University of Economics, Prague
Master’s Thesis
2021 Anastasiia Donchenko
University of Economics, Prague Faculty of Business Administration
Masters field: Marketing
Title of the master’s thesis:
The effect of aesthetic product presentation on consumer perception and purchase
making: The case of Candelae.Stories
Author: Anastasiia Donchenko
Supervisor: Ing. Martin Machek, PhD.
Declaration of Authenticity
I hereby declare that the master’s thesis presented herein is my own work, or fully and specifically acknowledged wherever adapted from other sources. This
work has not been published or submitted elsewhere for the requirement of a degree program.
Prague, March 8, 2021 Bc. Anastasiia Donchenko
Acknowledgement
I hereby wish to express my appreciation and gratitude to the supervisor of my thesis, Ing. Martin Machek, PhD. for providing me with support and valuable
recommendations during all the time of writing my Thesis.
Title of the Master’s Thesis:
The effect of aesthetic product presentation on consumer perception and purchase making: The case of Candelae.Stories
Abstract:
The following Master’s Thesis is devoted to assessing the impact of aesthetics product presentation on consumer perception and the subsequent buying decision based on the modern case of the Candelae.Stories brand that operates in Russia. The theoretical part will reveal the basic concepts of social media marketing, particularly on Instagram, principles of visual communication and the role of aesthetics in consumer perception as a key part. Further, the practical part includes an assessment of the visual communication of the case brand for the following comparing it with the results of the theoretical part together with a deep understanding of the consumer interpretation of the concept of aesthetic product presentation.
The qualitative method was chosen to provide relevant answers to the research questions posed.
Focus group interviews were conducted with persons aged 18 to 30 years. To supplement the data, interviews were conducted with experts in the field as well. This approach was selected to interact freely with the respondents and adapt the subject conversation in the necessary direction, based on the complex research topic. The research is mainly based on books, dissertations, and academic articles as well as Internet resources.
Keywords:
Social media, visual engagement, the relationship between the image and engagement, consumer behaviour, social media marketing
Table of Contents
List of figures ...
List of tables...
1. Introduction ... 1
1.1 Background ... 1
1.2 Introducing the Candelae.Stories brand ... 2
1.3 Problem Definition ... 3
1.4 Objectives of the Thesis ... 3
1.5 Structure of the thesis ... 4
2. Theoretical Part ... 5
2.1 Social media marketing and customer engagement ... 5
2.1.1 Social Media ... 5
2.1.2 Social media marketing principles ... 7
2.1.3 Social media and small-scale business ... 9
2.1.4 Social Media and customer decision-making process ... 10
2.1.5 See-Think-Do-Care ... 12
2.1.6 Conscious and subconscious purchase decisions ... 14
2.1.7 Emotional aspect in impulsive purchasing decision making in social media .... 16
2.1.8 Summary ... 17
2.2 Instagram as a marketing tool ... 19
2.2.1 Instagram... 19
2.2.2 Engagement on Instagram... 21
2.2.3 Current marketing strategies on Instagram ... 23
2.2.4 Summary ... 26
2.3 Visual communication in social media ... 26
2.3.1 Interpretation of images ... 26
2.3.2 Image composition ... 28
2.3.3 Visual content: main touchpoints... 29
2.3.4 The role of visuals in online shopping ... 30
2.3.5 Summary ... 31
2.4 The role of aesthetics ... 32
2.4.1 The essence of aesthetics ... 32
2.4.2 Visual aesthetic product presentation ... 34
2.4.3 The role of aesthetics in the consumer decision-making process ... 36
2.4.4 Summary ... 38
3. Practical part ... 39
3.1 Methodology ... 39
3.1.1 Research approach and strategy ... 39
3.1.2 Rationale research structure ... 40
3.1.3 Research questions and rational criteria ... 43
3.1.4 Interviews with experts in the field ... 44
3.2 Focus Group Discussion ... 45
3.2.1 Overview ... 45
3.2.2 Use of Focus Group Interviews ... 46
3.2.3 Focus Group Questioning Plan ... 46
3.2.4 Recruitment ... 47
3.2.5 Conducting the Focus Group Interviews ... 48
3.2.6 Data Analysis ... 50
3.3 Candelae.Stories’ aesthetic content media analysis ... 51
3.3.1 General overview of the Russian soy hand-made candle market ... 51
3.3.2 Candelae Stories' Case study ... 52
3.3.3 Aesthetic picture marketing: Eye-catching presentation of the products ... 56
3.3.4 Colour palette ... 61
3.4 General results of the Focus Group Discussion ... 64
3.4.1 Digital buying habits ... 64
3.4.2 Defining beauty and aesthetics ... 67
3.4.3 Beauty and credibility ... 70
3.4.4 Aesthetic product presentation VS. common product presentation ... 71
3.5 Summary ... 75
3.6 Limitations and direction for future research ... 78
Conclusion ... 79
Bibliography ... 81
List of Appendices ... 96
List of figures
Figure 1: The social media triangle
Figure 2: See-Think-Do-Care strategy on web pages
Figure 3: Number of Instagram users worldwide from 2016 to 2023 Figure 4: Instagram account optimization
Figure 5: Timberland’s product aesthetic presentation on social media Figure 6: Focus group map
Figure 7: Candelae.Stories’ Instagram account optimization
Figure 8: Candelae.Stories’ product aesthetic presentation on social media Figure 9: Main colours of Candelae.Stories’ palette
List of tables
Table 1: Characteristics of the respondents
Table 2: Characteristics of the respondents of Group 1 Table 3: Characteristics of the respondents of Group 2
1 1. Introduction
1.1 Background
Images are the core of visual communication for brands of all sizes and categories on social media. It is well known that an individual often tends to evaluate a product based on the visual aspect since vision is one of the primary organs of the human senses. Nevertheless, in the current circumstances of tight competition between firms and developing technologies, the average consumer has become indifferent to many traditional advertising approaches, including visual communication methods. It became difficult to impress or surprise a customer, much less persuade him to make a purchase decision. Aesthetics has recently become a fresh method of product presentation in social media, aiming to hide the direct message of selling thanks to beauty elements and thereby gain the attention of users on the social network, that is, potential consumers.
But like any philosophical study, aesthetics refers to an abstract notion that does not lend itself well to rational explanation. Too much aesthetics in product presentation may be considered by the consumer as art rather than advertising. In turn, the insufficiency of aesthetics in visual communication can lead to a lack of interest from the viewer. In general, although the use of aesthetics in product presentation is now a popular tool to create a close connection with the consumer, its misapplication can greatly affect the performance of the brand. Thus, firms must be well versed in this approach, which has mixed outcomes.
