Beauty marketing is a fleeting concept: changing every year or even season, and those who can’t keep up with the top trends are sure to go obsolete.
Gone are the days of taking a day off, dressing up, and hitting every fashion store at the mall. (Cue: Robin Scherbatsky’s single ‘Let’s go to the mall’).
With every possible thing you could ever need available at the tip of your fingers, today’s version of shopping is unwinding at the end of the day with a glass of wine and adding all kinds of stuff to your shopping cart.
Love it or hate it, e-commerce is here to stay. Online sales are rising by the day, surpassing physical store sales in most cases and becoming the no. 1 contributor to their overall business.
So, what does that mean in the world of fashion and beauty marketing, you ask? Well, it’s time to get better acquainted with the top social media trends and rule the internet; that’s what it means.
By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.
Learn more
The Wonderful World of Social Media
Who knew social media would take over our lives? Except for Mark Zuckerberg, that is.
Our socials have become a primary tool to keep up with our lives; it’s become a necessary evil, much like friction. (Just low-key dropping some science for you!)
So, although we’d all like to exercise and meditate the first thing we wake up, we reach for our phones and scroll through Instagram instead. And that’s a great thing for your brand as you get to capitalize on a brand new online buyers’ market.
If you’re a numbers person, here are some stats. A recent survey found that 50% of retail brands align social media advertising with their overall marketing strategy. Another 75% have increased their investment in social marketing to boost their sales.
In 2020, over 36% of Instagram users were using the platform to follow companies or brands. 78% of active brands on social media outperform their peers, and 84% of users rely on social media to dictate their buying choices.
It’s all in the numbers and, of course, you want in. Let’s look at how to make a brand go viral on social media, then, shall we?
Ways to Boost Your Brand on Social Media
Lucky for us, there is more than one way to take over the competition on social media. For those working in skincare and cosmetics marketing niches, here are some of the top ways to boost your brand(s) on social media.
1. ASMR Videos
If you’ve never heard of ASMR videos, hey, it’s not too late to jump in on this feel-good trend that feels like a massage to your brains. ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response, is a sedative sensation that uses sounds and sights to pleasure the sensory parts of the brain responsible for literal chills.
ASMR videos are pretty popular in the food industry, with big players like KFC and Dove Chocolate tapping into that wholesome feeling. But that doesn’t mean it’s not for a beauty company.
LUSH, a brand synonymous with relaxation, has often relied on the soothing effects of an ASMR video to get its message across. The relaxing feeling of listening to a LUSH bath bomb fizzing in the tub almost feels as relaxing as the real thing. And that’s exactly what it accomplishes with its content. The brand often collaborates with ASMR influencers to help create quality content.
Skincare ASMR videos are blowing up with big brands such as Makeup Forever making use of slow, satisfying swatches of their products and creams oozing out of their tubes oh-so-sensationally.
Beauty influencers have jumped in, showcasing their morning and night skincare routines up close and personal on their socials. The aesthetics of doing a deep cleanse, giving your skin a good rub with a derma-roller, and applying lip masks are a thing, and the world of beauty loves it!
Check out these Golden Hour ASMR videos if you don’t believe us. Fair warning, though: it’s a rabbit hole!
ASMR nails videos on YouTube are a big hit as creators show off their manicures while making tapping and scratching sounds. Even Michelle Phan, the owner of Em cosmetics, makes ASMR content for her channel.
2. No-filter Images for Authenticity
A sharp jaw, fox eyes, cinched waist, big hips: so within our grasp and yet so unattainable! Influencers often talk about ‘self-love’ and ‘being real’ and yet post perfectly airbrushed pictures of themselves.
Or have we forgotten how Khloe Kardashian lost it when a non-photo shopped picture of hers went viral? Unrealistic beauty standards on social media can do so much harm by selling an image of perfection that doesn’t exist.
However, some brands choose to rise over this bigotry and market a ‘real beauty’ strategy that is authentic. Glossier is famous for showcasing ‘real’ skin texture with diverse brand representatives in its Insta feed.
The strategy clearly works as a recent study by CNBC showed that 67% of buyers appreciate authenticity to photoshopped perfection that thwarts social media beauty standards altogether.
3. Bite-Sized Educational Content
How-to’s and tutorials are a great way to introduce your products to your target consumers. Not only are you teaching them how to use your product, but also educating them in enhancing their beauty or lifestyle in a fun way.
