Urban Decay Makeup

Smaller Beauty Brands Utilize Social Media Better

While larger and more established beauty brands may have equally larger budgets, it doesn’t always equate to understanding and utilizing the social media space in the most effective way. From experience, smaller brands (regardless of niche) tend to be willing to try new things to expand their reach while larger brands have a tendency to “wait and see,” often playing it safe, or taking the traditional approach without thinking out of the box. Shoestring budgets often energize smaller brands to take creative approaches to marketing and publicity than a larger company would. Do you agree?

Richard Stacy, a UK consultant, once gave an interview stating that, “Small and medium-sized cosmetics players lead the way in social media,” only confirming that this is the case on a global scale.

3 key points to social media for your communications:

Social media is a journey and a process.

Larger brands want to see immediate results, while smaller brands tend to have a better understanding that social media is a process of relationship building and trust that takes time to establish (much like public relations.) Social media is a time investment and requires a strategy with measurable goals and realistic benchmarks for achieving them.

There is no typical demographic profile for a social media user.

While it may be true that you can associate certain demographics with a specific platform, we can no longer say social media is just for a specific demographic or target it as a youth-oriented trend, because if your mom hasn’t already sent you a friend request on Facebook, she will any day now. Know your end user and which platform they use most.

Advertising doesn’t tell brand stories very well.

Advertising is a 1 dimensional approach to try to capture an audience, while social media is 3D. Advertising will tell your story, but fall flat on engagement. Less talk, more (inter)action is the most cost effective way to complement your marketing and public relations efforts.

We’d love to hear from you. Do you feel there is a difference in the way small and large brands utilize social media?

Image via Vicki C / Flickr

Pierce Mattie

Pierce Mattie is a full-service marketing agency that interacts with consumers and key stakeholders at every stage of the journey. With a focus in beauty, health and wellness, we are immersed in the marketing landscape, able to powerfully communicate a brand’s point of difference to acquire and maintaining customers. The content team is obsessed with what's trending in the digital world, and how it intersects with consumer behavior. We are passionate about the changing landscape of the world, including how emergent technologies affect brand attachment, how diversity and inclusivity are critical to success, and where humans fit into the equation.

2 Comments

  • Cheryl Hawley says:

    Regardless if you are a big or small brand if you are having a contest (a good one!) you will have people talking! The key is can you have them talking without giving something free away?

    • Social media contests are all about creativity. Giving something free away certainly does tend to generate a lot of buzz. Two alternatives which also work well are: photo/video voting and user generated content (Articles, Tweets, etc..).

© 2024 Pierce Mattie. All rights reserved.