The relevance of the chosen topic is largely determined by the fact that the influence of aesthetics on consumer buying behaviour has been little studied since it is a fairly young phenomenon in the field of social media marketing. The reason for selecting this topic for research was the widespread popularity of the use of aesthetics by brands on social networks as well as the author's personal enthusiasm for aesthetics. This Master's thesis focuses on the impact of aesthetic elements on the perception of the Russian consumer between the ages of 18 and 30. The reason for this choice is that the study involves case brand analysis, which applies aesthetics as the primary method of visual communication with its customers. Direct consumers/followers of the brand were selected as respondents.
The main purpose of the presented study is to explore the impact of aesthetic product presentation on consumer perception and subsequent purchasing decisions. And also to find out how the usual commercial image differs from an image containing elements of aesthetics.
The paper consists of two key parts, theoretical and practical. The theoretical part is based on secondary sources, whose goal is to assess the actual value of social networks, in particular Instagram, to define the concept of visual communication and, finally, to collect all sorts of relevant data about aesthetics and its impact on the consumer through visual communication.
The practical part of the study presents a preliminary analysis of the case brand, comparing the results with the theoretical part. Moreover, focus group interviews were conducted to gather more information about the impact of aesthetics on the consumer.
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This research ends with a summary chapter that describes the key findings in detail. The appendix includes graphic materials that supplement the text of the paper.
The Master's Thesis is mainly based on academic materials, statistical reports and online sources.
1.2 Introducing the Candelae.Stories brand
The Candelae.Stories brand was established based on inspiration from the US market.
Recently, American manufactory small-size brands that produce vegan hand-made candles and perfumes began to gain popularity among American consumers. Taking this idea as a basis, two students started their own business with the same concept, only focused on the Russian market. The main goal of the brand is to sell soy wax candles, which are considered safe for health, and to create unique smells based on characters from popular books, films or TV series.
All the brand’s operations take place online, mainly through the social network Instagram. The main office is located in St. Petersburg, although the brand serves people from different cities across the country. With such an extensive customer base, the brand successfully operates online, confirming and processing many orders daily. Today, the brand's Instagram account counts almost 20 thousand followers, which reflects a great interest from the Russian consumers. The case brand can be considered as the largest among its competitors and is one of the first to occupy the dominant niche of vegan candles in Russia. For today, the Russian consumer is only beginning to get acquainted with such a product as soy wax candles, and therefore Candelae.Stories can be considered as a unique and exclusive manufacturing small firm.
More importantly, the brand positioning of the Candelae.Stories brand plays a key role in the following Master's Thesis. The visual communication techniques practised by the brand incorporate mainly aspects of aesthetics, which make the firm’s product presentation on Instagram very attractive for the customers. The brand applies the aesthetics of cosiness, similar to the Scandinavian Hygge style, in order to remove the commercial overtones as much as possible and rather convey an atmosphere where candles are part of the interior, not an object of sale. Since the majority of the brand's customers and followers are people aged 18 to 30, they find this visual approach fascinating.
This addictiveness to aesthetic presentation is reinforced not only by the fact of people's engagement but also by the growing number of interested followers, increased sales and user engagement in the brand's social media account.
With the help of this paper, the researcher, in cooperation with the brand's managers, intends to find out exactly how aesthetics affect the consumer's desire to purchase soy candles and what specific aesthetic elements have a decisive influence.
The paper findings will not only help improve Candelae.Stories' positioning but also provide directions for future, more accurate research.
3 1.3 Problem Definition
A lot of investigation has been conducted in the field of progressive social media marketing, but relatively little research has been done on the impact of aesthetics on consumer behaviour.
This is a very complex and abstract topic that requires more attention indeed. Based on the results of the literature analysis from the following parts of this study, most researchers observe the effect of visual content on social media such as Instagram or Facebook, discussing the colours and shapes that are most preferable for the perception of the consumer. However, there are only a few detailed studies on the aesthetic presentation of a product and its importance as a marketing tool, so the topic of the current research paper is quite narrow in scope, same as the research questions.
Therefore, the Research Question of the Master Thesis stands the following:
Is the aesthetic presentation of a product an effective tool for engaging a consumer?
Sub-questions:
Does it play a significant role among other “attract attention” tools?
What is the advantage of aesthetic images over regular media content?
1.4 Objectives of the Thesis
It is well-known that brands using Instagram for their advertising campaigns often rely on content marketing as their primary tool to capture and hold consumer’s attention. In order to build a community of loyal customers, companies regularly count on certain colours in their image choices as well as the tone of voice applied in the text. Nevertheless, even though it is possible to make the text friendly to any type of reader, a picture or photo used for advertising can be accepted or rejected in accordance with the taste or aesthetic sense of an individual. If in earlier times brands used animals or mostly bright colours for commercials, nowadays this approach does not always work properly due to the fact that customer requirements are evolving faster than the creativity of marketers. The phenomenon of aesthetics has been little studied and is still subject to controversial discussions. Nevertheless, the concept of aesthetics and its impact on consumer’s decisions will be considered in this study in the most detailed way.
The study aims to contribute a better understanding of how a well-designed aesthetic presentation of a certain product item introduced in social media can affect the consumer decision to purchase, think over the product or keep it for later. Therefore, the study includes the following main research goal:
- To assess the impact of aesthetics product presentation on consumer perception and the following buying decision.
4 Supplementary research objectives are:
- To gain a deep understanding of the difference between an ordinary commercial image and an image containing elements of aesthetics;
- To explore the visual aesthetic factors that influence the purchase decision of the potential customer;
- To assess the visual communication approach in the Instagram account applied by Candelae.Stories.
1.5 Structure of the thesis
The provided paper consists of three key chapters. The first chapter of the Thesis presents the introductory overview of the study, including background, the aim of the research as well as the problem definition.
In chapter two, the theoretical part is presented based on the relevant literature review, followed by a discussion on social media and customer engagement. This topic is narrowed down in the following sub-chapters aimed at reviewing Instagram as a marketing tool. Next, the second chapter includes the review of visual communication in social media to complement the theoretical part. Finally, a thorough sub-chapter, namely, the role of aesthetic concludes the second chapter and collects the most essential theoretical data for the research. All the key findings are gathered in summaries.
