Author: Sean Singleton – Managing Director, Skive
When it comes to best practice for launching a product or campaign, the beauty field has got the right look, feel and touch. From ‘Benibabe’ Benefit Cosmetics, to poptastic Lime Crime, many beauty brands use their social media channels as a palette to showcase their universe and reach their hardcore fans online. As such, I will focus on the key factors of using social media and its best opportunities for reaching and resonating with an audience. From tone of voice to influencer marketing, take note of these essential tips for a successful launch.
The beauty world is benefiting from the rise of the ‘selfie generation’ which is changing many aspects of the beauty industry. From boosting sales to an expanding culture around makeup looks, the ‘selfie generation’ are turning towards social media for visual inspiration and trends. With the rise of beauty bloggers, tutorial-sharing vloggers and highly celebrated user-generated content, several beauty brands have tapped into these winning content ideas, to master their marketing on social.
After looking at the beauty landscape, I’ve drawn up a list of the five key factors for a successful launch:
1) Tone of Voice
It’s a no-brainer – an iconic tone of voice is key to creating a culture around a brand and a familiarity with an audience. Whether online or offline, we all love to be a part of a group. So what better way to make your community feel a part of your movement, than to talk to them with a memorable tone of voice? Benefit Cosmetics is a great example of owning a consistent tone that is reflective of their followers and the products they have launched over the years. From bubbly language to regularly addressing their community as ‘gorgeous’ or ‘Benebabes’, Benefit Cosmetics smartly showcases how a tone of voice should reflect the nature of a brands’ products.
2) Influencers
Most respected beauty bloggers often don’t sponsor or associate themselves with a product if they genuinely don’t agree with it. So when they do collaborate with a beauty brand, the content executed can be invaluable. Since the late Noughties, there has been an explosion of beauty influencers who have worked with beauty brands to produce compelling content. Whether a super influencer or a micro-influencer, these figures have overtaken the power that a celebrity amabassador once had. Cosmetics brand TooFaced focus its entire social media strategy on working with influencers to create authentic content that’s bright, jovial and accessible. From regramming beauty blogger photos to launching limited-edition collections via an influencer collaboration, TooFaced have created a real ‘brand love’ with its community.
3) Video Content
From tutorials to reviews, video content is a great way to ‘sell’ without ‘selling’ as you can showcase how a product is meant to be used in a dynamic and bite-sized format. L’Oreal Paris have nailed this as it has created a number of playlists on YouTube, diving deep into specific tutorials so that their followers can easily access a look or a lesson. And it’s not just YouTube videos that can capture an audience – platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have opened up a range of tools as they have recognised that video content simply works. For example, Facebook Live videos are regularly used by Benefit Cosmetics to amplify in-store tutorials featuring their latest product launches and live Q&A’s with their ‘Benebabe’ brand ambassadors.
4) User-Generated Content
User generated content is a brilliant way for beauty brands to reach out to their audience, and let them do the marketing. From regrams to repurposing user feedback into content, this is something Glossier are great at. Its Instagram user-generated content strategy is a win-win process as its communities love to be celebrated, and in return, the brand has grown its audience whilst receiving easy-to-win content. What’s great about Glossier is that its UGC strategy has implemented such a strong culture within its community, that their audience can produce content that needs no tweaks as it perfectly fits the look and feel of the brand. Outside of the beauty industry, take a look at Buzzfeed who are the kings of letting their audience create their content!
5) Cross-Platform
To encourage click-throughs, cross-platform marketing is a good way to do so, it is a nice way to connect the dots around a brand’s social platforms. Additionally, it allows an audience to explore more territories, whilst belonging to a familiar universe. Maybelline showcases this best, as they regularly push their blog content across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Their blog content is interactive and includes a call to action for their audience, engaging them to explore other areas of their social channels.
By following these simple yet effective tips, beauty brands and brands outside of this sphere will be on the road to a successful launch. The growth of visual-led social channels like Instagram, has allowed a number of newer beauty brands to display stronger and more quirky personalities – (see Lime Crime!) They have created opportunities for smaller beauty brands to punch above their weight and compete more effectively with the big brands – who very often tend to play it safe. The biggest impact of social media in the beauty industry has been the ability to create stronger emotional connections with its target market. We are only at the beginning of this development.
Sean Singleton is the Managing Director at Skive and will and will present on ‘How to be social media savvy for a beauty launch?’ at in-cosmetics Global on Tuesday 17 April from 17.15-18.00.