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Chapter One – Introduction
According to First Research, the US cosmetic, beauty supply, and perfume store (beauty
store) industry includes about 15,000 stores with combined annual revenue of about $14 billion
and is forecasted to be about $265 billion by 2017. This is an immense market, considering it is
comprised of mostly women. When paired with Business Source data suggestion that 47% of
women check their social media pages daily, an ideal marketing technique makes way. We live
in a world surrounded by social media. It's part of everything we do, and everything we do is
part of social media. It's the future of our country and the future of marketing, but is social
media effective for marketing cosmetics?
The nature and purpose of this study is to be able to present our findings and research
to a cosmetic company with the hopes of generating new ways for them to gain customers and
boost sales through social media platforms. By including age demographics, location
demographics, behavior analysis’ and research of the influential medias in our research, we will
be able to help our client target consumers. This research will allow our clients to target many
consumers via social media, by breaking down who purchases makeup, why they purchase
makeup, what amount they spend on makeup, and how effective they think social media
marketing currently is to their buying habits.
We expect that our research will show many opportunities for social media marketing of
cosmetics. The data collection and analysis will hopefully show what women want and where
they want it when it comes to cosmetics on social media. By finding out who uses social media
and how they feel about social media marketing that currently exists, our clients will be able to
focus on what is effective and what needs to be developed more. Through our findings we will

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collaborate the most effective social media marketing solution that will drive sales for our
customer. This information is imperative to marketing these products accurately and
appropriately for sales growth.

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Chapter Two - Secondary Data Research
Social media has revolutionized the way that cosmetic companies connect and engage
with consumers worldwide. Today social media is used as a line of communication between
target audience and the cosmetic companies themselves. The data research suggests that social
media marketing is the up-and-coming area for marketers all over. Just under ¾ of consumers
under the age of 35 learned of new brands through social media (Statista 2012). Social media
provides a very high level of customer engagement and is able to enhance communication with
their consumers, meaning they are able to generate feedbacks.
More importantly cosmetic companies are able to use social media platforms to more
accurately target and approach their consumers. A study done by Social Media Examiner shows
that social media marketing increased exposure by 92%, as of May 2012 (Social Media
Marketing 2013). Consumers are seeing and trying products they may never have had interest
in before. This shows incredible potential for new products to make way into consumers’
homes. According to an Ispos study on Statista.com in April 2013, 32% of women made a
purchase based on a social media post and 36% based on a social media advertisement (Share
of U.S. Consumers 2012). In 2012, worldwide social media revenue was at 16.9 billion dollars,
according to a Gartner study (Social Media Marketing 2013).
With social media becoming part of everyday activity, it’s important we take this as an
opportunity for marketing to grow. Evidence shows that “at least half of Twitter and Facebook
users said they have become more likely to talk about, and recommend/ purchase company
products after following the company on social media (The Atlantic, 2011).

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Chapter Three - Methodology
For our research, we needed to reach over 100 women. We decided that an online
survey would be the easiest way of collecting that much data. Through this technique, we were
able to reach women of all ages from all over the state of Rhode Island.
Survey
Gender:
Male
Female
This question was important because we’re looking for data specifically from
women, so this gave us the opportunity to weed out the unneeded data.
Age:
18 to 20
21 to 24
25 to 29
30+
This question was necessary so we could differentiate the women we were
getting information from. Age can have a big effect on women’s use of
cosmetics, as well as social media..Younger generations typically spend more
time on social media and use different social media platforms than older
generations. The type of cosmetics used also differ between age.

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Race/Ethnicity:
African American/Black
American Indian/Alaskan Native
Asian
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander
Hispanic/Latino
Caucasian/White
2+
Different races and ethnicities have varied opinions on the use of cosmetics and
even social media. Some countries don’t allow either, so this may impact some
women when they come to America.
What is your current education level?
No high school diploma
High School Diploma/GED
Undergrad
Graduate
Masters
Education level is important to give us an understanding of their spending habits.
Higher education levels usually have a more disposable income to spend on
items, such as cosmetics. The information we gather will tell us if they are in fact
using it as so.