Chapter three describes the methodology applied in the presented study. The choice of data collection methods and their validity in answering the research question are explained there. In the empirical part of the third chapter, the results carried out through the focus group discussions, interviews with experts in the field as well as the case brand analysis supported by the respondents’ citations are presented.
Finally, the last part of the paper brings all the conclusions and summaries together and includes the limitations of the study and possible direction for future research.
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2. Theoretical Part
2.1 Social media marketing and customer engagement 2.1.1 Social Media
For modern society, social media represents somewhat commonplace and widespread for daily use, nevertheless, most users are not able to give a clear definition of the social network, which is of great importance in the life of the modern layman (Dyer, 2020). Hence, it is crucial to clearly formulate the concept of social media, especially if they are utilized for business use.
The authors Safko and Brake (2009, p. 6) claim that taking into account the complex structure and functionality of social platforms, much more research needs to be done to assess their functions and properties. In order to give a proper meaning to the social platforms, it is necessary to refer to the original concept of social networks and their initial idea. Social media platforms, according to Safko and Brake (2009, p. 6), are described as a certain number of people creating a trend in the form of a network, where participants communicate with each other through particular procedures, actions or behaviours. Such a form of communication involves the processes of share, discover, and information reading. This way of interaction takes place, in most cases, through web applications and platforms that make it possible to interface in the form of words, pictures, audio and video. (Akram & Kumar, 2017) What is more, in the next source, the author Safko (2010) defines social media as the way individuals use technology to connect with others. Also, the researcher argues that social media represents a new form of business interaction with its potential customers which is way more efficient nowadays than traditional marketing tools. (Safko, 2010, pp. 4-5) Thus, the structure of social media is quite diverse and therefore has many benefits and potential for a large number of businesses. However, from some business owners' point of view, social media platforms may seem dangerous or even risky financially, as social media requires an experimental approach.
It must be stressed that social networks should not be considered as a new and entire sensation of human interaction, but as an upgraded version of communication between individuals.
Indeed, people from time immemorial communicated with paper and pen, images, and videos for ages. And social media, in turns, simply provides an online environment for this trend to continue. Safko and Brake (2009, p. 6) also claimed that people probably are taking active actions on social media without realizing it because they are simply exchanging messages, listening to podcasts, or watching a tutorial video on the YouTube platform. Consequently, anyone can be involved in social media as long as they have internet access. In addition, Krasniak and Zimmerman (2021) point to the example of such social networks as Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram, which are an ideal modern example of the symbiosis of sociology and technology.
Describing more precisely, Figure 1 shows that social media is based on three key concepts:
content, communities as well as Web 2.0. Shortly, the process includes that the community (users) creates certain content (for example, images or video materials) and spreads it through
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web platforms such as Facebook or Instagram. (Ahlqvist et al., 2008, p. 13) With regards to Web 2.0, it is simply an upgraded and a modified form of Web 1.0 the idea of which used to be that all the content was published subject to conditions of the information holder. Thus, the users were directly dependent on the information provider. Web 2.0, in turn, maintenances web platforms that are based on user-generated content or information, a culture of involvement and sharing, and the ability to interact. Without this innovation, communication exchange would not be possible to apply to both businesses and individuals. (Alnsour et al., 2018)
Figure 1 - The social media triangle
Source: Ahlqvist, Bäck, Halonen, & Heinonen, 2008
From a business perspective, social platforms are not just an intermediary between individuals, but rather a tool for emphasizing, promoting, and advertising in a rapidly growing and adapting environment (Appel et al., 2019). With this tool, it is possible to build a dialogue between the purchaser and the producer, which enables potential consumers to talk about what interests them and what they need. For businesses, social media is the most authentic way to create
"transparent conversation" and connect through communication (Evans, 2008). Moreover, many firms use social media to collect and analyse materials about customers’ attitudes towards their products, service, or brand (Hoffmann & Bublitz, 2017). In this case, the information gathered through social media is considered by many firms to be the most reliable source since it reflects the final result between the customer's expectations and the actual performance of the marketing campaign. (Evans, 2008) Subsequently, modern realities impose on managers to promote and place their products and services where they can be noticed, shared, and appreciated. It is for this reason that social media today is a necessary part of the marketing strategy of virtually any form of company.
7 2.1.2 Social media marketing principles
Social media marketing is a versatile and complete performance that includes implements such as using social platforms and websites to promote various products and services. In other words, social media marketing primarily uses a dialogue approach to build relationships with consumers in order to subsequently satisfy their needs through constant feedback. (Dodson, 2016, pp. 153-155) Dwivedi et al., (2015), Yadav and Rahman (2017) in their studies identify social media marketing as an intermediary that helps in establishing long-term interconnection and interaction between current and potential customers. Other researchers such as Tuten and Solomon (2016) and Choi et al., (2016) in turn, confirm that the core concept of marketing in social media is to promote brand development and expansion since social media platforms are associated with the rapid satisfaction of the consumer's intentions and current market offer.
What is more, Dwivedi et al., (2015) discussed that social media marketing empowers firms to participate in open dialogues and thereby get leverage over a huge growing audience.
It is very important to emphasize that social media marketing is the fastest-growing modern concept of direct marketing, which utilizes a variety of tools to interact with the consumer in any circumstance and at any time. Such an opportunity is provided by modern technologies, Internet access and the presence of a mobile device such as a mobile phone, computer, or tablet.
Since almost every person in developing countries has mobile devices, the phenomenon of social media marketing is gaining traction. Besides, the use of social media for marketing and advertising has begun to significantly influence the marketing actions and strategies of many modern companies. Face-to-face marketing, television and the media are considered conservative methods and are still used today. However, flexibility, space for creativity and large audiences are forcing most brands to shift their focus towards social media marketing.
(Dodson, 2016, pp. 153-155) Therefore, social media marketing is becoming one of the most efficient internet marketing activities nowadays. Claiming again, the advertising in traditional media is gradually declining, while the online advertising trend, by contrast, is growing every year by an average of 20 per cent. Soon, promotion on the Internet will completely replace advertising on TV. (McConnell & Huba, 2006) The expansion of online marketing has led to the popularity of social networks as a platform for promoting goods and services, ideas, or brands’ messages. There are a lot of ways to promote in social networks, although not all of them are social media tools. The main tools for marketing in social networks are content, targeting and advertising on promoted pages. (Zlobina & Zavrazhina, 2015)
Professional marketers believe that social media promotion begins precisely with the correct building of content. The attraction of subscribers depends on its quality directly. The frequency and schedule of publications affect the final reach, and each social network has its own rules and puts forward its certain requirements for text and visual content. It follows from this that a brand must create different content for different social networks and, subsequently, adapt it.
