Influencers and Beauty Marketing

Beauty Marketing taken over by influencers

Lipstick Tips: How Influencers Are Making Over Beauty Marketing   by Dina Gerdeman in HBS

Influencer marketing has quickly become the best way to reach beauty consumers, proving more effective than celebrity endorsements and company ads, according to research by Alessia Vettese.

British makeup guru Katie Jane Hughes posts close-up photos of her face on Instagram almost daily for her 336,000 followers: shimmery gold eyelids; glossy pink lips that complement her auburn hair; eyebrows tinted with tiny brushstrokes of brown gel to fix her mistake in overplucking as a teenager.

And, in a video tutorial on YouTube, in which Hughes starts with a scrubbed-clean face (revealing some of the same splotchy spots many of us worry about), she demonstrates how she applies layer after layer of creams and cosmetics to achieve a glamorous look.

“This tingles a little bit when you put it on, but that’s normal because it’s got glycolic in it,” Hughes says, glancing between the camera and a mirror as she massages a moisturizer into her skin. “I don’t really quite understand how glycolic face creams work. All’s I can tell you is, my skin has been amazing ever since I started using this product.”

During the video’s 12-plus minutes of step-by-step instructions, Hughes holds up product after product close to the camera so viewers can get a good look at each brand name. Because, after all, Hughes isn’t merely sharing beauty tips. She’s also selling makeup.

While Hughes is not your typical celebrity cover girl, her social media posts compel thousands of customers to purchase the products she recommends. ...... "