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Which county do you live in?
Bristol
Kent
Newport
Providence
Washington
Where a person currently lives greatly impacts their choices about fashion and
cosmetics. Rhode Island has everything from the city, to the beach, to the
countryside, this could show us if one area has a more prevalent cosmetics use
than another.
What is your attitude towards cosmetics?
Couldn’t be bothered Never leave the house without it
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
If a woman “couldn’t be bothered” by cosmetics, then no type of social media
marketing will have an effect on them. Meanwhile, if they “never leave the house
without it”, these are the women we’re interested in reaching.
How much have you spent on cosmetics in the past 30 days?
$1 to $20
$21 to $50
$51 to $75
$76 to $100
$100+

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The more money a woman spends on cosmetics, the more likely they are
to learning new techniques and products.
 
After seeing this tutorial, how interested are you in finding out more about the products
used?
Whatever Tell me now!
0 1 2 3 4 5
This question gives us an idea of what women are looking for when they see
cosmetics on social media. We know that the quicker you convey information the
more likely you are to catch a person’s attention. We believe pictures/tutorials
are the most successful form of social media marketing for cosmetics, since they

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are the easier at catching someone's attention, and this question will show us if
that’s true.
How likely are you to purchase cosmetics based on the following?
Very Unlikely Unlikely Undecided Likely Very
Likely
Facebook reviews o o o o o
In store sale prices o o o o o
YouTube tutorials o o o o o
Pinterest techniques o o o o o
Instagram influences o o o o o
Personal preference o o o o o
This is the most important question. Knowing what impacts a woman’s cosmetics
purchase can tell us everything we need to build a successful marketing plan.
How much time do you spend on social media per day?
0 to 30 minutes
31 minutes to 1 hour
Less than 2 hours
2 hours or more
Social media usage will give us an idea of how important social media is to these
women. Infrequent use would suggest that anything they see isn’t important or
useful to them.

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Which social media sites do you use daily?
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
Tumblr
YouTube
This will show us which social media sites are most effective to market to women
and whether text, pictures, videos or a combination is most important to social
media users based on the platform they use most. If a social media site has very
low usage, it’s not worth marketing there.
How many cosmetic artists do you follow on social media?
0 to 3
4 to 6
7 to 10
11 or more
This question gives us an idea of how many women already follow cosmetics on
social media. If they’re already seeing the marketing that’s being done, they’re
most susceptible to advanced social media marketing.

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Chapter Four - Data Analysis
Based on the data we were able to collect via survey research we are now able to better
understand our target market, from a age demographic, psychographic and geographic
standpoint. Based on the data we are now able to create an image of who is buying cosmetics,
what kind of cosmetics they are buying, who is spending how much, and whether or not social
media does have an impact on the purchasing habits of individuals in the Rhode Island
geographic area.
Our gatherings show that 164
individuals had taken our survey. Based on
these individuals answers, we are able to
assume that our target market is
predominantly; females between the ages
of 25-29, who live in Providence county,
have or are obtaining no more than an undergraduate degree, and who primarily spend more
than 2 hours per day on social media, with
Facebook being most popular. The cross
tabulations made are included in this
research to better correlate relationships
between the questions that were answered
and by who.

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We found that 49% of our survey
participants say they have not spent
more than 20 dollars on cosmetics in
the last 30 days. Through our first
cross tabulation, it appears that
Bristol County has the highest
percentage of people paying more than $75 on their cosmetics monthly. With Bristol County
having Rhode Island’s second highest median income at about $71,000 a year, it sounds
accurate that those consumers
would have more of a disposable
income to spend (US Places,
2015). It also appears as though
their level of education doesn’t
have an effect on the amount
they spend, which we didn’t expect to be the case.

