A Social Media Audit of Dove
A full media audit with insights on Dove’s social media presence and brand persona.
By: Allison Frazer
Dove
"Whole Body Confidence"
💚
Dove "Whole Body Confidence" 💚
Audit of Dove Brand Accounts
To complete this media audit, I accessed Dove’s profiles on six types of social media: Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube. While Dove is present on each of these sites, I would not classify their total presence as ‘strong.’ On each site, I looked through the 25 most recent posts, searching for the most liked and viewed posts to determine what resonates most with their audience. On their popular sites - Instagram and TikTok - their most popular content is the posts created to show Dove’s collaboration with Crumbl cookie to create delectable scented body soaps and scrubs. These posts were released on December 26, a day after Christmas, which feels like a misstep by Dove as they miss the holiday shopping season with this collaboration. This move may not have been totally up to Dove as they do have Crumbl to consider in this release. While the comments were overwhelmingly positive for this release, many comments refer to Dove releasing limited edition soaps in one country only (the United States).
During this process, I discovered that Dove uses Facebook to advertise, but not post original content. They use X to repost collaborations and initiatives they care about. LinkedIn is where they post professional achievements like celebrating the anniversary of their founding. Finally, YouTube is where the post official cuts of their television commercials that air during big events like the Super Bowl.
Observation of Social Media Care
Through my research, I found that Dove posts mostly on Instagram and TikTok. While they post on other sites, they do not receive user interaction there. As stated earlier, both X and YouTube have their comment sections disabled, meaning that if consumers were attempting to reach Dove, they would have to find a different channel to do so. Dove receives the majority of their customer comments on Instagram and TikTok. Instagram is where many consumers leave questions such as, “Can we please get a restock 😭everything is literally sold out online in every walmart.” Dove responds to users in the comment section, usually referring them to the Dove website, dove.com, or in this case to check with the users local Walmart about a restock. In many cases on Instagram and TikTok, users have questions about certain scents being released in a few countries and where they can find it. Dove always refers users to dove.com because that is where the most updated information is. On their largest platforms, Dove does not respond or like every comment because there are too many for them to parse through.
Facebook is a different story. Dove’s Facebook page does not receive a lot of interaction and their posts do not get many likes and shares. However, their comment section is always rather full. The audience interacting with Facebook seems to be older than those using Instagram and TikTok, and this older audience appreciates brand communication and interaction. Here, we see Dove respond to every comment, even positive ones. When users encounter issues with a Dove product, the Facebook responses always encourage the user to privately DM Dove so they can rectify the issue. We do not see this on Instagram and TikTok, possibly because those sites have too many viewers to respond to each individual comment and issue. It seems as though Dove caters more towards an older audience because that is what the audience expects of a brand.
Dove responds on Facebook with a request for the user to privately DM them.
Observation and Analysis of Social Media Comments
For this section, I fed some Instagram comments on Dove’s posts into ChatGPT using the prompt: “You are advising a social media strategist. Our goal is to uncover consumer-generated content ideas for social media. Please review and analyze these Instagram comments about Dove x Crumbl body soap. What are the top qualities of this product do people mention? What ideas to go with the product do users suggest? Are there any other trends that you notice?”
Overall, the responses to the collaboration were positive with ChatGPT reporting, “Users frequently praise the product's delightful and sweet scents, often comparing them to actual desserts.” Other users appreciated the variety provided by Dove for body scrubs, deodorants, hand soaps, and body washes allowing consumers to have a sweet smelling soap at every step of their hygiene routine.
However, some users shower frustration at the sweet and artificial smelling soaps, arguing that no one should want to smell like a dessert. Some shared concerns about accessibility of the product. ChatGPT reports, “The products are available exclusively at Walmart, which influences purchasing decisions and discussions among users.” Dove’s collaboration with Crumbl fostered conversation in comment sections across Instagram and TikTok, creating a buzz about the brand.
Closing Analysis and Learnings
Dove’s social media presence is strong as they continue to build their brand on sites that resonate with younger audiences such as Instagram and TikTok while fielding questions and concerns on sites that older audiences flock to like Facebook. This separation and change in tone allows Dove to simultaneously build and retain two separate audiences at the same time without having to significantly alter their brand values to win the approval of specific sects of consumers. For Dove’s future media interactions, I would suggest:
Dove create a consumer complaint form on their website, dove.com, where they can send all consumers with complaints so they can be addressed in a timely manner
Dove enable their comment sections on YouTube and X so they have two more avenues of consumer communication
Dove step into reducing plastic packaging to appease environmentally concerned users
A direct competitor of Dove is Native, as they create soap and more products that have scented brand partnerships. After reviewing Native’s social media platforms, I would suggest:
Native place their aluminum-free mission at the foreground of their posts. This is their entire goal and their unique positioning, yet it seems to be a second thought to the brand as they let consumers know about it in the comments
Native respond to Facebook comments about issues with a more personal touch. Native refers all consumers to their support email with very similar messaging each time there is a complaint. It may resonate more with their audience if they add a more personalized message to each response
Native post more frequently on secondary sites like LinkedIn, potentially spotlighting employees at their company and outlining how they select and make new scents to have some interaction in professional spaces