Case Study

By: Ryan Ouzts

 Table of Contents

Introduction: Neutrogena………………………………………………………………………........................................................................2
Current social media presence…………………………………………………………………….................................................................4
Facebook…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….......................................4
Twitter…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...................5
YouTube………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………..................6
Instagram…………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………..............6
Strengths & Weaknesses………………………………………………………………………...……………………………………………………............7
Strength 1: Positive Congruence…………………………………………………………………..……………………………………..............7
Strength 2: Cohesive Branding…………….………………………………………………………………………………………………............8
Strength 3: Responsive to Social Media Inquiries.……………………………………………….…………………...................10
Weakness 1: Inconsistency in Posting………………………...............................................…………….................................11
Weakness 2: Enabling peer-to-peer Interactions…………….…………………………………………….………………….........12
Weakness 3: Non-marketing Opportunities for Engagement …………….…………………………...........................13
Strategic Recommendations………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….......14
Recommendation 1: Include User Generated Content…………….……………………………......................................14
Recommendation 2: Enable peer-to-peer interactions………….………………….....................................................15
Recommendation 3: Create a Brand Community…………….…………………………………...........................................15
Recommendation 4: Foster Brand Advocates…………….……………………………….……..............................................16
Recommendation 5: Utilize 80/20 Rule…………….…………………………………………...………………….............................17
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………......................17
References……………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………….....................18

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 Introduction
Widely known today as the number one dermatologist-recommended skincare brand,
Neutrogena began in 1930 as a very small, specialty cosmetic company called Natone. Founder
Emmanuel Stolaroff supplied Natone skincare products to beauty salons that were exclusively
associated with the film and entertainment industries in the early years, which encouraged the
decision to take all products to the retail market ten years later.

In the early 50’s Stolaroff traveled to Belgium for business, and while there was introduced to a
cosmetic chemist, Dr. Edmond Fromont. Dr. Fromont created a soap that caught Stolaroff’s
attention because when used, the soap returned skin to its normal pH balance and left no signs of
use behind. This was something that Stolaroff felt would be a huge success on the market in the
United States and began to arrange for the soap to be imported to the States for distribution under
his control.

Upon arrival in the States, Stolaroff branded the soap as Neutrogena, which was sold under his
Natone cosmetic line. The soap quickly became the staple product of Natone, as Stolaroff and his
son-in-law began advertising the soap heavily, even expanding to department and drug stores for
sales. The key to their marketing was the emphasis of the glycerin content of the soap, which is
known to be very good for the skin as an all-natural moisturizer allowing for natural skin oils to
remain on the skin after usage. The strategy began by creating and maintaining relationships with
well-known dermatologists and hotels, leaving the soap in all offices and hotel rooms with each bar
branded. This is what allowed people to become familiar with the soap.

The soap became so successful and well known, that in 1962 Stolaroff decided to change the
company name to Neutrogena. Thanks to Stolaroff’s son-in-law, Lloyd Cotsen, his wildly successful
marketing strategies led to this decision, ultimately leading him to be promoted to Neutrogena’s
President in 1967. Cotsen’s vision for the company skyrocketed after this, as he began having
dermatologists promoting the products focusing on the skin health benefits. Being heavily
associated with medical professionals allowed for great dominance in the skincare industry.
 
The brand underwent yet another change in image after gaining buzz around medical approval,
directing emphasis to their research efforts to create quality, safe skincare products. In 1973 this
new image went public and announced the expansion of products to targeting teenagers to prevent
acne, which was also very successful, ultimately expanding to the haircare market in 1980. They
originally categorized their products under “dry skin formula” and “acne cleansing
formula,” as these were the only ones they had at the time.

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 The 80’s consisted of lots of niche marketing that audiences were not necessarily fond of, due to
their lack of knowledge of skincare overall. Neutrogena began introducing “normal to oily,” and
“normal to dry” in attempt to expand the skincare products, but this was not successful resulting in
a 10% decrease in sales in 1981. Marketing took another shift to reverse the decrease, going
back-to-basics and increasing the number of product samples left in dermatologist offices for a 12-
month period. The company succeeded in a 15% increase in 1982, bringing total sales to $39 million
and naming Lloyd Cotsen as CEO. Sadly, founder Stolaroff died soon after in 1984.

