This is part 1 of my Instagram field notes for my ethnographic research. I am looking to better understand how audiences react to Electronic Word of Mouth (EWoM) content across different social media channels, by analysing a variety of skincare influencers (or skinfluencers if you will) on Instagram.
One of the first skinfluencers I looked at was @jadeywadey180.
The Process:
To keep the amount of information I collected as consistent as possible, I came up with some select questions I would ask myself when analysing the content.
- Who created the content?
- How is the message communicated? (The video and/or image/s as well as the caption and/or hashtags used).
- Is this message sponsored?
- How effective was their persuasion? (Using a my own scale of persuasion)
- What is the time & date I am viewing the content?
- Where am I viewing this content?
- What is my response to the message?
- How did other users respond to the message?
- What was the purpose of this piece of content and how did the audience behave in reaction?
So, who is @jadeywadey180?
Jade is a self-proclaimed skincare expert for over ten years who currently has 1.3 million followers on Instagram. Jade’s content is very professional and polished in appearance and she often posts sponsored content in collaboration with skincare brands.
I have analysed the following five pieces of Jade’s content in an effort to better understand this part of the Instagram skincare community.
FIELD NOTES #1
The content:
What? – A short video featuring Jade using the product, instrumental music, caption focuses on the ingredients and why it’s a good product, #ad hashtag used.
Sponsored? – Yes. The #ad indicates that Jade was compensated in some way for posting this content.
Persuasive? – Not really. I give it a 3/10 on the scale. Although she has talked about the ingredients and benefits, the language she used and lack of personality combined with the #ad hashtag makes me sceptical of her authenticity in recommending this product.
Where & when? – I viewed and analysed this content from the comfort of my bed on the 20th of September 2020. I was using the Instagram app on my phone and it was roughly 11am.
My reaction – The video is aesthetically pleasing, I find jade beautiful and admire her skin, but I don’t believe this product is something she actively uses to achieve it. I am not interested in finding out more about the product as I feel like it’s just a paid promotion.
Audience reaction – This post currently has approximately 40,600 views, 3,700 likes and 58 comments. I gauged the audience reaction mostly by conducting Netnographic research using all of the comments. For this video, the majority of comments were complimenting how beautiful Jade was. Not many users asked about or said anything about the product. The following pie chart illustrates my findings.
Message purpose & audience behaviour – This piece of content was seemingly designed to convince users to purchase the skincare product Jade was promoting. However, it appears as though the audience members who engaged with this post via commenting, were more interested in Jade herself rather than the product.
FIELD NOTES #2
The content:
What? – A short video featuring Jade using the product, soft music (a cover of La Vie en Rose), caption focuses on the ingredients, why it’s a good product and mentions it is available at Sephora, #ad hashtag used.
Sponsored? – Yes. The #ad indicates that Jade was compensated in some way for posting this content.
Persuasive? – Somewhat. I give it a 4/10 on the scale. The music and sparkling effect make this video very appealing and aesthetic, and the product looks really nice. However, I don’t believe it would help me achieve my skin goals. Once again, the language used seems too impersonal and reduces the perceived authenticity of the post.
Where & when? – I viewed and analysed this content from the comfort of my bed on the 20th of September 2020. I was using the Instagram app on my phone and it was roughly 11:30 am.
My reaction – The video is very aesthetically pleasing, the pink colours combined with the glitter effect make the product very appealing. However once again, I am not interested in finding out more about the product as I feel like it’s just a paid promotion. The silk background also makes it feel too professional and ad like.
Audience reaction – This post received 325,000 views, approximately 28,400 likes and 387 comments. I gauged the audience reaction by conducting Netnographic research using the comments. For this video, I analysed a random selection of 100 comments. It seems that the audience had a lot of questions about Jade and the video in this post such as what nail colour was she wearing and who was the background music by. Once again there was a lot more comments complimenting Jade’s appearance rather than comments about the product/skincare. The following Pie Chart illustrates the types of comments this post received.
Message purpose & audience behaviour – This piece of content was seemingly designed to convince users that Jade uses this skincare product to achieve her clear, glowy skin. Ultimately it encourages users to purchase the product at Sephora. However, again it appears as though the audience members; who engaged with this post via commenting, had minimal interest in the actual product and were more interested in Jade herself and how she made the video look so aesthetic (lots of questions about the editing tools and music used).
FIELD NOTES #3
The content:
What? – A series of looping images of Jade with the product. There is no sound. The caption focuses on the ingredients and their effects, as well as promoting her YouTube content. The #ad hashtag is also used.
Sponsored? – Yes. The #ad indicates that Jade was compensated in some way for posting this content.
Persuasive? – Somewhat. I give it a 4/10 on the scale. This post again felt like an ad, the language seems scripted, however she did identify vitamin c as being her favourite antioxidant ingredient which felt a little more convincing.
Where & when? – I viewed and analysed this content in my loungeroom on the 21st of September 2020, using the Instagram app on my phone. It was approximately 12pm.
