platforms they should use to reach out to their consumers. As joiners and spectators, Barbasol’s consumers are viewing content on social networks such as Facebook, but are not likely to upload content about the brand, write reviews or organize content about them. Knowledge of their customers’ usual social media activity also informs Barbasol on the objectives they should strive for. Based on the analysis of their activity on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, Barbasol should have a specific goal to support and energize customers on these platforms and to evangelize others. The approach adopted by Barbasol on the different platforms is quite inconsistent; they seem to be more responsive on Twitter than on Facebook. Thus, Barbasol should aim to develop and foster an environment where consumers can engage with each other. For example, in the case of Bobby Ding, there have been missed opportunities to really engage with a potential brand advocate. An example of the type of objective they could set could be: to increase and encourage the number of consumer-to-consumer interactions on Facebook, by 75% by March 2016, by empowering brand advocates and introducing posts like “fan of the week”. The third stage of the POST framework is strategy. This is the section where marketers should plan for how the relationship with customers will change. For example, with the objective in mind, Barbasol would want to cultivate a closer, two-way relationship with their best customers in order to firstly, encourage brand advocacy and secondly, to encourage the groundswell to engage with their posts on a more advanced level, rather than just the basic “like” and “share” on Facebook. Last of all is technology; since Barbasol are aware of their consumer’s demographic, they appear to be present on the appropriate social media platforms. However, the content Barbasol posts should be more strategic in terms of their use of hashtags, the type of visuals they should post, the empowerment of brand advocates and fostering brand discussions between consumers. 3.2. Listening Program Social Media Listening is “the process of monitoring and analyzing online conversations about a company, its brands, and its services in order to identify areas of potential brand strength (opportunities) and weakness”.18 As mentioned in class, “The 8 Stages of Listening” characterize 18 Mokalis, Alexa (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462. p. 5.
  • 26. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 22 companies according to their degree of monitoring, analyzing, and participation on conversations with customers on social media. These eight stages are shown in image 3.2 below. Image 3.2 “The 8 Stages of Listening” Source: Mokalis, Alexa: “Social Media Listening” Based on the analysis in Chapter 2, Barbasol seems to be stuck in between stages two and three. Stage two is the “tracking of brand mentions”, which only analyzes how often people mention the brand online. This stage is solely focused on quantities and through only shallow tracking, companies in this stage are unable to fully grasp opportunities given to them. The third stage instead is “identifying market risks and opportunities” and it is the stage in which companies start to listen, use the opportunities given to them, and identify potential flare-ups. On the one hand, looking back at the Facebook analysis in Chapter 2.1, Barbasol does not seem to have a goal for his presence and therefore does not use their information for anything resourceful. Because of this, Barbasol could be characterized as being in stage one of the listening process. On the other hand, referring back to Twitter in Chapter 2.4, Barbasol actually listens to what their customers say and answers their requests. It grasps opportunities to talk to their customers and thus can be characterized as being in stage three. Therefore, in general, Barbasol can be characterized as stuck between stages two and three, with two being too little for their overall effort, and three being too much for what they are doing right now. The goal of every listening program should be to reach stage eight, which is “being proactive and anticipating customers”. Brands in this stage initiate actual conversations with their customers and embrace the fact that they are already listening. They “anticipate[ ] what customers will say or do before they’ve done it”. They find “the right resources to guide prospects and customers” through
  • 27. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 23 looking at historical data, which is how they act proactively. Also, companies fix problems before they happen and thereby reduce customer frustration.19 Barbasol could reach stage eight through managing all the stages leading to it. They would need to manage stage three as mentioned above plus all stages above it. This would mean they need to improve their campaign efficiency as part of stage four; start to measure customer satisfaction as part of stage five; manage stage six which is responding to customer inquiries; and improve customer understanding to manage stage seven. They would need to master stage eight by actively engaging in a conversation with their customers and thereby finding the needs and wants they might not necessarily be aware of themselves. The brand should also implement questions or call to action in their posts on virtually every platform to receive more feedback on how they are doing and in what way they could improve.20 To reach the final stage, Barbasol would ultimately need to make use of a variety of listening tools that provide specific data about their customers and their success on social media. These tools each work with individual platforms and can therefore be used to measure the overall success of that platform and to listen to customers on that specific platform. Image 3.3 Google Alerts for Barbasol Source: www.google.co.uk/alerts#1:2 19 Mokalis, Alexa (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462. pp. 42-51. 20 Mokalis, Alexa (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462. pp. 42-51.
