Youtube Beauty Blogger PDF

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis
Vibeke Holmquist
411404
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Vibeke Holmquist
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Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and Management Communication

Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences
Online Consumer Communities:
A study of the
YouTube Beauty Community
By: Vibeke Holmquist

Vibeke Holmquist
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Vibeke Holmquist
411404
Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and Management Communication

Aarhus University 2014
Abstract
This thesis is a nethnographic research of the YouTube beauty community based upon social
constructionism. The thesis presents the benefits for marketing purposes y engaging with the YouTube
beauty community. In order to do so, it describes and analyzed the YouTube beauty community in the first
section. It then moves to analyze the Beauty Gurus, which are the communitys content creators, thus the
most important members for marketing purposes. Lastly it provides recommendations for marketers who
might consider engaging with the community.
The YouTube Beauty community is found to be a content consumer community as all the community
markers are present. Using the three dimensional taxonomy of community space, the community is found
to be an open, regulated and for-profit community. Furthermore, it is argued that the YouTube beauty
community is an informal reference group with informational, utilitarian and self-expressive influence in its
members.
It was determined that beauty gurus enjoy a position of opinion leaders with a high personification of
values, perceived competence and a strategic social location. They were also found to have a high degree
of perceived credibility as members of the community consider them to be attractive, trustworthy and
experts. Beauty gurus are admired by their viewers who can easily relate to them. Beauty gurus
motivations to constantly contribute new and relevant content was based in their passion towards the
community and the consumption activity, as well as revenue creation. Lastly based on the communitys and
beauty gurus unique characteristics, they were found to have an array of diverse and interesting value
propositions for marketers who wish to engage with them.

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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Lone Laursen, for her invaluable guidance and expert advice
throughout this thesis. I would like to thank her for listening with patience to my endless rants of ideas as
well as for setting clear expectations for this thesis, which helped me find my way. And most importantly I
would like to thank her for her kindness and rigor when they were needed the most.
As well, I would like to thank my parents, for their constant encouragement, support and believe in me,
even at times when I failed to do so myself. Every accomplishment in my life has come to be thanks to
them. Lastly, I would like to thank my boyfriend, because in spite of the stress and sleepless nights he was
patience and supportive.
Vibeke Holmquist

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Table of Contents
1.
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 8
1.1 Problem statement .................................................................................................................................. 9
1.2 Theory of science ..................................................................................................................................... 9
1.3 Methodology and structure .................................................................................................................... 9
1.4 Delimitations ......................................................................................................................................... 10
2.
YouTube ................................................................................................................................................... 11
3.
The YouTube Beauty Community ............................................................................................................ 11
4.
Theoretical framework ............................................................................................................................ 12

4.1 The Community ..................................................................................................................................... 12
4.1.1 Groundswell.................................................................................................................................... 12
4.1.2 Community markers theory ........................................................................................................... 12
4.1.3 Online consumer communities ...................................................................................................... 13
4.1.5 Three dimensional taxonomy of the online community space ...................................................... 13
4.1.6 Reference group theory.................................................................................................................. 13
4.2 Beauty Gurus ......................................................................................................................................... 14
4.2.1 Two-step flow model-opinion leadership ...................................................................................... 14
4.2.2 Credibility........................................................................................................................................ 14
4.2.3 Motivational factors for content contribution ............................................................................... 15
4.2.4 Measuring return of investment .................................................................................................... 15
4.1 Viral marketing ...................................................................................................................................... 15
5.
Community analysis................................................................................................................................. 16
5.1 Community markers .............................................................................................................................. 16
5.2 Online consumer communities ............................................................................................................. 18
5.3 Three dimensional taxonomy of the online community space ............................................................. 18
5.5 Reference group theory......................................................................................................................... 20
6.
Beauty gurus analysis .............................................................................................................................. 20

6.1 Opinion leaders ..................................................................................................................................... 20
6.2 Credibility............................................................................................................................................... 22
6.3 Motivational factors for content contribution ...................................................................................... 23
6.4 Case examples ....................................................................................................................................... 23
6.4.1 Pantene........................................................................................................................................... 24
6.4.2 Aeropostale .................................................................................................................................... 25

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7.
Discussion ................................................................................................................................................ 27
8.
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 29
Reference List .................................................................................................................................................. 31

Appendices ...................................................................................................................................................... 33

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1. Introduction
In todays world marketers are facing new challenges reaching out to customers in the internet. Nowadays
consumers interact with each other and with brands resembling two-ways communications. According to
Cole et al. (2011:92) Communication with consumers has shifted from one-way channel where companies
tell customers what they need to know, to a dialogue where companies listen to and engage with
consumers. The term 2.0 is used to refer to this shift where consumers interact with each other through
social media. Social media is defined by Mangold (2009: 357-358) as a variety of new sources of online
information that are created initiated, circulated and used by consumers intent on educating each others
about products, brands, services, personalities, and issues.. Mayfield identifies six kinds of social media:
social networks, blogs, wikis, podcasts, forums, content communities and microblogging (2008: 6).
In content communities users generate content, share and consume it. These communities can originate
from interest in consumption activities, as it is in the case of the YouTube beauty community. According to
Scaraboto et al. (2012: 247) members of a community will use rhetorical strategies to influence each
others consumption decisions, report decisions back to the community, and gauge their influence on each
others choices. which will have an impact in the relationship with and attitude towards the brand.
(Zaglia 2012: 216) Thus, The existence of united groups of online consumers implies that power is shifting
away from marketers and flowing to consumers. (Kozinets 1999: 258) Unlike traditional media, in online
communities, marketers do not have control over the messages consumers create and share among each
other about their companies and brands.
YouTube is the second most used and largest search engine online, however when one searches beauty
brands related key words, there is only 2.5% chance that beauty brand appear in the results. (Appendix 1)
They are not present in the conversation as beauty brands have only 3% (Appendix 1) of share of voice, the
rest belonging to the YouTube beauty community. Furthermore, the most popular beauty gurus have 115x
more subscribers and receive 2600% more comments on average than beauty brand channels. (Appendix
1-Pixability 2014: 3). Thus it is becoming increasingly important for marketers to be present and engaged in
these communities. Marketers can engage with the YouTube beauty community through beauty gurus,
whom are the most active and engaged members. In order to successfully engage with them marketers
first need to: understand what the community is; how it works; who beauty gurus are; how do they relate
to the rest of the community and what opportunities are present to marketers by engaging with them; this
being the focus of this paper.

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1.1 Problem statement

How can companies benefit from engagement with the YouTube beauty community and beauty gurus for
marketing purposes?
In order to answer what are the marketing opportunities through engagement with the community, two
sub-questions will be answered:
RQ1: What and how does the YouTube beauty community functions?
RQ2: Who are the beauty gurus, what is their value proposition to marketers and how can
marketers engage with them?
1.2 Theory of science

This section will explain the philosophy of research upon which this paper will be based, social
constructionism. There is no one clear definition for social constructionism, however, Burr states there are
some believes indispensable for social constructivists, which are (2012: 2-5) a critical stance towards
taken-for granted knowledge, historical and cultural specificity, knowledge is sustained by social
processes and knowledge and social action go together.
Social constructionism argues that knowledge is created through social interaction and it is specific to the
culture and the time in history in which it was constructed, thus resulting in many different truths
encouraging different behaviors. This means that there cannot be one objective truth which can be said to
be better than others because these truths although different are equally valid. Social constructivists
should be constantly thoughtful that what they themselves consider to be truth is socially constructed
thus they should be critical towards it. Social constructionism argues that knowledge depends on language
to exist because knowledge is created through interactions between people and the language they use to
communicate. Language is specific to a culture and time but because it is socially constructed it is
constantly in a state of change through individuals use of it in social interactions.
Online consumers create knowledge specific to their sub-culture trough social interactions, thus social
constructionism is the research philosophy upon which this paper will be based. The truth online
communities socially construct might not be understood by outsiders of the community as they themselves
have not taken part in the social interactions upon which it was created. Therefore, this paper aims to,
through a nethnographic research; immerse in the communitys social interactions to understand the
knowledge created by this community.
1.3 Methodology and structure

With the aim of understanding the YouTube beauty community this paper will do a nethnographic research
of the community. Nethnography is defined by Kozinets as a (2002: 62) new qualitative research

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methodology that adapts ethnographic research techniques to study cultures and communities that are
emerging trough computer-mediated communications. Regarding nethnography Kozinets further states
that there are very few, if any, specific, procedural guidelines to take a researcher through the steps
necessary to conduct an ethnography of an online community or culture to present their work. (2010: 5)
The first section of this paper, called community analysis, will describe and analyze the community making
use of qualitative secondary data such as books, academic journals and online articles, as well as from 90
pages of comments from videos posted by 9 beauty gurus (Appendix 3). The second part of this paper will
analyze beauty gurus with a data sample of 9 beauty gurus and their last 10 most recent videos
(Appendix2), resulting in a total of 90 videos with a duration of 11 hours, 2 minutes and 39 seconds and as
well as the first comments page of the videos. Beauty guru profiles can be found in Appendix 3.
Furthermore, two successful case examples, Pantene and Aeropostale, will be included in which companies
and beauty gurus worked together. Pantene sponsored videos with three beauty gurus for their brand
channel. This playlist was compared along with another one in the brand channel with similar videos
without the beauty gurus in order to put results into context. The second company, Aeropostale, made a
new product line in collaboration with a beauty guru. The success of this campaign will be compared with
two other playlists with no associations with beauty gurus in Aeropostales brand channel. The case
examples include a sample data of 36 videos with a total duration of 2 hours, 14 minutes and 21 seconds
(Appendix 4). Finally this paper will discuss recommendations for marketers to engage with the community
based on these analyses.
1.4 Delimitations
This paper will not go into detail of viral marketing strategies although the final recommendations are
directed to marketers who wish to engage in viral marketing campaigns with the community and the
beauty gurus. This is due to lack of time, space and because viral marketing strategies depend at large on
the specific objectives a company has when engaging with the YouTube beauty community as well as
characteristics specific to their brand identity. Moreover this paper will not draw conclusions on any
specific product category or company in the beauty industry but rather the focus of the analysis will be in
the YouTube beauty community and the beauty gurus upon which generalized recommendations will be
given.
An additional limitation was lack of a variety of qualitative data. According to Seraj (2012: 212) Using a
variety of methods is crucial for qualitative studies including netnography. Qualitative data in the form of
interviews with the beauty gurus was initially intended to be used as a part of this paper; however they
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were unable to be attained. Furthermore, researchers interested on this topic would greatly add insights by
interviewing beauty gurus.
2. YouTube
YouTube is a video sharing site where videos are watched and shared for free. YouTube was founded by
Chan Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim in February 2005 and in 2006 it was acquired by Google
(Appendix 5). Worldwide, YouTube has more than 1 billion unique visitors, more than 100 hours of
video are uploaded every minute and approximately 80% of YouTubes traffic comes from outside the
United States (Appendix 6). According to Alexa Rank, a web information company, YouTube is globally the
third most popular website after Google and Facebook. (Appendix 7)
In YouTube, videos are uploaded to the users channel, which can be customized. Videos can be set to be
private or public. Users can watch other users content and subscribe to their channels in order to get new
video update under my subscriptions section. Users can like, dislike and comment on a video, comment
on other comments as well as commenting in other users channels and send each other private messages.
YouTube is a content community (Smith 2012: 104) in which users share content generated by
themselves and consume it in a VOD-system (video on demand) (Simonsen 2011: 77). The content
generated by users is called user-generated content or UGC and it is defined by Kaplan as the various
forms of media content that are publicly available and created by end-users. (2010: 61), and it includes
text, photos, videos and power point presentations. (2009: 63) UGC in YouTube can be personal as well as
professional, thus according to Simonsen (2011: 51) there is a difference between ordinary users who are
merely publishers and the YouTube celebrities who now dominate the popular sphere of YouTube.
3. The YouTube Beauty Community