The haircare category was also struggling at first, navigating their choices to pin Neutrogena
against other brands by claiming that usage is only necessary every other week in order to remove
build up left behind by other shampoos. The strategy to assume that Neutrogena was superior was
the main aspect in their marketing attempts overall, because the “medical professional” approval
gave them an attractive edge for many people that were not self-educated. This change assisted in
100% sales growth in the early to mid-80’s.

Near the end of the 80’s Neutrogena saw yet another opportunity for expansion, this time
targeting aging skin. The development of creams, lotions, and moisturizers then became the next
step for the company, making them very diverse and more than just a helpful skincare line, but a
preventative and repair line. This allowed them to market to all ages, from teens that have acne, to
elders that have wrinkles, and everyone in between.

The early 90’s then consisted of attempts to expand internationally, which soon became an issue
because the original creator, Dr. Fromont, had sold the name Neutrogena to multiple companies
around the world. Cotsen was successful in purchasing the trademark, leading to the hire of French
marketing executive Christian Bardin. Bardin was greatly successful in marketing to multiple
diverse countries, with the exception of Japan.

By this time and in the remaining years of the 90’s, many new products have been introduced
such as shampoo/conditioner for hair with color, antiseptic cleansing pads, facial wash, cleansing
lotion, and toner for acne prone skin. The range of products that Neutrogena offered caught the eye
of many, leading Walmart stores to compete with them by releasing a soap similar to Neutrogena’s,
but at a lower price.

The years of success and expansion that Cotsen contributed to Neutrogena was more than he
had hoped for, but also led to a few scandals along the way. These scandals were taken care of at the
time but were not talked about much after Neutrogena was acquired by Johnson & Johnson, the
world’s largest health products company, in 1994. The international assistance of J&J allowed
Neutrogena to thrive around the world, more than before.
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 Since the 90’s, Neutrogena has continued to expand their product line as well as their
distribution and manufacturing. The brand is now active in over 70 countries, holding the title of
number one skincare brand. Their niche of health relating closely to beauty has been what kept
them at the top of the market. The categories they have today are moisturizers, cleansers, bath &
body, aging skin solutions, acne, devices, sun, hair care, makeup, and men.

Their marketing efforts today is not much different than when they first started, but with their
reputation, they have already cultivated trust among many users around the world. Their social
media presence is heavily geared toward promoting the brand, and not much about engaging with
their consumers. They began using these Facebook in 2007, Twitter in 2009, YouTube in 2011, and
Instagram in 2015.

Current Social Media Presence

Neutrogena actively utilizes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. They currently have
over 5.1M Facebook followers, 49.1K on Twitter, 42K on YouTube, and 775K on Instagram. The
general mission of Neutrogena is to provide a wide range of people with high quality products for
their every cosmetic need. Their target audience is those that utilize skincare products,
ranging in age from teen to elderly.
 
Overall, the brand is inconsistent with their posts, but engages with their audience regularly.
They heavily use the consumer era strategy but have instances in which they have shown they are
part of the relationship era. Although they have many followers on all platforms, they do
not have much engagement as one may expect from such a popular brand.
 
Facebook | @NeutrogenaUS | 5,186, 240 followers ; 5,226,941 likes
Neutrogena’s Facebook has the most followers and likes out of all platforms but receives the one
of the lowest amounts of engagement. There are multiple reasons for their low rate of engagement,
but it does not change the fact they have a large number of followers. Majority of their posts are
directed toward selling a product and not creating opportunities for interactions between anyone.
In these posts, they have a nicely written caption along with a photo of the product they are
promoting at that time. The caption focuses on making the product in the photo sound enchanting,
and they either receive a comment or not.

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 They are not actively attempting to engage with their followers, but they are very good at
responding when people have questions, concerns, or comments. They also are very good at putting
a human touch to it, but using peoples’ names, using emojis when appropriate, and providing
information directly related to what they person commented on the post. I have not seen any
comments, good or bad, that they did not respond to. They also apologize when appropriate, in
which these comments seem to have a pre-written response that is used in specific situations.

They do not seem to have any sort of schedule or calendar in place for posting to Facebook, and
recently they went fourteen days without a post at all. Before that, they had ten-day gaps
throughout the entire month of March. They may post four days in a row, or they may go days
without anything. The inconsistency in their posts does not show that they are not highly
concerned with connecting with their consumers.