  • 28. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 24 A basic listening tool to utilize is Google Alert. This service will notify its customers when their trade name, product, or specific keywords are mentioned online. The tool does not differ between positive or negative comments but simply sends out notifications following a mentioning and therefore demands for a person that actively checks the published content. 21 Image 3.3 above shows how the Google Alert website looks like. Image 3.4 Utilizing Twitter Search for Barbasol Source: https://twitter.com/search?q=Barbasol&src=typd As they are already quite active and successful on Twitter, they might be interested in a listening program for this platform, such as Twitter Queries. Through typing in the brand name (Barbasol) 21 Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462. p. 54.
  • 29. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 25 on the website search.twitter.com, they will find tweets related to the brand. To find tweets including specific keywords, it is possible to use the brand name and the keyword (e.g. Barbasol shave) to receive a list of tweets featuring this keyword.22 Barbasol would be able to see the Tweets regarding their company, as shown in image 3.4, and use them to make choices for feature campaigns, adjust their current communication plans, and so on. Adding to that, they could use sentiment coding analysis tools to find comments that are either positive or negative. Although both sorts of comments are equally important,23 it might help them find trends among their customers they might either want to embrace or stop. Image 3.5 below uses the tool “Sentiment 140” for a sentiment analysis on Twitter. Image 3.5 Sentiment analysis on Twitter using “Sentiment 140” Source: http://www.sentiment140.com/search?query=Barbasol&hl=en As we can see, most of the tweets regarding Barbasol are positive. But those sentiment analysis algorithms should never be fully trusted as they only categorize the tweets concerning specific 22 Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462. p. 55. 23 Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462. p. 31.
  • 30. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 26 keywords and do not have a feeling for sentiment coding like sarcasm and humor.24 The red highlighted comment on image 3.5 is an excellent example for this. The program categorized it as negative, probably because the use of the words “rusty, tetanus laced” but in fact, the tweet is positive and praises the long life span of the product and gives the Barbasol can the image of a hero through the use of the word “back-up”. Therefore, all categorized tweets should also be checked by a human being who has a feeling for the language the tweets are written in. Another tool Barbasol should make use of is answer sites. People that have questions may have already posted their question in a forum on an answer site. The brand could find those questions and, again, use them for choices concerning feature campaigns, adjust their current communication plan, and so on. Image 3.6 Review of Barbasol “Soothing Aloe” on Amazon Source: http://www.amazon.com/Barbasol-Thick-Shaving-Cream-Soothing/dp/B001SGLDCO As Barbasol produces tangible products, they should also look into review sections of their distribution channels to see how “the groundswell” reacts to their products and thinks of them. As 24 Mokalis, Alexa (2015) ROI & Recap. Week 13 Lecture. JMS462. p.53.
  • 31. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 27 displayed in image 3.6 above, which shows the reviews for a Barbasol product, the customers seem to be satisfied with Barbasol and therefore like to share their satisfaction with the rest of the world. These reviews will be seen by people doing research on possible future purchases, which is the zero moment of truth.25 Therefore, it is extremely important for Barbasol to listen to the reviews and use them for possible adjustment. One important aspect that needs to be considered in terms of social media listening is that every piece of information always needs to be put into context. Nothing on the internet happens in isolation and therefore brands should always include analyses of their competitors’ actions and status among customers. If the context is missing and one does not know how the general sentiment concerning a specific industry or product area is, any piece of information becomes useless no matter what listening tool has been used.26 There are many more listening tools available that vary in quality of results and even cost of using. Regardless of the specific type of listening tool, it is very important Barbasol finally starts to actively listen on social media and the internet to not miss out on trends concerning their own brand and to make use of their potential. Therefore, the implementation of a listening program can only be highly recommended for the brand Barbasol. 3.3. Social Media The overall presence on social media of Barbasol is fairly bad. Except for Twitter, there is no platform that is used to its full potential and some platforms are even not used at all, such as Pinterest and Vine, and therefore it seems as if Barbasol does not pay close attention to coherency. Specific recommendations for each platform can help Barbasol gain the professionalism that is missing throughout their social media presence. Facebook As for Facebook, the “8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing” that have been used for the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Barbasol in Chapter 2.1 can be used as a guideline to specifically improve the Facebook page and behavior of Barbasol. Each criteria will work as an 25 Mokalis, Alexa (2015) Funnels & Communities. Week 4 Lecture. pp. 18-29. 26 Mokalis, Alexa (2015) ROI & Recap. Week 13 Lecture. JMS462. p.53.