My reaction – Once again, this post is very appealing to look at. The lighting and composition seems very professional, her skin seems especially glowy which made me think about the product. However, these images also seem a little too perfect to me, I am unsure whether she is wearing makeup (at least lashes and brows) or if she has edited them. Overall I am sceptical whether this a product Jade genuinely recommends.
Audience reaction – This post received 104,000 view, approximately 11,000 likes and 106 comments. I gauged the audience reaction by conducting Netnographic research using all of the comments. The overwhelming majority of comments were complimenting Jade’s appearance, with less than 10% of comments asking about or mentioning the product. The following pie chart illustrates the comment section of this post.
Message purpose & audience behaviour – This piece of content was seemingly designed to convince users that this skincare product would be beneficial for their skin. It also seems that it was designed to promote Jade’s other content channels (particularly her YouTube episode). Once again, it appears as though the audience members who engaged with this post via commenting, were more interested in Jade herself rather than the product.
FIELD NOTES #4
The Content:
What? -An image featuring Jade using the product/s. The caption features a quote from Austin Powers in Goldmember, and is quite brief, she expresses that the product is her new favourite facial treatment. She does mention that more information is available on her story (but because I viewed this a while after the post date I had trouble finding this story). The hashtags include her name, #skincare, #24k and #complexionsbyjade.
Sponsored? – No. No #ad hashtag has been used to identify this is a paid promotion. However, she is promoting her own products.
Persuasive? – Not really. I give it a 2/10 on the scale. To me it seems she is just promoting her own business without explaining why it’s any good.
Where & when? – I viewed and analysed this content in my bedroom on the 22nd of September 2020, using the Instagram app on my phone. It was approximately 9am.
My reaction – To me this content wasn’t interesting besides the fact it looked cool. The caption didn’t provide any information about the ingredients, benefits or even where you could get it. It felt like just a cool picture to advertise her facial services. Also Jade looks beautiful in this post, but she is wearing lip and eyebrow makeup and (what looks like) false eyelashes. Overall, it just didn’t feel relatable to me, especially with how expensive it looks.
Audience reaction – This post received approximately 13,300 likes and 148 comments. I gauged the audience reaction by conducting Netnographic research using all of the 148 comments. For this video, I analysed a random selection of 100 comments. The majority of comments were praising the image or Jade’s appearance, or replying to the prompt in the caption asking where the quote was from. There wasn’t many users interested in learning more information about the product/s.
Message purpose & audience behaviour – This piece of content was seemingly designed to promote the skincare products and prompt unrelated (to skincare) conversations with her followers. It appears as though the audience members who engaged with this post via commenting, were mostly interested in Jade and the aesthetics of the image as well as engaging with her caption. Again, it seems there is little interest in the actual skincare products.
FIELD NOTES #5
The content:
What? – This post consists of two images of Jade using the product and one image of the product by it’s self. The caption is brief and focuses on communicating that the product is good for hydration. The #sponsored hashtag has been used.
Sponsored? – Yes. The #sponsored hashtag indicates that this is a paid endorsement.
Persuasive? – Nope, not really. I give it a 2/10 on the scale. In these images Jade seems to be wearing lip, eye and eyebrow makeup. She is posing and it doesn’t really look like that’s how she would use the product. The post seems too stylised and professional for it to interest me.
Where & when? – I viewed and analysed this content in my bedroom on the 22nd of September 2020, using the Instagram app on my phone. It was approximately 10am.
My reaction – To me these images look too polished and perfect. The lack of replies answering questions about the product make me doubt her authenticity in recommending it.
Audience reaction – This post received approximately 21,000 likes and 214 comments. I gauged the audience reaction by conducting Netnographic research using all 214 comments. For this video, I analysed a random selection of 100 comments. Once again, the majority (72.2%) of comments were users complimenting Jade’s appearance and her replying, (a variant of) “thank you”. The following pie chart illustrates the main conversations taking place in the comments.
Message purpose & audience behaviour – This piece of content was seemingly designed to convince users that this skincare product is something they need to purchase. However, it appears as though the audience members who engaged with this post via commenting, were particularly aware that this post was sponsored, and as such it received more criticism within the feedback loop.
@JADEYWADEY180 FINAL THOUGHTS
Ultimately, I found Jade’s skincare (particularly EWoM) content wasn’t that convincing. My observations about her content include:
- Jade didn’t often reply to skincare or product questions.
- The majority of Jade’s posts about specific skincare products were sponsored (indicated by the #ad or #sponsored hashtag).
- Oftentimes the #ad / #sponsored hashtag was placed second amongst three or our hashtags.
- All content was very polished and aesthetic.
- On average I rated her content 3/10 on my persuasion scale.
- On average 57.24% of comments were complimenting Jade’s physical appearance.
- Generally the audience didn’t behave in correspondence with the content’s designed purpose, i.e. users didn’t express interest in or desire to purchase the mentioned products.
- There wasn’t many conversations about skincare or the product taking place amongst the audience.
If you’re interested in my research into the skincare community across social media platforms make sure you hit follow!
ALINA HAGER 
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