Recently though, they started a hashtag #FrontlineFaces, highlighting the people that are
currently deemed essential workers during this pandemic. This encourages people to “share a
hero,” by posting a photo of them on their pages, using the hashtag, and tagging Neutrogena,
claiming that they will donate to the America Nurses Foundation’s Coronavirus Response Fund in
return. They have shared stories of workers such as nurses, and this has been the only form of
engagement that they have initiated.

Twitter | @Neutrogena | 49.1K followers

Neutrogena’s Twitter planning seems to be to tweet once a month, because that is what they
have done since February. They also only use the same posts that they use on Facebook, on the same
days. There is not a theme in what they choose to post here, or why they do it this way. Twitter also
has a very low amount of engagement, and they seem to struggle with responding to all comments
that people have.

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 They do not retweet anything, they do not initiate conversations, and only respond to inquiries
from their threads. They do not seek use social listening at all, which could possibly benefit them in
seeing what people are really saying about them and not to them. It does not seem as though there
is procedure in place for how or when they tweet, but they would most likely have more
engagement if they were consistent in their efforts.

One down fall they have is that they have not introduced the #FrontlineFaces hashtag to
Twitter. This would allow for lots of engagement using their hashtag, creating more possible
followers and discussion around the brand.

YouTube | Neutrogena | 42K followers

Their YouTube page is their least used platform. They have gone six months without posting a
video to their page and have no consistency at all. The videos are commercial like videos of famous
or paid people using the products. The average amount of comments per video is about three, and
they do not respond to comments on their YouTube videos. They would highly benefit from user
generated content. I have seen YouTube users with high amounts of followers posting skincare and
makeup videos, using Neutrogena products, even noting that they are using Neutrogena. The brand
could easily share this content or even make a compilation of all the people that use their products.

Instagram | @Neutrogena | 775K followers

Neutrogena’s Instagram page is notably the most active platform they have. They post stories
almost daily and respond to majority of comments that require responses. They do not have a
schedule in place, so their consistency is sporadic. The Instagram page also consists of the some of
the same content from Facebook and Twitter, but they tend to share and tag people that are using
their products.

Their Instagram also shares the #FrontlineFaces hashtag and gets the most use of it on this
platform. They even shared one IGTV video that used the hashtag. They too give each response a
human touch, also using the same what seems pre-written response to concerns. There is not a big
difference in content, as they share all the same photos, and captions on Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram, when they decide to use them. Also, not attempting to closely engage with their
followers.

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 Strengths & Weaknesses
Neutrogena’s social media efforts are at a minimum. Their main priority is to market their
products, with the exception of their posts in the past month regarding the virus. They have used
this to show that they are appreciative and involved, so they created the hashtag. Their strengths
can be seen as the minimum to be considered successful on social media, whereas their weaknesses
would boost their engagement. They differ in both strengths and weaknesses on each platform, but
overall, their strengths are positive congruence, cohesive branding, and responsive to inquiries.
Their weaknesses are that they don’t create non-marketing opportunities for engagement,
inconsistency in posting, and failure to enable peer-to-peer interactions.

Strength 1: Positive Congruence

According to Bob Garfield and Doug Levy’s book Can’t Buy Me Like (2013), in order for a brand
to be seen as trustworthy on social media, they must meet the standards of the three C’s: credibility,
care, and congruency. Alexa Mokalis’s lecture on Visual Content (Module 7, 2020), states that
congruence is the act of questioning how a brand’s content relates directly to the brand’s values, as
well as their community. Congruence strategies then are focused on having an idea of what your
consumers want their lives to be like and attempting to illustrate that through the visual content
used on the brand’s social media platforms. The goal of these strategies is to gain consumer
approval by showcasing that the brand agrees with and shares their attitudes and beliefs.

There are four types of congruence, but Neutrogena falls into the Positive Congruence category.
Positive congruence is “content that makes people feel good” (Mokalis, Module 7, 2020). This is
important for a brand like Neutrogena because although they have a long-standing trustworthy
reputation, social media is a big factor in why consumers buy their products. Neutrogena does a
good job of posting visually satisfying images of their products, along with a caption that reads
similar to what their consumers may be experiencing at that time.

Specifically, Neutrogena realizes that their audience is there for skin and haircare purposes.
They use words in their captions that are appealing to those that may be seeking something from a
certain product and use this to their advantage. They use the actual product in the photo with
either some sort of theme or colors that closely relate to the brand. Mokalis also notes that posts
with images receive 94% more views and engagement (Module 7, 2020).

