Beauty companies and social media are a match made in heaven.
Social media is a place where people love to show off the best versions of themselves. On the other hand, beauty companies give us the tools and confidence we need to feel comfortable sharing on the web. It’s no wonder that companies like MAC cosmetics have over 23 million followers.
Of course, just like any marketing campaign, using social media to spread the word on your new beauty brand is a process that demands the right strategy.
Just because beauty and social media make a great team, doesn’t mean that you’re not going to face some challenges getting started.
After all, it’s a seriously competitive landscape out there.
So, what do you need to do?
Content Ideas: How Beauty Brands Can “Get Social”
First, let’s share some good news.
There are tons of ways to advertise your beauty brand through social media.
Along with eye-popping visuals on Instagram and Pinterest, you can also create unique filters on Facebook and Snapchat, or post videos and how-to’s on the web.
The kind of content you produce, and the ads you choose to run will depend on your unique brand voice, and the image you’re creating for your company. For instance, options include:
- Tutorials: The social landscape is full of tutorials and how-to videos from brands showing customers how to use their products. Deliver the right kind of eye-catching and informative videos is an excellent way to show clients what they can do with your products. Remember, keep things short and sweet. Most customers won’t want to spend an hour watching your contouring video. Take a look at this video from Mac for a great example:
https://www.facebook.com/MACCosmeticsUKIE/videos/286431942758913/
- User-generated content: One of the biggest challenges that beauty brands have these days is getting customers to trust them. Your audience wants to know that they can rely on you to provide an excellent experience. User-generated content is a great way to demonstrate that people already love whatever you have to sell. Heck, you can even create your own hashtag on Instagram to create a community of contributors.
- Giveaways and contests: This is an excellent way to get people excited about your brand. Competitions and contests can be as simple as asking someone to tag a friend for a chance to win, or even encouraging people to share videos or pictures of them using your products. Frequent giveaways also give your audience a reason to stay tuned to your social channel just in case they get another opportunity to win.
Don’t forget to post plenty of engaging personable content too. Behind-the-scenes videos of your teams experimenting with your products, and insights into your people will make your company feel more real and authentic.
Beauty Industry Best Practices
Now you know what kind of content you can create on social media for your beauty brand, let’s look at how you can make that content shine.
1. Invest in Video
First, visual content will always be the best way to show off your products as a beauty company. Make sure you’re willing to go beyond pictures with the occasional video too.
Look at how Glossybox.co.uk gets their subscribers excited about upcoming boxes with video snippets that tease what they’re going to receive.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=796213250783304
Remember, your videos need to look beautiful, professional, and well-made if you want your audience to trust you. There’s nothing wrong with having a few raw behind-the-scenes videos in the mix to give your clients some variety. However, for the most part, try to focus on consistent quality.
2. Theme Your Accounts
This is a tip that holds up well on many different social media platforms. Although your main advertising and content creation platform might be Facebook, remember that your image on other environments, like Instagram and Pinterest needs to remain consistent too.
Having a theme for the content you publish is a great way to keep your entire social media strategy looking perfect. Theming means generally sticking to a consistent color palette or unique approach. For instance, check out the @HudaBeauty Instagram account here:
Notice how everything just seems to fit together? That’s the kind of look you need to create too. Don’t be afraid to let your themes evolve and fluctuate with the seasons too. That can be a great way to keep your audience engaged.
3. Make Sure the Visuals are Perfect
As we mentioned above, visuals are going to be the key to success for any beauty brand. You need every image you post online to look absolutely perfect. Otherwise, your audience are going to start questioning your brand, and your products.
Other companies might be able to get away with using their smartphone to snap the occasional photo. While you can take the same approach in some cases, you’ll need to dedicate a lot more time and effort to editing your images.
Get creative and use your images in a way that inspires your audience. Notice how Birchbox uses a clean and minimalist image to advertise the make-up removal cloths in their June boxes?
4. Tell a Story
Although images are valuable in your marketing campaign, that doesn’t mean you can ignore the story that you’re going to be telling. Remember, most people buy products for emotional reasons, not logical ones. Your customers want to know that you understand their pain points and expectations.
Your social media campaigns are your opportunity to connect with your audience on a deeper level. Look at how the Lush UK brand uses the caption in its video here to explain its history and show it’s thought leadership in the beauty space:
Try to make your captions as meaningful as possible. Ask yourself what problems your products are helping your customers to overcome. What are the elements that make your products so much more exciting than what clients can get from your competitors?
5. Connect with Influencers
Influencers are pretty much synonymous with social media and the beauty industry at this point. Working with influencers is your chance to show your customers that you’re connected with the people that they already care about.
The best way to make sure that you leave the right impression on your audience with your influencer campaigns, is to do your research. Learn as much as you can about the icons you want to work with. These people need to share the same personality and values as your brand.
Remember, when you’re picking influencers, you don’t have to stick to huge A-list celebrities. Micro-influencers can be just as meaningful in your campaigns. Plus, they’re a chance to show that you aren’t just another vast corporation. Check out Maybelline’s incredible influencer post here:
6. Know Your Brand Voice
One of the most important things that any business can do when they’re building a presence online, is develop a voice. Today’s customers aren’t just looking for the best products or prices anymore. Your clients want to feel like they can connect with you on an emotional level.
Social media studies show that followers always appreciate brands that feel “real and transparent”. Think about how you can show your audience who you are. This could mean making bold statements at times or posting content that highlights an important cause.
Look at the video that Loreal Paris posted for International Nurses day. This is the kind of content that helps businesses engage with their audience:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=269927320720080
7. Build an Asset Library
Finally, as a beauty brand, you’re going to spend a lot of time juggling content and campaigns. From product photos and videos, to posts shared by your community, you’ll need to figure out how you’re going to handle your campaigns.
You can’t just post everything at random and hope for the best. You need to make sure that you’re delivering the right messages at the right time.
With that in mind, create a place where you can store all of your assets for use whenever you need them. This could be a bookmarks folder on your computer where you share inspiring posts that you may want to share later, or a Google or Dropbox folder where you keep pictures.
Whatever you choose, make sure that you always have somewhere to turn when you need content. This will help you to plan more timely campaigns that suit the season, the trends, and the needs of your customers.
Ready to Make the Most of Your Beauty Brand?
The beauty industry relies more on social media than pretty much any other niche. With that in mind, it’s important to have the right strategy in place. Today’s beauty companies need to think about how they can inspire and engage their audience with every video, image, and post.
Remember, keep track of your campaigns, and pay attention to the feedback that you get from your audience. You’ll have endless opportunities to learn online, so use them. Track likes, follows, engagement, and any other metric that matters to you.
Need help? Reach out to the Graygency today, and we’ll get your beauty brand sparkling.