  • 32. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 28 important element of a whole cohesive Facebook page that will successfully reach and embrace its customers where they already are. The above mentioned strengths concerning the cohesive branding, being up to date, and solicitation of a call to action should therefore be embraced and improved if possible. Also, eliminating the weaknesses is a necessary step in building a successful brand appearance on Facebook. As mentioned above, they should definitely imply community expectations to specifically make sure what exactly the Facebook page is for. Also, they should start to act more authentic as to present themselves as human beings instead of just an unreachable company. They should also participate in their customers’ dialogues to give them direct answers to requests and also get to know their customers better. Adding to this, they should encourage peer to peer interactions and foster the advocacy that is obviously already existing. Facebook should not be seen as an isolated channel but rather as one piece of a broader social media appearance. Therefore, the platform needs to work cohesively with other platforms used by the brand. If Barbasol follows these guidelines for their Facebook page, the brand is very likely to successfully be on social media and build a long-lasting relationship with their customers. Instagram Going back to Instagram, it can be said that due to the fact that some of the content that Barbasol posts on Instagram is of poor quality and are pictures of pictures, Barbasol does not appear to have an authentic presence. One way in which they could improve this, is to post more “behind the scenes” pictures of their everyday operations. Content like this can be appealing to consumers and helps the brand to feature their everyday operations on a reputable social media feed; revealing a certain intimacy between the brand and consumers. Barbasol has begun to post content like this (such as pictures of the actors featured in their commercials), however, they do not make strategic use of any hashtags to broaden the exposure of their posts. Image 3.7 shows examples of typical “behind the scenes” pictures Barbasol could post on Instagram. These type of warehouse photographs offers an insight into their everyday operational activity; adding to the authenticity and credibility of their presence on this platform.
  • 33. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 29 Image 3.7 Behind the Scenes of Barbasol Source: http://www.slashfilm.com/jurassic-world-barbasol/, http://www.slashfilm.com/jurassic- world-barbasol/ This is the type of post that also offers an opportunity to harness strategic hashtags. It promotes their partnership with Universal and the release of their new limited edition Jurassic World shaving cream cans. By grouping hashtags such as #LimitedEdition #JurassicWorld and #Barbasol, they are able to broaden the exposure of their posts and associate the brand name with another popular hashtag, thus reaching a larger audience on Instagram. Additionally, another possible option for Barbasol and the type of visual content they could post, is featuring customers using their products. Appealing to customer’s personal posts can rapidly increase engagement. Fans of the brand could post pictures of them using their shaving cream, perhaps a ‘before and after’ picture of their beards, and caption it with a hashtag like #Barbasol #CloseShave. Posting User Generated Content is a great way to increase levels of engagement, as well as helping to create a more human element to the brand. If Barbasol follows these recommendations for Instagram, their page will be of more interest to their customers. Also, it will work together with their other social media platforms and build a harmonious brand image.