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 This image is a great example of the positive
congruence they emulate. Although the product is for
hair, the image makes it clear that this is a shower themed
post. “We’re singing in the shower about this duo’s soft,
silky results. (image of microphone). The shampoo helps
remove impurities while the mask restores moisture to
extra-dry hair. *Mic drop*” This caption along with the
photo is positively congruent because most women can
relate to singing in the shower and having a fun caption
will definitely grab readers’ attention. Using the term
“mic drop” and the was very clever because this too is
something people can relate to seeing or hearing quite
often in recent years.

According to Mokalis’ lecture on Marketing cycles, communities and advocates (Module 4, 2020),
brands need to be reachable, and they can achieve this by “thinking like a consumer” and using
“consumer friendly phrases.” The clever use of theme along with relevant phrases such as “mic
drop” make their content desirable to their consumers, also allowing them to relate to it in some
way. Even though it is a fun and relatable themed post, they do not forget to offer the facts.
Neutrogena makes sure to add in the benefits of each product in all posts, in order to give a short
overview for readers. This makes their posts full of positively congruent aspects that grab the
audiences’ attention, shares their beliefs, and relates to their everyday lives.

Strength 2: Cohesive Branding

By using the same images and captions on all platforms, this allows them to stay somewhat
synchronous in their posts. Although they do not necessarily post all the same posts on all
platforms on the same days, having the same photos and captions across platforms allow for a
cohesive feel to the brand. According to Mokalis’ lecture on Facebook (Module 6, 2020), one success
criteria for brands is Cohesive Branding. Cohesive branding is seen as an experience that matches
the brand and is easily identifiable.

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 Like I mentioned earlier, Neutrogena uses their products in each post and uses themes or other
images that closely relate to the brand. One thing that is easy to identify from Neutrogena is water
being involved, such as splashes or droplets. These examples, from their Facebook, YouTube, and
Instagram pages all show the cohesiveness in the imagery and branding overall.

The “anti-residue shampoo” photo is a classic Neutrogena image. A clear view of the product,
with water splashing around the product. Even though YouTube does not have still images, their
videos also carry the Neutrogena water theme. This screenshot from a video is too, a classic
snapshot of what Neutrogena is. Even if the product was not placed in either image, most that are
familiar with the brand would be able to immediately recognize the brand.

Another way they allow themselves to be cohesive, is

offering an experience that is to be expected of them.
They are expected to inform, aesthetically please, and
be up to date for their audiences. They fulfill these
expectations by creating themed posts for holidays,
seasons, and even worldly events. This image of their
sunscreen is placed with mini cocktail umbrellas, noting
that “Spring break calls for a sunscreen haul.” This was
posted when springtime started, just in time to make
sunscreen sales.

Allowing themselves to utilize things such as the

weather to promote certain products, has given them
the room to be more fun, engaging, and creative with
their captions. 9
 Strength 3: Responsive to Social Media Inquiries

Garfield and Levy’s book notes that brands are successful today because they have shifted from
the consumer era to the relationship era (2013, p. 24). This means that brands now focus on
relationship building with consumers, rather than attempting to persuade them to purchase
their products. An important part of brand-consumer relationship is involving in reciprocal
exchange (Mokalis, Module 5, 2020), meaning participating in dialogue with followers.

Mokalis’ lecture on Facebook details the aspects of participating in dialogue, which are talking
with fans and not at them, engaging in substantive conversation, and engaging in community-
preferred ways (Module 6, 2020). Neutrogena does a good job of being responsive to complaints,
concerns, questions, and even praise on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but not very well on their
YouTube page. However, this may be due to their lack of use of YouTube.

In these examples from Facebook, Neutrogena shows that they are concerned with their
consumers by responding in human like ways by apologizing and using the person’s name or
problem in their response. Although Neutrogena does not show consistency in their approach to
responding to problems that their users may be facing, they do make themselves available to
connecting privately to handle the issue

Neutrogena also responds the same on all

platforms, maintaining the helpful and
concerned voice they use. In this Twitter
screenshot they are not responding to
anything necessarily bad or good, but it is a
suggestion. Neutrogena responds by
complimenting the person and lets them
know they would pass the recommendation
on to their team. This is a positive interaction
that not many brands engage in.

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 Majority of their social media activity takes place
on their Instagram account. They are very active on
Instagram, posting stories, videos, photos, and rarely
IGTV videos. Followers on their account leave
countless comments on all of their posts, but
Neutrogena does a good job of responding
directly to each person’s comment. In this Instagram
screenshot, Neutrogena specifically responds each
person, even @ing them.

