The Rise of the Selfies

An In-Depth Research Analysis of Selfies in the Marketplace

Emillie Benka, Dan Lenge, Alex Lukens, Kaitlyn O’Brien,

Kelsey Rodgers, Kim Ryder, and Andrew Smith

MKTG 482

Dr. Hemant Patwardhan

December 9, 2015

The Rise of the Selfies: An In-Depth Research Analysis of Selfies in the Marketplace

Recognizing the selfie trend that consumes today’s society, this study seeks to understand the impact selfies have on marketing and consumers. To study this phenomenon, a survey was

developed and administered to 226 participants, producing 208 usable responses. The survey was structured with the following objectives in mind: to understand why people take selfies, to understand the impact selfies have on marketing, to understand the opinions people have toward selfies and the people who take them, and to understand the correlation between selfies and narcissism.

The survey consisted of 60 questions that were categorized into five subsets of questions: general selfie usage, the self and selfies, selfies and marketing, selfies and others, and demographics. The questions were formatted to produce categorical and interval level data with forced response to minimize non-response. The survey was administered using Qualtrics research software and data was collected for 226 respondents. However, 18 responses were deemed unusable and were eliminated from analysis. Approximately two-thirds of the 208 person sample consisted primarily of female respondents and about 65% were in the 18-22 or the 40 or older age range.

The data was analyzed through inferential and descriptive statistical analysis with SPSS Statistics software. Independent samples t-tests, one way ANOVAs, correlations, and regressions were performed on the data at a 10% level of significance. Through this analysis, we were able to conclude that people take selfies for a variety of reasons, but they do not like to admit the true motivations for posting selfies because they are insecure and merely wish to be accepted by their peers and society. We can also conclude from this study that products featured in friends’ and celebrities’ selfies impact consumers’ intent to use the featured product. But products featured in friends’ selfies, particularly friends they like, are more trusted. We can also see from the research that females in the 18-22 age range are most likely to take selfies. While the analysis did not support that people who take selfies are narcissistic, the discrepancies in responses showed that people do not understand the true motivations behind their behaviors. These discrepancies indicate the true motivation behind posting selfies: to gain acceptance from society. With this knowledge, we recommend that companies use selfies as a marketing tool. We also recommend that companies place an emphasis on selfie-improving product features in advertising as consumers have not yet embraced selfie-enhancing products.

Introduction:

Selfies, “A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media.” Selfies started to become a global phenomenon in 2013. Oxford English Dictionary announced the word selfie to be the word of the year in November 2013. With this selfie phenomenon, a number of selfie-related products have

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entered the marketplace, perhaps the most popular being the selfie stick. Social media has also been greatly impacted with selfies plastered across the Instagrams of teens and parents alike.

While it is clear that society has largely become selfie centered, the impact selfies have on the marketplace and the effectiveness of selfie based marketing have yet to be fully evaluated, leaving much room for discovery. Thus, in an effort to understand the selfie obsession and the impact it has on marketing and consumers, we have completed an in-depth analysis of selfies in the marketplace through the administration of a survey.

To gain a full understanding of the topic, the survey was structured around the following objectives:

➢ To understand why people take selfies.➢ To understand the impact selfies have on marketing.➢ To understand the opinions people have toward selfies and the people who take them.➢ To understand the correlation between selfies and narcissism.

Through observation, it is evident that this selfie obsession spans several generations, with numbers of grandparents taking selfies with their grandchildren. Thus, we sought to obtain feedback from males and females of all ages. (We restricted the survey to people over 18 to avoid legal issues with informed consent). The survey was administered to a convenience sample comprised of individuals across a variety of age ranges.

The data obtained from the 208 responses to the survey were analyzed for their relevance to the research objectives. Much of the data were found to lie beyond the scope of this study, but the material found to be relevant to the above-stated objectives was analyzed. Through this analysis, we were able to identify ways companies could incorporate this trend into advertising and marketing their products to consumers.

Research Methodology:

To begin the research process, our team identified the selfie trend as an area of research and determined the information about selfies we wanted to learn about. From this, objectives were created for the research study and many questions were created to help us reach those objectives. As a team, the questions were reviewed and the ones that did not fully help reach our objectives were thrown out. With these questions, a 60 question survey was developed and formatted to produce categorical and interval level data.

