• Evaluate TWO advantages and TWO disadvantages of using social media for their marketing strategy

Advantages

1. Wide Reach and Targeted Marketing
Social media allows L'Oréal to reach a large audience quickly and efficiently. Through platform algorithms, the campaign can target users who are already interested in skincare and beauty products, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

2. High Engagement and Visual Demonstration
Skincare products benefit from visual demonstrations. Short-form videos allow influencers to show textures, application methods, and visible results, making the content more engaging and persuasive compared to traditional advertisements like newspapers.

Disadvantages

1. Lack of Perceived Authenticity
Most of the videos promoting the product are created by influencers. Because these are often paid collaborations, some consumers may doubt the authenticity of the testimonials. Viewers may question whether the positive reviews are genuine or influenced by sponsorship, which can reduce the trust in the product.

2. Exposure to Public Criticism
Social media platforms also allow users to openly share negative experiences. If customers do not see results or experience skin irritation, they may leave critical comments or reviews that are visible to a wide audience, potentially affecting the brand’s image and reputation.

Advantages

1. Global Reach and Connectivity

   Singapore has one of the fastest internet speeds in the world and it positions itself as a digital literate nation. Promoting Iconic Singapore Landmarks such as Sentosa and Jewel Changi Airport (which is ranked no1 in Airport Design) on various social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok enables increased Reach and Impressions to tourist across the world who have never heard of Singapore "the tiny red dot Island".

2. Cost Effective Marketing and Promotion

   Apps such as Instagram and TikTok are free to do digital marketing on unlike traditional means such as Broadcast Media like MediaCorp. Digital marketing even leads to increased engagement and conversion rate which is easy to track with digital dashboards, and these can lead to more tourist travelling to Singapore which lead to increased revenue and Profit for Singapore Tourism Board.

Disadvantages

1. Negative Feedback

Poor reviews by tourist such as Singapore having Draconian Laws and having harsh fines may be further amplified on social media, discouraging tourist to travel. Additionally, popular tourist spots like Sentosa and Jewel Airport must be well-maintained or there will be similar backlash and consequences.

2. Labor and Time Intensive

Despite Digital Marketing being free, it requires creativity and appealing social media campaigns to be created, or it won't achieve its intended outcome. This often requires substantial manpower which will lead to overhead costs which small businesses might not be able to afford. Companies must also address any negative feedback effectively to prevent creating a communication crisis which will lead to reputation harm for Singapore.

Advantage 1. Direct access to local target demographic

Millennials and Gen Z take fashion cues heavily from social media influencers. Glassons current influencer-led model feeds directly into this consumer behavior, allowing the brand to build authentic awareness through local creators at a low cost.

Advantage 2. Low-Risk, Digital Market Entry

Social media allows for Glassons to seell directly to Singaporean consumers through TikTok and Instagram ads leading user traffic directly to their website. This removes the need for investment into a physical store allowing the brand to test out genuine market demand before expanding their infrastructure.

Disadvantage 1. Highly competitive market

Glassons is not the only brand following this campaign model. They face competition from local and global brands across the same social media platforms. With majority of Gen Z and Millennials already having a preference towards longer established brands, Glassons might face the risk of being overlooked and drowned out in the market.

Disadvantage 2. Shift in Consumer Behaviour

Many Gen Z and millennials are having a shift in their buying behavior and are moving away from what they consider as fast-fashion brands. Glassons campaign model of haul-culture, discount codes and 'affordable' clothes is what the current trend of 'de-influencing' targets. The brand risks being called out on its sustainability measures, posing a risk to brand reputation.

As a lifestyle brand, Dove used this campaign to tackle a modern digital challenge: the rise of AI-generated beauty standards that often perpetuate unrealistic and narrow definitions of "perfection."

The Campaign Overview

Building on its 20-year "Real Beauty" legacy, Dove partnered with platforms like Pinterest to refine their algorithms, ensuring that AI-generated search results showcased a more diverse and authentic spectrum of human beauty. The campaign invited users to "refuse" AI-altered images and celebrate unedited beauty across social media.

Advantages

• 1. High Cultural Salience through "Storydoing"

  • Description: Rather than just running traditional advertisements, Dove engaged in "storydoing" by actively changing how social media platforms function. By partnering with Pinterest to alter search algorithms, the brand provided a tangible solution to a digital problem.

