The Impact of Social Networks on the Beauty Sphere

Only 3 percent said that social media is of little or no value to their communication initiatives. While blogs, online video, and social networks were recognized as the most popular social media tools, respondents spread their activities across a wide range of channels. Summarizing the author's research, we can say that at present the main criteria for determining the relevance and potential influence of a blogger are quality of content, relevance of content for a company or brand and ranking in search engines. Gillin (2008) determined that the main criteria for assessing the impact of a person in online communities and social networks are the level of participation, frequency of activity and popularity in the market or in the community. The main goals of organizations are to improve relations with key audiences, improve the reputation of their enterprises, increase customer awareness of their online activities and receive comments and feedback from customers. Social networks clearly change our views on the media sector and its impact, but despite the fact that more and more companies are introducing social networks, they are still trying to find effective indicators to identify the most influential players.

Thanks to the rapid growth and development of social networks, new influencers or social media influencers have emerged. After analyzing existing articles and studies, it turned out that there is no scientific definition of this word, since this term is jargon, which was introduced by marketers and has no specific explanation. These opinion leaders are micro-celebrities in their midst. So, Khamis claims that before the digital era, celebrity status could belong only to a few. This status had only those individuals who achieved great successes in their activities (for example, famous actors, athletes, politicians, etc.) or those who were born in a wealthy family and had their own advantages (kings, nobles). But nowadays, thanks to digitalization, even ordinary people can achieve world fame through online platforms with great reach and clear indicators of popularity.

So, for example, a large number of subscribers on social networks can be considered as an “army of fans” and thus, ordinary users can receive online micro-celebrity status (Khamis, Ang and Welling, 2017). Khamis research results provide an opportunity to see the striking differences between celebrity, who have a large audience on social networks, and influencers. Celebrities become popular even before they began to develop their profiles on online platforms, and influencers bloggers are increasing their popularity due to the development of profiles and content on social networks. Although in the fashion industry and social networks, the term “influencer” very often includes celebrities, determining status only by a quantitative audience. In the same study, Khamis, viewing influential leaders as a kind of personal brand, argues that these famous users on online platforms attract a large audience, due to their views, their appearance on social networks inspires, becomes close to the consumer, developing and interesting for the audience. The close connection between influencers and their audience arises from the fact that their relationship is trusting and bidirectional, rather than one-sided, as between celebrities and fans.

Since the use of micro-celebrities for promotion is a relatively new phenomenon for business and science, today there is not a single assessment of influencers, even in terms of audience reach. Several categories of opinion leaders will be analyzed, and we will try to identify which one is the most suitable for the beauty industry in Russia.

In 2017, Fullscreen, a marketing research firm on YouTube, analyzed 31,802 influencers pages on online sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, identifying 4 types by reach:

- Celebrity: over 20 million subscribers;

- Trailblazers: more than 1 million subscribers;

- Emerging voices and rising stars: 250-999 thousand subscribers;

- Micro-influencers: less than 250 thousand subscribers.Based on Trust, Engagement Rates, and Influence, True Digital Creators Offer Greatest Impact for Brand Partnerships. Date of the application 28.03.2020. https://www.shareablee.com/blog/2018/03/28/fullscreen-shareablee-report-online-influence-isnt-what-it-seems/

Of all the types, only the stars gained their fame without online platforms, the rest of the opinion leaders achieved great fame only thanks to social networks. Trailblazers and rising stars are digital creators in the online space. An illustrative distribution is given below:

Figure 1.Fullscreen influencers classification

Another company, Traackr, which studies various marketing influences, in its study in 2017 took 1,000 influencers in the beauty industry, analyzed and divided them into 3 categories according to audience reach:

1) Top (500 thousand + subscribers);

2) Middle (70-499 thousand subscribers);

3) Micro (3-69 thousand subscribers).(Traackr, 2017)

This categorization is most suitable, as it realistically shows the location of opinion leaders in the field of beauty on Russian online platforms.

In 2018, two research companies MediaScience and Fullscreen, investigated opinion leaders on different online platforms. The results of the study showed that the largest amount of content from collaboration between influencers and brands is distributed on Instagram (5.3% of the total number of publications on this online platform), on Facebook 3.4% and on Twitter with 2%. It turned out that the most common and popular platform among bloggers is Instagram, because of its low entry barrier and colorful visual content. Also, the results of the study showed that opinion leaders (bloggers) on the online platforms publish the largest amount of content with a link to the brand.