Their YouTube channel struggles do to their lack of consistency in posting, so they do not have
many comments. They do, however, receive lots of views and likes/dislikes. Overall, their social
media inquiry responsiveness is a strength of theirs because of the human touch. Remembering
to use the consumer’s name, topic of discussion, and offering proper solutions are something they
are good at.

Weakness 1: Inconsistency in
The first weakness Neutrogena has on social media is lack of consistency in posting. They are
consistent with the content aspect of their posts which is important but executing a plan in place is
also important for posts. They do not seem to have any schedule in place due to the fact they may go
days, weeks, months, without posting on some of their platforms. They would benefit from posting
at least once daily at peak times per platform.

Mokalis’ lecture on Game Theory explains that game theory is what happens when people
interact (Module 6, 2020). She goes on to explain that this has to do with the strategies and tactics
brands use via social media, and touches on how this theory is broken down into categories such as
focus, harmony, precision, momentum, and execution. Execution relates to the aspect of consistent
because this has to do with how well plans are put into practice (Module 6, 2020). Since Neutrogena
clearly does not have a plan in practice, they are failing in this area.

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 In these examples, these are the last 5 posts from each of their platforms

Facebook.

Twitter

Instagram
*These are not the last 5 posts, these are going off of the first post that shows the date on the post
and 4 posts before that one*

YouTube

This is an easy fix should they decide to become more consistent. Although there are not many
downfalls for them as a brand, they would benefit from having a plan and executing it properly.

Weakness 2: Enabling peer-to-peer Interactions

As mentioned earlier, Neutrogena overall does a good job of responding to inquiries, but they do
not attempt to keep conversations going. In each of their posts their focus is promoting their
products, not asking questions, not doing giveaways, not doing anything that calls for people to be
actively engaged with the brand as well as one another. Mokalis stresses the importance of enabling
peer-to-peer interactions in the Facebook lecture, because this is one of the success criteria.

Peer-to-peer interactions is not only responding and engaging with followers, but also providing
examples of what others have done and their success stories. In a way it is like sharing user
generated content, or it can just be a story that someone wanted to share on how they got their
wrinkles to go away, and people may want to hear about it. In a way, these stories can be seen as
reviews of a product, in which the brand can benefit from because as noted in Mokalis’ Groundswell
lecture, 82% of adults read reviews, and more than two thirds of them believe reviews are generally
accurate (Module 3, 2020).

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 The closest Neutrogena has gotten to creating and enabling conversations has been recently
during this pandemic. They created a hashtag #FirstlineFaces asking people to share stories of
healthcare workers and note their contributions that are making to the American Nurses
Foundation’s Coronavirus Response Fund. They have laid out what it takes to potentially have your
story or a friend’s story shared on Neutrogena’s Facebook or Instagram pages.

This is the only form of enabling interactions that they have created, although it is not
necessarily asking for peer-to-peer interactions. If they wanted to enable interactions between
peers, they would need to specifically create opportunities for people to speak directly to each
other. Asking for people to share peoples’ stories slightly differs, although it is a good first step.

Weakness 3: Non-marketing Opportunities for Engagement

As noted earlier, Neutrogena focuses their posts mainly on marketing their products, rather
than creating opportunities for engagement organically. Also noted earlier, the transition from
consumer era to relationship era in marketing was the result of “fragmentation of the mass and
social shift” (Mokalis, Module 5, 2020), which requires a brand to be judged based on their conduct
and relationships with their social media audiences rather than their efforts to fill a need with their
products.

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 Being on social media does not fully place a brand in the category of doing social media
correctly because it is based on how they present themselves to the public. Neutrogena is not
focused on creating and maintaining relationships with their followers as much as they could be,
due to their lack of consumer-focused posts. Mokalis presented the 80/20 rule in her Facebook
lecture, stating that this rule is important for brands to follow because it represents the balance
between marketing and brand building (Module 6, 2020).

The rule clearly states that brands should post 80% of non-marketing driven content and to
focus on building the brand’s reputation with the public, while 20% of the time a brand is able to
market their products. This would be difficult for a brand to implement if they do not have a
content calendar or plan like Neutrogena, but they would benefit from being more organized with
planning ahead and following this rule.

