Why Cosmetic Businesses Should Use Social Media
Cosmeticsdesign.com reports that a recent study carried out by The Allstate Corporation showed that US Adults are heavily connected on social media outlets. 51% are on Facebook, 28% on Google+, 13% on Twitter, and 12% on LinkedIn. And Youtube gets a whopping 4 billion views a day!
These “media” outlets provide an excellent opportunity for small brands to compete with the big brands. This is perhaps one of the biggest challenges of starting your own cosmetic brand. It’s extremely difficult to compete with the big brands.
But here’s a secret. Big companies haven’t figured out social media. They do not know what makes someone popular or what causes something to go viral. They are in the same boat as almost everyone else. In fact, big companies have the added problem of being successful with traditional advertising. This new social media stuff is as foreign to them as it is to everyone else.
Buying online
In the past people were a little skeptical of buying products online. Sites like Drugstore.com and Beauty.com have been around for a while and have been doing a steady business, but more and more sites are popping up and consumers are taking notice…and buying. A recent survey showed that 62% of consumers now shop online regularly. That’s a pretty good market and one in which a start up cosmetic company can compete against the big guys.
What social media?
But to build a useful social media presence that helps build your brand and ultimately lead to sales, you need a few key things.
1. A website - This is the face of your brand. It helps sell your product, convince your fans you’re worth buying and can even lead to direct sales. Without a website, it is much more difficult to build a new cosmetic brand.
2. An email list - One part of your website should be a free newsletter or something that allows people to give you their email address. These are the people who will most likely be your first customers. You can give them offers or ask them questions about new product development. This is a key part of any online strategy.
3. Social networks - While social networking sites are great they can also be a complete waste of time. You need to have a strategy for building up your presence and using it to build your cosmetic brand. To that end there are some key ones to join. You should have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. It also makes sense for professional reasons to be connected on LinkedIn.
Next steps
So if your dream is to eventually start your own brand, you don’t have to start by creating a product. Start with a name, a logo, a story and then a website. Build traffic to your website using your social media profiles. Then when you have enough people interested, create your brand.
Remember spend time building products that people want and you can’t help but have a successful cosmetic product line.