The use of influencers by brands is today an effective way of influencing youth. The results of the next study showed that 58% of people aged 13-24 do not go around and watch advertising content from bloggers on online sites, on television this percentage is much less, only 26%. Moreover, direct advertising on online platforms is perceived by young people extremely negatively: only 15% watch commercials before the videoMediaScience and Fullscreen (2016). Date of the application 28.03.2020. https://prexplore.ru/news/research-about-importance-audience-for-brands/. For this reason, the content of bloggers is being improved, and the ads they produce contain entertaining subtext that attracts the audience.

2.4 Motivation for the consumption of media content from the audience

Every day, Internet users consume a large amount of information, which is published in various profiles on social networks. Today, every company is ready to fight for the attention and interest of subscribers to the organization and published content. Determining the reasons that motivate users to consume a large amount of information on a daily basis can help to attract a new segment of the target audience and increase the interest of the existing one.

In the article (Davis et al., 2014) the authors analyzed the reasons for consuming media content through various types of audience needs:

1) Functional needs;

2) Emotional needs;

3) Social needs;

4) Self-oriented needs;

5) Relational needs.

The basis of this definition is the model “The five sources model”The five sources model. Date of the application 08.03.2020. https://drrobertdavis.wordpress.com/soda-pi-2/the-5s-model/ :



Figure 2. Robert Davis consumption classification*

The authors suggest that the target audience on social networks consumes published content in the brand profile, following their needs. The authors believe that brands should not use social online platforms to directly advertise and sell their services. It is necessary to build a relationship between the consumer and the brand using SMM, which will help to reveal all the components of the brandThe five sources model. Date of the application 08.03.2020. https://drrobertdavis.wordpress.com/soda-pi-2/the-5s-model/ .

This article proposes the following classification of motivation for the consumption of media content:

Functional needs

Many consumers consider social networks a platform that can solve all their problems related to the organization's products if the company's mail or phone is unavailable (Plume, Dwivedi and Slade, 2016). There are 4 basic functional needs of users of social networks:

1) To solve certain problems related to the product;

2) To search for disclosed product information;

3) To evaluate and read product reviews before purchasing;

4) To gain access to special promotions and offers.

Emotional needs

This type of consumption is associated with satisfying the emotional needs of the buyer. To meet these needs, brands on social networks help consumers feel special, master a lot of unspoken information and increase self-confidence. Emotional consumption of information through contact with the brand and other consumers brings user satisfaction. Such interlocutors support and prompt the necessary information to Internet users. There are 3 key emotional needs of users of social networks:

1) Relief of personal problems and questions;

2) A sense of privilege and ownership of information;

3) Satisfaction of curiosity.

Self-oriented needs

The content that brands publish and which is closely related to the interests of the user helps to realize consumer dreams, plans and goals. In this way, users use communities to translate their social identity through brand identity (Benson, Tuninga and Saridakis, 2016). An active presence in the life of communities facilitates user demonstration through self-presentation and self-actualization. There are 3 basic self-oriented needs of Internet users:

1) Self-actualization;

2) Improving self-perception;

3) Self-branding.

Social needs

This type of consumption is based on the essence of social networks, where consumers contact and exchange information. There are 3 key social needs of users:

1) Exchange of experience and information with other participants;

2) Joining a community;

3) Social interaction.

Relational needs

Relational needs describe users' perceptions of a brand as a companion or personality. The interaction of the brand with the consumer becomes more personalized, the creation of joint creativity is possible (Plume, Dwivedi and Slade, 2016). Consider 3 basic relational needs:

1) Co-creation of proposals;

2) The desire for personalized interaction;

3) The desire to get closer to the brand.

Consequently, the audience consumes brand content on social networks due to various needs that can be identified using empirical research. Detection of consumption motivation can help you choose the right SMM strategy and broadcast the necessary and relevant content that will expand the audience and increase the response from consumers.

So, we can conclude that social networks are in great demand among Internet users, and in the future audience reach will be predicted to grow.

The appearance of brands on social networks was due to the wide functionality of this marketing tool, as well as due to its quick modification, which continues to change and develop. Unique features of social online platforms enhance communication with your audience.

It's not enough for modern brands to simply provide information to the masses; one of the main needs today is to get “live” feedback. Thanks to social networks, two-way communication has become real. Today, social online platforms are one of the key and most promising tools of marketing communications, which can have a strong impact on consumers.

To stimulate interaction with consumers online, companies need to focus on marketing content strategies.

After analyzing studies focusing on enhancing interaction with consumers on online platforms, it was possible to identify the following reasons affecting social media coverage:

Post content

Authors of the next article Vries, Gensler and Leeflang (2012) argue that the type of content that a brand publishes affects the engagement and number of user interactions on online platforms. The authors suggest that the entertaining and informative types of textual messages of publications most influence the public engagement.

