Farmstay Social Media Presence in Russia Through Owned Communities and Influencer Campaigns

Research, audience and channels

We ran two rounds of research. Desk research compared Farmstay with ten competitors and showed that the brand had the strongest positive tone of voice in the set, with 72 percent positive reviews and an average rating of 4.2 out of 5. A quantitative survey of 671 women aged 20 to 30, of whom 80 percent used Korean cosmetics, then gave the content team its working brief. The survey also measured brand awareness, showing that roughly a quarter of respondents recognized Farmstay while the leading competitor reached well over half. They named hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, and green tea extract as the ingredients they watch for, while yuja remained unfamiliar to seven out of ten, and they learned about Korean cosmetics mainly from reviews and ratings on online platforms, followed by Instagram, search engines, Telegram, and YouTube. Most followed no Korean beauty brand accounts at all, so the communities would have to earn their audience through paid distribution rather than existing demand.

The core audience became consumers aged 20 to 30 who look for natural extracts and understand multi-step skincare. Promotion started broadly at 20 to 45 so the agency could see which segments responded, and the client later narrowed targeting to 20 to 40.

VKontakte became the primary channel since it combines a large daily audience with full advertising capabilities; advertising on Telegram followed, as the survey confirmed it as a source of beauty information, and Instagram remained a supporting profile maintained organically.  

Content and production

Each month ran on six rubrics: product overviews, consumer reviews pulled from retailer pages, ingredient explainers, routine guides, interactive formats, and contests. Posts stayed specific rather than promotional, covering two-step Korean cleansing, the properties of yuzu, the difference between collagen emulsion and cream, and post-holiday skin recovery. Stories carried the commercial layer, showing the products from each post and linking to retailer listings. Product and educational posts took the paid budget, while review posts ran organically because they worked on existing subscribers rather than reach.

Photo and video production

To keep the feed off catalog imagery, RMAA Agency produced its own material across three shoots in June, August, and November. We ran the full process, from casting models and sourcing props to writing the shot list and directing the day.

The June session covered the Citrus Yuja and Tea Tree lines and combined product photography. As the project went on, еhe scope grew, and the November session alone covered around thirty products across nine lines, among them Collagen Water, Ceramide, Grape Stem Cell, Black Snail, Green Tea and Cica Farm. Each shoot produced both product and model photography, along with short video for the feed and stories. The Agency handed all unretouched originals to the client, so Myungin Cosmetics could reuse the material in other markets.

Contest mechanics

Contests ran in the communities from June onward, offering brand products to subscribers who followed the page, liked the post, and reposted it, with winners drawn each round. They became the strongest engagement tool of the project, since those simple conditions produced roughly double the engagement of a regular post while bringing in around fifty new subscribers each time. More complex mechanics reduced participation, so RMAA Agency reported the finding and returned to the simple format. One variation proved worth keeping, since a user-generated content mechanic asking participants to publish a full review with photos drew smaller numbers but produced genuine review material and extra reach.

Influencer strategy

We prepared a list that covered macro lifestyle creators for broad awareness, mid-tier beauty creators for the core audience, and mid-tier healthy-lifestyle creators for consumers focused on natural ingredients, built around people already familiar with Korean cosmetics as the client requested. The program was split into two flights so the second could build on what the first showed. YouTube stayed in the mix despite the slowdown, because creator integrations kept performing even where overall reach on the platform suffered.

The first flight ran from late September through mid-November and mixed platforms and audience sizes. It combined Instagram Reels from nikkiseey (218K), Karina Shaikhyrazieva (129K), and suleimanova.is (33.9K), a photo post in the Mirror of the Soul Telegram channel (34.7K), and YouTube integrations from Masha Zoom (325K) and Darya Krivda (69.8K). Formats built on daily routines and detailed product reviews, with traffic going to marketplace listings and the brand's social accounts.

Image

The second flight ran from late November through late December and shifted toward YouTube Shorts and mid-tier beauty creators, after the first flight showed that YouTube creators delivered higher engagement rates than Instagram ones. It included TheOlesyaVan (1.09M) on YouTube, Victoria Slusar (110K), Selena Knyazeva (69.9K) and Sasha Yakubova (52.6K) on Instagram, and Guzanova Nadi (25.1K) on Telegram. 

Image

The agency verified performance rather than accepting reported numbers. One Instagram account delivered an engagement rate inconsistent with organic activity, both on the placement and on the account's other posts, and we documented that in the client report and left those figures out of the reported engagement.  Where placements underdelivered, the agency negotiated compensation, and three creators released bonus stories, reposts, and an additional VK integration at no extra cost.

Paid distribution

Running the communities was only half the work, since neither channel would grow without bought traffic. RMAA Agency ran VK Ads campaigns to recruit subscribers into the community, and separately promoted individual posts inside it once they were published. The two served different purposes, because ad campaigns brought new people in while post promotion pushed the content itself in front of a wider audience and drove engagement. Product and educational posts carried that budget, while review posts ran organically since they worked on existing subscribers rather than reach. Telegram growth was bought through external suppliers, and promotion moved between Gramads, MTS, and Yandex over the campaign. Instagram received no paid support at all.