As for the Instagram platform, marketers mainly focus on graphic content, since visitors often open the application just to relax and see something beautiful or entertaining in the feed. In this social network, images, videos, and text should be useful and fascinating at the same time. The balance of the three elements allows engaging visitors in interacting with the brand’s account
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and attracts new subscribers. Facebook, by contrast, mostly relies on long text and encourages less visual content. (Olshevsky, 2017)
Since 2020, most global marketers have chosen Facebook with a 94 per cent score. The second place on this list is taken by the Instagram platform (76 per cent), followed by LinkedIn (59 per cent). At the same time, the popularity of Instagram began to grow only in 2019. What is more, about a quarter of global marketers have been using social media marketing for less than a year or more than five years, and another 26 per cent have been using the channel for two to four years. (Statista, 2020)
Regarding the significance of social media marketing in Russia, Instagram is growing in popularity and using faster than any other platforms. The number of Russian Facebook users is also increasing, especially in the area of business: 30 per cent of messages related to business appeared on Facebook. At the same time, the Twitter platform suffers from a decline in popularity in the Russian community. Besides, in Russia, an increasing part of the marketing budget is given to social media, since 91 per cent of users use social networks daily and are not motivated to go out of them to other resources, for example, to online stores. (Statista, 2020) According to Deloitte (2020), Russian users are most loyal to advertising on social networks, not on websites or search engines. At the same time, the users prefer to follow the pages of their favourite brands on social media - it encourages trust and interest and also stimulates people to make purchases. Banners in social networks are interesting to 36 per cent of users, whereas advertising messages in the feed were the most annoying.
The advantages of social media marketing are clear. Advertising through, for instance, SEO is time-consuming, and it can take a while for the target audience to pay attention to the updated content. In other words, this means that few customers will find out about a new offering unless they are specifically looking for a product or service on Google. (Kawasaki & Fitzpatrick, 2014) Moreover, social media marketing provides insight into the intended audience. Social platforms such as Instagram and Twitter are considered the most effective tools in the field as they make it much easier to interact with the targeted audiences. As an example of the use of social media, some companies are launching a pre-test of a YouTube advertisement before the final launch of a TV ad. The reasons for this strategy are the following - it does not require unnecessary financial investments, it targets a huge number of people, and the results are delivered and processed immediately. (Kawasaki & Fitzpatrick, 2014) In addition, social media ads are highly responsive, and marketers can customize them to meet the needs of the consumer. In the case of advertising on Facebook, it can be configured based on factors other than the following: user activity, geolocation, age, or type of pages that the user liked. Finally, it becomes evident that social media marketing plays a great role in activities brands undertake to promote the buying or selling of products and services. (Trattner & Kappe, 2012; Ziyadin et al., 2019)
9 2.1.3 Social media and small-scale business
Since Candelae.Stories is a small-scale business, the thesis author considers it necessary to do a literature review on the importance of social media for small firms. Many companies and firms practice the use of websites and social media on an ongoing basis. According to statistics, in 2012 alone, about 73 per cent of small businesses used social media (Jennings, Blount &
Weatherly, 2014). Of this number of small businesses, 81 per cent said they intend to continue to be active on social media, while around 60 per cent of small businesses that were not yet using social media claimed that they plan to start a social media marketing campaign in the nearest future. (Jennings, Blount, & Weatherly, 2014)
As stated in the previous paragraphs, social media plays a significant role in almost any business nowadays. To supplement this phenomenon, more than 60 per cent of people who apply social media, use it to learn about products and services. Moreover, consumers tend to trust other users more than commercial advertising campaigns. (Schweidel & Moe, 2014) Even though almost every single business utilises social media, this technology is probably more important and necessary for small businesses, primarily because they lack traditional resources to promote their products or services. Web pages and social media provide small businesses with the opportunity to overcome these time and financial obstacles by allowing them to keep in touch with their customers promptly. Internet technologies deliver many advantages to small businesses. In general, social networking sites can provide opportunities for new communication channels or lower costs. (Barnes et al., 2012)
For small businesses, social networks provide a simple, but very important function - measuring and monitoring the engagement and activity of the target audience. The definition of "activity" on social media platforms consists of messages, likes, retweets, saves, videos, photos, and other types of interactions that allow sharing in a virtual community or network.
(Popovic, 2016) Images are the main tool for engaging audiences on social media. Small businesses primarily use the appeal of photos to entice users to share or comment. Thus, small brands try to increase awareness among a large number of people. (Cheung et al., 2019) Besides, boosted social media marketing for small businesses does indeed have an edge over large companies. The reason is that social media effectiveness boils down to engagement.
Large firms often do not have direct interaction with their customers or do not practice transparency of actions, while small businesses can maintain contact with customers at any time with an attitude of immediate satisfaction of consumer’s needs. What is more, social media gives small businesses flexibility and agility. (Mangold & Faulds, 2009) However, all these advantages remain valid as long as the structure and size of the small business remain the same, as does the number of employees or income. The small size of the enterprise allows it to be more community and individual-oriented. Small businesses are more likely to respond to their customers than large businesses. So, social media makes it easier for small businesses to connect with users on social media and build a truly passionate customer base even without website availability. (Mangold & Faulds, 2009)
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2.1.4 Social Media and customer decision-making process
To begin with, the consumer decision-making process, according to S. Dadwal (2019) analysis for “Role of Social Media in Consumer Decision making Process”, is a rather complex procedure that includes many third-party factors and elements. That is why most businesses make large investments in the study and analysis of this process since the viability of any company depends on understanding the customer journey from its start to finish. As has been already mentioned by the author of the thesis, this process is influenced by a wide variety of factors. Their appearance largely depends on changes in technology, social trends, as well as constantly transforming consumer preferences.