  • 34. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 30 Pinterest Pinterest has a big potential for brands that can provide visuals and engage users thereby. As outlined in Chapter 2.3, Barbasol is not currently active on Pinterest and therefore misses out on all the opportunities on that platform. Barbasol also should firstly embrace the content that is already pinned to different boards by users of Pinterest and secondly create their own boards with different themes connected to Barbasol and their products. The way that Barbasol could improve their presence on Pinterest is by creating boards that represent different themes. They should create a “Throw Back Thursday” board and have old school advertising images of Barbasol, such as the one in image 3.8. They could also create a board with beards, another board with mustaches, and have certain images that represent the quest of shaving. Another theme they could use to create engagement is by re pinning images of Barbasol being used by users. Image 3.8 Example of an old school advertising image of Barbasol Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/58969076342279746/
  • 35. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 31 Twitter After analyzing the Twitter account of Barbasol, there are a number of recommendations that could be suggested in order to engage with the Twitter audience on a deeper level than they are currently achieving. First of all, one objective that they appear to be successful in, is creating a space in which the Twitter audience can not only communicate with Barbasol, but also, communicate with each other too. One way in which they could continue to foster this kind of environment, as well as enhance the level of engagement, is to monitor who the potential advocates and potential influencers of their brand are. By contacting an influencer, and perhaps giving them samples of their products and asking them to talk about the brand, Barbasol will be able to reach a wider audience on Twitter; more specifically, those who may not already be aware of their presence on the platform. For example, if they were to get in contact with an influencer, well-known for his beard, they could ask the influencer to try out their products and discuss them on the social media platforms. Image 3.9 Shay Carl Source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HABgt5wHlT0/maxresdefault.jpg, http://40.media.tumblr.com/2d2cf7f754d598813e9dd1c3de759197/tumblr_nehg46yaz81so18ulo 1_1280.jpg, http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NyNn24OEyGg/0.jpg For instance, one man who has an incredible reach on social media is Shay Carl. Shay Carl is a huge YouTube personality, he is well known for making daily vlogs on YouTube; he currently has 779K followers on Twitter, and 1,559,823 YouTube subscribers. Shay Carl is well-known for many aspects of his life, including his famous beard. If Barbasol could contact influencers like
  • 36. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 32 Shay Carl, pictured in image 3.9, then this would be an excellent opportunity for Shay Carl to mention their brand, post an honest review about them on his Twitter and YouTube accounts and thus expose his fan base to the Barbasol brand. Additionally, by engaging with these types of influencers, Barbasol could spark a lot more engagement between consumers and those huge YouTube and Twitter personalities; and it would all have begun with their brand. Vine Vine is another channel that Barbasol should work on to reach their customers. Going back to the importance of visuals discussed in lecture,27 we must remember that visuals are one of the main ingredients in order for a social media campaign to work. Barbasol should utilize testimonials, how to do videos, and most importantly webisodes. The testimonial videos should be of consumers who use Barbasol to shave their epic mustaches and beards. This could be more of a humoristic testimonial instead of a very serious one in order to create an incongruent type of content. This approach combines oddity and humor with positive associations to create an “all good type” of content as stated on our lecture on Visual Content. The second type of videos that will create a strength for Barbasol would be the how-to type of videos, in which Barbasol might be clever enough to hire epic bearded and/or mustached manly men. These manly bearded men would create videos in which they show how to shave specific mustaches or beards in different ways using Barbasol and represent their entire process in seven seconds. The third type of video that Barbasol should concentrate on making should be webisodes. This idea consists of having beards and mustaches combating alongside Barbasol against the daily evils of humanity, which also could be humoristic in order to capture the attention of the audience. This would go back to the same concept of incongruences that permit a brand to be random and funny while delivering their message and product. Image 3.10 below features an example of how User Generated Content can be turned into a webisode. “#shavesunday with Barbasol” could be a webisode where, for example, a group of students living in the same dorm meet in the bathroom each Sunday evening where they shave and talk about their weeks and what happened. Barbasol 27 Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Visual Content. Week 8 Lecture. JMS462.
  • 37. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 33 could use these characters to create exciting storylines and it would also enable the possibility of several episodes without repeating content.28 Image 3.10 Webisode idea for Barbasol Source: https://vine.co/u/979538234403328000 Besides all the individual efforts to be made on each platform, it remains to be said that it is highly important that the brand works cohesively. Therefore, the appearances on each platform should work in cohesion and harmony and deliver a unified brand experience. This does not mean that identical content should be used on the different platforms as this is very uninteresting for the consumer and does not use each platform’s specific aptitude. It rather means that all platforms 28 Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Visual Content. Week 8 Lecture. JMS462. p. 68.
