Ladies loved the personalised experience of getting their “colours done” by a friendly expert – a notion that quickly became a phenomenon. More than ever before, people were developing strong and enduring relationships with their beauty brands, and boy did it mean big business.
After the beauty counter came the advent of home-selling, direct marketing, interactive website and e-stores – all of which still remain powerful and widely-used tools.
The last few years have seen the rise of social media, arguably the most powerful tool the beauty industry has ever seen and a medium that has completely blown sales out of the water for companies who have embraced it properly.
Now exists an opportunity for beauty companies to build engaged online communities of fans, where real customers can effectively become the most powerful brand advocates they have ever had. The key power here lies in user generated content because when it comes to cosmetics, a recommendation from an objective peer can do things that traditional publicity and advertising alone could only dream of.
Dove is a fantastic example of a brand that using this facet of social media to its full potential. With over 125,000 fans, Dove has transformed the traditional Facebook interface into dynamic and interactive brand portal. With extraordinary levels of user generated content and user-brand interaction, Dove is an example of how a brand can become the news source, teacher, inspiration and friend to their global audience through the use of social media.
Other examples of international beauty brands doing social media well are the UK-based Urban Decay, New York’s e.l.f cosmetics and Canadian brand Mac Cosmetics.
Rather than being viewed as a faceless corporation, smart beauty companies are now embracing the chance to connect to their fans daily, build their brand personality and add value to their relationship with their customers. Personal care is well, very personal, and that makes a customer’s sense of knowing and trusting their brand that much more important to sustaining loyalty and business growth in the long-term.