Today's consumers are more knowledgeable, demanding, and conscious of their preferences than ever before. This is expressed in the fact that a modern buyer makes public his buying process through different media platforms by recording a video of the unpacking of a product item, writing a personal opinion about it, recommendations or a complaint, and then shares this on YouTube, Instagram or other social media. As a result, buyers take direct responsibility for evaluating the actions of the distributor and have a greater influence on producing firms in the conditions of modern trade. Resourceful retailers, in turn, regularly collect customer comments and so take a great chance to "make contact" promptly, remediate deficiencies and constantly respond to the needs of their consumers. (Brennan et al., 2012, p. 2)
It is well-known that the most frequent users of social networks are middle-aged people and representatives of the new generation, however, recent studies have shown that the older generation has become more interested in participating in social networks as well. According to Pew Research’s most recent social media fact sheet (2019), almost 70 per cent of elders in the age between 50-64 and 40 per cent of elders above 65 years use social media as frequently as TV. This trend is explained by the fact that most urban amenities in developed cities are being transferred to electronic form, for instance, paying for public transport, parking tickets, as well as loyalty programs at local grocery stores. All described facilities require users to have a smartphone and Internet access. As a consequence, today's purchasing decision often requires mobile devices, applications and the Internet, which are fundamental to the customer decision- making process in the present-day consumer environment. (Brennan et al., 2012, p. 48) Several scientific studies have been conducted to discuss the impact of social media on purchasing power. The researcher Sema (2013) uses the results of 1,048 participants in his study in order to discuss the way how social media affects buying behaviour. This study stressed the fact that users perceive social media as a guide to brand or product selection and utilize social media to read recommendations made by the current customers. At the same time, another investigator Arnold (2017), based on his study, adds that content on social media can have a significant impact on people’s purchasing decisions and they are more likely to make a final buying decision if they see a recommendation about a product or service from other users.
More than a quarter of social media users claim they are more likely to pay attention to commercials adapted to them based on their profile information. (Ansary & Hashim, 2018) A logical conclusion suggests itself, the intensive integration of people in social networks
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generates trust and interest in a product or brand more than traditional advertising methods or engagement tools.
Other authors have also conducted several studies on the power of social media on buying decisions. Purchasers widely use social media not only to find credible recommendations but also to get immediate access to information at a convenient time for them (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Relying on the information on social networks makes it easier for the user to mull over their decision since the first function of social networks is to give the buyer time to see and evaluate the product or service, rather than to make the final decision to purchase.
Social media generates a culture of participation by creating an endless cycle of communication in which users are free to follow updates or request ratings for a particular service, product, or brand (Ashman et al., 2015). What is more, the following research found that social media buying decisions are often driven by the quality of reviews left by other users. This includes the number of reviews, their scope, and also persuasiveness (Zhang et al., 2014). Another source claims that social media is perceived by modern society as the most reliable source of information compared to corporate communications and advertising, thereby having a significant positive impact on consumer buying intentions. According to Constantinides (2014), classical media such as television or newspapers do not provide a general sense of trust among the general public anymore. As a consequence, the modern consumer often does not trust traditional media as sources for seeking purchase recommendations (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Consequently, the Thesis’s author concludes that it is essential for today's marketers to understand that reviews and comments, as user-generated content, aims to demonstrate a brand's transparency.
Today's present consumer dictates that it is not enough now to simply maintain market relations in the conditions of growing social networks. To successfully attract customers and visitors through social media platforms, the brand must be recognizable and open enough so that the user is convinced of the brand's honesty and fairness. For any business, building on social networks through the distribution of quality content and proper targeting, companies can contribute to the growth of their power, authority and image. With reasonably cheap ways to get new customers, companies can launch ad campaigns that enable focus targeting and help the company grow significantly in the eyes of social media users. (FitzGerald, 2019)
It is also worth emphasizing that in the process of searching for certain information, the consumer, as a rule, finds himself in an environment where there is a huge number of advertisements competing with each other for the only main purpose - to attract attention (Fennis & Stroebe, 2010). Also, it should be mentioned that human memory has certain limitations in the amount of information, and the brain filters information very efficiently and ignores insignificant elements from the general flow of information. That is why, any commercial campaign faces the issue of being noticed or heard, even if marketers create high- quality ads with a clear message. (Ansary & Hashim, 2018)
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Evans (2008) demonstrates the classic purchase funnel model to describe graphically how social media affected the consumer decision-making process at different levels (available in Appendix 1). The classic model includes the stages of awareness, consideration, as well as purchase.
The consideration stage is the intermediary between the stages of awareness and the final action of the purchase. Consideration includes many factors such as the utility or popularity of a brand.
Social media, unlike traditional media, in the awareness and consideration phase operate almost simultaneously and jointly. Web 2.0 directly impacts the shopping funnel as it provides brand information more reliably and transparently. (Evans, 2008)
Social media as word of mouth is low-cost, self-regulating, and adaptable (Ansary & Hashim, 2018). Social media platforms make the consumer decision-making process easier and more convenient for the user, and the spread of information reliable and authentic. Social networks act as a fast source of information with many alternatives. Subsequently, today's marketers are working to persuade people not to buy a product, but rather to leave a "live" comment and share the proposed content through their profile. This can only happen if the brands’ actions are transparent, the content marketing is built visually attractive to users, as well as if comments from other users are open for reading and comparison. (Zhang et al., 2017)
2.1.5 See-Think-Do-Care
The See-Think-Do-Care model presents a well-known business framework evolved from classical AIDA. The prototype is entirely based on an understanding of the buyer's behavioural patterns (Kryvinska & Gregus, 2018). The thing is that many companies still use the policy of pushing people to buy and use their products and services, which is equal to the notion of hard selling (especially if we are talking about an expensive product item). This would be the ideal scenario for any firm, but consumer behaviour in real-world conditions is not perfect at all and often requires a change in approach. That is why, instead of traditional frameworks, a new model has appeared, adapted to the understanding of the consumer’s journey. In other words, instead of relying on typical demographic segmentation such as education, religion, and generation, the See-Think-Do-Care framework aims at the target group's motives and way of thinking. A business that creates its strategy under these key factors of its customer's behaviour, has great opportunities at creating acceptable content that will find feedback among the buyers.
(Kryvinska & Gregus, 2018)
So, many businesses do not make their main goal to ensure that the generated content meets the needs of the target audience. Rather than listening to their customers, companies spend a lot of time creating email marketing tries to get people to take one single action - to buy immediately. Certainly, such a business strategy is a sign that its actions are not focused on the intentions of the audience. (Kryvinska & Gregus, 2018) That is why a customer-oriented approach based on an understanding of the consumer’s journey such as the See-Think-Do-Care model is essential nowadays for progressive firms. It is especially important for digital-based businesses that operate online through social media or websites. (Kryvinska & Gregus, 2018)
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As stated in the name, there are four types of commercial intentions: See, Think, Do and Care.