In the next article authors (Bakhshi, Shamma snd Gilbert, 2014) studied interaction with consumers on the social network Instagram and it turned out that content involving people attracted a large number of users to publication. In the beauty industry, publications with faces are photos of models with brand makeup, or a close-up video with a picture of a person or parts of it that have brand makeup. One of the popular types of content are photos and videos with brand products. Authors of the next article (Phua, Jin and Kim, 2017)found that users of online platforms are more interested in brand materials, for example, brand products on Instagram social network, in comparison with other social networks. This type of content is suitable for the beauty industry, because it is beauty brands that usually publish information about new products and their products on social networks.

Text Message Content

Cvijikj and Michahelles (2013) think, that the content of the message in the posts is a very important aspect of attracting the audience, so brand representatives need to write the right messages under their posts. The social network Facebook has the ability to select a post: images, video, text content, all this can be combined or laid out separately. On Instagram, users cannot post only text content, since the format of this online platform requires you to attach another image or video. Each social network has its own kind of multimedia luxury, which distinguishes it from all other platforms. The next publication (Demangeot and Broderick, 2016) claims that posts containing an image reach a much larger audience than publications with video or text content. Previous researchers found that the degree of brightness of published posts plays a major role in attracting the audience.

Interactivity level

The authors of the previous article (Vries, Gensler and Leeflang, 2012) identified the main indicators measuring consumer engagement using Facebook publications as an example. Standard indicators for measuring popularity, comments and likes, as well as entertaining content, information content and expressiveness were included. But an important tool such as interactivity was also analyzed, which includes polls, contacts with the audience, contests, quizzes and a call to action. The authors decided to determine the level of interactivity from low to high (low interactivity-ordinary posts with text content; high interactivity-posts, including contests, etc.)

Publication day

Every day the number of publications on social networks is increasing and many posts become invisible among this number. As a result, it's extremely important for brands to publish their posts in a timely manner so that publications are noticed by users (Patterson, Yu and Ruyter, 2006).

Therefore, the time it takes to publish content is an important factor for increasing coverage in a marketing strategy. The authors draw attention to the fact that most of the posts are usually posted on weekdays, when the level of user engagement is increased, while on weekends users use social networks less.

Influence level

The authors of the following study Mangold and Faulds (2009) believe that users trust information on social networks more than that coming from TV, newspapers or radio, such as radio. As a result, a large number of beauty brands begin to collaborate with opinion leaders on Internet platforms to attract more audience reach to the brand.

The brand's collaboration with influencers implies that opinion leaders get the brand's beauty products and advertise on their social networks, providing product recommendations and reviews. The introduction of influencers in the brand's marketing strategy on social networks allows reaching more people, not only because of the large audience in their own profiles, but also because consumers believe that bloggers deserve a higher level of trust than other types of ads.

As a result, based on previous studies, the following factors are considered influencing customer engagement:



Table 1

Tools affecting customer interactions with cosmetic brands on their social networks

Factors	Variety
PostContent	Images/videos with Brand production or faces
Text Message Content	Videos, images, text content
Interactivity Level	Low/high interactivity level
Publication Day	Posting on workdays/weekends
Influence Level	Influencer integration/lack of influencer

If we summarize the results, we can draw the following conclusions. Firstly, when searching for articles by keywords, it turned out that today there are very few articles that are devoted to the impact of social networks on the beauty industry in Russia. Secondly, in a combined search according to the words: beauty, entrepreneurship, social networks, it has been shown that most articles disclose how social networks affect entrepreneurship in general. Thirdly, there are not many literary sources about the impact of social media on the beauty industry. And in those articles that mention this - only specific cases are considered. The overwhelming majority of articles are devoted to the impact of social networks on entrepreneurship, and only a few of them discuss ways of interaction between the beauty industry and social networks. Fourthly, in one of the articles studied about the effect of beauty Youtubers on potential buyers of cosmetics of those brands that they talk about on their channels, the information turned out to be informative, however, specific ways of interaction between beauty brands and consumers were not covered, but various levers of interaction between cosmetic brands on potential buyers are not analyzed.

All these shortcomings and the lack of research conducted for the beauty industry market create a gap for future research not only in Russia but also in the world. This study will examine a number of specific cases that have not yet been mentioned. Research questions will help fill gaps. First, this study will be devoted to studying the impact of social media on the beauty industry both from consumers and from manufacturers in Russia. For this, the methodology will be divided into two parts, one part will be connected with the first research question, where the problem will be evaluated from the point of view of consumers, their attitude to the manufacturer of beauty products, which uses social networks to attract attention. And another part with a second research question related to manufacturers of cosmetic brands. Many levers of influence on buyers with beauty brands in social networks will be studied in order to understand which of them are effective and applicable to a particular social network. And also, in what ways social networks influence the beauty business: who wins - those brands that keep pace with the times use all the levers of influence on customers in the social space or those who use only advertising without deviating to unwind their brand accounts in social networks.



