Keeping it Real — How Dove is using its online presence to promote self-love
It is refreshing to see a brand that uses real women, their stories and experiences to communicate with their audience and build relationships with them. Especially when the beauty industry is overflowing with messages and images that push unrealistic beauty standards.
Dove has a clear vision — empowering women and making them feel beautiful by encouraging them to be the best version of themselves, which it has made clear on the company’s website. Here, it shows photos of real women, of different colours, shapes and sizes, with smiles on their faces, instead of photo-shopped supermodels that its customers can better relate to.
Dove has used different digital and social platforms: its website, social media– Twitter and Instagram to establish an effective online presence. It uses these to communicate positive messages, engage with its followers, run various campaigns by creating videos and starting hashtags.
These campaigns often encourage discussion of important topics relating to self-confidence and self-esteem. For instance, they started a no likes needed campaign which tells young women that the only likes they need are their own and should not base their worth on the number of likes they get on Instagram.
On the company’s website, there are various articles and resources to help young girls’ parents, teachers and mentors provide support and build their self-esteem and confidence, as well as deal with teasing and bullying at school. This helps raise awareness of various issues that girls face every day and aims to tackle those. As Dove is a globally renowned brand, its discussion of these topics makes a significant positive impact in the lives of not only its fans and users, but also anyone that sees them — either on social media, its website or TV.
On one occasion, an ad produced by Dove experienced major backlash as it was construed as racist. The brand immediately followed this with an apology on Twitter and took down the ad. While it shows lack of consideration and sensitivity on its part, their efforts in rectifying their mistake must be acknowledged and appreciated. Twitter is very useful in receiving feedback and a prompt response to any negative appraisal helps build and maintain trust and important relationships with customers.
Through its communications on Twitter and Instagram — the various campaigns and discussions that Dove has initiated, it has proved that it cares about making a positive impact on its customers’ lives. These tools have been used effectively for customer engagement and to show that the brand is a proactive one and is willing to learn about people’s problems, their complaints and then attempt to provide solutions for these.
Its website is also well-designed, user-friendly and has its various initiatives, as well as resources like tests and articles to help tackle various issues surrounding body-image, self-esteem and positivity. These elements combined help Dove achieve its various goals — attracting and keeping loyal customers, keeping them satisfied and being profitable.
