The Best Skincare Brands on Social Media
As a leading Belgium marketing agency, we love to watch brand behaviour on social media. Recently we looked at stationery brands leading the way and satisfied our obsession with gorgeous pens and notepads! Today, we’re looking at skincare brands. But not just the huge cosmetic giants with massive marketing budgets. We’re also looking at some underdog skincare brands who maximise their social media reach by being creative, clever and downright awesome.
The Skincare Market – An Overview
By 2025, the global skincare market is estimated to be worth 189.3 billion dollars. Middle-aged women were traditionally the focus for this market as they tended to spend more time and money on personal care. But, the skin care industry has witnessed a shift towards a younger consumer base. This group is adopting skincare routines at an increasingly young age in a bid to delay the signs of aging. In fact, teenagers spend over $40 billion a year on beauty products so they are a significant chunk of the skincare market.
The skincare market encompasses many different product types such as:
· Face cleansers, toners & moisturisers
· Skincare that addresses specific problems
· Face masks & pamper treatments
· Skincare gadgets such as skin rollers
· Full body care, hair removal, shower gels
· SPF sun protection products
· In the Beauty & Personal Care market, 16% of total revenue will be generated through online sales by 2020.
· The United Kingdom skincare market is forecasted to reach 24.37 billion dollars by 2024. The growth of the UK market reflects the overall European market.
· Own-brand products rose in popularity as consumers limit their spending on non-essential items.
· 9 out of 10 beauty brands have a social media account and 63% of consumers have more trust in skincare brands that have an Instagram account.
· The market is witnessing rapidly rising demand for natural and organic products, with a faster growth rate than that of the overall market. Over 80% of Generation Z purchase organic and natural skincare products.
· 80% of women think that social media is responsible for new trends.
· 92% of buyers claim that they’d be more loyal to a skincare brand if it supported environmental or social causes.
5 Skincare Brands We Love on Social Media
Our team has rounded up 5 skincare brands who are polished and glowing on social media. Not a hint of tired or dull here:
#1 Cult Beauty
Alexia Inge, founder of beauty e-commerce site Cult Beauty, recently stated that more and more people are choosing plant-based lifestyles. "We are seeing the 'seeds' of new sub-categories gaining traction," she says. "At Cult Beauty, we treat 'vegan' as an umbrella term for brands or products which adopt a plants-first approach."
We also love the money saving ethos behind Cult Beauty as summarised by Alexia below:
Cult Beauty promotes brands that value organic, cruelty free and of course, their own skincare range. Everything about the packaging and promotions whispers natural, clean and modern. This appeals to a younger audience looking for less fussy product designs.
What They Get Right
· Instagram Tutorials - Short tutorials like this one on Cult Beauty’s Insta channel show professional makeup artists using the brand’s products. This is an excellent use of influencer marketing and cross promotion. It also adds credibility and authenticity to the product.
They also provide helpful explainer threads. These don’t need celebs and are text only. However, they still pull in great engagement.
· A wow factor YouTube channel- Cult Beauty has an awesome YouTube channel packed with helpful tutorials. Instead of just promoting their products, the brand answers questions and gives lessons. How to contour eyebrows, how to cleanse properly, how to get the best from your moisturiser. We’re here for it all.
· Twitter promos – This 11 second video on Twitter absolutely hits the sweet spot. It’s just long enough to show off some shimmer and adds a link for followers to buy the product.
#2 Drunk Elephant
Drunk elephant is a skincare site that engages users on social media as part of a lifestyle community. With sweet pastels, happy posts and funny memes, this is a skincare brand that relates to social media users.
Drunk Elephant’s branding is interesting. Candy colours appeal to a younger audience but the minimalist approach and designs are interesting for high earners too.
In 2020, skincare not only has to perform, but it also needs to look good in our bathrooms:
Drunk Elephant is responsible for the #barewithus Instagram movement. This is a collection of bare-faced selfies that chronicle the journeys of people who have found not only healthier skin but more importantly, healthier self-confidence through the brand.
We love the stories, user curated content and feel good posts on this brand’s Insta account.
A personalised note from founder Tiffany Masterson is welcoming, sweet and inclusive.
What They Get Right
· Incentivise Subscriptions - As soon as you hit the Drunk Elephant site, they sweetly tempt you to subscribe with a 15% discount popup. This makes us want to start shopping asap and yes you can have our email address, take it!
They also display their great shipping offer prominently on the top banner. Now is a good time to be promoting free shipping and of course incentivising fast shipping if you spend over $75.