  • 38. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 34 together should work as a harmonious unity with each platform being an important element in the chain. 3.4. Six Types of Visual Content Adding to the recommendations on Social Media, Barbasol could use a variety of visual content to improve its social media appearance. Right now, they are only using photos as visual content but they could tremendously improve their social media appearance by implementing different forms of visual content. Seeing the same kind of content can get uninteresting after a while, so using a variety of tools would not only switch up their timelines, but also entertain and engage consumers in a more diverse way. It can also be stated that brands using multiple forms of visual content tend to have a higher return rate on their pages. The six types of visual content brands can use are comics, memes, infographics, photos, videos, and visual note-taking, which leaves five new types for Barbasol to utilize, as they are already using photos. Image 3.11 Example of a comic Source: knowyourmeme.com Barbasol could use comics as a way to engage more customers by showing them something unexpected which makes comics more engaging than photos or videos. Through their rarity, they
  • 39. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 35 do not feel like selling and are therefore a nice way of entertain followers. Barbasol could for example feature “shaving guides” in a comic style or show comics including beard jokes as seen in image 3.11 above. Another way of using visual content is the utilization of memes. Memes are pictures that include some kind of text and make them seem funny, wise, and so on. They are very popular among the groundswell and are a fun and engaging way of transporting information. Most of the published memes are actually made by regular people instead of companies so they represent the power of the Groundswell mentioned in Chapter 3.1. Memes can be used to show a brand’s authenticity, something Barbasol should use regarding the analyzed weakness in Chapter 2.1. Research found that there is a huge number of memes connected to beards and shaving so Barbasol could actively use them and thereby use actual User Generated Content or use them as a source of inspiration to come up with their own ideas for memes. One example of a meme they could post is shown in image 3.12. Image 3.12 Example of a meme Source: Memegenerator.net Also, Barbasol could use infographics on their social media pages as a powerful way to present research, tell stories, and make information more accessible, easier to read and more entertaining.
  • 40. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 36 People will have to put in effort to understand the information provided to them and get actively engaged that way. Barbasol has many different topics that could be covered by an infographic, starting at the history of the company, over the general background of shaving and or even general information about “facial hair” as shown in image 3.13. This could be an easy way for Barbasol to make use of topics that their consumers really care about. Image 3.13 Example of an infographic Source: coroflot.com Videos are another type of visual content that could easily be utilized by Barbasol. The amount of videos posted on social media has significantly grown over the recent years and every smartphone has a video camera so that creating personal videos is very easy. Barbasol could for example use videos to show the growth of a beard or the trimming of it, or even ask consumers for their videos of their best way to shave their beard. This will embrace both videos and consumer generated content. The last visual content to mention is visual note-taking. It is an assembly of information that make it look like a doodle but it is therefore a fun way to present the information you have. People will have to spend time processing all the information provided to them and thus it turns them from passive receivers to active decoders of content.
  • 41. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 37 All these various types of visual contents have different ways of showing information and are each best at showing information in a specific way. These types could be used on every social media platform, but it should always be kept in mind what the platform is best at. Barbasol could utilize all different types of content to improve their social media pages mentioned above and gain a higher return rate.29 3.5. Consumer-Brand Relationships The good relationship between a brand and its consumer is crucial for the success of a brand. The Groundswell Era introduced in Chapter 3.1 has both permitted and obligated a brand to be more connected with its customers. According to our lecture on funnels, the social media age has changed the previous linear funnel to a cyclical one, in which constant engagement is mandatory for a brand to have a positive relationship with a consumer.30 Figure 3.1 The three Cs of the Relationship Era Source: Garfield, B., & Levy, D. (2013).” Can't buy me like” 29 Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Visual Content. Week 8 Lecture. JMS462. 30 Mokalis, Alexa (2015) Funnels & Communities. Week 4 Lecture. pp. 18-29. Credibility CongruencyCare
  • 42. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 38 Another important concept to use and create an effective consumer-brand relationship is to apply three Cs of Trust that are explained on “Can’t Buy Me Like”. These three Cs include credibility, care, and congruency, as shown in figure 3.1. Credibility is the beating heart of national branding with the presumption that the marketer can be depended upon to meet the terms of the offer made. A clear example on how Barbasol could create credibility is by making an interactive video campaign that explains how Barbasol and certain products of Barbasol help in the shaving process and use visual testimonials to represent their videos to create credibility. We then have Care, which explains that brands need to stop thinking about consumers as a target audience and instead care about consumers and their lives, and construct their business to be as helpful as possible. Barbasol can engage its consumers with care by simply being more engaged and responsive on their social media platforms. For example many of the posts made by Barbasol are intended to sell or be funny, but the caring part is left out. They could be more caring by simply responding accordingly to all the positive comments and posts made on their social media accounts as mentioned in the previous recommendations. Last but not least, the book explains how Congruency is imperative in order to fully connect with consumers, “it is not just conduct to which the public is attuned. People are increasingly reading the body language of corporations in search of the intangibles: beliefs, values, purposes.” One clear purpose that is of great concern to consumers is that of the environment. Barbasol could start a campaign to encourage all of its consumers to recycle their aluminum cans. They could also start a series where they encourage their consumers to upload videos in which consumers show how they recycle their cans. All of these three Cs of trust create that unique and profound consumer-brand relationships and make “an individual not simply consume a brand but join it”. The relationship with a consumer era is here, and a brand like Barbasol should be on the lead towards creating this relationship with its consumers. 31 31 Garfield, B., & Levy, D. (2013). Can't buy me Like. pp. 47-48.
