Beauty Brands: 3 Action Items to Stand Out on Social Media

As a beauty executive, be sure to keep up with the ever-changing trends on social media so you can stand out and impress high value markets. As a Northwestern student specializing in communication studies, I have found two articles about the beauty industry and social media that will interest you.

In her article for Refinery29, How SocialMedia Changed the Beauty Industry, Mi-Anne Chan illustrates how social platforms have made the beauty industry more inclusive and have engaged consumers in conversations. Social media has also introduced consumers to new techniques and types of products which has made what was once considered professional makeup accessible to consumers. This has allowed new products to enter the market and given consumers the power to create more complex looks that can be shared on social media. Additionally, brick-and-mortar stores have started to carry smaller brands that have large followings on social media, allowing more access to their products. To consumers, social media is more genuine than advertising. Brands have started including social media posts as part of their daily marketing and also engage with influencers promoting their products. High value beauty consumers engage with the beauty community online, and brands engage with influencers to reach these audiences. 

Kim Kardashian and Jaclyn Hill on @JaclynHill's Instagram

In her article for The Cut, Is InstagramMakeup Making Us All Beauty Clones?, Kathleen Hou shares professional makeup artists’ opinions on Instagram makeup trends. Many of these artists believe that social media is hurting the beauty industry by promoting unrealistic beauty standards. Hou discusses how social media pressures people to look camera-ready at all moments so that they can post about their lives. Hou also notes that makeup influencers wear different styles of makeup on different social media platforms, so makeup on Instagram is not representative of all makeup trends. She also illustrates the difference between creating looks for the camera and creating looks for real life. While camera-ready makeup looks more dramatic and pigmented than day-to-day makeup looks, both of these styles can be trending. Camera-ready looks are more engaging and spreadable on social media, but beauty consumers look for inspiration in all types of styles. 

Based on my review of these articles and my work and studies at Northwestern, I have created three action items that you should use the next time you’re creating a social media marketing campaign.

• Engage with Influencers- Interacting with influencers through collaboration, sponsorship, or commenting can bring your brand to millions of dedicated fans.
• Create Interesting Looks- When posting a look using your products, make it unique from the current trends and give your audience something to think about
• Be Dramatic While you should stand out from the crowd, stick with the trend of creating dramatic content meant for social media, not real life.

Social media has grown the beauty industry, and brands must use it effectively to continue fostering this growth.

Allyson Snyder is a communication studies student at Northwestern University in the Integrated Marketing Communications program. She will be graduating in June 2019 and specializes in market research, brand strategy, customer insights, and planning. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter. 

Why You Should Be an Entrepreneur Right Now

We know, you have a lot on your plate. You probably forgot to eat more than once while cramming for midterms and dealing with a dysfunctional, non-responsive people for your group project. Starting a company probably seems lofty, big, unattainable, and a great way to waste precious time you should be spending trying to maintain a social life.

But think again.

Your idea has value. Your solution to that every day problem has merit, and instead of sleeping on it while other people are out there building their own futures, eating up all of the available resources at Northwestern, it’s time to make it happen. Because now, as a student, is the best time to get your startup off the ground. There are more resources available now than ever before for students interested in tech, innovation, and entrepreneurship at every level and in every school. As a Northwestern student, there is a network of people both inside and outside the university who you are connected with and need no introduction to.

More important than all of those resources though, college is a place where it’s okay to experiment, learn, grow, and yes, even fail. It means you’ve tried something new and learned something from it, and here in our entrepreneurial bubble, it’s also fuel to get up and try again with the support of fellow student founders and mentors to guide you. We know from working with students for a while that entrepreneurship isn’t all rainbows and unicorns.

When you leave the comfortable cradle of the Northwestern family, things may change. You might find yourself losing eligibility to get non-dilutive capital through university based business competitions. Maybe that full time job will eat up a lot more time than you anticipated, leaving you with just late nights to keep your venture up and running as a side hustle.

Because the last thing you want to become is a thoughtrepreneur: a person who sits on their idea and never executes. Being an entrepreneur requires serious grit, dedication, and expertise and it’s our goal at The Garage to give you a toolkit you can reach into for years to come. Part of the success of a student startup ecosystem at any university is the realization that it’s just as important to discover you don’t want to be a founder or entrepreneur as it is to discover that you do. And you’re far better off doing that now, while you still have the comforting arms of Northwestern hugging you tightly.

Be exuberant. You have an unparalleled opportunity as a student with an idea to take advantages of resources across Northwestern and at The Garage. Need some inspiration? Check out the Dorm Room Fun 5-Year Report.

Make moves. Now. Build your network and schedule office hours with our staff or visiting experts.

Create memories. When things don’t go well, and you fail, which you inevitably will, it’s an experience giving you insight.

Elisabeth Wright is a marketing pro with experience in the public and educational sectors, with a special interest in international relations and social entrepreneurship. She joins The Garage at Northwestern with a passion for work in higher education and a love of all things student centered. Elisabeth received her BA in anthropology and her MPA from Northern Illinois University.