3.METHODOLOGY

3.1 Statement of the research question

Analyzed available literary articles showed that there is not enough research regarding changes in marketing strategies of companies in the beauty market, after the emergence of social networks. To provide the most accurate data, it was required to study the issue from both points of view, from consumers and manufacturers. In the course of this work, the following issues were investigated:

1) What does the customer think about cosmetic brands that use social networks to attract attention to the brand? The question is aimed at researching the opinions of a wide audience that uses the services of manufacturers of beauty products and services.

2) How are cosmetic brands able to influence purchasing habits, for example: what do companies do to expand their audience and make customers a regular consumer of products? The question is surveyed from the point of view of manufacturers of goods and services in the market of the beauty industry, their strategy and attitude towards consumers.

The thesis of work is focused on these issues: the need to understand the relationship to the engine for promoting a beauty product in social networks from both consumers and producers; purpose of the work: to find out how cosmetic brands affect consumers through social networks and how effective this influence is.

This study is one of the first works on the impact of social platforms on the development of the beauty industry in Russia. To answer research questions and to confirm or refute the hypotheses put forward, qualitative data collection methods will be used: secondary data analysis and in-depth interviews, as well as quantitative survey methods. In the course of this work, consumers will be interviewed through a survey, and brand representatives will be interviewed through in-depth interviews, as it is necessary to get answers from both sides. Survey will be issued in Google form in Russian, in which at least 267 respondents should take part. The language of the survey was not chosen randomly; it is necessary to study the Russian market, so for most people it will be more comfortable to take the survey in Russian. This method will help to collect data that will help to determine the attitude of consumers to social networks, how high their activity is (how many hours a day or days a week they spend online), and also understand what shopping methods they prefer: online or offline. The questionnaire was distributed by sending out a survey of people who use social networks on a regular basis. The survey consists of two sections:

1) questions regarding the perception and choice of customers regarding advertising of beauty brands on social networks;

2) general information of the respondent (age, gender, income).

The questionnaire for the survey and questions for the interview were compiled on the basis of theoretical background, after a thorough mastery of which the following conclusions were made, which served as the basis for the next stage of work.

Firstly, a successful and well-chosen social marketing strategy, understanding the needs of the target audience are one of the key ways to increase the demand for brand products and affect the consumer. This conclusion was made after reading an article in which the authors argue that potential buyers are users who visit social networks daily. Without hesitation, they regularly evaluate content published in various profiles on social networks. Researcher concludes that the company needs to do so that the demand for its products and customer loyalty increases: today, each company has become easier to understand what the consumer thinks thanks to instant feedback. But in order to “win” attention and withstand competition, she needs to fight every day with others for the attention of potential customers. A successful marketing strategy implemented in social networks will be a key factor in choosing online products or services of this particular company.

Secondly, beauty companies themselves choose the path of development of their brand, based on the opinions and feedback of consumers through social networks. This conclusion was made after reading an article in which the authors argue that consumers are not just “buying” a product or service, they are to some extent able to “edit” a product created by the brand, where the social media is the place for editing. That is, commenting on the publication of brands in which companies share their latest products with users, the consumer makes a positive or negative feedback that can affect the fate of the product (Singh and Sonnenburg, 2012). Researchers claims that in order to succeed in introducing a new product, companies need to interact with their target audience instantly. This need is explained by the potential increase in demand for the product if negative customer reviews are not ignored.

Thirdly, opinion leaders - bloggers - partially influence the opinion of the target audience and are able to help with the promotion and increase in demand for brand products. This conclusion was made after reading an article in which the authors examined the impact of collaboration between the Bobbi Brown beauty brand and YouTube bloggers on consumer demand. The scientific work examined the influence of the collaboration described above on the desire of consumers to make cosmetics purchases. The conclusion made by the authors is that many cosmetic brands are watching for such influencers that can influence the masses through indirect advertising of beauty products, in which they shoot small training videos on makeup. Such an advertisement becomes more effective than an advertisement shown on television, because millions of subscribers watching their favorite blogger trust him and do not feel when watching such videos that they are being imposed on a purchase.

Fourthly, today for consumers, the “picture” is no less decisive than quality when buying goods. This conclusion was made after reading a study in which it is said that today one of the most effective ways to attract new customers on social networks is visual content. Reading reviews and specifications will be the next step for a potential buyer if the visual presentation of the product passes a “check”.