The YouTube beauty community consists mostly of female members, some of which are only subscribers
and some who are content creators and upload videos talking about beauty topics. The most common
videos are reviews about products, videos featuring recently purchased items (called hauls) and tutorials
(also sometimes called DIY, do it yourself) on make-up looks, hair styles, clothing, dcor and lifestyle
among others.
The community has an intricate social network, with social interpersonal ties being present among all type
of users, subscribers with followers, beauty gurus with other beauty gurus occasionally doing collaborative
videos and subscribers often subscribing to more than one beauty guru. This beauty community is
increasingly expanding; YouTube has currently 45,000 non-brand-affiliated beauty channels (Appendix 1-
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Pixability 2014: 8), content creators upload more than 75 hours of beauty related content in the platform
every day and views have increased from 300 million to 700 million from 2010 to 2013. (Appendix 1Pixability 2014: 2) It used to be a thing; now it's an industry. (Appendix 8)
4. Theoretical framework
4.1 The Community
4.1.1 Groundswell
The YouTube beauty community is embedded in the social media platform YouTube, which is a
Groundswell technology. The groundswell is a social trend (Bernoff and Li 2011: 9) in which people
connect, interact, collaborate, create, organize, share and consume content together. This movement
provides people with a platform to express themselves and share their voice, which united with the many
others in web 2.0, creates the groundswell movement.
4.1.2 Community markers theory
In order to categorize the YouTube beauty community as one, the community markers theory will be used
which states that three community markers should be present in the community: consciousness of kind,
shared rituals and tradition, and moral responsibility (Zaglia 2012: 217) According to Zaglia (2012: 219) a
community has consciousness of kind when they are aware that they belong in a community and they
separate themselves from outsiders. Members also feel a strong connections with one another and
consider they sort of know each other (Laroche 2012: 1757). Shared rituals and traditions are the
symbolic representation of common past experiences thus they communicate expectations of roles within
the community. Through this community marker the community develops their identity and a sense of
belonging working as a boundary spanning mechanism to distinguish between in-groups and out-groups.
(Zaglia 2012) (Laroche 2012) The third community marker is moral responsibility, through which members
communicate expectations of expected behavior, thus successfully integrating new members by
communicating what is accepted as right or wrong within the community. This community marker can be
formal when it is explicitly communicated by the administrators of the community or informal, emerging
from social interactions among members of the community making sure members comply with them.
(Zaglia 2012) (Laroche 2012) (Valck 2009) Moral responsibility is a `truth which emerges from social
interaction among members relating to social constructivism.
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4.1.3 Online consumer communities
The YouTube beauty community is an online community. Online communities occur when, according to
Kozinets (1999: 253) there are social aggregations that emerge from the net when enough people carry
on public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships
in cyber-space. These online communities create sub-cyber cultures which have their own language and
their own ways of creating and communicating meaning, they fulfill the human need of belonging and help
their members create a sense of self-identity. (Kozinets 2010) (Laroche 2012)
Online and offline communities share most characteristics, however online communities do differ from
traditional ones as interactions occur without the need of physical presence (Harwood 2009: 69). They are
joined by choice when members share a common interest (Mayfield 2008:5). When the interests lay in a
specific brand they are called brand communities, which are a special kind of consumer community
(Zaglia 2012: 216). Consumer communities revolve around the consumption of particular products or
activities. Harwood (2009: 69) Furthermore, consumer communities have a shared enthusiasm for and
knowledge of a specific consumption activity. (Solomon 2006: 354)
4.1.4 Three dimensional taxonomy of the online community space
The online community taxonomy is proposed by Plant (2004), in which online communities are categorized
based on three variables the degree of community regulation, the degree of community openness to
membership and the degree to which a community is involved in for-profit activities (Plant 2004: 57).
These three aspects in the YouTube beauty community will be further explored.
4.1.5 Reference group theory
A reference group is any person or group of people who significantly influences an individuals behavior.
(Valck 2009: 186) They can be either formal or informal, and according to Solomon marketers often focus
on formal reference groups because they are more easily accessible and identifiable (2006:350) However;
informal groups have a higher degree of influence in the individual. Reference groups can also be
categorized as informational, utilitarian, and value-expressive (Solomon 2006: 350). An individual will
seek out information from informational reference groups because they consider them experts, utilitarian
reference groups influence a consumers behavior because they are in their immediate surroundings and
will have expectations about how the individual should behave, and value-expressive reference groups
influence the consumer as the consumer is able to relate to this reference group, borrowing from their
identity and resulting in the idea that if individuals purchase the same brands as those in this group they
will be perceived by others in the same way. (Solomon 2006: 351) Furthermore, reference groups are more
relevant for some product categories than others (Salomon 2006 :358), as products that are not very
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complex, that are low in perceived risk and that can be tried prior to purchase are less susceptible to
personal influence. In order to assess if the YouTube beauty community acts as a reference group for its
members this theory will be employed.
4.2 Beauty Gurus

4.2.1 Two-step flow model-opinion leadership
This model uses opinion leadership which describes opinion leaders as people who tend to consume more
media output, discuss certain themes with others, and participate more in organizations than do others in
their immediate environment. (Windhal et al. 2009: 70) Many academics agree that these members are
considered experts by others in the community. (Kozinets, 1999) (Scaraboto et al, 2012) (Valck 2009)
(Windhal et al. 2009). There are three characteristics specific to opinion leaders; personification of values
(who one is), competence (what one knows) and strategic social location (whom one knows).
(Windhal et al. 2009: 71). Opinion leaders are often used in marketing campaigns as they have a greater
power of influence in others than the media is, in certain cases (Windhal et al 2009: 70) In order to asses if
beauty gurus are opinion leaders, this theory will be used.
4.2.2 Credibility
Credibility is defined by Pickton (2005: 56) as the degree to which communications are believed.
According to Mackiewicz credibility is essentially a two-part construct consisting of trustworthiness and
expertise (2010:7), however Pickton adds a third variable including attractiveness (2005: 58). Regarding
trust there are three components, institutional trust which results from legal agreements, characteristicbased trust based in how relatable the one person is to another and process-based trust which is based
on past experiences. (Pickton 2005: 59) Regarding expertise Mackiewicz (2010: 7-17) provides interesting
insights, stating some of the strategies trough which users communicate expertise when doing online
reviews such as: using past experiences; stating relevant roles; their qualifications; by using specialized
terminology; by relying in their reputation; by using narratives and by asserting non-expertise, which
results in trust since it implies the reviewer values honesty. Pickton (2005: 58) points that trustworthiness is
higher regarded by people as a variable for credibility; however, expertise is more likely to influence
product purchase. Attractiveness, the third variable of credibility relates to the celebritys image, which is
especially important as their identity should be compatible to that of the company. (Pickton 2005: 58)
Credibility is important in beauty guru endorsements because the success of the campaign will depend
greatly on it, thus these three variables will be further explored regarding beauty gurus.
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4.2.3 Motivational factors for content contribution
According to Bernoff and Li (2011:161) people help each other online because of good feeling from
altruism, validation, and belonging to a community. Cole et al. states that members provide content to the
community because they fulfill their needs for consuming entertainment and information, social
interaction, self-expression, and self- actualization. (2011:93) Tang et al. (2012:43) states than on YouTube
exposure, revenue sharing and reputation are the most common motivations for content creators,
however, content creators are also forward-looking, being motivated by future benefits their
involvement with the community might yield. These motivational factors in beauty gurus will be further
explored in order to understand the motivations beauty gurus have to collaborate with companies.
4.2.4 Measuring return of investment
According to Hoffman (2010: 42) the traditional ways to measure return of investment or ROI are reach and
frequency, though these should not be the only measure for success of a companys engagement in social
media. Instead, success should be measured by customer behavior or customer investments in the
communicative efforts of the company. Measuring this is difficult; however a starting point for measuring a
companys success in YouTube according to Hoffman (2010: 44) is by measuring brand awareness, brand
engagement and word of mouth. Brand awareness can be measured by number of videos, brand
engagement by number of comments and subscribers, and word of mouth by number of incoming links,
shares and likes. This concept will be employed in this paper in order to assess the success of Aeropostale
and Pantene when engaging with beauty gurus.
4.1 Viral marketing

