CHARLEIGH CARTHY - Full Report of Results

The participants in this study included a range of ages and types of women-owned businesses on Instagram. Their responses highlighted their company branding and personal branding while also looking into why they felt Instagram was a good home base to share the word of their business. Also highlighted were their posting habits on their business account and if they work closely with a social media manager, and what their engagement habits are with other accounts.

Instagram is a social media platform that has been used to help women small business owners get the word out about their companies. Many participants expressed that they used Instagram to share what is currently in stock, store hours, and their stories. Participants all mentioned how they feel branding and pre-organizing posts are important to give potential consumers more information about the business.

Using Instagram as a Home Base

Participants described that when starting their business, they either were leaving their corporate job to fully invest in the business or were using it as a side hustle to create extra income while in college. Genç (2015) found that social media allows these micro-scaled businesses to actively target their audience, but also does not waste time or money since it is considered free marketing. All participants decided to brand themselves on Instagram as it is a free app that allows businesses to brand themselves easily with the Instagram Business Feature, and target their audience more efficiently. Instagram also allows for women small-owned businesses to create a community with their followers by connecting via direct message, following similar content, and even liking and commenting on each other's posts. This supports the third research question: “How does the use of Instagram as a home-base impact brand trust for women-owned small businesses?”

Figure One: Participants thoughts on using Instagram as a home base

Participants felt that Instagram was a great way to reach out to their consumers about their business. Business News Daily reported that “using Instagram for business can drive brand awareness, boost sales, and build and track audience engagement. It’s an excellent way to find customers where they’re already spending time. It can also provide valuable audience insights to use with all your marketing plan strategies.” Participants reported that Instagram has been very beneficial in terms of letting consumers know their businesses exist. Participant One mentioned that before opening their business, they worked for a marketing agency, so they understood the benefits of using social media to highlight their business. Participant One also noted how COVID-19 changed the way people were engaging in the community and stated how “working for other brands I realize like, I can take what I already know and work this towards my brand and promote through Instagram. During the pandemic, people weren't going out as much. Most people were focusing on their phones. Um, so I saw it as a big opportunity to grasp a lot of people's attention, um, and get them excited about something new coming to the community.” By using Instagram as a home base, participant one was able to draw attention to their business despite the pandemic. Participant Two, who also had previous experience in marketing noted how they were “able to bring my life and me and my personality into my business.“ Participant Two wanted their business to be an “ environment of building relationships.” Instagram allowed both participants to thrive, and accomplish their marketing goals. Participants also mentioned that their target audience was on Instagram, which allowed them to quickly build relationships. Instagram is a free social media platform that allows small businesses to quickly grow and thrive by using marketing techniques. Instagram has allowed these small businesses to grow more awareness within their community.

Figure Two: Participants thoughts on Branding on Instagram

Company Branding on Instagram

Participants described that they used different platforms to help create content for their social media such as Canva, Adobe Photoshop, Instagram filters, and preplanning content through sites like ClickUp, Slack, and Loomly. Schivinski (2014) found that user-generated social media eWOM had a positive effect on both brand equity and brand attitude. Participants mentioned how using these types of platforms has allowed them to grow quickly as a business while establishing a clear brand for consumers to engage in. Some participants too mentioned when looking at other brands, Instagram profiles can be a big factor in if they purchase an item or go out to eat there. Participants were also asked about their posting habits as a part of their branding. This supports the fourth research question: “What do women-owned businesses feel is the benefit of branding on social media?”

All participants noted that they created a logo before creating their accounts. Participant One mentioned how after they “created a logo, created brand colors, took some photos, [they] thought like, okay, we're ready to go. But it's kind of evolved, [they] guess, based on [they're] customers, based on the demographic that we have right now. Shifting your brand to match your current demographic is a great way to get consumers in the door. This also allows for the brand to be more memorable. Participant Two stated how they “will always tell people the number one investment should be your brand.” Participant Two felt that once your brand is established everything else comes more naturally. Building a brand can be extremely important when starting your company. Branding has many benefits such as helping people recognize your product, connect with consumers, and even build trust with consumers. “Branding helps companies shape their company’s reputation and attract a variety of stakeholders: customers and employees, but also investors, business partners, providers, governments, opinion leaders, purchasers, and licensees, etc” (Amanda, 2021). Branding can be a powerful tool for these small businesses to set themselves apart from their competitors and attract a certain demographic.

Personal content in collaboration with the Company Branding

Some participants mentioned that they feel that posting personal content does better or equal to their business's branding content. Other participants mentioned that they don't post personal content to their business’ Instagram as it would not fit well with their brand or they feel it's unnecessary in terms of creating brand trust and awareness. More than 50% of participants use personal content to help build their brand as they feel this content does better at getting followers to feel a part of the brand. VanDerslice (2016) states that Instagram allows companies, especially smaller ones, to create a portfolio to help gain possible new customers. Building a connection with current and potential customers is important as the entrepreneurship world is a very competitive place. Instagram posts and stories allow consumers to see more into the business owner's personal life to gain more of a connection with the brand. Sharing personal content on platforms can be seen as beneficial to building brand trust and awareness.