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The team then input the survey into Qualtrics based off of the questionnaire. Each of our team members took the survey to establish that it was structurally firm and aesthetically pleasing. Once it was tested, the survey was finalized by grouping the data to ensure the fluidity of the questions. The majority of the questions were interval level questions with a likert scale construction, but some questions, such as demographics, were categorical. The Qualtrics survey had a total of 60 questions that were broken up into five different groups. These groups were General Selfie Usage, The Self and Selfies, Selfies and Marketing, Selfies and Others, and Demographic Questions. The survey questions were preceded by the following statement:

“We are students of a marketing research class and are conducting a survey on selfies in the marketplace for class credit. We would appreciate you taking ten minutes to give us your honest responses. Your participation is voluntary and will remain anonymous. All data will be confidential. Thank you for your participation.”

The survey was opened for participants on October 21st, 2015 and it was closed on October 30th, 2015. The survey was administered online by distributing a link to a non-probability convenience sample comprised of friends and family. Social media was used to reach a large group of people in a short amount of time. Surveys were also distributed via email and it was asked that our participants forward it out to their friends and family.

Using this method of distribution, 226 people responded to the survey. However, several people did not finish taking the survey while others did not seem to take the survey seriously as was indicated by their absurd responses to the ethnicity question. (For example, one person indicated his ethnicity as “blue.”)Thus, these responses were not included in the analysis, leaving 208 responses for analysis.

The data collected from the Qualtrics survey was imported into SPSS to analyze the results. The data was then coded to reflect the wording of the questions from the survey. The survey questions were then categorized by objective for ease of analysis. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Independent samples T-tests, one way ANOVAs, regressions, and correlations were performed at a 10% level of significance. Marketing recommendations were then made based on the results of these tests.

Sample and Sample Characteristics:

This survey was distributed to a variety of participants using a non-probability sampling technique. Using this method, 226 people responded to the survey. Due to incompletion and uncooperative respondents, 18 responses were discarded leaving 208 responses for analysis. Of these participants almost twice as many females were sampled as males (134:73:1). The participants were primarily in the 18-22 (35.1%) and the 40 or older age ranges (30.29%) but with a large portion in the 23-27 year old age range (24.04%) (Figure 1). Of the 208 participants, 188 were caucasian, making up over 90% of the sample. The majority of participants identified as being currently single, with only 37% of them identifying as married or in a domestic partnership. Out of the total 208 participants, 83 responded as having 1 child or more (Figure 2).

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In addition, the majority of the sample (84%) has an education level of some college or greater (Figure 3).

Figure 1: Frequency distribution of age ranges within the sample.

Figure 2: Frequency distribution of number of children across 83 parents in the sample.

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Figure 3: Frequency distribution of level of education.

Data Analysis:

Objective 1 >To understand why people take selfies: To understand the most common reasons people post selfies, we developed statements offering a variety of reasons as to why people post selfies and asked respondents to evaluate the accuracy of these statements on a likert scale. These statements included the following:

➢ I take selfies to boost my confidence.➢ I take selfies to show off.➢ I take selfies to stay relevant or to “fit in.”➢ I take selfies to keep my friends in touch with my life.➢ I take selfies to convey a message.➢ I take selfies to show off a product.➢ I am more likely to post a selfie during/after a special event or occasion.➢ I am afraid people will forget me if I do not post selfies on social media.

Figure 4 shows the mean results of respondents’ feelings toward these statements. From this we found that, with a mean of 3.67, people are more likely to post a selfie during or after a special event or occasion than for any other reason. Overall respondents said they “disagree” with the statements of showing off and fitting in, with means of 2.07 and 2.03 respectively. However, posting a selfie for a special event or occasion is a way of showing off and fitting in. The variance between these findings causes a disconnect between respondents’ behaviors and

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how they personally view those behaviors. This disconnect occurs on a subconscious level, though. Respondents are unable to comprehend the belief that they are trying to “show off” or “fit in” when posting selfies during or after a special event or occasion.

Figure 4: Mean results of respondents’ reasons for taking selfies.

Objective 2 > To understand the impact selfies have on marketing: To gain a better understanding of the impact of selfies on marketing, we first asked if people market products in their own selfies. We found that, on average, people are neutral about promoting a product in a selfie (2.85). However, 73 people (35%) indicated that they “agree” or “strongly agree” with the statement “I am more likely to take a selfie with a product than alone.”

We then tested the difference of impact in product promoting on friends’ selfies and celebrities’ selfies. These results can be seen in Figure 5. When asked if people have a better opinion of products they have seen featured in a friends’ selfies, the mean was 2.63, but for products in celebrities’ selfies the average response was slightly lower at 2.46. Next, we asked our audience if they are more likely to use products they have seen featured in friends’ selfies compared to celebrity selfies. The mean for friends’ selfies was 2.73 while celebrities was 2.39. We also asked if they were willing to spend more money on products featured in selfies.The mean for friends’ selfies was 2.39 and for celebrities’ selfies was 2.23. Lastly, we asked the respondents if they were more likely to recommend a product to a friend if they have seen it featured in friends’ selfies compared to celebrities’ selfies. The mean for friends’ selfies was 2.50 while the celebrity mean was 2.34.