Viral marketing occurs when a company includes its consumers to Promote a product or service to
prospective customers. (Kotler 2009: 130) According to Jason and Dempsey it typically starts with the
marketer creating some form of electronic content such as a video or a mini-site, the aim of which is usually
brand-building. (2010: 1000) Viral marketing has been recently a topic of interest for marketers as it
provides benefits of lower cost, higher credibility, faster diffusion, and better targeting of consumers.
(Liu-Thompkins 2012: 465) Viral marketing uses word-of-mouth to reach larger audiences. Online word of
mouth, eWoM, is defined by Broner (2010: 233) as any positive or negative statement by potential, actual
or former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and
institutions via the internet. According to Bernoff and Li (2011: 130) WoM works because Its believable,
its self-reinforcing, its self-spreading.
According to Meerman (Appendix 9-2008: 6) when doing viral marketing companies should listen
constantly to whats being said about you [companies]. Social media technologies do not make a brand
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viral; they merely allow consumers to tell others about good brands. Kozinets states that trough
engagement with these communities results are likely to be extremely informative to the types of
relationships consumer believe the organization is attempting to forge with them (1999: 258). Listening
can help companies create interesting and relevant content for the community to enjoy as audience
members more or less actively seek the content that seems to be the most gratifying (Windhal et al. 2009:
198)
Hinz et al. (2011: 55-56) argues that viral marketing success depends on content, the social network, how
and why are people motivated to share and the seeding strategy. Seeding is placing, posting and
promoting the campaign material. (Kotler 2009:130) According to Hinz et al. (2011:56) seeding strategies
can make use of three types of people, hubs, fringes and bridges. Hubs are socially strategically
positioned, fringes have few connections to others and bridges have links to different types of groups
which would otherwise not be connected. He recommends hubs to be used as initial seeds if they hope to
generate awareness or encourage transactions (Hinz et al. 2011:69) as these people have the capability of
greater reach.
5. Community analysis
5.1 Community markers
In order to categorize a community as such, three community markers must be present, consciousness of
kind, shared rituals and traditions and moral responsibility. In the YouTube beauty community
consciousness of kind can be found as they categorize themselves under the same group referring to each
other as Beauty gurus or Beauty vloggers. These beauty youtubers maintain close relationships with
each other and users acknowledge this in the comments, being either because they are relatives
(appendices 10, 11) or close friends (appendix 12). These social ties can also be seen when they support
each other by commenting in each others videos (appendix 13) or by asking each other to watch each
other videos (appendix 14). These social ties are seen especially through the collaborative videos they do
with one another (appendix 3) where in many they refer to one another as friends.
Share rituals and traditions are present in the YouTube beauty community in videos like Things beauty
gurus say (appendix 15), where they mention similarities shared throughout the community and trough
which they acknowledge differences between in and out groups. Some examples of these rituals and
traditions are the widespread love for scented candles, starting the video with hi guys!, asking for viewers
to comment, like and subscribe in order to enter a giveaway (videos in which they give away products) or
doing a disclaimer at the beginning of some videos (stating they do not intend to offend anyone in videos
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in which they show their belongings, like a collection of makeup, shoes, etc.). Likewise, members of the
community communicate their belonging to the group by using specialized terminology (appendix 3) to the
community which has been socially constructed relating to social constructionism.
Furthermore there are four events which have become a tradition for the community to attend, which
unites and reassures individuals of their belonging to the group. The beauty guru community is an online
community, however they also gather offline. The first event to which the YouTube beauty community
attends is VidCon. This event is intended for the YouTube community in general, where content creators
and viewers meet. It is an annual conference or convention (Appendix 16) for people who love online
video (Appendix 17) and 2014 will mark the 5th consecutive year for the event, which was originally
created by youtubers Hank and John Green. The second event is Playlist Live, which is an event created in
2011 by District Lines, an online shop for video creators (Appendix 18), where content creators of YouTube
and viewers also meet. Besides these events, it is also a tradition for beauty youtubers to do meet-ups
where they publicly do an appearance and meet their fans. (Appendix 19)
The third event is IMATS, which is the
make-up worlds largest gathering
(Appendix 20). This event is a specific
tradition for the beauty community;
however it is for make-up professionals
and enthusiasts in general and not for
content creators. When searched on
YouTube, most search results are videos of the beauty youtubers talking about their experience of IMATS,
the products they got from IMATS or showing the outfits they chose to wear to the event among other kind
of videos. (Appendix 21) The fourth and most relevant event for the community is BeautyCon. This event
has taken place already in Los Angeles and London (Appendix 22), and will take place for the first time the
24th of May in New York. It is for The Internets most popular beauty Icons (Appendix 23). This event
originated from the need for an event for the YouTube beauty community specifically, to gather and discuss
the future of the industry, as well as meet their audience.
Moral responsibility is presented in the YouTube community through an official code of conduct called
community guidelines (Appendix 24), where YouTube states the rules of behavior expected to be followed
by any user of the platform. Specific to this beauty community there are unofficial codes of behavior
expected from users communicated in videos such as my perfect imperfections videos (Appendix 25)
where youtubers acknowledge their responsibility in sending a positive message to young girls that they
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should not always look perfect. Furthermore in the comments, users address issues affecting the
community, such as trustworthiness of a youtubers being affected by sponsored videos (Appendix 26) and
exposing cyberbullying when it happens and regarding it as bad (Appendix 27). As the three community
markers are present, the beauty YouTube community can be categorized as a community.
5.2 Online consumer communities

Online communities gather as a result of a common interest. In this particular community the topic of
interest is centered heavily in consumer activities in beauty related products like makeup, clothe, nails, hair
care and toiletries. Different brands within these industries are featured in the same video, indicating that
the community interests lay in the industry as a whole rather than in a specific brand. Therefore this
community will not be categorized as a brand community but rather as a consumer community. A brand
community in YouTube would be found where there is a solid base of engaged followers for a brand
channel.
5.3 Three dimensional taxonomy of the online community space

In this taxonomy three variables are explored: openness, the degree of regulation and engagement in forprofit activities. Members of the YouTube beauty community need a YouTube account to comment, like a
video or add a video to a playlist.
To have a YouTube account, users are required to sign in trough a Google + account; Google networking
site, linking both of these sites together. Many users were dissatisfied that they required having a Google +
account in order to comment as some felt like they were being forced to join to boost the networking site
numbers (Appendix 28). According to Kozinets (2010: 25) anonymity is a characteristic aspect of online
communications; in this case however, anonymity has somewhat been hindered, as most users already had
a Google + account linked to their mail, which they linked to their YouTube channel. Accessibility to the site
is open to everyone; this results in members of the beauty community to vary considerably in their age,
socio-economic and gender. Although this is a community based mostly of female members, it also includes
males youtubers as Wayne Goss and transgender as Gregory Lazzarato.
Regarding regulations, corporations often fear content communities as they can illegally distribute
corporate content, manipulate it inappropriately or create new content using the brand name, all of which
can result in copyright infringement issues. This is a disadvantage for corporations as it out of their control.
According to Bernoff and Li (2011: 20) Blogs, user-generated video, and podcasts arent regulated, so
anything is possible. However, YouTube does have rules and regulations, although none is specific to the
beauty community.
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YouTube has community guidelines which are common-sense rules that will help you to steer clear of
trouble. (Appendix 24) They also have terms of service which form a legally binding agreement between
you and YouTube in relation to your use of the Service. (Appendix 29) Content creators in YouTube are
held accountable for copyright infringements and YouTube will remove illegal content, however YouTube
does not get involved in legal disputes of this type. YouTube has a program called Content ID which scans
content for copyright infringements and allows for content creators to automatically identify their
content and also dispute inaccurate matches done by the program. (Appendix 30) Furthermore there
are rules relevant for partners such as partner program policies, monetization basics and policies and
google AdSense program policies (Appendix 31).
In regards to profit, YouTube generates it through advertisement; it has currently three types of
advertisement, standard banner ads, in-stream video ads and in- video ads. Standard banner ads are ads
that appear in a box on the right side of the page of a video. They may run on YouTube's mobile,
connected TV, and game console properties, as well as the Google Video network and embedded YouTube
players. (Appendix 32) In-stream video ads resemble traditional television advertisement; they are short
videos which appear at the beginning, middle or end of the video. These ads range from 15 to 60 seconds
and some have a skip function which depends on the type of ad and video. (Appendix 33) In-Ads videos are
banner type ads which appear throughout the video and run on only Partner Watch pages. (Appendix 34)
Partner Watch pages are channels of users in the partnership programme.
Not all members of the community generate profit from YouTube; however beauty gurus do through the
partnership program in which YouTube shares advertising revenue with them. [content creators who are
partners] (Tang 2012:45) Though this program YouTube ensures revenue as it encourages viewers to go
back to the page regularly. These content creators are paid differently, depending on the amount of views,
subscriptions and high ratings their videos receive. (Simonsen 2011: 78) Aside from profit, this program
produces benefits for content creators as it allows paid subscriptions and for them to take advantage of
the variety of resources, features and programmes (Appendix 35). Content creators can also ensure
revenue through increased exposure by joining a MCN, multi-channel networks, which offer marketing,
sales, and sometimes even production support in exchange for a cut of the ad revenue. (Appendix 36)
However, some users were dissatisfied with them as they did not delivered what they offered. In October
30, 2013 YouTube decided to take part in the disputes between content creators and the MCNs and
demanded from them to implement initiatives that will require networks to provide more transparency
about their value proposition to both YouTube and their creators. (Appendix 37) Some MCNs joined by
beauty gurus include Polished, AwesomnessTv, Fawn and Stylehaul.
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Furthermore, content creators generate revenue through sponsored videos and collaborations with
companies. Out of the community sample, eight out of nine beauty gurus had mails specific for business
enquiries. (Appendix 3) Some of these sponsored videos take the format of product reviews, challenge
videos, giveaways for viewers or promoting discounted links. Beauty gurus often include direct links to the
products they have featured in their videos or to the corporate webpage of the brand they are talking
about. (Appendix 3) These links are tracking links, which measure the amount of traffic to the webpage
trough that link, or affiliated links, for which the company pays a certain amount to the youtuber
depending on the amount of traffic created from that link. These links are placed in the about section and
are used as a tool for companies to encourage immediate product purchase. As brands themselves beauty
youtubers can also produce profits from selling their own merchandise. Some of these online stores are
disctrictlines.com, forhumanpeoples.com, dftba.com and shopglitzyglam.com.
5.5 Reference group theory