Thus, the study is a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches to testing the following hypotheses, which are built in accordance with the analyzed literature and the marketing strategy of brands in social networks:

H0: Social media marketing is not the only way to advertise and develop a brand;

H1: Successful social media marketing is a key mechanism that can influence the brand perception of customers and is the main channel for increasing demand;

H0: Beauty companies independently choose the path of development of their brand, based on the opinions and feedback of consumers on the means of social networks;

H2: The advent of social networks has made consumers the main authors of brand stories;

H0: Opinion leaders - bloggers - partially influence the opinion of the target audience and are able to help with the promotion and increase in demand for brand products;

H3: Opinion leaders on social networks (bloggers, celebrities, influencers) have become one of the key ways to influence the consumer choice of beauty products;

H0: One of the most important factors for choosing beauty industry clients is the advertising of products on social media;

H4: Today, for consumers, the “picture” is no less decisive than the quality when buying goods.

The results of the study, which will use the assessment and synthesis of data using qualitative and quantitative methods, will shed light on the extent to which the use of social platforms by well-known cosmetic brands affects their marketing campaign and consumer choice. Also, this study will help fill a gap in the literature on this topic, which is very important for future researchers.

Both possible outcomes (“Successful social media marketing affects the opinion of the brand on the part of buyers and is the main channel for increasing demand” and “customers are only interested in the quality of the product itself, the active development of the brand in social networks has no effect”) practical implication. Using this information, marketers will have the opportunity to increase productivity and demand, having an idea of ??what customers need in Russia, they will understand what to focus their efforts on and what area needs to be improved. Moreover, this study will include a survey directly of consumers of cosmetic products themselves and give a clear idea of ??which group of consumers and which segment of the population should be guided and will also help to understand what the client needs. This information is necessary to increase the profit of any company. The result “product quality” will also be useful for company employees, they will understand that investing their material means is not in advertising, but in the composition of their funds, and from this the number of consumers will only increase. For ordinary customers who will participate in these studies, and everyone who follows the development of the brand, this will be a great example of consumer interaction with the brand.

In addition, this document will serve as a consequence for further research on the business of social networks in Russia and a launching pad for those who want to start their own business on this platform.

3.2 Goal and stages of the thesis

The problem that serves as the starting point of this study is that even if the company realizes the value of being on social networks, not everyone can use this resource effectively to create a credible image of a personal brand, and then promote and sell their products and services based on support and trust from subscribers. Having a successful individual brand can make the company a winner or a loser in the event that the personal brand does not reflect the true nature, as well as if the promise associated with it is not fulfilled (Rampersad, 2009).

This part of the research work explains the methods used in the study. This research work allows us not only to quantitatively examine the relationship between people's attitudes to the perception of marketing strategies for beauty brands on social networks, but also the actions of companies in attempts to attract consumers to their products through online platforms will be examined with qualitative evidence of this. The intellectual stage of research, which consists of the first block of research, allows us to generally understand the reaction of users to the advertising of beauty products on social networks and its impact on them. In the first block of research, it is not hypotheses that are put forward, but the alleged influence and perception of advertising methods on social networks by consumers and manufacturers of beauty industry products. In the second part of the study, the assumptions made are investigated using statistical methods, identifying the rationale for confirming or refuting the hypotheses proposed in this study, and recommendations are given on the application of the results and further research on this topic. Beauty industry companies and their products were selected for study due to the fact that the market of the beauty industry over the past 10 years has been the most actively developing and profitable segment in the world, and the audience of this market is the most extensive and developing.

The aim of this work is to determine how cosmetic brands affect consumers through social media and how effective this influence is. The purpose of this study leads to the formulation of the following research questions: “What does the buyer think of cosmetic brands that use social networks to attract attention to the brand?”, “How are cosmetic brands able to influence buying habits, for example: what are companies going to expand their audience and make the customer a regular consumer of the product? ” The object of study is the impact of the media. The subject of the study is to identify ways in which the media influence customer perception of the brand.

To investigate this problem, the object will be developed as a study of mixed methods and will use: analysis of secondary data, interviews and surveys.

The first stage of the study is secondary data research, which is necessary for an in-depth study of the development and influence of beauty industry brands through social networks. This will help formulate research hypotheses in accordance with the buying behavior and control of this market segment. The analyzed literature is intended to give a deeper understanding of the literature review, identifying a gap and understanding of the concepts used to attract consumer interest in a product in the beauty market. Nevertheless, analysis of the relevant sources was not enough, since the study was aimed at studying the attitude of consumers and their perceptions of various SMM actions in social networks of beauty brands, and data from such studies do not yet exist in Russia.