  • Impact: This move resonated deeply with Gen Z and Millennial audiences who value authenticity and corporate responsibility. It transformed Dove from a product seller into a digital advocate, generating massive organic reach as users shared the brand's efforts to "fix" their feeds.

• 2. Hyper-Relevant Engagement at the Point of Consumption

  • Description: Social media allowed Dove to reach users at the exact moment they were experiencing the problem (scrolling through filtered or AI-generated content).

  • Impact: By using social media as the primary channel, Dove could serve "alternative" authentic content directly alongside the distorted images. This contextual relevance made the message far more impactful than a standard billboard or TV spot, as it provided a real-time counter-narrative to the user’s immediate digital environment.

Disadvantages

• 1. Algorithmic Vulnerability & Platform Dependency

  • Description: A significant portion of the campaign’s success relied on the cooperation and internal systems of third-party platforms like Pinterest and TikTok.

  • Impact: This creates a strategic risk; if a platform changes its algorithm, its leadership, or its Terms of Service, the brand’s "fix" can disappear overnight. Dove’s strategy is ultimately at the mercy of the "walled gardens" of social media, making it difficult to maintain long-term, consistent impact without continuous reinvestment or platform permission.

• 2. Exposure to "Purpose-Washing" Backlash

  • Description: Social media is a high-scrutiny environment where users are quick to point out brand hypocrisy. Dove is owned by Unilever, a global conglomerate that also owns brands whose marketing sometimes contradicts Dove’s body-positivity message.

  • Impact: When a brand takes a "moral" stand on social media, it invites users to dig into its corporate history. This often leads to "call-out culture," where critics label the campaign a cynical marketing ploy (purpose-washing). Such backlash can go viral just as quickly as the campaign itself, potentially damaging the brand’s credibility among its most loyal advocates.

Advantages:

Global Reach and Connectivity
Through Instagram and TikTok, the Effaclar Duo+ campaign reached a wide global audience of youths and young adults struggling with acne. Short-form videos allowed the brand to connect with users across different countries, increasing awareness beyond physical retail presence.

Cost-Effective Marketing and Promotion
By leveraging influencers, dermatologists, and user-generated content, La Roche-Posay reduced reliance on expensive traditional advertising. Social media enabled repeated exposure of the product at a lower cost while maintaining high visibility.

Disadvantages:

Labour and Time Intensive
Maintaining the campaign required continuous content creation, monitoring of comments, and responding to skincare-related queries. This demands significant manpower and expertise to manage brand reputation effectively.

Virality (Loss of Message Control)
Certain videos or comments may go viral for unintended reasons, such as misuse of the product or exaggerated claims. Once content spreads widely, La Roche-Posay has limited control over how the message is interpreted, posing a reputational risk.

Advantages of Using Social Media

1. Emotional Storytelling and Virality

Punch’s story created massive global engagement, with millions of views and shares. Tapping on to how this makes people feel, brands are able to leverage emotional narratives to build a stronger product story and connect with their target audience.

2. Marketing Opportunity and Brand Affinity

IKEA’s fast response allowed them to capitalize on an unplanned viral moment, creating local content, promoting their product, and driving sales, while strengthening positive sentiment and brand loyalty.

Disadvantages of Using Social Media

1. Difficult for Brands to Replicate

While the IKEA Punch story was successful, it’s difficult for brands to replicate moments like this. Viral content like Punch hugging the plush is spontaneous and authentic.

2. Short-Lived Attention & Trend Dependency

Social media trends move fast and viral moments can fade quickly, so brands need to act fast to make the most of the buzz and ensure lasting impact.

https://www.marketing-interactive.com/durex-spices-up-ikea-u-up-campaign-cheeky-twist

Advantages

1. Virality

IKEA's campaign was already viral, and Durex's response was able to ride on the existing momentum to gain exposure without starting a campaign from scratch. Using social media, Durex was able to trend jack on existing viral conversations to generate engagement and virality with minimal cost.

2. Instant Communication & Engagement

The use of social media allowed Durex to hop on IKEA's campaign while the topic was still trending. Real time participation made Durex feel relevant, witty and allowed them to engage with their audience through trending topics

Disadvantages

1. Negative Feedback

Durex as a brand may be deemed as inappropriate due to the nature of their products. On social media, content can easily reach unintended target audiences (e.g. minors), which may lead to criticism and negative comments which may harm brand reputation

2. Labour and Time Intensive

Real time marketing requires constant monitoring of social media trends, and Durex has to quickly identify IKEA's campaign as a trending topic to trend jack in a short period of time (before the trend dies off). This process is time sensitive and may be labour-intensive as trends are fast paced.