The YouTube beauty community acts as an informal reference group derived from members wish of
belonging rather than imposed membership. The community acts as a powerful reference group because it
has informational, utilitarian and self-expressive influence in its members. It has informational influence in
its members as they seek out for the opinions of the beauty gurus on products. (Appendix 38). Utilitarian
influence is present as members purchase intentions are influenced based on the preferences of the
beauty youtubers (Appendices 39-40) complying with expected behavior, although this reference group is
not in the immediate environment of individuals. Furthermore, beauty youtubers have a self-expressive
influence in their members as they report their purchases back to community in order to be regarded as
similar to the beauty gurus and borrow from their identity. (Appendices 41-42)
6. Beauty gurus analysis

Beauty gurus constantly supply content which maintains the community thriving as it needs constant new
content to create traffic and be self-sustainable. (Bernoff & Li 2011: 37) Beauty gurus are becoming
increasingly important, reaching celebrity status; On any given night or day or two, the top ten youtubers
will have more views than any cable channel (Morissey 2010: 10).
6.1 Opinion leaders

Opinion leadership is present when three variables are met, a high personification of values, competence
and strategic social location. (Windhal et al. 2009: 71). Beauty gurus express their values though their
videos. One example is Michelle Phan who did a charity video Remember The Girl to bring awareness for
a cause she is engaged with and How to look like a bad girl encouraging her viewers to be empowered
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women (Appendix 3). Meredith Foster did a video What I do on V-Day: Spa Night essentials + Homemade
treats (Appendix 3) in which she communicated that being single in valentines day is acceptable, sending
a positive message to her young viewers. Likewise, Bethany Mota did a video Easy & Unique DIY T shirts
for Spring Break!! (Appendix 3) where the message that repurposing old clothe is just as good and fun as
buying new ones. These are some examples of values the community shares and through which the beauty
gurus express themselves. Beauty youtubers are a brand and as such they portrayed themselves in a
positive light, resulting in viewers aspiring to be like them. Aside from videos beauty gurus express who
they are though their other social media platforms, which allows them to constantly communicate and
engage with their viewers. All youtubers analyzed in this paper where present in other social media sites,
and provided links to them in the information boxes underneath their videos. (Appendix 3) The beauty
gurus analyzed in this paper mentioned and gave their opinions on brands in 84.4% of their videos, in which
they were highly expressive towards their opinions on what constituted desired traits for the purchase and
consumption of these items, highly communicating their values on the topic. (Appendix 3)
Beauty youtubers are regarded as competent by their viewers because of the constant engagement they
have with the community and the consumption activity, most of them posting a video once or twice a
week. Furthermore, all of the beauty gurus analyzed in this paper are YouTube partners, which add to their
perceived competence. Competence is closely related to credibility, an important aspect for beauty
youtubers, which will be further developed in a separate section.
Beauty youtubers are as well considered to have a strategic social location. According to (Appendix 1Pixability 2014: 2) the top 15 beauty youtuber average a 2.1 million subscribers. The nine beauty
youtubers analyzed in this paper ranged from a minimum of 330,338 of Sonia Castaneda to as many as
5,850,300 by Bethany Mota and 6,038,565 by Michelle Phan. (Appendix 3) Beauty youtubers are placed in a
strategic social location because of the opportunities they have to expand their audience as the community
is embedded in a social media platform with a high flow of users. Furthermore, beauty gurus videos can be
share to other social media platforms which allow them to increase their audience. Furthermore the
partnership program allows them to be part of the Fan Finder program (Appendix 43) to make a channel
advertisement as Elle Fowler recently did (Appendix 3) Additionally, another strategy beauty gurus employ
to expand their subscription base is to do collaborations with other youtubers to gain exposure to new
audiences. This was a particular strategy employed by Zoe Sugg as three out of her ten more recent videos
where made in collaboration with other youtubers (Appendix 3).
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6.2 Credibility
In order to assess the credibility of beauty gurus three variables will be explored: attractiveness,
trustworthiness and expertise. Attractiveness is present in beauty gurus whom seek physical attractiveness
through the purchase and usage of beauty items, furthermore their videos communicate this with videos
for healthy eating and exercise like Elle Fowlers video Glit Fit High-Protein snacks + Fitness Favourites
and Ingrid Nilsen who did a series called Ingrid Dishes she made for POPSUGARGirlsGuide chanel. (
Appendix 44) Aattractiveness of character is also present in beauty gurus, as they communicate positive
values through, for example motivational videos (aforementioned in the opinion leadership section) which
reflect in their attractiveness as role models.
Regarding trustworthiness, beauty gurus create a close relationship with their viewers by looking directly
to the camera and addressing them directly, although at time voice-overs or text-overs were used, the
communicative style resembled that of a conversation. Furthermore, beauty gurus share many of their
personal experiences through their videos. In some type of videos, viewers have the opportunity to know
get to know beauty gurus in a more personal level. There are vlog videos, which are video blogs in which a
beauty youtuber shares personal moments of their life, usually posted in a second vlog channel. Out of the
nine beauty gurus analyzed in this paper, eight had a second vlog channel. (Appendix 3) There are Q&A
videos, which stand for questions and answers or Draw my life a popular type of video, done recently by
Fleur Bell, where she explained her life and shared personal memories with her viewers, or TMI Tag!
videos, (too much information) done recently by Ingrid Nilsen. (Appendix 3) In these videos beauty gurus
share personal information, sending a message of transparency and honesty. The commonality across the
successful beauty creators is that they are honest, authentic, and easy-to-understand, (Appendix 36) Some
examples are Bethany Mota who was bullied in her young teenage years (Appendix 8) and Michelle Phan
who grew up in a family of scarce resources and her dad abandoning the family, resulting in her being
affected by it which she explains in her Draw my life video. These are common problems young girls face
which are difficult for them to deal with and beauty gurus sharing this makes them relatable. Furthermore,
beauty gurus include several brands in their videos, resembling real consumers who purchase more than
one brand in each product category, making them relatable to the average consumer and implying that
their opinions are unbiased. Thus beauty gurus have characteristics-based trust, one of the components of
trust, as they are normal relatable girls with whom their viewers can identify.
Regarding expertise, the term beauty guru directly expresses expertise as a guru is someone
knowledgeable in a certain topic. Beauty gurus communicate expertise in part based on their reputations,
brand image, number of subscribers and level of engagement with the community. This is because
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according to Simonsen (2011:78) a discrepancy exists within UGC, with some beauty youtubers being
more popular than others. This, results in smaller sub-groups within this community based in their
popularity as a contributors values relative rank among contributors with similar status more than relative
rank among all contributors, and so do members of the community, attributing different levels of
expertise accordingly. Beauty gurus also use specialized terminology to communicate expertise, for
example referring to product ingredients, and past experience to assert expertise in those videos where
they review products. Beauty gurus constantly upload these type of videos, in videos such as hauls
(where they showcase what products they have recently purchased), products I regret buying videos and
empties (where they showcase products that have used up entirely) and monthly favorites videos
(where they showcase their favorite products of the month) (Appendix 3). Furthermore viewers ask beauty
gurus for their opinions and some beauty gurus even ask others to subscribe to their channel as a way of
adding to their own credibility. (Appendix 45)
6.3 Motivational factors for content contribution

Beauty gurus feel a strong sense of belonging towards the community. As users become aware of the social
and informational benefits the community offers them they get a sense of responsibility towards it called
the norm of reciprocity (Zaglia 2012: 216) which motivates them to contribute. Furthermore, they have a
passion for beauty; however as aforementioned, beauty youtubers do create profit through the
community, and this is as well a motivational factor. Some beauty gurus earn enough so that they are
producing videos for YouTube as their main profession. (Simonsen 2011: 80) All of the beauty gurus
analyzed in this paper are youtubers as their main profession, although some have also other source of
income as Bethany Mota who has a clothing line with Aeropostale or Michelle Phan who has her own
cosmetics line E.M. cosmetics.
However, Most successful beauty haulers didnt start out with ad revenue on their mind they started
posting content because they were crazy about makeup or skincare, and wanted to connect with others
who felt the same. (Appendix 36) From the nine beauty gurus analyzed in paper none was found to have
joined the community specifically because of the financial benefits. Some were already interested in beauty
topics before joining the community, like Bethany Mota (Appendix 46) who was passionate about make-up,
and Michelle Phan (2013) who was interested in make-up as a form of art before joining the community.
6.4 Case examples