Strategic Recommendations
The strategic recommendations offered below would greatly enhance the brand’s social media
presence overall. Some recommendations may apply more to one platform than another, these
recommendations are usage of user generated content, sharing/liking audience content, create
brand community, foster brand advocates, and utilize the 80/20 rule.

Recommendation 1: Include User Generated Content

Mokalis’ lecture on Social media trends gives an overview of the ins and outs of how to use social
media as a brand and how to be effective. She explains that with the rise in social shopping and
commerce, authentic content has become a key selling point for brands. Authentic content can
better be seen as user generated content, which is content that people post on their own and the
brand uses as a way to promote their products (Module 1, 2020).

Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff offer a text that assists people and brands in understanding how
the internet works and how to manage the Groundswell. They note that user generated content is
an important technique for talking with the groundswell, because “creating a personality within
social networking sites is one of the simplest ways to extend your brand reach” (2013, p. 103). This is
important for brands because with all of the competition out there, brands need a way to stay
unique and desirable to consumers.

A proper first step for Neutrogena to begin using and sharing user generated content, other than
their recent #FrontlineFaces efforts, would be to begin asking real people about their stories using
Neutrogena and sharing it on all platforms. Sharing Instagram stories, retweeting responses,
sharing Facebook videos, or creating a compilation and uploading it to their YouTube page. There
are many ways Neutrogena could utilize user generated content, should they choose to do so. This
would create more credibility for the brand while also showing consumers that they hear and see
them.

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 Recommendation 2: Enable peer-to-peer interactions
Previously mentioned, Neutrogena does not regularly attempt to enable peer-to-peer
interactions between their consumers. The most they have done is creating the #FtonelineFaces
hashtag, but this is not exactly the type of engagement that Mokalis specified peer-to-peer
interactions to be in the Facebook lecture. These interactions are ways to create a space for
consumers to feel comfortable to interact with one another, which noted in Li and Bernoff’s book
Groundswell, is key in pursuing the groundswell (technology allowing individuals and
communities to have power over institutions).

The five objectives Li and Bernoff list for effectively pursuing the groundswell are listening,
talking, energizing, supporting, and embracing. These all require the brand to be actively involved
with their followers and consumers in order to hear what they want and be able to deliver it and
encourage their audiences to support one another. Li and Bernoff note that “these five objectives
are linked to the familiar business functions in your company, except that they’re far more engaged
with customers and include more communication – especially communication that happens
between customers” (2013, p. 69).

Neutrogena can easily begin enabling peer-to-peer interactions by posting questions that they
are asked and asking their followers to help a fellow consumer out, instead of answering the
question themselves. This will show that Neutrogena trusts what their consumers have to say and
will result in multiple people giving answers from different perspectives, sparking conversations.
Sharing questions on stories on Instagram is a very popular tactic most brands use, as it also allows
the brand to stay up to date and closely interactive with their followers.

Recommendation 3: Create a Brand Community

Mokalis’ lecture on Marketing cycles, communities and advocates heavily emphasizes the
benefits of creating a brand community, which is “a group of people with a set of shared interests
attached to a company, brand, product, or idea, having the intention to improve the brand and/or
its operations” (Module 4, 2020). Social media platforms though are not considered a community, so
a community would entail some sort of external place such as an app with the purpose of creating a
participatory experience for users and giving the brand the chance to listen to their consumers in a
different light.

A brand community would be beneficial for Neutrogena because they receive lots of comments
that other consumers of theirs may have experienced which having a community will allow for
consumers to interact and answer one another’s questions. Many women seem to already have an
emotional connection with the brand because skin and haircare are very important in some
peoples’ lives, so this is what Neutrogena could use as leverage for the community. Neutrogena does
have an app called “Skin360” which scans your face to identify acne, wrinkles, and dark spots to give
you personalized suggestions for what you want your results to be.

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 The simple step they could take to create a community would be to allow for users to comment
or create threads for discussions on the app. Allowing real people to comment about their
experiences with specific products, so they can give insight that some may be seeking. People have
different skin types and have different reactions, which makes people want to know what other
people have experienced with a product. Categorizing by product, skin type, desired results, etc.
would definitely result in high usage of the app as well as more users of the products.

Recommendation 4: Foster Brand Advocates

When creating brand communities, it is important to also think about brand advocates. Brand
advocates are not influencers, they are people who identify as supporters of the brand, providing
unsolicited praise and suggestions (Module 4, 2020). Advocates are an asset because they are giving
the brand free word of mouth marketing, by using products, advocating for and promoting them,
and defending them. The difference between an advocate and an influencer is that advocates are
not compensated whereas influencers usually are.