1) Global Reach and Conectivity

The expansion of audience was beyond initial niche. While CeraVe was already popular in skincare circles, the partnership expanded its reach to broader demographics, including Gen Z and male consumers who might not typically engage with traditional skincare ads.

The campaign involved over 400 influencers across different, geographical regions who participated in the prank, fueling suspense and maximizing audience engagement, without relying on paid advertising.

2) Virality

There was massive brand awareness and visibility. The campaign generated over 32 billion earned impressions and more than 2,000 articles, far exceeding initial goals.

Youth engagement was extensive. By tapping into "SkinTok" (TikTok) and using a surreal, humorous approach, CeraVe successfully connected with Gen Z and much younger demographics.

Disadvantages of Social Media

1) Negative feedback

It could have undermined the brand's core credibility by appearing too gimmicky or "fake," necessitating that the company explicitly reconfirm on social media that it was developed by dermatologists.

The campaign did not focus on product benefits or ingredients, potentially failing to educate new customers on why the product actually works.

2) Labour and Time Intensive

In the end it takes a lot more effort to educate the audience as a three-week, "chaotic" buildup involving planting fake paparazzi photos, managing 400+ influencers, and creating staged social media content to seed the conspiracy before the Super Bowl.

The entire production was extremely labour intensive as they meticulously curate the narrative across TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, and at public events to keep the joke going without fully confirming it.

Engaging social media influencers to create videos and featuring them on their IG page, they are able to reach a wide audience due to algorithm and collaboration from both brand and UGC.

New insights from unstructured data

Insights not previously known such as statistics on video performance, will allow adidas to learn more about what content garners the most engagement and reach. So that they are able to be more specific in campaign briefs with influencers, and to pick influencers that are more suitable for their demographics.

Negative feedback

Users with negative experience with the brand, will find outlets to express their dissatisfaction, wether valid or not e.g. their complain related to the product does not matter, as users do not discriminate as long as their voices are heard. 

Virality

Similarly, a negative review can and tends to get more traction than a positive review as more people are interacting with it. 

Two advantages:

1. Wider organic reach: The engaging, story-driven format encourages sharing, helping the airline reach millions beyond passengers actually onboard and boosting brand visibility.

2. Enhanced engagement: Instead of ignoring safety content, audiences are more likely to watch, comment and react, strengthening audience connection and positive brand perception.

Two disadvantages:

1. Message might be diluted / medium is distracting: Some viewers might focus more on the entertainment aspect of the video and less on the actual safety messages.

2. Some detractors resulted in backlash or misinterpretation: Creative campaigns can attract mixed reactions or criticism online (e.g., being “too long” or distractive), which could overshadow the intended message.

As a fast-fashion brand, Love, Bonito’s social media strategy revolved around appealing to its demographic with product images, campaigns and brand messaging.

Advantages

1. Instant Communication and Customer

   Engagement

Love, Bonito encourages customers to post outfit photos with branded hashtags like #LBcommunity, and they even curate these posts on a dedicated Instagram account. This engages with it's community by commenting, posting and messages.

2. New insights from unstructured data

By constantly posting and engaging with it's community, they are able to gather unique insights base on what consumers wants or thinks.

Disadvantages

1. Labour and Time Intensive

It takes a long time for their brand to be establish and be known by many. Consistently on the lookout for new and upcoming trends to fit in.

2. Negative Feedbacks

If negative feedback gains traction especially when picked up by influencers or online forums it can become amplified.

Advantages :

1. Global Reach and Connectivity - Social media helped Torriden to increase brand awareness by expanding from Korea to international markets. TikTok and Instagram allows Torriden to gain global attention having an actual physical store in other countries. Which leads to the next advantage.

2. Virality - Social media enables UGC contents to create authentic contents, like reviewing the products & thus engaging users. All these good reviews can go viral, and is not limited to just Korea so internationally, it started gaining popularity through all their authentic good reviews. This slowly turns into buzz and started creating not just online market but also offline word of mouth once buyers actually try and like the products to their friends, or share the repost by their friends that posted about this online.

