CHARLEIGH CARTHY
Branding on Instagram: How Female Entrepreneurs Sell Themselves
Throughout my senior year, I conducted research around the importance of branding for women small owned businesses. To learn more click this link!
KEY FINDINGS
Research Questions
RQ1: What do women small business owners think impacts engagement levels on social media?
RQ2: What do women small business owners think impacts brand trust and awareness?
RQ3: How does the use of Instagram as a home-base impact brand trust for women owned small-businesses?
RQ4: What do women-owned businesses feel is the benefit of branding on social media?
1. Branding as Women Owned
Participants share and describe branding as 'women owned' in different ways and the benefits it may have to their business, while only 4 of the interviewees brand as women-owned on Instagram.
Participants expressed their thoughts about branding as women-owned as it may only target women consumers, something they have not thought of. One participant stated "I know that it would probably benefit me to do that because that's something really special and I should take advantage of the fact that I am doing that. But part of me, my thought process is, what does it matter, man or woman? It's just something that I thought of." By not branding as women-owned, they feel as though they are opening the doors to any type of consumer, although maybe missing out on the "benefits". Another participant even mentioned how they "never really thought of it, to be honest. [They] mostly just promote [themselves] as a small business. [They] love the quote empowered women empower women”. 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.
2. Instagram allows businesses to reach their target audience.
Participants shared their reasonings for using Instagram as a home-base when promoting their business and the benefit the platform has for small businesses.
This finding supports the third research question as branding on Instagram has allowed small businesses to highlight behind-the-scenes and personal content that has been shown to have a positive increase in brand trust and awareness between the business and consumer. 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 by liking and commenting on each others posts.
3. Sharing personal, non-branded content, can increase brand trust and awareness
Some participants mentioned that they feel that posting personal content does better or equal to their business's branding content.
Participants who share personal content on their businesses' Instagram feel this content does better at getting followers to feel a part of the brand. 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. Personal content has been shown to increase brand trust as it allows the consumer to learn more about the business owner and feel a part of the brand's story.