  • 43. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol 39 4. Conclusion To sum it up, Barbasol is a company with a lot of potential for a successful presence on social media, as outlined in this case study. Their appearance on various platforms features both strengths and weaknesses. As previously mentioned in the analysis, several of their strengths on social media platforms include the participation on current topics they post about, the responsiveness on Twitter, and an engaged community throughout different platforms. The weaknesses on the other hand include not embracing the community’s engagement by not being responsive, missing out on valuable opportunities such as Pinterest and Vine, and not being able to foster the advocacy some of their followers on these social platforms demonstrate. They are yet to fully embrace their potential and make use of the variety of options available to them. The level of professionalism with which they operate their different social media sides varies from platform to platform, as analyzed above. Barbasol should therefore try to gain a consistent level of professionalism on each platform as to receive cohesive branding and form specific expectations for their presence on social media. The recommendations in this case study can work as a guideline to improve the social media appearance of Barbasol, with each recommendation being a specific tool to gain this improvement. These tools can work either in isolation or as different tactics of a greater improvement strategy. If Barbasol follows the recommendations outlined in this case study, the brand is very likely to improve their appearance on social media and gain long-term success throughout the various platforms. This could translate into deeper levels of engagement and a stronger presence of the brand in general.
  • 44. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol I References Books: Garfield, B., & Levy, D. (2013). Can't Buy Me Like: How authentic customer connections drive superior results. New York, N.Y.: Portfolio/Penguin Lectures: Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Groundswell. Week 3 Lecture. JMS462. Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Funnels and Communities. Week 4 Lecture. JMS462 Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Facebook. Week 7 Lecture. JMS462 Mokalis, Alexa. (2015) Visual Content. Week 8 Lecture. JMS462 Mokalis, Alexa (2015) Social Media Listening. Week 11 Lecture. JMS462 Mokalis, Alexa (2015) ROI & Recap. Week 13 Lecture. JMS462 Internet: Barbasol.com. (2015). Barbasol home page Available: http://www.barbasol.com/ Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015 Barbasol.com (2015) History Available: http://barbasol.com/index.html#history Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015 Barbasol.com (2015). What's New: Barbasol Shaving Cream Partners with Universal Pictures for Jurassic World Available: http://barbasol.com/Barbasol-Whats-New.html Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015
  • 45. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol II Brand Channel. (2015). 22 Years After Jurassic Park Debut, Barbasol Sets Jurassic World Tie-Ins Available: http://www.brandchannel.com/2015/05/15/barbasol-jurassic-world-051515/ Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015 Facebook. (2015). Barbasol Facebook page Available: https://www.facebook.com/closeshaveamerica/timeline Last Accessed: December 9th 2015 Instagram. (2015) Barbasol Instagram page Available: https://www.instagram.com/barbasolshavecream/ Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015 Movember Foundation. (2015). Home page Available: https://us.movember.com/ Last Accessed: December 5th 2015 Perio Inc. (2015). About Us Available: http://www.perio-inc.com/about-perio-inc.html. Last Accessed: December 2nd, 2015 Perio Inc. (2015). Perio Inc. The Makers of Barbasol and Pure Silk Available: http://www.perio-inc.com/products.html Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015 Twitter. (2015). Barbasol Twitter page Available: https://twitter.com/BarbasolShave Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015 Wikipedia (2015). Barbasol. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbasol Last Accessed: December 3rd 2015
  • 46. Gunning | Inzunza | Schmitz Case Study Barbasol III YouTube. (2015) Barbasol YouTube channel Available: https://www.youtube.com/user/BarbasolShaveCream/about Last Accessed: December 2nd 2015