Disadvantages :

1. Negative feedback - Since UGC contents are authentic, you cannot control reviews. So good and bad reviews are both posted online when campaign is launched. That also means that, people can pay influences to talk good, competitors can also pay them to badly review Torriden to tarnish their reputation. So while authentic reviews build credibility, the lack of control can be a reputation risk.

2. Virality - Social media marketing is based a lot of tending topics, hashtags as well as algorithms. A social media can go viral immediately and also fade just as fast. This means marketing success might not be long term. So while it can help kick start, Torriden themselves have to continue to introduce new products or promotion, contents to sustain the attention. This means social media marketing while can be effective, it also comes with certain uncertainty and demands.

– Campaign “Wardah Lipbrary”

To mark International Lipstick Day, Wardah launched an interactive experience spanning 1,000 locations across Indonesia and Malaysia – “Wardah Lipbrary”.

Visitors can participate in Wardah’s consultation to identify lip issues and personalized care recommendations. The experience also allows visitors to create bespoke lip shades, try out new products and photo booths. Visitors can also vote for new shade ideas to guide future Wardah launches.

Advantage One: Global Reach and Connectivity

• The accessibility to inform the targeted audience (market reach) across Indonesia and Malaysia (global customers) through its SNS platforms.

Advantage Two: Cost-Effective Marketing and Promotion

• The ability to disseminate information to the targeted audience at almost free/low cost, compared to traditional advertising.

• The ability to share and promote the marketing campaign to engage direct communication with its targeted audience.

Disadvantage One: Labour and Time Intensive

• While running the physical experience (event), the real-time nature of social media requires an active and responsive team to sustain the connection with global customers who are unable to be physically present, to yield more effective results and brand loyalty.

Disadvantage Two: Virality

• While user-generated content promoting the brand experience is valuable for social reach, there might be drawbacks in the opinionated-free community. The physical experience requires to maintain professionalism; social media management requires monitoring and providing immediate feedback or management to maintain visibility generated by viral surge.

Advantages

Global reach and connectivity: Social media gives access to a huge global audience and community, which will help to LA tourism to expand their reach and connect with International Audiences, especially Football Fans

Cost-Effective Marketing and Promotion

Social platforms are generally free, and boosting/ads and collaborating with influencers cost much less than traditional media, which will ensure sustained promotion across different markets

Negative

Negative feedback risk: The high visibility could now be instead a double edged sword and negative reviews and comments on post by LA tourism could hurt the reputation of LA and leave a negative image on the U.S. state.

Labour and Time intensive: This requires consistent time and attention to craft content for the World Cup 2026 in LA, and there is also a need to look at engagement rates and do a bit of sentiment analysis at the comment, to understand how to further engage the audience, which can be very time consuming and labour intensive

TWO Advantages of Using Social Media:

1. Global Reach

Through the influential power of Dylan Wang, Instagram posts and Youtube videos featuring Dylan Wang were 8-10 times higher for long form videos and 100 times more for static posts. Dylan Wang's massive social media following in China and across Asia effectively reaches Singapore's largest tourist source market (China), especially during peak CNY travel season, converting social media engagement into actual visitor arrivals.

2. Virality through Multi-Platform Integration (Multiple Touchpoints)

The campaign spans over multiple social media formats such as IG/Tiktok Reels, long-form content on YouTube, static posts on IG as well. This creates multiple touchpoints for audiences and increases the longevity of the campaign, where people can repost/share content easily.

TWO Disadvantages of Using Social Media:

1. Heavy Reliance on Celebrity's Image/Reputation

Any controversy or negative news could impact Singapore's tourism image on social media. Celebrity partnerships are expensive, and social media metrics don't always translate directly to actual tourist bookings.

2. Platform Algorithm Uncertainty

Social media platforms increasingly favor paid content, meaning STB likely had to invest significant budget in paid promotions to ensure the content reached target audiences.

Advantages:

1. global reach and connectivity

By using social platforms like Instagram and TikTok, it is able to reach out to a wider audience other than the korea market. Because k beauty trends are quite popular due to kpop idols and influencers promoting them, Banila Co tap on this opportunity, make the product visible to users.

2. Cost-effective marketing

Using digital media to promote its cleansing balm, social media cost lesser to promote using its own business account, it cost lesser to collaborate with influencers. Banila Co then uses more of its budget on research.

Disadvantages:

1. Negative feedback

There are a few negative feedbacks coming the audience such as the product did not did its job.