Due to the lack of ready-made data sets on this topic, the next step is to conduct an online survey, which allows you to study the situation on the consumer market for products of the beauty industry from the point of view of the consumer (Bacon-Shone, 2013). It will include questions about the attitude to advertising in general, what consumers think about marketing beauty brands on social networks, what they think about the impact on social networks, which brand they prefer and why. The survey consists of 24 closed questions with a choice of answer, some of which can be answered in your own way.

The third step is to conduct in-depth interviews with 5 representatives of well-known beauty companies, to study the issue of how companies operate on social networks in order to get more consumers. Companies were selected by the number of coverage in Russian social networks. Companies such as: NYX(657 thousand followers on Instagram)Nyx company profile on Instagram. Date of the application 27.03.2020. https://www.instagram.com/nyxcosmetics_russia/ ; L'oreal(307 thousand followers Vkontakte)Loreal company profile Vkontakte. Date of the application 27.03.2020. https://vk.com/lorealparisrussia/; L'etual(4,7million followers on Instagram)Letoile company profile on Instagram. Date of the application 27.03.2020. https://www.instagram.com/letoile_official/ ; Mac(723 thousand followers on Instagram)Mac company profile on Instagram. Date of the application 27.03.2020. https://www.instagram.com/maccosmeticsrussia/; Sephora(216 thousand followers on Instagram)Sephora company profile on Instagram. Date of the application 27.03.2020. https://www.instagram.com/sephora_russia/.

The fourth step is to perform a statistical analysis of the data to find a correlation between dependent and independent variables. The program that is used for this statistical analysis is SPSS because it has all the necessary commands to determine a significant p-value, which will confirm or reject the following hypotheses. Moreover, an analysis of in-depth interviews will be carried out, which will give an understanding of the relevance of advertising in social networks for brands, as well as confirm or refute the hypotheses.

Lack of communication with the researcher is one of the limitations of the survey and can create difficulties; the respondent cannot clarify some questions with the interviewer, and therefore the survey may not be completed correctly. Also, the respondent may distort information about himself and not have access to the Internet for any reason.

A prerequisite for an in-depth interview is not a selective technique, therefore, the results obtained cannot be unambiguously projected onto a larger group of people with whom an in-depth interview was not conducted. Information obtained through interviews cannot be analyzed in complex mathematical ways, as in a survey. An in-depth interview can indicate to the researcher only a trend, but not statistics at all. This is due to the fact that each individual case of an in-depth interview is unique in its own way, and the data obtained is always subjective.

3.3 Description of the hypotheses

The main hypotheses of the study are based on a theoretical basis and verified by analysis of qualitative and quantitative methods for collecting information:

H0: Social media marketing is not the only way to advertise and develop a brand;

H1: Successful social media marketing is a key mechanism that can influence the brand perception of customers and is the main channel for increasing demand;

H0: Beauty companies independently choose the path of development of their brand, based on the opinions and feedback of consumers on the means of social networks;

H2: The advent of social networks has made consumers the main authors of brand stories;

H0: Opinion leaders - bloggers - partially influence the opinion of the target audience and are able to help with the promotion and increase in demand for brand products;

H3: Opinion leaders on social networks (bloggers, celebrities, influencers) have become one of the key ways to influence the consumer choice of beauty products;

H0: One of the most important factors for choosing beauty industry clients is the advertising of products on social media;

H4: Today, for consumers, the “picture” is no less decisive than the quality when buying goods.

Calculations and statistical analysis are performed using SPSS, Microsoft Excel. In-depth interview data is compiled, collated and analyzed.

3.4 Methodology of questionnaire

The design of the study is descriptive and the survey is the main data collection tool for this study (Harkiolakis, 2017). It has a quantitative data collection process and a quantitative data analysis strategy in order to be able to verify the hypotheses put forward (Bacon-Shone, 2013). Since the focus of the study is on the perception of advertising of beauty brands on social networks by consumers and its impact on them, that is why it makes sense to conduct a study based on a quantitative method of collecting information.