One of the Facebook branded perspective success criteria from Mokalis’ Facebook lecture lists
fostering advocacy as one of the criteria for being successful as a brand. Fostering advocacy can be
done in multiple ways, one of which is sharing user generated content. Sharing content, as noted
earlier, will show followers that you see them, you are approving of what they are doing, and you
want to show everyone else that they are an example of what they hope to see others doing.

Neutrogena does seem to have influencers that they interact with and share their content only
on their Instagram page, which does not fall under the theme of advocates. These influencers and
even some celebrities have thousands of followers and take photos claiming that they use
Neutrogena products.

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 Although it may seem that they have ambassadors to most people, ambassadors still receive
something in return, whereas advocates are not expected to receive anything in return for
promoting a brand. Taking this approach would give Neutrogena slightly more credibility because
it will show that they do not have to pay people to promote their products.

Recommendation 5: Utilize 80/20 Rule

As mentioned previously, the 80/20 rule plays what Mokalis calls a “cardinal role in social media
strategy” (Module 6, 2020). This is the ideal percentage of content distribution between marketing
driven content and brand building content. This is one of the successful criteria for social media
because it shows that the brand is also listening to their consumers, which Mokalis also mentions is
a critical aspect of brand success on social media.

Social listening is “the process of monitoring digital media channels to devise a strategy that will
better influence consumers” (Mokalis, Module 9, 2020). Listening to what people are saying about a
brand can assist greatly in what questions a brand decides to ask, what products they promote, and
anything that can give them in depth information about what people are saying about the brand.
This relates closely to the 80/20 rule because it will allow the brand to have more sharable content,
which can increase their use of the 80/20 rule.

To do this, Neutrogena can simply keep track of questions or comments people may have on
Twitter and retweet them, such as someone’s daily routine or a question someone has, also on
Facebook, Neutrogena can share someone’s status and ask their followers to help with the dilemma.
These are simple, yet effective ways in which Neutrogena not only will enable peer-to-peer
interactions but have more chance of using the 80/20 rule both at the same time.

Conclusion
Neutrogena has been around for a long time and has had success in fostering the trust of many
around the world. Their initial marketing efforts was ultimately successful in achieving expansion
worldwide and grounded them as a tough competitor in the beauty category. As social media has
taken over and forced them to get involved, Neutrogena has been successful in maintaining their
loyal consumers.

Although they do not need to necessarily change their social media efforts for sales purposes,
they would benefit greatly should they expand their posting content to be more relationship
centric. Engaging more in depth with their followers is the overall recommendation for this brand,
but I am sure they will be okay continuing as they currently operate.

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 References

Funding Universe. Neutrogena corporation history. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/neutrogena-corporation-history/
Garfield, B., & Levy, D. (2013). Can't buy me like: How authentic customer connections drive superior
results. Portfolio Hardcover.
Li, C., & Bernodd, J. (2008). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social
technologies. Harvard Business School Press.
Mokalis, A. (2020). Module 4: Marketing cycles, communities and advocates. [PowerPoint
slides]. PlayPosit. https://blackboard.sdsu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?
course_id=_369090_1&content_id=_5445450_1.
Mokalis, A. (2020). Module 5: Consumer brand relationship. [PowerPoint slides]. PlayPosit.
https://blackboard.sdsu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?
course_id=_369090_1&content_id=_5459230_1.
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course_id=_369090_1&content_id=_5488278_1.
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course_id=_369090_1&content_id=_5350692_1.
Mokalis, A. (2020). Module 3: Groundswell. [PowerPoint slides]. PlayPosit.
https://blackboard.sdsu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?
course_id=_369090_1&content_id=_5443516_1.
Mokalis, A. (2020). Module 9: Social listening. [PowerPoint slides]. PlayPosit.
https://blackboard.sdsu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?
course_id=_369090_1&content_id=_5558734_1.
Mokalis, A. (2020). Module 1: Social media trends. [PowerPoint slides]. PlayPosit.
https://blackboard.sdsu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?
course_id=_369090_1&content_id=_5351297_1.
Mokalis, A. (2020). Module 7: Visual content. [PowerPoint slides]. PlayPosit.
https://blackboard.sdsu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?
course_id=_369090_1&content_id=_5503369_1.
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neutrogena/

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