Social Media Marketing in personal care...

Cosmetics manufacturers should turn to the Internet and social networking sites to talk with consumers and spread the word about their brands according to an article in cosmeticsdesign.com.

Consumers are not only doing more and more cosmetics shopping online but they are also scouring social networking sites for information and tips on beauty matters.

Cosmetics brands need to reach out to these consumers, learn about their beauty habits and inform them about their products.

As a shopping destination the Internet is the only retail channel to be holding onto growth in the recession.

While spending dries up elsewhere, the internet is a growing source of beauty dollars.

Beauty brands can reach out to large numbers of people using social networking sites like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

For example, instructional videos from Gillette on body shaving published on YouTube only two weeks ago, have so far attracted well over 1 million views.

Success on YouTube has even prompted product launches. Lauren Luke, a 27 year old from the UK, whose online ‘make-up tutorials’ have attracted 40 million viewers, used her web-fame as a platform to launch a new cosmetics line entitled ‘By Lauren Luke’, with the help of Anomaly and Zorbit Resources.

What social networking sites most commonly offer is a means for existing beauty companies to reach out directly to consumers.

Social media advice

social media is “perfect for cosmetics” because it is a high-involvement category where information, feedback and testimonials from trusted sources play an important role in buying decisions.

To take full advantage of the opportunities presented by social networking sites, marketers have to be prepared to adopt a new mentality.

Wading into social networking sites and posting fake product reviews is not the way forward. Such an approach damages credibility and trust which are the values social media can help companies foster. Companies are best off entering into a discussion with consumers asking them about their beauty preferences and offering tips.

An example of a company that has gone down this route is Sephora. The beauty store has a strong and active presence on YouTube and Facebook where it talks to consumers, offers beauty tips and guides, and keeps women up to date with its latest offers.

It is not only the big social networking sites where beauty companies can interact with their existing and potential consumers. There is a lot of activity in niche online communities where brands can talk to a more targeted audience.

Examples of such sites given by the social media expert were women’s community sites such as bellasuga.com, glamour.com and epicurean.com.

So far relatively few companies have really exploited online opportunities and many big beauty companies are set to lose out to smaller more internet savvy brands unless they actively engage with their consumers on the internet.

Social media marketing is the process of promoting your site or business through social media channels and it is a powerful strategy that will get you links, attention and massive amounts of traffic.

There is no other low-cost promotional method out there that will easily give you large numbers of visitors, some of whom may come back to your website again and again.

If you are selling products/services or just publishing content for ad revenue, social media marketing is a potent method that will make your site profitable over time.

excerpts taken from cosmeticdesign.com & marketinguk.com

I think that we can even look at the activity used by bloggers such as myself and my business LH consumer Health & Beauty, this element of social media helps me to connect with clients across my sector and show my passion and understanding of the industry.

Businesses across the board must innovate now more than ever before we must actively seek out new channels to reach our consumers & clients and what better way the personal forms of social media. I suspect we've only scratched the surface and there's much more to come through this medium.