Primer, Powder and PR

Published on May 29, 2017, at 9:18 a.m.
by Kahla Anderson.

Have you ever watched a YouTube video and the person you are watching entices you with a new product or app that you should download? This is called influencer marketing. Influencer marketing consists of hiring influential people from social media to represent your company and brand on social media similar to a brand ambassador.

Influencer marketing has taken over beauty industry promotions. This new way of marketing creates a trust with potential customers that may not happen with just a regular advertisement or campaign using a celebrity who is hired to speak about a product that they may not even use.

Here are a few tips and reasons on how the beauty industry is benefiting from this marketing strategy.

Customer trust
The benefit of using a popular social media influencer over a celebrity is the authenticity of their comments. Most people know that celebrities are paid to be in commercials and work with brands but may not actually use the product. However, you buy the product because of your loyalty and admiration of a celebrity.

Most beauty influencers use and promote certain products way before a company decides to partner with them. So loyal customers of that beauty guru already have heard the honest opinion of that influencer and can better decide if they want to use a product. It is important for influencers to be honest and authentic about their opinion of a product to better sway the customer.

Partnering with the “Who’s Who” of the industry
This is definitely a MAJOR KEY ALERT! Cosmetic companies need to partner with influencers who have a loyal and growing social media following. It takes a while for a beauty expert to gain and keep a solid following. Partnering with an influencer with a strong following makes it easier for a company to get them to market their product because they already have the audience; they just need the product placement to go with it.

Beauty experts such as Shayla, also known as MakeUpShayla,  and Desi Perkins have over 2 million followers on Instagram and over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. MakeUpShayla is partnering with Maybelline’s Big Shot campaign (link) to promote its new mascara. This mascara can be seen in commercials on YouTube, on MakeUpShayla’s social media accounts and magazine ads. Overall, it will benefit a company most to partner with someone who’s created a platform for themselves.

First class treatment
Working with some of the biggest names in the beauty industry comes with a lot of perks. Although these influencers may not report to an office every day, the company culture and how they are treated are still important.

The relationship between a beauty influencer and the company they are representing needs to be mutually beneficial. Companies like Maybelline and Tarte Cosmetics have done a great job with giving their beauty influencers the star treatment. These companies periodically sponsor a vacation for their influencers. These vacations range from Bora Bora all the way to Paris.

Beauty companies not only use these trips to introduce their influencers to new products but also use them as a branding strategy to go along with their product. Tarte Cosmetics created the hashtag #trippinwithtarte for their influencers to use on social media when posting about their company during their vacation.

Besides the business side of things, these companies pay close attention to the lives of their influencers and make it a point to support their ambassadors in any way they can. For example, Desi Perkins is married and includes her husband in a lot of her social media, and her fans have grown to love and know him as well. So when she is sent on vacation, companies like Tarte make sure that her husband is catered to on the trips as well. Some of the gifts given by the company include customized clothing depending on the location of the trip, like customized skiing gear for their trip to Aspen.

Giving perks such as these to their influencers keeps the relationship positive and beneficial for both parties. It also shows that the company cares about them and not just what they can provide for its business.

As the marketing mavens Shayla and Desi Perkins exemplify, adding a beauty influencer to your brand could be the missing color to your palette.