This section will discuss two example cases of viral marketing campaigns made with beauty gurus. The
success of these viral marketing campaigns will be assessed using the tool for measuring return of
investment proposed by Hoffman (2010). Amount of views will serve as a measure for brand awareness,
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likes and dislikes as a measure for brand engagement, and likes as a measure of word-of-mouth. However,
in both cases YouTube statistics were made unavailable by the brand channels, therefore video based
subscriptions, which are the amount of subscriptions that occur while watching a video and shares, was
data that could not be gathered and analyzed. The data upon which these cases were analyzed can be
found in Appendix 4. These two cases proved to be greatly successful, and a discussion on them will be
included in the section discussion.
6.4.1 Pantene
Pantene is a hair brand part of a parent company Procter & Gamble. Pantene is present in YouTube with a
brand channel. They sponsored three beauty gurus to make tutorial videos with their brand products.
These videos were placed in a playlist called Sccastaneda allthatglitters21 itsMyRayeRaye | Pantene
Gurus (Appendix 4) with three beauty youtubers; Allthatglitters21, itsmyrayeraye and sccastaneda. The
profiles of these three beauty gurus can be found in (Appendix 3). In order to place this playlist into context
it was compared with the results of another playlist in the channel, called Hairstyles: How to & Tutorial
videos by Pantene, where hair tutorials were made by Pantene. Only ten videos of each playlist were
analyzed. Both playlists were uploaded within a close time frame, January, February and March of 2014.
The lengths of the videos were similar as well as the format of the videos of which, most where tutorials.
The Pantene Gurus playlist had a total of
494863 views whereas the playlist of Hair
Trends delivered a total of 57656. The playlist
with the beauty gurus garnered 8.5 times more
brand awareness than the one which did not
include them. There were some videos which
had more views, namely those with Sonia
Castaneda. The beauty guru playlist had higher
600000
500000
400000
Pantene Gurus
300000
Pantene
hiarstyles
200000
100000
0
Views
results in brand engagement and word of mouth

as well with the beauty gurus had 6.9 times more comments and 6.2 times more likes and dislikes than the
one of Hair trends had. (Appendix 51)
Furthermore Pantene also made some sponsored videos with the three YouTube beauty gurus posted in
the channel of the beauty youtubers, as series called Pantene Hairemergency which consisted of a series
of challenges in the form of hair tutorials (Appendix 47). These videos were successful in terms of band
awareness as they had considerable amounts of views. There were slight differences in the reactions of
viewers towards sponsored posted in the beauty gurus channel, which had slight negative reactions, as
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opposed to the sponsored videos posted in the brand channel which had generally positive reactions. This
can be due to viewers concern that the trustworthiness of beauty gurus opinions where hindered as they
were being paid, however such a concern was not present when beauty gurus did sponsorships in the
brand channel.
6.4.2 Aeropostale
The second case that was analyzed in this paper was that of Aeropostale, an American clothing brand that
did a collaboration with Bethanny Mota. Her profile can be found in (Appendix 3) When Aeropostale first
reached out to Bethany it was clear she was looking for a long-term relationship, which is in accordance to
beauty gurus motivations of being forward looking (Tang et al. 2012:43). They started with a section of
Bethanys favorites in the Aeropostale webpage as well as by doing meet-ups with her fans, of which the
first one took place in the Aeropostale Times Square store which gathered 1500 Bethany Mota fans. After
the meet-ups Aeropostale signed a license agreement for a winter clothing and accessories line with
Bethany which launched in December 8th. (Appendix 48) After lunching the clothing line they made a
nationwide tour called the Motavatour which attracts many of her fans who want to meet her and buy her
clothe. (Appendix 8) Along with it they did a social media campaign which consisted on encouraging fans to
engage with social media like re-twitting with #moremotta (Appendix 49) so that Aeropostale would
unlock and show her fans clothing items before the clothing line came out. Aeropostale benefited from
learning to engage with their consumers in social media platforms from Bethany. She promoted her
clothing line in YouTube where she has 5.9 million subscribers, twitter in which she has 1.4 million followers
and Instagram in which she has 2.7 million followers, social media platforms in which Bethany is not only
popular but also very engaged. The Instagram photos in which she features an item from her clothing line
usually generated 300.000 likes within some days. (Appendix 50) "I look at the photos I'm tagged in
on Instagram, especially the 'Photos of You' section. I'm always going through that, liking photos, following
peopleand I'm always on Twitter too." (Appendix 36).
Aeropostle had been struggling financially as they had difficulties reaching and connecting with their
customers, therefore this collaboration was ideal. (Appendix 51) As the Executive Vice President of
Aeropostale stated "She has a keen eye for fashion, is a social media phenomenon, and is a wonderful role
model. She connects with the teen girl and has been an Aeropostale customer herself for years. With that
in mind, she is a natural fit for the brand." (Appendix 48) Bethany Mota is good at connecting with her
audience because she herself fits into the demographic of her audience, and her opinions are credible as
she vary rarely features products gifted to her or which were sponsored. Her enthusiasm is utterly
genuine, and therefore more valuable. (Appendix 49) Aeropostale collaboration with Bethany did not
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hinder her credibility as the collaboration between them was not one in which her name was used for
advertisement; rather she was engaged in the planning process of the clothing line, using her knowledge
about what Aeropostales consumers wanted. Aeropostale also garnered free publicity as many paper
wrote about a collaboration which is still a first of its kind. Such was the success of the relationship a new
clothing line is expected for every season this year, with the second line for spring already out.
Aside from the success of the clothing line and in other social media platforms, Aeropostale has a very
popular playlist in their brand channel about Bethany Mota clothing line. In order to analyze the success of
this playlist, it was compared
12000000
against two others and of the

three
playlists
that
were
10000000
analyzed, a maximum of 10
videos were used as samples.
8000000
The playlist promoting Bethany

Mota clothing line is called
Bethany Mota, the second
Bethanny Mota
6000000
Pretty Little Liars

Declare your denim
4000000
playlist, called Pretty little liars

by
Aeropostale
collection
2000000
promotes the clothing line they

did in collaboration with Pretty
0
Views
Little Liars which is a television

show, and the third playlist called Declare your denim promote Aeropostales denim collection.
(Appendix 4) Declare your denim had approx. 12.000 views, whereas the playlist made in collaboration
with pretty little liars had approx. 106.000 views, and the playlist which promoted Bethany clothing line had
a staggering approx. of 10.742.000 views. (Appendix 51) Using Hoffmans (2010) measures of return in
investment it can be concluded that in brand engagement the playlist of Bethany did significantly better
than the others with 262 times more comments than the playlist promoting the clothing line with Pretty
Little Liars and 1921 times more comments than the playlist promoting Aeropostales Denim. (Appendix 52)
It can be argued that the success of the playlist is a result of the youtuber being a native in the platform in
which most of her followers are. However, it is to be taken into consideration the format of the videos
where very similar among the three playlists resembling television advertisement type videos, which are
not generally well received by the YouTube audience. The duration of the videos where also very similar in
duration with videos in the Declare your denim playlist averaging 20 seconds and videos in the other two
playlists 30 seconds. (Appendix 52)
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7. Discussion
This section will provide recommendations on how companies can best engage with the community.
Marketers must keep in mind that beauty on YouTube is a community, as such, members have a need of
belonging towards it and need for recognition from other members. Marketers can use this by indirectly
making references to relating their brand to values and behavioral expectations set by the community.
Rituals and traditions can be used by sending the message that this behaviour will reinforce users status as
an in-group of the community. Events and meet-ups are important because they present the opportunity
for marketing campaigns to be done both online and offline as Aeropostale did. Marketers have the
opportunity to sponsor events as BeautyCon to create brand associations with the community as well as to
meet and engage with large amounts of their consumers at once. Shared moral responsibilities can be used
in the advantages of marketers by creating campaigns alongside the community about corporate social
responsibility campaigns of topics which the community is passionate about, like cyberbullying.
The YouTube beauty community is a consumer community, thus companies should not expect exclusive
relationships with the beauty gurus, and understand that their competitors will as well have a possibility of
benefiting from engagement with them. Therefore it should not be a share of voice competition in the
community; rather it is about quality of relationships brands have with their customers.
The YouTube beauty community is an open, regulated and for-profit community. As a result anyone can
access the community and marketers have no control over the type of users that might be part of the
community, as opposed to corporate-based brand communities in which membership availability can be
denied by the company if the case so required. Marketers do not have control, there are certain rules and
regulations in YouTube which should be followed by members as well as marketers. Expected behavior of
the community, which is constantly defined and re-defined by members also applies to companies.
YouTube is a for-profit community therefore beauty gurus are already familiar with business environments,
as them having business mails specific for business enquires indicate. Therefore, they should be
approached as reliable business partners rather than simple customers.
Beauty Gurus position as reference groups and the extent they influence their followers adds to their
importance. Their informational, utilitarian and value-expressive influence in members presents
opportunities for marketers. Often the informational influence is the most used by marketers when aiming
for positive product reviews which focus mainly in product attributes; however the utilitarian and valueexpressive influence can be much stronger as they can be used to improve brand image by finding points of
commonality between the brand identity and the identity proposed by the community as desirable.
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Furthermore, reference groups work particularly well for beauty products because these are products that
need to be used and tested before-hand in order to know how effective they are.
Beauty gurus are very different in their styles, personalities, ages, socio-economic status and so on; they
are brand themselves and have a brand identity. When working with beauty gurus the beauty guru brand
identity and that of the company should be compatible. Beauty gurus have a strategic social positioning in
YouTube, through which marketers can reach large amounts of consumers. Credibility for beauty gurus is
important, therefore sponsored product reviews are less recommendable than videos in which associations
are made towards the brand. Companies often send free products to beauty gurus in the hope they will get
reviewed, one alternative strategy was done by Benefit Cosmetics (Appendix 53) in which they invited a
selected group of beauty bloggers to become Benefit Ambassadors, to spend a day in their headquarters, a
day full of activities and free products, an event which proved to be successful as beauty gurus felt they
could relate to the brand identity, which translated to their videos and viewers. Beauty gurus have a strong
presence in other social media sites which marketers can also use in multi-platform viral campaigns.
Furthermore, they can provide insights for marketers in how to best engage with their consumers, as
Bethany Mota did for Aeropostale.
Beauty gurus credibility is one of their value propositions, formed through the beauty gurus relaxed
demeanor which makes them seem honest and relatable. Marketers should not interfere with this; rather
they should use these characteristics to their advantage, allowing the beauty guru to be themselves, as
opposed to a scripted and formal traditional video. Beauty gurus credibility is increased when companies
consider them reliable business partners, as Aeropostale did, validating the beauty guru expertise which
can be a motivational factor for beauty gurus to work with brands. Likewise, if the brand identity appeals to
the beauty guru this can be used as a motivational factor for collaboration, as corporate brand identity also
adds to that of the beauty guru. Beauty gurus contribute feel a responsibility towards the community,
however the same feeling is not present towards beauty brands, therefore profitability is an important
motivational factor.
The analysis of success of word of mouth from both cases was limited by unavailable data. When
attempting to analyze word of mouth in the beauty community in general, only the number of shares per
video was available, however the information on how many of those views came as a result from those
shares was also unavailable. This is important because as beauty gurus have great amount of followers,
their shares can result in many views.
Pantene use of beauty gurus was successful as the power of word of mouth from beauty youtubers was
utilized in attracting viewers to the brand channel, resulting in exposure and brand awareness building. The
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videos Pantene made with the beauty gurus were hair tutorials in which Pantene products were featured
which is a more subtle sponsored video than a paid product review. Furthermore, in the videos they made
in the beauty gurus channels they were called challenges instead of hair tutorials to make product featuring
more subtle and protect trustworthiness.
Aeropostale understood the power of the YouTube beauty community, they were able to listen and learn
from Bethany Mota in usage of social media to connect with their customers. Bethany Mota co-designed
the product line with Aeropostale resulting in them gaining insights into what their customers want from
the brand. Aeropostale was able to increase their sales, but perhaps more interestingly was able to restore
their image by borrowing from Bethany Motas identity, making the brand relatable to young teenage girls.
This is one of the mayor insights provided by this case example, as brand image, rather than product
reviews yield greater and more long-lasting benefits.
8. Conclusion
The YouTube beauty community was found to have several characteristics in their value proposition
towards marketers. The community acts as a reference group, thus members of this community have a
need for belonging which they fulfill by complying with the expected and desirable behaviors set by the
community. Points of commonality between these set of desired behaviors and the brand identity can be
added in viral marketing campaigns to create, by association the idea that buying the brand will validate
their membership to the community. Furthermore, reference groups are ideal for beauty products because
they reduce perceived risk by consumers as these products cannot be tested.
The community has a history of traditions of meeting offline, trough events and meet-ups between beauty
gurus and followers, allowing marketers to engage in an integrated marketing campaign including viral
marketing campaigns as well as more traditional ways of offline marketing. The community is embedded in
YouTube, therefore the community is open to all type of users and rules and regulations are out of the
marketers control therefore some unexpected outcomes can be anticipated when engaging with the
community. Furthermore beauty gurus are to some extent motivated by profit, as the they earn a
substantial amount through views and subscriptions.
Other value propositions include listening to the community to learn from best- practices from beauty
gurus engagement with their followers and downsizing the great volumes of online information by
listening to their consumers through the beauty gurus. Companies can as well borrow from beauty gurus
identity and the positive perceptions followers have towards them as they are perceived knowledgeable in
beauty topics and are highly relatable to viewers being normal young women with a camera. However, they
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have an immense leverage in their followers opinions, influencing brand image and changing their
purchase intentions. Beauty gurus can offer credibility to companies as their trustworthiness can be
transferred by association to brands. Additionally, by regarding them as business partners companies
validate beauty gurus and add to their credibility.
Beauty gurus position as opinion leaders, their large amounts of followers and the strong influence they
have in their followers can be used in marketing campaigns for seeding strategies include other value
propositions beauty gurus have to offer in order to increase probabilities of success. I think the YouTube
beauty community will continue to increase and with it, its power of influence and reach. It will be
interesting to see the future the alternative ways companies and beauty gurus will engage and create
relationships.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
Pixability (2014) Beauty on YouTube: How YouTube is radically transforming the beauty
industry and what that means for brands. [online] Available at: http://www.pixability.com/industrystudies/beautystudy/ [Accessed: 29 April 2014]
Appendix 2
Beauty Gurus videos and comments-usb
Appendix 3
Field Notes Date: 01-04-2014
Bethanny Mota
YouTube name: Bethany Mota
Subscribers: 5,850,300
Total views: 433,325,592
Videos:388
https://www.youtube.com/user/Macbarbie07
10 most recent videos:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Easy & Unique DIY T shirts for Spring Break!!

