In the age of social media, a brand’s online image may be one of the most important contributors to their success. Glossier has had an insanely successful social media presence since its launch in 2014.
This data story shows what has worked for the brand, what isn't currently working, and how great storytelling can be executed using tools like Excel and Google Sheets. This data biography was made in a data storytelling course.
The origin of the data is Instagram, as the data is an analysis of how successful Glossier's marketability was on the app. Posts, likes, comments, and follower counts were documented over a two-month period between May and July.
Each row in the spreadsheet represents one post over the period of time, whereas the columns represent each variable that differs between posts. There are six columns in the spreadsheet. The first column is for the posts, the second for the date the post was posted, the third is for the likes a post received, the fourth is for the comments under the post, fifth is for the number of followers Glossier had at the time of the post, and the sixth is the public perception of the post.
The spreadsheet has been transformed to make numbers more digestible, and percentages easier to read. There is an exact number of followers the brand had for each post, however, fewer decimal places better represent the fast and steady influx of followers.
The data was designed to answer many questions. What posts were most successful? When they were successful, did the time of month affect the success? Why did more people engage on certain posts than others? What didn't perform well? What steps can the company take for better engagement? All of these are answered in the data story.
The final insights are that:
The posts that perform the best are the ones in which new products are introduced.
The brand performed the best in June.
Glossier didn’t have a single day where they lost followers; they only gained followers within the past two months.
The data can be viewed here.