One of the trending social media content in 2022 is mini beauty lessons on Instagram stories and carousels. They’re short to the point and extremely engaging.
Not surprisingly, many beauty companies are following suit. A top beauty brand, MAC, often creates short tutorials teaching the viewers how to apply their makeup better.
Murad, a skincare brand, makes lifestyle content that goes beyond its products and focuses on the well-being of its consumers. Users get tips on how to stay active, what veggies to include in their diet, and how to improve their lifestyle.
These contents are less about sales and more about letting the consumers know that they come first.
4. Tiktok Trends
The TikTok feed is much like a whirlpool: you get in, and before you know it, you’ve been on it for more than 2 hours! A platform for entertainment and education, it can also be an arsenal for your brand if you let it.
TikTok is used in over 150 countries and has more than 1 billion users, with most users between the ages of 13 and 30. So if that’s your target audience, you know what to do!
Several beauty companies have had significant success with their campaigns designed explicitly for the TikTok audience.
The Ordinary saw a substantial rise to fame after a TikTok user posted a video of her using their cult-favorite AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution. Sales spiked by over 426% after that viral video. The hashtag #peelingsolution has over 87.3M views on TikTok as of now.
Fenty Beauty also stepped up its TikTok game in 2020, launching its hashtag #fentybeautyhouse specifically for the platform’s users and collaborating with other influencers.
5. Brand Comparisons/Alternatives
This is a tried and tested strategy for content creators and influencers and one of the top trending social media content in 2022.
To put it shortly, you cannot be a revered beauty influencer if you have the nicest things to say about every product out there. Brutal honesty, or at least an accepted form of diplomatic honesty, is preferred.
This is why beauty influencers such as Mikayla Nogueira have such a huge fan base. She often does brand comparison videos and mentions dupes of high-end products that are unaffordable to the working class.
By giving honest opinions and reviews, such influencers help the audience make their next purchase decision.
6. Collaboration With Content Creators
So you may not be able to get an A-list celebrity to do your brand’s bidding, but that doesn’t mean you need to lose out in the social media game.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When on social media, get micro-influencers to partner up with. Several brands do this oh-so-perfectly, which often results in increased sales.
Huda Beauty, a renowned beauty brand established by an influencer in her own rights Huda Kattan, often partners up with micro-influencers who have a huge influence on their audience. Several influencers collaborate with the beauty mogul on its social media handles to produce fun and engaging content.
An unconventional yet effective way to boost your brand on social media is through contests. The NYX Face Awards is one such event in which beauty vloggers create the best makeup look and win a cash prize.
By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.
Learn more
Not only does the brand gain recognition, but in doing so, it helps bring forth talent that would have stayed hidden otherwise.
7. Memes
Last but not least, we have memes! A fun catchphrase or a joke derived from popular culture that inspires a chuckle or two and gets your brand message across.
Social media users are quite adept at recognizing sponsored content, giving it very little attention, resulting in low engagement. To keep your social handle fun and preppy, making use of memes can come in handy.
Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty is quite good at creating fun memes that help promote the product and get a few laughs. Even Gucci used a Renaissance painting to create a viral meme embodying luxury.
If You Want to Go Far, Go Together!
The answer to how to market beauty products on social media is to be consistent and produce quality content one after the other. Because if you aren’t being consistent or delivering low engagement media, your followers may start losing interest.
That’s where a social media content marketing agency comes to play. It is impossible to do it all and do so perfectly. Instead of racking your head over your socials, it is best to focus on your brand product/services and let the experts take over.
Most brands collaborate with an agency such as ours to take over their social media strategies. And it’s a win-win situation where your brands gain genuine interest, and your message is disseminated in the best way possible.
Conclusion
Social media is all fun and games. Until it isn’t. There have been several circumstances in which brands had to retract their media content due to ignorant or offensive material.
With brands continuously under media scrutiny just waiting for the next screw-up, the best bet is to let the experts handle it. It is possible to have it all: stellar products/services, brand recognition, and a solid social media presence.
All you need is an excellent team to back you up!
Header Image Source: Photo by Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash
How did you like May Thawdar Oo’s blog post “7 Types of Trending Social Media Content for the Beauty Industry”? Let us know in the comments if you have anything to add, have another content idea for beauty content marketing blog posts, or just want to say “hello.” 🙂