DIY Room Organization/ Spring Cleaning + Decor!
Date Outfit Ideas + NO heat curls overnight!
Tour Bus/Room Tour! + Giveaway
January Favorites 2014!! + Going on TOUR?!?
Valentine's Day Treats & DIY Gift Ideas!
Running Late For School Quick Hair fixes, Makeup, & Outfit Ideas!
Clothing Haul: F21, Topshop, Aero, Love Culture
DIY Room Decorations for Valentine's Day & more!
What's in my purse??? 2014 + Win my purse essentials!
Brand
mentio
Video Duration Views
ned
Type of video
tutorial and giveaway of t-shirts she made for her fans to have
1 00:10:27
2155355 yes
the same as her
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2 00:08:31
3 00:08:57
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Total
00:09:45
00:09:52
00:10:34
00:07:58
00:07:34
00:10:47
00:07:32
1:31:57
2644920 yes
2355238 yes
2857115
2389280
3043639
3587844
2012328
2442088
2310384
25798191
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
10 yes
DIY room decor + giveaway

OOTD ? Bloopers, which makes her relatable
tour of her bus room in the tour she is doing with aeropostale,
thus indirectly promoting them
monthly favourites + giveaway + showing her add for aeropostale
DIY decor + food + bloopers
hair tutorial + bloopers
haul
DIY decor + bloopers
showcasing what is in her purse + giveaways
Notes:
Calls for action for likes, and comments

She engages her viewers by asking them questions at the end of the video
Does giveaways very often
Does many DIY which are financially accessible for her viewers
Her videos look more professional than others
Does a lot of seasonal videos
Has links to her other social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, Kik, Vine, Thumbler and Twitter
in the informations bar below.
She specifies if it is or not sponsored video
She addresses her viewers in the information box
Has second vlog channel called BathanysLife
Has a business mail.
Elle Fowler
YouTube name: allthatglitters21
Subscriptions: 1,222,721
Views: 157,553,610
Videos: 437
https://www.youtube.com/user/AllThatGlitters21
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Bohemian waves + outfit.

Welcome to AllThatGlitters21!
Birchbox vs Ipsy with JuicyStar07! March 2014
Spring Haul Fashion, Candles and More! + Giveaway
February Favorites 2014!
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6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Glit Fit High-Protein snacks + Fitness Favourites

3 Homemade Beauty Treatments Valentines Day Recycle!
January Favorites 2014!
Closet Tour!!
House to Home Condo organization + Dcor
1 00:03:16
86054
2 00:00:44
3 00:10:27
4 00:12:16
115700
217466
258744
5 00:11:22
198668
6 00:04:54
7 00:04:09
8 00:13:43
191902
221972
199363
9 00:21:13
10 00:10:09
Total
01:32:13
258859
321877
Brand
mentioned Type of video
Hair tutorial + outfit of the day, promotes at the end a series
they are making with a channel called I love makeup, which is
yes
channel doing collaborations with a lot of youtubers.
Channel advertisement, youtube has recently implemented this
no
option.
yes
unbox video of two subscription services IPSY and birchbox
yes
Haul of different stores with a giveaway
Favorites type of video, including promoting luvocracy a web
yes
page
Lifestyle video about working out, promotes Fabletics nd has a
yes
related link in the info bar and bout another fitness blog
no
DIY Beauty treatments, text over video.
yes
Favorite video, used affiliate links
Tour video/ organization video. Mentions several partnerships
yes
she had in the past.
yes
Tour video, organization and home decor video
8 yes 2 no
Notes
The second video she has is a channel ad. More information on what this is should be given.
Has a mail specific for business enquires.
She has links to her blog and all of her other social media sites.
She has links in her about information box to other videos she has done previously
In the about information box sometimes she has affiliated links, and sometimes she comments on
how none of the links are affiliated links.
In her information box she always has links to the product lines she has collaborated with like their
cellaris phone cases or her own store glitzyglam.
Sometimes will mention what is the name of the song featured in the video.
If it is a DIY video she will include the steps.
Has her own beauty blog and a lifestyle blog, has also her own online shop and is in twitter,
facebook, instagram, thumbler, pose, luvocrazy, pinterest.
Has a second vlog channel called EllesGlitterGossip
Fleur Bell
YouTube name: FleurdeForce
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Views: 77,364,392
Videos:388
https://www.youtube.com/user/FleurDeForce
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Video
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
total
Notes:
March Favourites 2014!

Disappointing Products No. 4
What's in My Handbag? March 2014
HUGE Beauty Haul! NYX, Feelunique, SpaceNK
Draw My Life - FleurDeForce
The Beauty Scenario Tag!
My Jewellery Collection & Storage
Top 10 Under 10: BLUSH!
February Favourites!
Beauty & Fashion Haul: Boots, Zara & Primark!
Duration Views
00:13 135347
00:12 208464
00:08:49 231827
00:14:54 209485
00:13:07 334258
00:09:21 188734
00:13:11 141563
00:09:59 172486
00:12:57 247753
00:12:46 272729
02:01:34 2142646
Brand Mentioned
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
10 yes
Type of video
favourites video
showcasing products she dislikes
showing the contents of her bag
a "haul" video
tag video draw my life
tag video of questions
showcasing a collection
showcasing good but affordable products
favourites of the month
"haul"
Addresses directly her viewers

Has listed the product she features in the information box with links in some of her videos
Has her other social media sites listed in the information box
Includes what she is wearing in the information box
Has a a shop, twitter, blog, Facebook and Instagram.
Has a mail specific to be contacted by businesses.
Has a disclaimer when her videos are not sponsored.
Has affiliated links sometimes in her information box.
Sometimes asks her viewers for their opinions on what they would like to watch next.
Has sometimes an annotation linked to her previous video to aid the viewers navigation.
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Has a second vlog channel called FleurdeVlog and a bridal channel called BridedeForce
Ingrid Nilsen
YouTube name: Miss Glamarozi
Subscriptions: 2499911
Views: 165495204
Videos: 380
https://www.youtube.com/user/missglamorazzi
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Video
Ingrids Apartment Tour

March Favourites2014!
Whats in my suitcase? + Packing Tips
My Travel Bag Essentials!
Spring Makeup, Hair + Outfit Inspiration!
February Favorites 2014!
Spring Haul 2014 Fashion, Beauty and More!
TMI Tag!
Airplane Makeup + Travel Outfit Ideas!
Duration Views
Brand
mentioned
1 00:03:16
86054 yes
2 00:00:44
115700 no
3 00:10:27
4 00:12:16
217466 yes
258744 yes
5 00:11:22
198668 yes
6 00:04:54
7 00:04:09
8 00:13:43
191902 yes
221972 no
199363 yes
9 00:21:13
10 00:10:09
Total
01:32:13
258859 yes
321877 yes
8 yes 2 no
Type of video
Hair tutorial + outfit of the day, promotes at the
end a series they are making with a channel called I
love makeup, which is channel doing collaborations
with a lot of youtubers.
Channel advertisement, youtube has recently
implemented this option.
unbox video of two subscription services IPSY and
birchbox
Haul of different stores with a giveaway
Favorites type of video, including promoting
luvocracy a web page
Lifestyle video about working out, promotes
Fabletics and has a related link in the info bar and
bout another fitness blog
DIY Beauty treatments, text over video.
Favorite video, used affiliate links
Tour video/ organization video. Mentions several
partnerships she had in the past.
Tour video, organization and home decor video
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Notes:
Links to other social media or other relevant videos are provided in the about information box.
Promotes the music she is featuring in the video in the about information box.
She has a mail specific for business inquiries.
Lists the stores where she got some of her products and provides links to these web pages.
She includes the makeup brands and clothing or jewellery she is using in the video.
She adds an asterisk to any product which was given to her, rather than her purchasing it herself.
In the tag videos she posts the questions of the tag video and the people she is tagging.
Sometimes they will put secret messages saying if you read this then comment a ice cream
She has annotations at the end of the video redirecting viewers to other videos of her.
She is in Instagram, Facebook, twitter and has a blog.
Has a second channel called TheGridMonster
Raye Boyce
YouTube name: ItsMyRayeRaye
Subscribers: 433,743
Total views: 16,422,518
Videos: 100
https://www.youtube.com/user/ItsMyRayeRaye
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
The Thailand adventures - itsmyrayeraye (guess who ate a grasshopper?!)