What matters is that any customer goes through these four phases in the act of buying a product or service.
o See - This is the stage at which the firm has extensive opportunities to reach out to all potential customers who, in theory, may be interested in the offered goods or services.
At this stage, people usually do not know much about the brand or the products it offers.
o Think - On this step, the potential customer mulls over that maybe he or she can buy the product, but they are not persuaded enough yet.
o Do - At this phase, the customer is quite persuaded by the actions of the brand and thus buys the offered product. Besides, at this stage, the firm might support the customer's decision by providing some arguments, some last information that only stirs up the buyer's desire to take the final action.
o Care - This is the most desirable and valuable phase for any brand since it includes current buyers who have completed the final purchase action already. To keep the buyers interested, many businesses try to take care of their customers through, for example, loyalty programs or guarantee services. (Kryvinska & Gregus, 2018)
The author of the thesis in her research considers only the SEE stage, based on the objectives of the study. So, the SEE stage for any brand is the point at which products should be noticed and visually presented as much as possible. As a result, the brand raises awareness among its target group. Often, this stage includes visual ads with emotional overtones. An example of such catchy commerce is captivating and short videos on the YouTube platform. With regards to the social networks, it certainly belongs to the SEE stage, as it allows brands to easily interact with a potential customer through visual content and tools. This approach regularly provides a high reach among the audience on social media. Last but not least is that the SEE phase always takes place at the beginning of the customer journey mapping. (MarketplaceWiki, 2017) Figure 2 below represents a simple example of using the See-Think-Do-Care framework, especially the SEE stage. At this point, the eBay website demonstrates several categories of different products to choose from. In order to direct the visitor's attention, light colours and minimalistic objects are located in the very centre, making it possible to highlight the offered products. (MarketplaceWiki, 2017) Usually, marketers post bright images on the web pages to draw attention to new goods, thus making them look fresher. Furthermore, at the SEE step, the visitor is not always looking for something specific, but rather gets acquainted with the assortment, views or reads information. (MarketplaceWiki, 2017) Therefore, the visual component, first of all, performs the function of familiarization.
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Figure 2 - See-Think-Do-Care strategy on web pages
Source: MarketplaceWiki, 2017
As mentioned in the paragraph above, social media generally refers to the SEE step. Thus, the framework starts with people simply wanting to see the product, not buying it. People tend to think over or change their decisions now or later, but first of all, they need the visual presentation of the product. (Kryvinska & Gregus, 2018) For this reason, marketers in their modern approach use social media for brand awareness or for introducing new proposals.
Display advertisements or landing pages are often used for this purpose. (MarketplaceWiki, 2017) If the business does not create a truly attractive banner and cannot impress the site visitor, managers will lose a lot of money (Correia, 2013). Again, social media is more convenient than websites and is often visually focused. Businesses that make good use of social media can permanently update their offerings, inform their subscribers, and allow them to make a gradual and thoughtful decision. (Andreychenko & Polyakova, 2011)
2.1.6 Conscious and subconscious purchase decisions
Previous studies have made it clear that every buying decision can be subject to "conscious" as well as "unconscious" factors. Unlike conscious, unconscious motivations are usually unknown or unnoticed by a person during his and her purchasing process (Fitzsimons, Hutchinson, &
Williams, 2002). Fitzsimons et al., (2002) argue that the social environment mechanically initiates factors in the human mind that occur out of control or beyond comprehension. As a consequence, since social networks are part of the social environment, they also tend to influence purchasing decisions on conscious as well as subconscious levels (Al-Rahmi &
Othman, 2013). The researchers discuss that visible visual signals can strongly influence consumer decisions, such as packaging design, shape, or colour (Fitzsimons et al., 2002, p. 12).
Moreover, such subconscious factors can dramatically influence the consumer's decision, forcing him to change his mind or, conversely, to make a buying decision immediately. For example, unethical written text on social media can create a negative opinion of a brand,
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whereas both professional and high-quality product images of the offered products can increase the desire to think about purchasing. (Fitzsimons et al., 2002)
Based on the latest findings from neuroscientists, individuals tend to make decisions long before they take the final action, in other words, conscious action. When the human brain receives evidence that an immediate goal can be achieved (for example, buying a gift for a closed person), it triggers a strong emotional effect. (Zaltman, 2003) Despite the popular statement that the buyer is always very smart about his choice, this is not always true. Buyers are so often ruled by feelings and emotions that it has reached the level of automatism. For instance, many consumers claim to compare multiple competing brands and price tiers in their final purchase decision. However, a deeper analysis revealed the involvement of factors such as political or religious commitment, artistic preferences, or parental influence in this choice.
(Zaltman, 2003) Moreover, when studying unconscious factors, the researcher found that in many cases, the biggest unconscious drive is emotion. That is why marketers need to consider the emotional motivations of each potential buyer individually, even though it seems overwhelming. This concept is essential because it helps to understand that people do not lend themselves to rational analysis and their behaviour is not based on a logical pattern. Adapting a business to feelings and emotions has important implications for modern marketing and sales (Zaltman, 2003)
So, people are subject to their own emotions and feelings. Therefore, to make a product or service memorable, marketers must present them in a way that engages or impresses the consumer. Popular brands use this concept consistently, using emotion as the key to the heart of the buyer. This key is, in fact, the sale of emotions, which the consumer will receive from the subsequent use of the product. (Lindstorm, 2008) In turn, to maximize the satisfaction of the emotional request of the buyer, marketers must pay attention to a variety of feelings.
Feelings can evoke anything from the colour and shape of a mobile phone to packaging design.
Also, the tone of voice of a text or a clear message can evoke positive emotions in the consumer.
In short, anything can influence a person's unconscious factors. The core finding is that much of what drives a buyer is unconscious and difficult to control and analyze. Nevertheless, the main task of the marketer is still to help the buyer achieve the desired states of emotion. It is significant to understand that products or services are primarily aimed at satisfying the needs of the buyer, and at the same time the emotional component will always be a key element.
(Zaltman, 2003)
Considering this topic more precisely, if the brand’s message is clear and engaging enough, then it will directly affect the subconscious needs of the buyer and thereby triggers a decision to fulfil a specific goal (Lindstorm, 2008).