The quantitative method is more suitable for researching the problem from the point of view of consumers, since the activities of the SMM should cover a wide target audience, therefore, to obtain relevant results, a large sample is needed using a survey. Since the research topic was aimed at the Russian segment of the beauty industry, only Russian-speaking respondents had to fill out a survey. Thus, the English versions were translated into Russian, ensuring the quality and clear meaning of all phrases. Later, to comply with the language of the diploma, a reverse translation was made (Harkiolakis, 2017), which did not cause distortion of information and changes in meaning. Among the various quantitative methods, an online survey was taken, it is believed that this method is better, since the process of collecting information from users on a social network is easier to carry out on the Internet than offline. Surveys are considered the main method of obtaining marketing information about consumers, their market behavior, opinions and preferences. The essence of the survey is to collect primary information through direct questions regarding the relationship to the product, as well as consumer preferences and behavior. The survey is structured because the selected group of people will answer the same questions. A random sample, especially convenient, was chosen for the examination. Elements of the population can be easily obtained among subscribers on the social networks of cosmetic brands. In Russia and St. Petersburg there are public pages on the social network Instagram «@goldapple_ru" with 3.3 million subscribersGold Apple company profile on Instagram. Date of the application 27.03.2020. https://www.instagram.com/goldapple_ru/ , "@letoile_official" with 4.7 million subscribersLetoile company profile on Instagram. Date of the application 27.03.2020. https://www.instagram.com/letoile_official/, "@sephora_russia" with 216 thousand subscribersSephora company profile on Instagram. Date of the application 27.03.2020. https://www.instagram.com/sephora_russia/ . Since we are interested in people who are familiar with the trends, criteria, news, pricing policies of cosmetic brands and companies in Russia and can easily give answers to this topic, the girls who follow these pages on Instagram meet the requirements.

Instagram is one of the most popular social networks in Russia, therefore this client base is quite diverse in terms of combining people of different ages and preferences, the profile will be sent as direct messages via Instagram to people who follow these pages in equal proportions. The number of subscribers is about 8.516 million. Thus, using socioline.ru, the required sample size was calculated with a confidence accuracy of 95% and an error of -6%, and amounted to 267 respondents. The main threat to the chosen sampling method is a small number of consumer responses due to distrust of messages from unknown people who are perceived as spam. In addition, the study may not be taken seriously and is filled with poor quality and disclosure of answers. This survey includes several groups of questions on the following topics:

1) user activity on social networks,

2) the perception by users of advertising beauty brands on social networks,

3) consumer attitudes to advertising beauty brands on social networks,

4) what brands do consumers choose and why

5) consumer attitudes to the presence of advertising on social networks,

6) characteristic of respondents.

Data were obtained from 267 participants (257 women and 10 men). The majority of respondents 84.5% are aged 20-30 years, while 15.5% belong to the age category 31-45 years and the category "less than 20 years." Most of the respondents, namely 59.5%, live in St. Petersburg, 30% are in Moscow. With regard to shopping for beauty products on the Internet, 62.1% buy goods on the Internet very often, 30.3% do it often, the remaining 7.6% buy cosmetic goods sometimes or less often. All closed questions with the possibility of their own answers and ranking on the Likert scale, to get standardized answers that are easier to handle(Albaum, 1997).

As noted earlier, a survey is a way to study the problem from the point of view of customers. Nevertheless, this is only the first step in exploring what SMM actions are required at different stages of the path of attracting customers to the choice of their cosmetic brand.

3.5 Methodology of semi-structured interview

Since the main objective of the study is to analyze the impact of the use of social networks by beauty brands, it makes sense to respond to employees directly about their attitude to this marketing strategy and its impact on the market of the beauty industry. In this regard, a semi-structured interview was conducted. This helps to see the whole atmosphere and get an idea of ??the development and use of social networks in the beauty industry market, since the objective of the study is also to study the motives and strategies of the brands themselves.

Using an in-depth interview, you can establish a more trusting relationship with an employee of the beauty industry, which makes it possible to obtain the necessary and unique information. In addition, an in-depth interview is always conducted in person (one on one), which means that influence on the opinions of employees of other people's points of view can be excluded. Qualitative methods allow you to learn the work of marketing in social networks from the inside by the brands of the beauty industry themselves, their strategy and tricks.

Using a semi-structured interview, it is possible to more accurately determine the needs and motives that underlie the behavior of customers and customers, as well as the motives of companies (Boyce and Neale, 2006). Obtain data on strategies for attracting consumers and the principles on which their choice of goods and services is based, mechanisms responsible for making decisions by officials, methods for solving problems by employees of organizations, their expectations, values and motivation.

This qualitative research method is very flexible. For this reason, in practice, it can be applied in conjunction with qualitative methods, desk research and quantitative methods.

It was concluded that through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, we will be able to obtain more reliable information, compare the points of view of consumers and manufacturers and answer the main questions of the study.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews are used only for additional comments and analysis of the results obtained from the questionnaire, to compare the point of view of the consumer with the manufacturers of the product. Interviews were collected individually by telephone through feedback. The interview is followed by a guide listing the questions that may change. This interview contains only open-ended questions aimed at exploring the company's attitude to opportunities on social networks in order to obtain more extensive information. The wording of the questions is constructed in a general form. Interview based on 14 questions. Here is a list of these questions:

1) What methods of product advertising does the brand use?

2) What audience is the brand product targeted at?