Welcome to Hong Kong
Fast flash favorites February
I love lucy inspired hair
My top favorite fragrances + giveaway closed
(NO HEAT) Diana Ross Inspired Curly Hair Tutorial - #TrulyTimeless
Playtime : Hair, Makeup, Thrifting & Acne
How I: Easy affordable way to clean your makeup brushes
My homies of the month-January
Crazy Random haul book
ItsmyRayeRaye
Video
Duration
1
00:05:17
Views
Shares
10682 n.a.
Brand
mention
Video description
no
Images of travel with background music, no

talking to the camera, no voiceover no text over.
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00:06:59
66300
4 no
00:07:51
60442
0 yes
00:02:19
88630
11 yes
00:11:50
65468
12 yes
00:02:25
129238
23 yes
7
8
00:04:32
00:05:03
108459
100879
3 yes
12 yes
00:15:02
101136
7 Yes
10
Total
00:06:37
104816
01:07:55 836050
77
5 yes
8 yes 2 no
Images of travel with background music, no

talking to the camera, no voiceover no text over.
Favorites of the month, her talking directly to the
camera, talking mainly about makeup products
Tutorial of a hairstyle where she used the
products from her sponsor
Showing her perfume collection and a giveaway,
promoting a webpage fragancenet where she
offers a cupon code and a giveaway of a 100
dollars for this webpage. In her about information
she has links to the fragances she is showing with
a link to the webpage she is promoting, aiding
navigation and encouraging action.
Doing a hair tutorial using the product of her
sponsor, Pantene. Here she mentions in the about
section her collaboration with Pantene, whereas
in other videos she has not
A haul type of video, where she shows how she
uses the things she has recently bought. Even
though it is not stated it was a sponsored video,
several products from the same product line and
brand where featured.
Tutorial on how to clean your brushes
Mentioning the web page Luvocracy.com along
with monthly favorites
Mentions the different stores she bought the
clothe from, with voice and text over.
Notes
Her real name could not be found.

Collaborations with other Youtubers where they appeared links to their channel and their social
media was provided.
Links to her other social media sites were provided like Facebook, tThumbler, twitter and
Instagram.
She stated information which is usually asked for as which editing programme was used as well as
the camera and the music used in the video.
Additionally in the about section she lists any products that have been mentioned in the video.
Communicates with her audience if there is something else she needs to say.
She often calls for action in her videos.
She has at the end of her videos 4 annotations of previous videos she has made similar to the ones
that appear at the end of any YouTube video to encourage her viewers to follow a natural path of
navigation of YouTube, which almost goes unseen as the format is very similar as that of YouTube
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Vibeke Holmquist
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itself, the only difference being that in her annotations 4 possible videos appear, whereas in the
ones YouTube usually does 16 possible videos appear.
Often has a small description of her video at the beginning.
In the about section her email as contact information is provided.
She also often makes references to hashtags for other social media platforms as they are not used
in YouTube.
Mostly looks into the camera and talks directly to the camera
She does not have a second channel.
Meredith Foster
YouTube name: StilaBabe09
Views: 155,296,502
Videos:266

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Video
1
2
3
4
5
5 Easter/Spring Outfits + DIY Bunny Ear Headband!

Mere's Monthly Must Haves: March!
Morning Routine: Spring 2014!
St. Patrick's Day Homemade Treats!
Twin Tag!
What I do on V-Day: Spa Night essentials + Homemade treats
DIY Valentine's Day: Hair accessories, clothing, decor & more!
Getting Ready | Hair, Makeup, & Outfit for Grammy's 2014!
Rainy Day Outfit Ideas! 2014
Hair Routine & Easy DIY hair products!
Duration Views
00:09:50 422718
00:08:02 711926
00:09:12 1382407
00:07:37 738499
00:08:09 987011
Brand
mentioned
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
6 00:10:51 1144078 yes

7 00:11:33 975887 yes
8 00:04:48 1144345 yes
9 00:11:34 844755 yes
Video description
Tutorial DIY and Outfit ideas, used voice and text over.
Monthly favorites + giveaway, not sponsored
Morning routine
Seasonal kind of video, St. Patricks. Tutorial cooking
Tag kind of video
Tutorials spa and cooking +Giveaway, not sponsored.
Seasonal Valentines
Tutorial, home decor, clothe. + Giveaway, Seasonal type of
video, Valentines
Sponsored video cover girl, tutorial
OOTD "Outfit of the day" + Giveaway
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10 00:07:23 1613217 yes
Total 01:28:59 9964843 9 yes 1 no
Tutorial hair care routine + DIY + giveaway
Notes:
She addresses her viewers

Calls for action both in the video and in the information box
Has links in the information box to other relevant videos
Has links in the information box for her other social media platforms
Is in twitter, Instagram, Facebook, tumbler, vine and has a second channel called VlogsbyMeredith
States whether or not it is a sponsored video.
Asks questions to her viewers to encourage them to comment
Has some DIY videos which are suitable to her young viewers financially.
Has a business mail.
Michelle Phan
YouTube name: Michelle Phan
Subscribers: 6038565
Views: 901377807
Videos: 302
https://www.youtube.com/user/MichellePhan
1. Ultimate Prom giveaway
2. Color Explosion: Party Makeup
3. The Silver Lining
4. Remember The Girl
5. Matte about you
6. How to look like a Bad Girl
7. Girlfriend changes boyfriend tire
8. Em is not international with new lower prices :D
9. My Long Distance Relationships story and tips
10. Love Me for Me
Videos
Duration
1
2
00:04:36
00:04:27
Views
Band mention
915315 yes
1041722 yes
Vido description
Makeup and outfit tutorial, she promotes her own
brand and a hair tool company NuMe, also in the
about section there are links with discounts, also has
a giveaway. Also promotes the song in the video.
Uses voice and text over.
Makeup tutorial, voice and text over
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Vibeke Holmquist
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Total
00:06:35
1228215 yes
4
5
00:03:16
00:05:10
1556680 no
1491299 yes
00:04:11
1619793 yes
00:07:49
1508671 no
00:01:07
754935 yes
00:05:45
1734763 no
10
00:08:29
00:51:25
2031409 yes
13882802
Makeup tutorial + giveaway. Voice and text over.

Promoting a charity organization with an
inspirational video. Done with animations and voice
over
Makeup tutorial, voice and text over
Makeup tutorial, discount links of her makeup line.
Voice and text over
Prank type of video, product she was using
mentioned int he above information box.
Announcement about her makeup line going
international
Inspirational video, done with animations and voice
over.
Makeup tutorial, voice and text over. Promotes
beats music app and another youtuber in her
information box.
Notes:
She includes what she has used in the video with links
She is also promoting the song that she features in the video.
Her videos seem to have a more professional background than others.
Even though she has her own makeup line her makeup tutorial include a mix of different brands,
however she always uses at least one product from her makeup line.
Ends every video with the same line, good luck.
Could not access statistics in her channel.
Her makeup tutorials seem to be done around a specific product, like the silver lining is about
featuring specifically for a eye liner from her makeup line, whereas Matte about you is centered
around Nars Matte multiple.
Will put links of her related videos in the about information box
Her videos seem more professionals than other youtubers.
She has a business specific mail.
She includes her links to other social media and is on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and has a blog.
She is also one of the creators of FAWN (For All Woman Network) and has her own makeup
company EM Cosmetics. She also created IPSY a monthly subscription service for beauty products.
She has a second channel called RiceBunny
Sonia Castaneda
YouTube name: sccastaneda
Subscribers: 330,338
Views: 60,109,082
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Videos:643
https://www.youtube.com/user/sccastaneda
10 Most recent videos:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Straight hair routine: wet to dry

Frosted chocolate makeup tutorial
Makeup Haul: Sephora, Too faced, LORAC and more!
Shopping haul, new purses and accessories.
Sexy club makeup tutorial
5 minute makeup tutorial: flawless skin, silver eye shadow and pink pops of colour.
Collective Fashion Haul: Barneys, Forever21, H&M, and Urban Outfitters
Fashion Haul: Victorias Secret haul
Super bowl makeup tutorial: Denver Broncos
Super bowl makeup tutorial: Seattle Seahawks
1 00:02:21
Shares Brand mention Video description

