October 15, 2013
The beauty industry has gone through an exciting transition over the past 10 years and with the rise of the internet and knowledge sharing, consumers are now empowered and are demanding ground-breaking technologies, ingredients and products – they know what they want and are more than willing to invest in a product if it will make them look and feel good. The beauty industry needs to listen and take part in conversations surrounding their brand name and products, or risk losing customer loyalty from a fickle market of consumers, chopping and changing between brands.
Beauty could take a few lessons from the fashion industry which has done brilliantly in embracing social media and clearly understands the value that social can bring to the success of a brand. See for instance premium fashion brand Burberry and its use of Pinterest, with over 63,000 followers sharing and providing outfit inspiration using Burberry products exclusively! Premium makeup brands, such as Chanel, could follow suit by pinning the latest looks to promote new makeup lines, listing products used to create a certain makeup look.
Premium makeup and skincare brands have been slow to integrate themselves into the social media mix and continue to use photoshopped, false eyelash wearing models – if savvy beauty consumers can see through this, they won’t trust the brand, undermining the development of a loyal fan base. Consumers want to be able to see a product online, they want to get to know the product, read reviews with the aim of seeking out whether the product lives up to the claim before investing…
If they choose to take part and listen to their audience, vital clues can be found on social media – by observing these, patterns can be discovered to understand what products consumers like best or get to know what products are in demand but are not yet on the market. Facilitating innovation and putting brands ahead of their competition – all done by listening and responding to what the consumer wants.
© Reanjos. Photo. Attribution 2.0 Generic.