There are many subconscious triggers that brands apply today to improve conversion. One of the most popular is the selection of colours, or, to put it simply, colour. It may seem unimportant, but the colour certainly matters a lot when choosing a product. Besides, colour, for example, increases brand awareness by eighty per cent, while about sixty per cent of consumers buy a product just because of the colour factor. For a customer, whose favourite colour matches the new product, the decision process will, of course, be less time-consuming.
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This is the reason why sellers combine the right price, colour, and design to influence the subconscious part of the buyer's mind. (Lindstorm, 2008)
The classic human perception of colour should be noticed as well: red is passion, green is nature and ecology, and blue is water and air. This is why eco-friendly liquid soap bottles often use the colour green to signal that the use of this product does not harm the environment in any way. The integration of colours into products helps the customer to orient themselves or to instantly draw conclusions in the subconscious that the product is reliable or matches the customer's taste preferences. (Lindstorm, 2008) It is important to emphasize that colour, shape, or design does affect a person's subconscious leverage. Such a concept is very abstract and difficult to analyze, but these are factors, in addition to price and benefits, that a person relies on every day when choosing a product.
2.1.7 Emotional aspect in impulsive purchasing decision making in social media
Taking impulse buying into consideration, it is essential to accurately define this behaviour phenomenon among consumers. Impulse buying is an unplanned choice or decision to buy a particular product or service. According to previous studies, impulse purchases account for 40 to 80 per cent of all purchases that a consumer makes on a daily basis. Many marketers consider impulse purchases as a tool to boost sales. (Aragoncillo & Orus, 2018) With the fact of the rapidly growing consumerism trend in the global economy, impulse buying has also become more frequent. Quite frankly, the impulse buying phenomenon is more of a benefit to the seller than to the buyer. This is because impulse purchasing represents an immediate desire to satisfy a need, which means an immediate waste of money, which is equal to an increase in profit for the business. (Kumar, 2018) What is more, web page platforms are known to track and monitor visitor requests and draw up their "request map". Given this fact, when visiting social networks, the consumer may be faced with targeted advertising, often personalized and built on the previous actions of the consumer (likes, shares, etc.). Thus, the conclusion is that social media can play a significant role in encouraging impulse online purchases. (Kumar, 2018)
According to Aragoncillo and Orus (2018), the prerequisites for impulse purchases over the Internet are, mainly, the lack of face-to-face contact, anonymity and convenience. The main advantage of online shopping over traditional shopping is, first of all, the lack of contact. Many customers avoid a live interaction with salespeople and assistants simply because over- interaction makes them feel out of their comfort zone. In turn, offline purchases provide an opportunity to shop confidentially and without third-party assistance.
Basically, there are a total of five factors that influence impulsive consumer buying behaviour.
It is the trust, the quality of the website, the emotional aspect, situational circumstances and the search for diversity. (Kumar, 2018) As the purpose of this study is the aesthetic aspect, the emotional side will be examined in more detail in this research. Since most impulse purchases are made in a joyful and uplifting mood, often the mission of an online store is to evoke good memories or pleasant thoughts, for example, about comfort or cosiness. In order to maximize impulse buying, social media marketers do not use too many details in the product description.
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This is because impulse purchases are designed for an emotional response and that is why eye- catchy images are of great importance, as well as “anchors” like emoji prevail in the text. All this is explained by the fact that the brain processes visual elements much faster than text and affects deeper on the subconscious part of the mind. That is why the pictures should be either bright or emotional. Hence, it creates the impression of not just another waste of money, but the joy of an unplanned purchase made under the influence of the convenience and quality of the website, appealing visual and textual content. (Gusarova & Ptukha, 2015)
It is worth noting that when choosing a product over the Internet, packaging and its design do not play a significant role, unlike traditional shopping in a store. Marketers must replace attractive packaging designs with a quality or unusual product presentation. Considering that social media is primarily about the visual aspect, the quality of the photos and images presented plays the most significant role even more than on the website. (Stanley, 2013) According to the author, visually impressive pages are essential to marketing success. By adding quality product images, the brand can improve its sales. (Kawasaki & Fitzpatrick, 2014)
The first thing that significantly increases the possibility of "accidental" consumer decision is the presentation of goods on social networks. In traditional marketing, packaging and sorting play the role of the seller - they must show the attractiveness of the product and demonstrate its necessity. However, the design of the goods introduced on social networks must be at least above average, otherwise, a poor-quality presentation will not provoke the visitor to an impulsive purchase. The most favourable design to increase impulsive demand are pastel colours associated with infantilism and creating the illusion of a "toy world": pink, light green, light purple, lemon. Or the colours that are associated with comfort and the pleasant process of
"consumption": dark brown, beige, dark green with a brown tint. In addition, the colour of the design must correspond to the type of product and the conditions of its storage. So, for instance, brown and emerald tones contribute to an increase in wine sales and reduce the sale of computers and computer equipment. (Norman, 2013)
What is more, marketers should not forget about the clarity and simplicity of the social media homepage. Clear and up-to-date information can provoke a person to make an impulse purchase. The visitor or subscriber must exactly know how to view, order or pay for a product or service. In addition to product pages with high-quality images, the page should display supplement elements, such as a service phone number or FAQ. Last but not least is comments, photo or video reviews that convince a potential buyer of a brand's reliability. (Gusarova &
Ptukha, 2015)
2.1.8 Summary
Chapter 2 describes in detail that social media platforms are mainly a consumer comfort zone, not a manufacturer’s or distributor’s. Social media is a new competitive environment for firms, where the main achievements are audience attention and constant engagement. Social media has created a real modern trend – it has forced brands to put the buyer in the focus again since their sales will directly depend on the ratings and reviews left by users of social networks.
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(Olshevsky, 2017) Nowadays, the traditional media approach of “we talk, and you listen” is considered outdated (McConnell & Huba, 2006). It is very important to stress that social media is now a significant part of the life of almost every person worldwide, and often individuals participate in social media activities without even noticing it (Safko & Brake, 2009, p. 6). The most popular social network in Russia is Instagram (Rusability, 2019). Therefore, the case brand Candelae.Stories has made a fully justified choice to consider this platform as a tool for sales and communication with customers in a fast-growing environment, accessible to every individual from anywhere in the world. At the same time, the most popular social media platform is Facebook (Statista, 2020). Moreover, the theoretical evaluation has shown that the visual element in social media directly reflects the brand. For example, a small business of candles with cosy pictures like the case brand Candelae.Stories creates an association with warmth, comfort, and relaxation. Thus, through visual content, brands position themselves in the industry as something comfortable and associated with home.