3) Have social networks made it easier to keep your brand in touch with customers?

4) What platforms on social networks does the brand use?

5) What is the content in each brand social network focused on?

6) Has it become easier for a brand to identify customer needs with the advent of social networks?

7) What is the average growth of subscribers per day on the brand's social networks?

8) Since what year did mass media on social networks begin to help grow brand customers?

9) Does the brand use the services of beauty bloggers and is it a productive method of attracting an audience?

10) Are brand consumer reviews considered, how customer-oriented is the brand?

11) Does the brand capture the reaction from customers with successful marketing?

12) How are unsuccessful brand products advertised?

13) How quickly does a brand product with spectacular advertising sell out?

14) What is the brand focused on quality or marketing products?

The study conducted 5 semi-structured interviews with employees of well-known cosmetic companies. Employees for interviews were randomly found over the Internet. The names of the interviewees were not disclosed.

This research method, like a semi-structured interview, is time-consuming, that is, it took about two weeks to communicate and organize the interview. During each interview, an audio recording was made, which was then transcribed into MS Word in tabular form.

3.6 Data Analysis Strategy

The data collected was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 23, standard edition. This statistical tool is considered most suitable for observing such areas of science and business as marketing research (Bacon-Shone, 2016). Moreover, it contains all the necessary functions for testing the proposed hypotheses. Before the analysis, we made a list of variables so that they were applicable for further research. The variables were translated into English and adjusted to the program format. At the very beginning, descriptive statistics (frequencies) were used to understand this sample and for further data analysis. Another descriptive tool (descriptive) demonstrated mean scores, median, standard deviation, minimum and maximum. The next step was to check whether the distribution of all variables is normal or not using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (Lilliefors, 1967). This was an important basis for deciding which type of correlation analysis to use (Spearman or Pearson) and determining how suitable the variables were for the analysis. After that, Chi-Pearson was used,statistical criterion for the analysis of qualitative data (nominal, ordinal, ranking), frequency analysis (McHugh, 2013).

With its help, 9 groups of questions were analyzed to find the relationship between the variables and understand their appropriateness for inclusion in the further study of the relationship between social media marketing and consumer opinion. The advantage of the method is that it allows you to compare the distribution of features presented in any scale, starting from the scale of names. In the simplest case of an alternative distribution (“yes - no”), we can already apply the criterion ч2.

The main limitation here is that the coefficients can strongly depend on the size of the sample, and its interpretation may be subjective. Further, for the nonparametric comparison of two independent samples, the Mann-Whitney U-test was used. With its help, it was possible to calculate the difference whether the indicators are statistically significant, and also to determine the test value U, determined using the Mann-Whitney test, the smallest value from both rank sums (Wilcoxon W-test), the test value z, determined by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, as well as the probability of error p (Ruxton, 2006). The next tool used Student's t-test for independent samples, to compare the average values of two independent samples. It was used to test the hypothesis about the equality of the general means of two independent, unrelated samples (the so-called two-sample t-test) (Heeren and D'Agostino, 1987).A correlation analysis was used to search for dependencies between variables. Also, for clarity, graphs and diagrams were used. These steps helped us get the results for H1-H4.



4.RESULTS

4.1 Survey Results

An analysis of the data collected allowed us to confirm all 4 hypotheses, and also showed several important points. It is important to note that most of the hypotheses were tested using the classical method of statistics: X2 is also a "Pearson consent criterion". This method was used to test hypotheses about the subordination of the observed random variable to a certain theoretical distribution law. The first hypothesis was confirmed using this method. In the survey, a series of questions that were mutually dependent were created; they are described in more detail in hypotheses.

In one section of the survey, respondents were asked to choose one of two or three cosmetics stores. Each list provided for the selection of the store was not random. Three stores were selected that have the opposite marketing policy (L'etual / Gold Apple; Sephora / Ile de Beaute / RiveGauche; Watsons / Ulibka Radugi / Podrugka). In the first case, the stores “Gold Apple” and “L'etual” were contrasted, where the first emphasis was placed on advertising on social networks. The marketing policy at Gold Apple is mainly aimed at developing the brand in social networks. On the store's official page on Instagram (@goldapple_ru), 3.6 million subscribers, daily updated publications, and hundreds of promotions: discounts on a wide variety of goods that can be bought without leaving the page - follow the link in the story itself. The Gold Apple cares about its reputation and knows about ways that will help increase customer loyalty. On a regular basis, the cosmetics supermarket arranges open days, to which it invites the most famous beauty bloggers and makeup artists. Despite the fact that, unlike L'etual, the Gold Apple appeared in St. Petersburg this year, respondents choose it much more often than L'etual(Table 2).

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