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The next cross tabulation demonstrates the relationship found between the various
social media channels used to influence potential customers to buy, how likely they are to use
the website as a purchasing
behavioral tool, and the ages
on the respondents. Through
this we’re able to see that
social media does play a role
in the purchases of most
women in the age range of
25 to 29 years old. While the
“Very Likely” responses for the social media options are very small, “Likely” was the most
popular response from almost all of the age groups. Although Facebook may not phase many,
this illustration also shows that they are most influenced to purchase based on the influence of
YouTube tutorials, in store prices, Instagram influences, and by personal preference. This shows
that social media has potential to influence these women on their future purchases.

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Chapter Five - Conclusion & Recommendations
Based on the information we were able to gather from the individuals who took our
survey, we didn’t discover the information we expected. Although prior research shows that
social media has a very extensive influence on the purchasing behaviors of cosmetic consumers,
we found quite the opposite. The individuals who participated in our survey research answered
almost contradicting to expectations. For example, it was expected that there were going to be
a lot more individuals who followed multiple cosmetic artists on social media. Our survey
research provided that 108 out of 138 responses follow between “0-3” social media cosmetic
artist. We were also surprised to find only 9 out of 139 individuals spend over $100 per month
on cosmetics. The most shocking evidence found was the primary influence on their spending
behaviors. The ratio of buying influences of personal preference/in store sales: any social media
platforms were a shocking 71: 40!
Through out findings, we determined that social media marketing techniques for
cosmetics have not been effective and need to be revamped. Based on our findings, we believe
that cosmetic companies need to use social media as a ‘call to action’ through giveaways and
contests. If consumers are engaged with the company and their products, they’ll be more likely
to try new products or brands they wouldn’t have thought of. Through giveaways, they’ll also
be able to see what their consumers are looking for. Women aren’t going to enter a contest to
win a product they have no interest in. Better yet, when they win that product, they’re more
likely to tell their friends and family all about the product. This itself could increase social media
followers, as well as sales!

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The biggest change we would make to our survey would be having the ability to “drop”
people from the survey once they chose “Male” and/or “30+” on the survey. This would’ve
given us the ability to have data accurate for the demographic we were trying to research. We
also would’ve limited the use of survey questions using a slider. This type of response couldn’t
be used on cross tabulations so our data sets were incomplete. The questions we used sliders
on contained important information that could’ve helped prove how effective social media can
be.

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Works Cited
Cosmetic, Beauty Supply and Perfume Stores. First Research. October 27, 2014. Web. 7
November 2014 <http://0-mergent.firstresearch-
learn.com.helin.uri.edu/industry.aspx?chapter=0&pid=294>
“Infographic: Using Social Media to Build Brand Loyalty.” The Atlantic. July 2011. Web. 11 May
2015. <http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/07/infographic-using-
social-media-to-build-brand-loyalty/241701/>
“Rhode Island Median Household Income by County.” US Places. Web. 10 May 2015.
<http://www.us-places.com/Rhode-Island/median-household-income-by-County.htm>
“Social Media Targeting Effectiveness Gender 2013.” Statista. Ipsos; April 2-16, 2013.
Web. 29 September 2014.
<http://0-www.statista.com.helin.uri.edu/study/15449/social-media-marketing-in-the-
us-statista-dossier/>
“Share of U.S. consumers learning about brands via social networks as of
November 2012.” Statista. Ipsos; November 6-20, 2012. Web. 7 November 2014.
<http://0-www.statista.com.helin.uri.edu/statistics/251612/share-of-us-consumers-
learning-about-brands-via-social-networks/>
“Social Media Marketing in the US.” Statista. Statista Dossier 2013. Web PowerPoint. 29
September 2014. <http://0-www.statista.com.helin.uri.edu/study/15449/social-media-
marketing-in-the-us-statista-dossier/>
“Women And The Web.” Marketing (00253650) (2014):1. Business Source
Complete. Web. 29 September 2014.

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