With the fact that social media, especially Instagram, is mainly a platform with a visual key base, content, and especially a picture, can play a key role in customer engagement. The conclusion is that the aesthetic presentation of a product may not include all factors of the buying process, but in the context of social media marketing, it can play the role of engagement and interest, "catch attention" and win customer's favour. (Olshevsky, 2017)
As mentioned in the previous paragraphs, social media generally refers to the SEE step in the See-Think-Do-Care business framework because consumers first want to see the product and read reviews about it, and only then make a purchase decision. Precisely because social media provides an opportunity to visually evaluate a product or service, marketers apply every possible social platform tool to impress a potential buyer. (Kryvinska & Gregus, 2018)
The theoretical part also touched on the topic of impulse buying and the influence of social networks on it. In the online environment, impulse buying is influenced by various factors, including anonymity and privacy, easy access, lower cost, marketing and direct marketing, and credit card use (Aragoncillo & Orus, 2018). Ptukha and Gusarova (2013) offer visual merchandising as an incentive for the store. Visual online merchandising is believed to drive impulse online purchases and influence the impulse process.
The author’s final conclusion is that even taking into account the fact that the Candelae.Stories brand has its own website, the main advertising platform remains the account on the Instagram social network with a reach of almost 20 thousand subscribers, consisting mainly of Russian consumers. The reason is that Instagram provides companies with easy and quick access to targeted audiences and can instantly notify them of a new product offer. In order to encourage purchasers to buy or allow them to ponder the offer, the Candelae.Stories brand always uses an aesthetically pleasing presentation to highlight the concept of a product - soy candles. This makes it possible to catch the consumer's attention and force him or her to "save" the offer for later and return to it afterwards. Besides, the effect of cosy aesthetics directly links the proposed product with the emotional satisfaction that the consumer will receive after purchasing candles.
19 2.2 Instagram as a marketing tool
2.2.1 Instagram
Instagram is a free social media application that was launched in October 2010. The parent company of Instagram is the well-known Facebook and has over 1 billion monthly active users.
This mobile application quickly became popular due to its simple features and design.
Instagram has become best-known for its ability to easily share video and photo content. The whole point of Instagram is that users record, edit, and publish visual content, thereby interacting with other users through reposts, likes, and comments. Thus, a very adaptive form of communication is created that includes a visual element. In only the year 2018, Instagram had about 800,000,000 users and is considered particularly popular with the new generation of members. (Instagram, 2018) Images, as well as video materials, are usually cropped to a universal size and subsequently edited by users thanks to built-in tools for various decorative effects. Subsequently, the posted photo appears in the feed of subscribed users in chronological order. A person who distributes the image can tag another user on a photo, brand, or product.
Also, he or she can put the geolocation and write a description for the photo, which may include hashtags (marked with the # symbol). Hashtags are needed to categorize the content the users wish to post. (Jason, 2019; Na & Kim 2019) Moreover, it must be admitted that Instagram from the "entertainment application" concept is changing to "necessary for every day" not only for ordinary people but also for brands and marketers. Instagram is no longer just a photo-sharing platform aimed at teenagers and youth. In broad business areas, the Instagram platform is considered the main instrument for social engagement. (Ferwerda et al., 2016) What is more, the actions of top brands on Instagram grab the audience's attention and force them to follow the company. Instagram has a strong engagement effect and provides brands with 50 times more engagement per subscriber than Facebook or Twitter. (Richards, 2015)
Figure 3 – Number of Instagram users worldwide from 2016 to 2023
Source: Statista, 2021
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Following the graph provided by Statista (2021) above, in 2019, about 815 million users accessed Instagram every month to share photos and videos or simply to communicate. These figures are projected to increase exponentially and reach 1.2 billion users in the year 2023. This social platform is one of the fastest-growing in the world. Besides, based on Instagram's growth rate statistics, the company added over 100 million new users every 4-9 months - this rate has remained unchanged since 2014. Nevertheless, between September 2017 and June 2018, the company had a significant 200 million growth in new users. Between the years 2018 and 2019, user growth rates come back to a more balanced 6,7 per cent. (Instagram, 2020) Besides, Instagram is recognized as the most popular social media among young people between the ages of 18 and 30 (Perrin & Anderson, 2020). With this application, they can stay up to date on what their friends and acquaintances are doing, as well as be aware of their latest life events (Becker, 2016). Active Russian Instagram audience per month: 41 million people. Moreover, 58 per cent of Instagram's audience in Russia are women and this equates to 24 million users.
There are 17 million men on the social network. (Rusability, 2019)
As stated earlier in the chapters above, Instagram, as a social media platform, takes a significant place among marketing tools for the majority of brands. According to Herman et al., (2021), marketers can post several types of images on Instagram to grab the attention of the targeted group. These pictures can be divided into pictures of products, pictures to show what the product can do, pictures of the company employees, picture of the person who uses the product, and pictures where the product is not central. At the same time, in order to analyse and monitor the reaction of buyers to one of the images from the category, marketers look at such indicators as comments, likes, savings and the number of subscribers. Also, images that are less product- oriented have a greater chance of gaining audience reach. (Erkan, 2015) Furthermore, consumers who follow a brand on Instagram show higher engagement rates than in any other social platform. Unquestionably, other social media provides a similar set of tools for attracting attention, but Instagram is well ahead of its competitors like Facebook and Twitter, in large part due to its simplicity of use and support for visual content. (Kobelkova, 2018)
Social selling marketers try to use all channels and tools that are considered beneficial to the brand and its functionality. Recently, Instagram has become such a tool as a social exchange platform. The main mission of marketers on Instagram is to share engaging content, be socially active, and keep in touch with customers constantly. Instagram provides a great opportunity for building a customer base and self-promotion. To achieve satisfactory performance and wide reach, well-edited and high-quality images, along with a specific set of hashtags, work for brands as the key to success. Success, in turn, is reach, customer reaction, and engagement, which includes sharing, liking, and saving. (Pääkkönen, 2017, pp. 79-83 & p. 115)
The concept of Instagram as a mobile application implies the idea that any photo can be taken and immediately published at any time and in any place with Internet access (Hanna et al., 2011; Walter & Gioglio, 2014). This also means that brands have wide access to target audiences, fast and easy. However, social media will benefit the brand as long as it fits into the overall concept of aesthetics. (Peters et al., 2013) Instagram provides companies with the opportunity to communicate in a more personal way and gain consumer loyalty through, for