Although the numbers were close, the statements pertaining to friends’ selfies produced means that were a bit higher than the statements pertaining to celebrities’ selfies. We can conclude from this that people trust products in their friends’ selfies more than celebrities’ selfies. Although celebrities have more exposure to a bigger audience, consumers have a more significant influence on their friends. It is to be noted that all the averages in this comparison are neutral. This could be explained by the unconscious impact people have on each other. This

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causes people to want to purchase a product without the awareness that they are trying to obtain social acceptance.

Figure 5: Mean results of respondents’ reasons for taking selfies.

We also wanted to see if personal selfie taking to show off products causes people to have better opinions of products in friends’ selfies. We tested this hypothesis with a regression in which we accepted our assumption at a significance level of 10% with a .000 test significance. Figure 6 shows the results of this test. The results of this test tells us that there is a strong relationship between the independent and dependent variables with a Pearson R of .425 and an adjusted R square of .176, forming a regression line of y = .419x + 1.653. From this we can conclude that people who take selfies to show off products have better opinions of products they see in friends’ selfies.

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Figure 6: Regression results of “I take selfies to show off a product” (IV) and “I have a better opinion of products I have seen featured in friends’ selfies” (DV).

We also wanted to acknowledge gender and age as a predictor of who takes selfies and the impact this has on marketing. This relationship was measured using an Independent samples t-test and a One way ANOVA respectively. Figures 7 and 8 show the results of these tests. In regards to gender as a predictor of who will take selfies, we concluded with a 10% level of significance and a test significance of .055 that gender does predict who will take selfies. Specifically, females are more likely to take selfies than males with means of 2.90 and 2.55 respectively. These findings indicate that companies with a target market comprised of females should use selfie-based marketing. In regards to age as a predictor of who will take selfies, we concluded with a 10% level of significance and a test significance of .004 that age does predict people who will take selfies, with the 18-22 age range producing the highest mean of 3.14. Thus, companies with a target market comprised of 18-22 year olds should use selfie-based marketing.

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Figure 7: Gender as a predictor of who will take selfies.

Figure 8: Age as a predictor of who will take selfies.

With the rise of the selfie trend, we were also curious to see if people have adopted the use of selfie improving products. We found that only 16 respondents own a selfie stick and only 18 respondents edit their selfies with a selfie editing app.

Objective 3 > To understand the opinions people have toward selfies and the people who take them: To understand our objective, we tested to see if people get annoyed with selfie posts if they think people are showing off. We tested this relationship through a regression analysis as shown in Figure 9. With a 10% level of significance and a test significance of .000, we concluded that people are more likely to get annoyed with selfie posts if they think people are

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showing off. The test also indicates that this relationship is strong with a Pearson R of .400 and an adjusted R square of .156 producing a regression equation of y = .427x + 1.583.

Figure 9: Regression results of “I think people post selfies to show off” (IV) and “I get annoyed when I see selfies of other people” (DV).

Seeing this relationship, we then wanted to explore if people enjoy seeing selfies when they think people are trying to stay in touch with friends. We tested this relationship with a regression analysis which can be seen in Figure 10. With a 10% level of significance and a .000 test significance, we concluded that people do enjoy seeing selfies when they think people are trying to stay in touch with friends. This regression analysis also indicates a strong relationship between the independent and dependent variables with a Pearson R of .343 and an adjusted R square of .114 producing a regression equation of y = .345x + 1.961. These tests explain that people only enjoy seeing selfies of people they like.

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Figure 10: Regression results of “I think people post selfies to keep in touch with friends” (IV) and “I enjoy seeing selfies of other people” (DV).

We also wanted to test if people are more likely to take selfies if they enjoy seeing selfies. We tested this through a regression analysis which can be seen in Figure 11. With a 10% level of significance and a test significance of .001, we concluded that people are more likely to take selfies if they enjoy seeing selfies of others. This relationship is relatively strong with a Pearson R of .233 and an adjusted R square of ___ producing a regression equation of y = .287x + 1.890.

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Figure 11: Regression results of “I enjoy seeing selfies of other people” (IV) and “I use my mobile device to take selfies” (DV).

Objective 4 > To understand the correlation between selfies and narcissism: To understand the underlying relationship between selfies and narcissism, we constructed several

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statements and asked respondents to indicate their agreement with the statements on a likert scale. These statements included the following:

➢ Peer responses (likes, shares, comments) to my selfies are important to me.➢ I check social media to see the number of “likes” I received on selfies I post.➢ I am satisfied with the number of “likes” I get on the selfies I post.➢ I wish I could receive more “likes” on the selfies I post.

