Dove Social Media Audit
By Camryn Brown
Introduction
Dove is a super well known brand. Their first product, the Beauty Bar, was introduced in 1957, and is still a best seller today. At the time, the product was revolutionary, offering a more gentle alternative to traditional soaps. Over time, Dove expanded to carry a more diverse range of products such as body washes, lotions, deodorants, and even hair care products. In 2004, Dove launched its “Campaign for Real Beauty,” which would significantly shape their unique brand identity. Through this campaign, Dove hoped to challenge conventional beauty standards and promote inclusivity. Dove continues this mission today through their contributions to inclusivity initiatives and philanthropic entities, which are clearly visible within their social media presence.
Observation of Customer Care
Dove seems to be pretty inconsistent in terms of the types of content they will and will not respond to. Certain comments praising new and existing products receive responses such as “We hope you love it!” or “you have excellent taste,” while others receive no answer. Of course, this is understandable; they can’t respond to every single comment praising their product, but they don’t respond to these comments on all posts. Other comments concerning things like product availability or complaints receive responses such as “Thanks for sharing your interest! We'll be sure to let our team know you'd like to see more products in your region” and “Hi there! We'd be happy to help - please DM us when you have the time,” but once again, the comments that do and do not receive responses seem to be entirely arbitrary. This is a problem across all social media platforms.
Observation and Analysis of Customer Comments
Despite a significant number of negative comments on social media, the Amazon reviews for Dove products were overwhelmingly positive. The issues on platforms like TikTok and Instagram seemed to mainly be with availability in certain regions outside the United States, while the issues on Facebook or X revolved around objections to their philanthropic initiatives, no platform’s main concern revolves around the product itself. Amazon reviews emphasize positive qualities such as moisturizing power, amazing scent, price, and gentle properties. The few critiques given in the reviews revolve around the overpowering scent of the product and issues involving packaging. Gemini recommends leveraging user generated and influencer marketing to showcase the real benefits of using Dove products. It also recommends creating content like scent, moisturizing properties, and value packs. Personally, I think that Dove could absolutely benefit from employing these strategies. Their brand identity revolves around celebrating real women with diverse backgrounds and appearances, so it would make sense to feature content created by real customers or collaborate with content creators who emphasize the importance of confidence, inclusion, and diversity in their content, and while they do feature a diverse range of appearances in their content, they don’t sponsor individual influencer content. This may be because it can be perceived as counter intuitive to their anti-social media rhetoric, but honestly, I think that if done properly and with the right influencers it could benefit their brand greatly.
Closing Analysis and Learnings
In my audit, the main thing I observed was how strong Dove’s brand identity is. Their image is built on inclusivity, authenticity, diversity. Their main challenges stem from inconsistency in customer engagement and diverse customer opinions. While product reviews are mostly positive, social media reveals concerns regarding availability, social stances, and inconsistent response strategies. To truly capitalize on their well established brand image, Dove needs to improve their customer interaction, address evolving consumer preferences, and leverage user generated and influencer content.
Recommendations For Dove:
Implementing a more structured social media customer service protocol with very clear and specific guidelines for responding to comments and questions. Social media managers should be trained to respond consistently and empathetically across all platforms.
Actively address availability concerns by providing clearer information on distribution channels and potential expansion plans.
Content on Facebook features philanthropic and social initiatives heavily. These posts are typically met with a lot of comments disagreeing with the initiatives Dove chooses to endorse. By shifting to content focusing solely on the products, engagement could become a lot more positive.
Recommendations For Competitors:
Other brands prioritize consistent and empathetic customer service on social media. By providing consistent, helpful, information, brands can increase customer loyalty.
Competitors ensure widespread product availability and communicate distribution plans clearly. This leaves more room for comments endorsing the product rather than comments simply asking about availability in different countries.
Brands can benefit by using influencer marketing to endorse products by presenting customers with a familiar face.