Hair tutorial on how to blow dry hair and use
extensions. Mentions the brand of the flat iron she is
37055
0 yes
using.
2 00:05:41
3 00:10:21
4 00:10:48
38212
34065
33258
7 yes
2 yes
3 yes
5 00:04:00
39393
9 yes
6 00:05:25
22803
6 yes
7 00:16:17
57080
3 yes
Makeup tutorial she mentions the makeup brands she

used for her tutorial.
Sephora haul a makeup store
Haul of accesories and designer bags
Makeup tutorials, where she mentions the products
she uses.
makeup tutorial, where she mentions the products she
has used
Sponsored video by IPSY, mentioned int he about
section she does one sponsored video a month. (IPSY is
a monthly subsciption for a mini bag of beauty
products founded by Michelle Phan, another beauty
youtuber.)
8 00:09:32
40967
6 yes
A haul of the Victoria Secret Store, so this was a haul

focused on a specific brand
9 00:03:46
14008
5 yes

10 00:03:48 26187
Total 01:11:59 343028
Notes:
12 yes
53 10 yes

Lists the products she has used in the about information box.
Mentions in the information box how it is not a sponsored video, when they are not.
Mentions the name of the brand in the video title.
43

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When doing a haul of products she asks in the about section if anyone wishes her to make a review
about a specific product.
She had links in her about section to her other social media pages only in some videos.
Had one direct sponsored video by IPSY but it was only mentioned in the about section that it is
sponsored, and mentions the brand throughout the video.
Has a mail used only for business purposes.
She also has a second vlog channel called Sonia Castaneda and mentions it in some of the videos in
the about section.
Sometimes she will have a link to the products she has mentioned
She would only include a link in the about box to another video of hers if it was closely related to
the video.
Some of her videos are related to a current event, the videos about the superbowl.
Zoe Sugg
YouTube name: Zoella
Subscribers: 4301377
Views: 158889662
Videos: 148
https://www.youtube.com/user/zoella280390
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Videos
Photo Booth Challange with Sawer| Zoella

Two Truths, One Lie With Marcus | Zoella
How To: Messy Bun | Zoella
Girls Night In With Tanja Burr | Zoella
Boohoo Haul & 500 Giveaway | Zoella
HUGE Beauty & Cosmetics Haul | Zoella
February Favorites| Zoella
Vlogging At 11 Years Old | Zoella
How to: Halo Braid | Zoella
Most Likely to Sibling Edition |Zoella
Duration Views
1 00:07:26
2 00:09:51
3 00:05:51
4 00:06:08
Brand mentioned
917729 no
Video description
Challenge type video in collaboration with
another YouTuber
Tag video, two truth one lie, in
collaboration with another Youtuber
tutorial type video, how to
1182070 no
1200134 yes
no, but those
featured in the video
1329164 are listed in the
Collaborative video with another Youtuber
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Vibeke Holmquist
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about information
box
Total
5 00:11:51
6 00:15:25
7 00:10:56
1295006 yes
1257809 yes
1160598 yes
8 00:11:32
9 00:05:01
2083491 no
1448701 yes
10 00:08:01
01:32:02
1833289 no
Haul type videoof a specific store +

Sponsored Giveaway
Haul type video cosmetics
Monthly favorite type of video
Vlogging type video to celebrate 4 million
subscribers.
tutorial type video, how to
Tag type video, most likely to.
Collaborative video with another
Youtuber.
Notes:
She calls for actions

Has links to other platforms where she can be found
Has at the end of her video annotations linked to videos she has done before.
Has links in the infromation box about videos that she has done that are related.
Does collaborations with other Youtubers where she appers in other Youtubers channels and has
other Youtubers appear on hers. Here she has links about the other Youtubers in her information
box.
Also mentions her P.O. box.
Has another YouTube channel called MoreZoella, blog, facebook, twitter, intagram, tumbler and
keek.
Has a business specific mail.
Terminology
DIY: do it yourself
OOTD: outfits of the day
OOTN: outfits of the night
OOTW: outfits of the week
Tag words in a YouTube video: words that aid the video to be found when certain words are
searched, these words are decided by the person uploading the video.
TAG video: a video with a specific format, a set of predetermined questions to be answered.
Subs: subscribers
Hauls: video featuring recently purchased items
Box opening: it can stand for opening a monthly subscription box with beauty product, products
that were recently purchased from an online store, or opening a box sent by a company.
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Info bar: the about section underneath the video.
Favourites of the month: video featuring favourite products of the month
Favourite the video: a request for the user to add this video to the predetermined playlist of
favourite videos
FTC: favourite, thumbs up (like), comment. This is a request for action.
FTC: can also mean federal trade commission, usually used by beauty youtubers to present any
disclosure of sponsorship.
Appendix 4
Aeropostale and Pantene videos- usb
Appendix 5
YouTube5Year [online] Available at:
https://sites.google.com/a/pressatgoogle.com/youtube5year/home/short-story-of-youtube [Accessed: 29
April 2014]
Appendix 6
YouTube Statistics [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html
[Accessed: 29 April 2014]
Appendix 7
Alexa [online] Available at: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/youtube.com [Accessed: 29 April
2014]
Appendix 8
TheGuardian (2013) [online]
http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/shortcuts/2014/feb/05/bethany-mota-haul-video-motavatoraeropostale [Accessed: 29 April 2014]
Appendix 9
Meerman, D. (2008) The new rules of viral marketing: How word-of-mouth spreads your
ideas for free. [online] Available at: http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/documents/Viral_Marketing.pdf
[Accessed 30 April 2014].
Appendix 10
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Appendix 11
Appendix 12
Appendix 13
Appendix 14
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Appendix 15
Appendix 16
VidConFAQ [online] Available at: http://vidcon.com/faq [Accessed: 30 April 2014]
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Appendix 17
VidConAbout [online] Available at: http://vidcon.com/about [Accessed: 30 April 2014]
Appendix 18
PlaylistLive [online] http://playlist-live.com/the-event/ [Accessed: 29 April 2014]
Appendix 19
Appendix 20
Imats [online] Available at: http://www.imats.net/los/about.php [Accessed: 30 April 2014]
Appendix 21
Appendix 22
BeautyCon [online] Available at: http://www.beautycon.com/ [Accessed: 30 April 2014]
Appendix 23
BeautyConAbout [online] Available at: http://www.beautycon.com/about/ [Accessed: 30
April 2014]
Appendix 24
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Communityguidelines [online] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines [Accessed: 30 April 2014]
Appendix 25
Appendix 26
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Appendix 27
Appendix 28
Salah, A. (2013) Google changes outrage YouTube community. Available at:
http://guardianlv.com/2013/11/google-changes-outrage-youtube-community/ [Accessed: 29 April 2014]
Appendix 29
YouTube terms of service [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/t/terms?gl=GB
Appendix 30
YouTube copyright [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/what-iscopyright.html [Accessed: 29 April 2014]
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Appendix 31
YouTube Partner Programe Policies [online] Available at:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1311392?hl=en [Accessed: 29 April 2014]
Appendix 32
YouTube Standard Ads [online] Available at:
Appendix 33
YouTube In-stream video ads [online] Available at:
Appendix 34
YouTube In-Ads video [online] Available at:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/187095?hl=en&ref_topic=30072 [Accessed: 29 April 2014]
Appendix 35
YouTube Partner Programe [online] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/yt/creators/creator-benefits.html [Accessed: 29 April 2014]
Appendix 36
Kee, T. (2013) Hello Gorgeous: The money in Beauty in YouTube. Available at:
http://www.thevideoink.com/features/hello-gorgeous-the-money-in-beauty-on-youtube/#.U1_yl_l_uF9
Appendix 37
Landa, C. (2013) YouTube to step in on partner/multi-channel network management.
Available at: http://www.tubefilter.com/2013/10/30/youtube-to-step-in-on-partner-multi-channelnetwork-disputes/ [Accessed: 29 April 2014]
Appendix 38
Appendix 39
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Appendix 40
Appendix 41
Appendix 42
Appendix 43
Fan finder [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/yt/fanfinder/ [Accessed: 30 April
2014]
Appendix 44
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Appendix 45
Appendix 46
Knebl, C (n.d.) Bring on Beth! From Her New Aropostale Collection to What She's Watching
Now, Bethany Mota Tells Us All About Her Winter Faves Available at:
http://www.teenvogue.com/fashion/winter-trends/2013-12/bethany-mota-clothing-line-aeropostale
Appendix 47
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Appendix 48
Yahoo (2013) [online] http://finance.yahoo.com/news/aeropostale-launches-exclusivecollection-bethany-182200910.html [Accessed: 29 April 2014]
Appendix 49
Halperin, A. (2014) This Teenager Makes Half-A-Million A Year Just By Shopping [online]
Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/haul-teenage-youtube-shopping-star-bethany-mota2014-1 [Accessed: 30 April 2014]
Appendix 50
Janaronne, J. (2013) Can Instagram save this ageing teen retailer? [online] Available at:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101485231 [Accessed: 30 April 2014]
Appendix 51
Forbes (2014) [online] Available at:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/01/23/new-collections-can-make-aeropostale-amore-attractive-takeover-option/ [Accessed: 30 April 2014]
Appendix 52
Pantene
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Appendix 53
Benefit [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJZQH2b-W1o [Accessed:
30 April 2014]
57

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Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

HJEMMEOPGAVER, PROJEKTER, SYNOPSER U/ MUNDTLIGT FORSVAR

INSTITUT FOR ERHVERVSKOMMUNIKATION

nummer p studiekortet kaldet

Student Exam No.:

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and Management Communication

Online Consumer Communities:

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Page intentionally left blank

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and Management Communication

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

The YouTube Beauty Community ............................................................................................................ 11

Theoretical framework ............................................................................................................................ 12

Beauty gurus analysis .............................................................................................................................. 20

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Reference List .................................................................................................................................................. 31

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

1.1 Problem statement

1.2 Theory of science

1.3 Methodology and structure

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

3. The YouTube Beauty Community

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

4.2 Beauty Gurus

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

4.1 Viral marketing

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

5.2 Online consumer communities

5.3 Three dimensional taxonomy of the online community space

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

5.5 Reference group theory

6. Beauty gurus analysis

6.1 Opinion leaders

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

6.3 Motivational factors for content contribution

6.4 Case examples

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

results in brand engagement and word of mouth

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

against two others and of the

The playlist promoting Bethany

Pretty Little Liars

playlist, called Pretty little liars

promotes the clothing line they

Little Liars which is a television

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis

Marketing and Management Communication Bachelor Thesis