Figure 12 shows the means of respondents’ agreement with these statements. With a mode of 4 it is evident that more people “agree” that selfie responses, which includes likes, shares, and comments, are important to them and, with a mode of 4, they will also check social media to see these selfie responses. This contradicts our results in objective 1 which found that people do not believe they post selfies to “show off” or to “fit in.” If people care about selfie responses, then they are clearly looking for a way to fit in and boost their confidence. With the number of people who find peer responses to be important to them, it is evident that people are posting selfies to boost their confidence, feel relevant, and show off even though people do not admit to doing so. Again, our respondents are contradicting other claims because they do not want to disclose the true motivations behind their behaviors.

Figure 12: Mode results of the importance respondents’ place on peer responses to selfies.

We also asked people if they think others are conceited and narcissistic for taking selfies. This produced a neutral response with a mean of 2.99. However, we were curious as to whether the likelihood of taking selfies increased as the belief that people are conceited and narcissistic for taking selfies decreased. This relationship was tested with a correlation and the results can be seen in Figure 13. The results of this test indicate a negative correlation between “I use my

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mobile device to take selfies” and “I think people who take selfies are conceited and narcissistic” (R=-.266) with a significance of .000/2 at a 99% confidence level. Despite the neutral belief towards the statement “I think people who take selfies are conceited and narcissistic,” this belief does affect whether people will take selfies. While people refuse to admit others are conceited and narcissistic, it is evident that they do believe this is true or else there would not be a correlation between these variables. It follows then that people who take selfies do not like to consider themselves conceited or narcissistic either because they want to appear more desirable than they think they are. They merely want to be accepted by society. What may be considered as narcissism by some is actually individuals seeking peer support to build their confidence.

Figure 13: Results of correlation between “I use my mobile device to take selfies” and “I think people who take selfies are conceited and narcissistic.”

Recommendations:

To capitalize on the selfie trend of today’s society, we recommend that companies integrate selfies into their marketing and product lines when possible. Based on our findings we suggest companies incorporate selfies in the following ways:

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➢ This study found that people are more likely to post selfies before and during special occasions than any other reason. We encourage companies to capitalize on this finding by incorporating selfie-based tactics into marketing their events. This can be done by creating a hashtag for the event and encouraging attendees to use their hashtag when posting selfies from the event on social media.

➢ This study also showed that people are willing to take selfies with products. Therefore, companies should ask them to do so. We also found that consumers are more receptive to product recommendations from friends than celebrities. So, rather than dishing out big bucks to celebrities, companies should identify early adopters of their products and offer them free products in exchange for promoting it on social media. However, our objective 3 findings indicated that it is important to select people who are well liked by their peer group. This is because the research also found that consumers are annoyed by selfies posted be people who they think are showing off which would logically be people they do not like. If a company does choose to market their product with a celebrity endorsement, they should take this into consideration as well and select celebrities who are well-liked in relationship to the product category. For example, Angelina Jolie would be an ideal celebrity endorser for an adoption agency.

➢ The data also showed that females in the 18-22 age range were the most likely group to take selfies. For companies with this group as their target audience, they should incorporate selfies into their marketing. For example, Lilly Pulitzer could promote their brand by encouraging female consumers to take selfies with their new planner to receive a discount on future purchases.

➢ While the selfie trend is growing, our research shows that few consumers have adopted the use of selfie-related products. This is likely due to the lack of marketing for these products. Thus, we encourage companies to continue to put an emphasis on selfie-related product features through their advertising. For example, phone companies could focus more on camera quality and the front camera features when advertising. Some features that would likely interest a selfie user would be quick and easy access to more editing features such as red eyes, smoothing for blemishes, and brightening and whitening for pictures taken on a front camera. App creators could also include both front and back camera access if the app uses a camera.

➢ Our research also indicated that consumers are merely seeking to gain social acceptance through the posting of selfies. This desire to gain acceptance from peers and society indicates low self-confidence and self-worth in consumers. We highly recommend that companies selling beauty-related products place an emphasis on self-confidence in marketing their products. For example, Bare Minerals could create a brand-building

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campaign encouraging female consumers to embrace their natural beauty by posting selfies with the hashtag “#Bareisbeautiful.”

As can be seen with the development of the selfie trend, Generation Y has become increasingly self-consumed and is constantly seeking acceptance from society to build their confidence. This trend is a fun and easy way to gain consumer participation for minimal cost while allowing consumers to find the social acceptance they seek. This leaves many opportunities for companies to incorporate selfies into their marketing and brand building efforts.

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