How do you differentiate yourself on a social platform when thousands of other brands are doing the same thing? 

The Body Shop India has cracked the code: stay true to your values and build a unique identity around them. Let’s see how they've carved out a distinct presence on Instagram through their values, ethics, and the causes they hold dear… 

*This analysis is from June to mid-December.

Posting Frequency

Body Shop publishes aggressively - 2-3 posts a day.

Overall Theme

Its communication strategy centers around vegan beauty, forming the core of their messaging efforts. They comprehensively cover each product through various lenses, from new launches to benefits and features to a great gifting option, to reach users in different stages of their buying journey.

Visual Aesthetics

• Most video content ends with or has an end screen card that speaks their core message or brand value.

• Primarily uses reels, possibly for Insta algorithms. There’s rarely any static post.

Hashtags

With two hashtags in their profile #ForeverAgainstAnimalTesting and #CommunityFairTrade, they make it obvious where their values lie.

Other hashtags include:

#ChangemakingBeauty#TheBodyShopIndia#ThebodyShop

Content Breakdown

Content Pillars/Talks about:

• Ingredients

• Properties

• Benefits

• Results

• Sourced from/ Sources

• Product application

• Gift packs

• 100% vegan

Content Formats

• Reels

• Product shots 

• Review videos

• Branded Meme Template

Content Buckets

Promotional

The Body Shop actively promotes its products to increase sales, particularly in light of recent challenges. Here's where things get really impressive. Their ability to curate promotions is unparalleled. They use a range of tactics to market their products and make buying more enjoyable and meaningful.

• Product Shots: Show products directly and highlight their benefits

• Special Ranges: Curate collections based on ingredients or seasons, such as the Vitamin C range, Pear collection, Wedding season, and Summer collection. They also release limited editions for holidays like Christmas.

• Festival Gifting: They actively promote their product range during festivals and offer gifting sets tailored for such occasions.

• Giveaways and Sales: The brand capitalizes on holidays when consumer spending is high to run sales campaigns, such as during Diwali, Black Friday, and World Vegan Month. 

They offer deals like Buy One Get One (B1G1), Pujo gifting, Payday sale, and Father's Day sale. They also leverage events like new store launches to drive sales.

About Body Shop & its Initiatives

The Body Shop actively shares their CSR initiatives with their followers to show their commitment to their core values. They put a human face to the initiatives by shining a lens on their team members and employees. 

Notable campaigns include "Spark a Change," "Founder’s Day," "Youth Young Changemaker," and "Youth Collective Council."

Beyond these initiatives, The Body Shop shares updates and behind-the-scenes glimpses to bring customers closer to the brand even in the online space with content like store walkthroughs, people behind the brand, and special occasions like their 17th anniversary.

Informational 

They share simple yet helpful tips to help customers make informed purchasing decisions, like how to find the right base for their skin. They also provide content on making the most of purchases, such as reusing empty containers, which fits with their eco-friendly values. This focused approach ensures their content is practical and aligns with their brand ethos.

Inspirational & Topical 

To stay relevant and capitalize on topical content marketing, the brand shares makeup looks for various occasions and holidays. This approach not only shows their products in action but also inspires their audience with fresh ideas and helpful tips. 

• GRWM

• Pujo lok

• Halloween look

• No-makeup look

• Hydration routine

• Wedding makeup 

• Vegan makeup look 

• GRWM on weekend

The Body Shop creates plenty of topical content, even for lesser-known holidays like Mango Day or Lipstick Day. They vary their content approach - it could be a how-to reel, a sales campaign, or a generic topical post.

Engagement

The brand shares memes, puzzles, and other engaging content to encourage audience participation and keep people involved. They ask questions to understand their preferences better. 

• POV

• Notification

• Memes

• Zodiac

• Five word puzzle

• Pear or cherry?

• This is your sign to…

• Guess the product

• Spotted your favorite product

UGC Content

The Body Shop frequently shares user content to show appreciation and deepen connections.  By acknowledging their presence, they make users feel valued.

They also showcase user reviews and testimonials in their videos, both from in-store and online experiences. Such authentic and honest videos allow people to see real experiences and strengthen trust and authenticity in the brand.

Influencer collaborations

They collaborate with changemakers for their bigger campaigns to stay true to their values and be authentic. 

They also partner with lifestyle and beauty creators for promotional campaigns where they reveal their stores and gifting sets. There's potential for more impactful collaborations with influencers to enhance their marketing efforts.

That's the rundown on their content. It's interesting to see how their various content buckets and topics blend together to create engaging content and communicate their message clearly  that drives their strategy.

What do I like?

• Sharing content about their initiatives

• Marketing The Body Shop products as a gifting option

• Collaborating with changemakers to uphold their values

If I were to handle Body Shop’s Instagram Page, I would…

1. Encourage action and reaction

Create creative content for #SparkaChange to engage followers and encourage them to take action in the eco-friendly direction:

• How to reuse products?

• What to do if a product expires?

• Conduct campaigns like “Buy X, we’ll contribute to Y” { More customers prefer brands that support social cause so such campaigns promote sales as well as promote brands’ ethos}

2. Create Reasons-to-Believe Content

   - Share more behind-the-scenes glimpses to humanize the brand

   - Run experiments or tests related to products and share the results with followers to build transparency and credibility.

3. Conduct Polls and Engagements

   - Use Instagram stories to run polls and interact with the audience to create a sense of community. We can ask followers about their skincare journeys and routines to gather insights.

4. Reorganize Highlights

- Considering the brand's goal to increase sales, the current Highlights section is cluttered and may disrupt a new customer's journey. We can optimize it to align with the sales funnel and encourage clicks.

The Body Shop India’s entire Instagram strategy shouts about its values, ethics, and the causes it cares about. If anyone wishes to learn more about these aspects, this is the page to look up to.