Figure Three: Participants thoughts on not sharing personal content

Participants mentioned different opinions about sharing personal content on their businesses social media accounts. Some participants mentioned how they loved to share their story as it inspires consumers and other small businesses, while others felt that they didn't want to be the face of their brand. Participant One noted how they share personal content with everyone once in a while because their brand is about health and wellness and their story may inspire others. Participant Seven stated that “we don't want it to look like we are the owners. We want it to look like it's a larger entity because we are looking to open up four stores and franchise and that kinda stuff down the road.” Since their brand is less about motivating others, personal content may not have been right for them, especially when considering opening more locations down the road. Buffer, a tool that allows social media users to expand on their brand with various tools, mentioned how “weaving in some personal content that’s also relevant to your business can help you build a more authentic, relatable brand.”

Figure Four: Participants thoughts on sharing personal content

Participants that mentioned they post personal content were then asked if they felt that personal/candid content did better than their branded content. All interviewees agreed that this content does do better, mainly because the Instagram algorithm promotes reels and stories. Participants also mentioned how this type of content allows their viewers to get a better understanding of the brand, while also creating brand awareness and brand trust through the platform. Following consumers' accounts and actively interacting with them also allows the company to get a better understanding of their clientele as well.

Branding as Women Owned

Participants were asked if they currently or have ever branded themselves on Instagram as a women-owned business. All 9 interviewees state that at some point since opening the doors they have mentioned that they were women-owned through word of mouth, but only four have ever branded on Instagram the company women-owned. Many other brands promote women-owned businesses, especially during Women’s History Month. Branding can be important when it comes to building brand trust and awareness, but in terms of branding as ‘women-owned’ may not be as valuable to the branding process as it once was. Participant Three mentioned how they are “not the type of person that has ever had that thought process, and that's for better or for worse, right? But [they] understand that doing it is probably beneficial for the actual business and who's going to take a look at it.”. Other participants expressed that they feel branding as women-owned could only target those that identify themselves as female. This could limit their overall demographic. Key Bank, a retail banking company, mentioned how branding as women-owned could be a differentiating factor between you and your competitors and could offer you many advantages in your marketing plan. Key Bank stated that “using your women-owned status in your local and social marketing can help you connect with consumers who want to support businesses like yours.” Branding as women-owned can have many benefits, but also disadvantages as well. Some demographics may feel the need to not shop local or support a business based on their gender.

Figure Five: Participants thoughts on branding as "Women Owned"

The results of this study suggest that it is important to brand your woman owned small business as it allows for brand trust and brand awareness between the business and consumer. Participants all expressed how branding for their business was important for them to establish a community with current and potential consumers, while also allowing them to share the word about their business. Participants all mentioned that they chose Instagram as a platform due to its free features to help businesses get started. Instagram also allows women owned businesses to connect with other small owned businesses in the community but also their consumers. Participants also mentioned how the use of Instagram is so powerful that it allows potential consumers to get an idea of the brand and their mission before even entering the store. This allows the consumer to establish brand trust and awareness prior to purchasing a product.

Limitations

The results from this study indicate that branding is important for women-owned businesses. Many participants felt that branded content allowed consumers to get a better idea of the business before purchasing a product. The results also suggest that a majority of participants felt that their content had higher engagement levels compared to their branded content. This is believed that personal content can have a positive impact on brand trust and awareness for small businesses.

The first limitation of this study is the methodology. Interviews were conducted between 9 small businesses between Massachusetts and Vermont. One interview was conducted through Zoom due to a conflict of being in a different state. This could have affected the conversation as some questions may have seemed less natural compared to others. The interviewee may have felt more pressure or included to answer certain questions compared to if they were asked in person. Due to a semi-structured interview method, some questions were more natural to ask based on what the interviewee had said before the question was asked. This could have affected the amount of information the recipient gave during the interview.

Another limitation was that all but one business being interviewed was a women-owned business with no other co-owner. One interviewee is women-owned but has a co-owner who primarily focuses on marketing for the company. This could have affected the data and the participant may not have shared the same experience branding for the business as the other participants.

Participants were found through Google Maps and recruited through Instagram direct messages. Although the study was anonymous and confidential, this could lead to research bias as some of the businesses are located near Beverly, Ma. This study achieved internal validity, as the interviews were coded into categories to make the information as specific as possible and to interview as many participants as possible to get the widest range of responses. This helped ensure that each interview question was served to answer the research questions.

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