2. Highly competitive market

There are alot of skincare competitors promoting cleansing balm on social media as well.

The selected social media campaign is Libresse’s Never Just a Period. The campaign seeks to highlight the societal taboos and misconceptions surrounding menstruation, while encouraging open dialogue and greater awareness of menstrual health. Through a comedic integrated film shared across social platforms, it aims to normalise conversations about periods and challenge the stigma.

Advantage 1: Global reach and connectivity

Libresse can utilise social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook etc. to promote the campaign across global markets instantly. This enables Libresse to reach diverse audiences and spread awareness, strengthening its presence in the global market. As an e-commerce brand with worldwide shipping and online storefront features, it allows users worldwide to convert into customers and take immediate action in purchasing Libresse’s products. 

Advantage 2: Virality

As social media platforms allow for widespread and rapid sharing, the campaign can reach audiences instantly and generate conversations on social media. Furthermore, the use of social media gives rise to user-generated content, which extends the campaign’s reach and visibility across both existing and potential customers. Additionally, social media allows for earned media when users share and comment on the products. The virality and engagement strengthen Libresse’s brand presence and reinforces the campaign’s purpose of challenging period societal taboos and encouraging open dialogue.

Disadvantage 1: Negative comments

In many cultures, menstruation remains a sensitive topic. Social media gives rise to open conversation, which can lead to negative comments if the campaign is misinterpreted. Additionally, the campaign was delivered through a comedic integrated film, and certain viewers may perceive the brand as not taking the issue of menstrual health seriously, which can negatively impact the original intention of the ad. This can lead to a loss of customer trust and a decrease in sales. 

Disadvantage 2: Virality

Virality can be both an advantage and disadvantage. When social media posts receive high engagement that is particularly negative, the algorithm can amplify these reactions and create a negative sentiment echo chamber, causing criticism to be spread rapidly. This leads to an escalation of reputational risks and overshadows the original campaign message, reducing campaign effectiveness in promoting menstrual health awareness.

The objective was to engage Gen Z through immersive digital environments while reinforcing Nike’s innovation identity.

Advantage 1: Global Reach and Connectivity

Social media allows Nike to reach millions of users worldwide instantly. Because Fortnite already has a global player base, Nike’s campaign expanded across regions without geographical barriers. This is through the different platforms where influencers from different countries have a shared gameplay of clips. Users across continents engaged with the same campaign. This allows the brand message to remain consistent globally. Hence, This global connectivity strengthens Nike’s international brand positioning and cultural relevance.

Advantage 2: Virality

The campaign was designed for shareability. Players recorded their gameplay and posted clips online. Sneaker fans discussed digital skins and limited drops. This leads to an increase in Organic reach, brand awareness, peer-to-peer influence. Instead of relying only on paid ads, Nike leveraged user-generated sharing to amplify the campaign at scale.

Disadvantage 1: Negative Feedback

If users perceive the collaboration as overly commercial or inauthentic, backlash can spread quickly. Social media amplifies criticism just as fast as praise. For example the intrusion may cause the game to be laggy and will cause the gamers to complain and criticise instead. This will affect the brand perception and weaken the campaign impact.

Disadvantage 2: Labour and Time Intensive

Managing a large-scale social media campaign requires continuous monitoring and managing the platforms. The fast pace of social media means brands must actively maintain engagement. This demands significant manpower and time investment.

Advantages

1) Cost effective Marketing and Promotion

They mostly promoted through their own social media rather and created short reels on Instagram and Tiktok. The plush bag acts as a selling point to better appeal to customers to spend more on their products. UGC content is encouraged as they want customers to share the bag they got and spread awareness to others. They drive awareness to retailers without spending much on ads and sponsorship.

2) Instant Communication and Customer Engagement

Social media enables instant communication about the availability of the bag and selected products in various outlets and allows Hada Labo to answer any relevant questions.

Disadvantages

1) Negative Feedback

If customers find that the quality of the free plush bag, they might complain. As some only buy the products for the bag. There is also a chance that stocks might run out too quickly in certain outlets with high footfall. This leads to unhappiness in the comments section of the social media page.

2) Labour and time intensive

It requires a lot of time to create reels and video content. Hada Labo needs to monitor comments frequently and respond quickly to customer inquiries about stock availability or promotion details. It is also challenging to communicate and coordinate with retailers like Watsons.