· The Content - We love the blog content on Drunk Elephant’s site. Each piece gives us a behind the scenes story or insight into the brand. All this makes us feel more bonded with the company ethos. Check out this story about the brand’s logo.
· Relatable posts – We won’t say which camp we fall into here, but we can certainly relate to this post. So can 3,114 other users.
The use of their brand elephant in memes is sweet, funny and relatable.
Expert PR - This is a brand that know how to utilise PR. With mentions in top magazines like Marie Claire, the brand wields social proof by showcasing them on its site in a “press” area.
#3 Krave Beauty
Ok, so firstly, we’re obsessed with Korean skincare. Now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s look at Krave Beauty. This skincare brand urges women and men to step back, press reset, and listen to their skin’s true needs. Using hashtag #PressReset, this is a skincare brand that knows exactly how to get social media love and loyalty.
The site features a welcome message from founder Liah Yoo which adds instant authenticity:
What they Get Right
· Thought leadership – Liah Yoo is a skincare thought leader with over 1 million YouTube subscribers. This level of dedication to producing authentic videos that solve problems has massively boosted Krave’s online presence.
Liah focuses on solving skincare problems first and promoting products second. Of course, the two go hand in hand.
· They utilise highlighted stories – Krave’s neatly designed and categorised stories make it easy to find what interests you.
· They do user curated content - Like Krave’s #pressreset diaries which feature Insta user stories and reviews. User curated content massively boosts engagement, FOMO, social proof and all the desirable marketing buzzwords!
· They include guys – Skincare brands often focus solely on women, but guys need skincare too. And black skin needs spf protection. Oh, and the male skincare market is estimated to be worth $18.92 billion by 2027. So yes, be inclusive!
We love this message of inclusivity and support:
· They educate - Krave is all about educating but in a fun and non judgy way. Providing information about how to recycle is helpful and a reminder that they are an environmentally friendly brand.
#4 Glossier
Before we get into Glossier’s social media, we must comment on the website aesthetics. Today’s skincare packaging is simplistic, minimal and beautiful. The idea being that the bottles look beautiful as well as containing incredible ingredients. We want these on our shelves immediately! Mouse over the squares and you get a moving gif.
What They Get Right
· Personalised Quizzes – Whether on your website or social media, personalisation works in the skincare sector. None of us want to believe that one size fits all. Quizzes that tell you exactly what your skin type needs, are perfect for engagement and also demonstrate how tailored the products are.
· They utilise trends- During the quarantine period, people turned to hiking and nature to escape the crowds. So Glossier took this great shot of their water bottle to prompt sales. The content in the description shows that they relate to fans stuck at home too.
· They’re on Pinterest – Hello there beautiful Pinterest account! We talked before about using Pinterest to promote your brand and for skincare this is so ideal. Skincare brands need Instagram as a staple but then may choose to add Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.
Who said cruelty free, ethical skincare had to be boring? Enter Tarte. This skincare and cosmetics brand promotes eye popping, mouth watering colours and scents that hit all the sweet spots. Did you say sugar rush cake butter body cream? WOW.
Tarte’s product descriptions are great. Clearly describing what it is, how it’s tested, what’s in it and reinforcing that the product is vegan and sourced naturally. Users shouldn’t need to search for product information and if they do, they often won’t return. Provide detailed content for each product and keep users firmly in the sales funnel.
They also display review under each product. This is a brave move, but it shows they are transparent, honest and have confidence in their products:
What They Get Right
· They tag beauty influencers – we love these Facebook posts that tag influencers and of course promote their pretty products
They also go live on Facebook to increase hype and excitement around the demos:
· Virtual skincare consultations – Yes please to this! With more interactions happening online we love the concept of virtual skincare consultations. These showcase the experts on your team, the personalisation of your products and will certainly boost brand awareness, loyalty and sales.
The advisors each specialise in a different skincare or beauty area:
When you select the advisor you want to meet with, you are given information on your session:
· They foster a loyal community – If you’re a skincare brand then loyalty points are a great idea. Using #teamtarte on social media, the brand rewards its loyal users and incentivises additional spend.
· They focus on self-care – Self-care has been an important topic of conversation in 2020 for obvious reasons. With fans under lockdown at home (but still able to order online!) ,self-care routines have become a skincare staple. Check out Tarte’s Pinterest board dedicated to this subject.
And One More…
Sustainability, ethical sourcing and natural are big skincare buzzwords. Celebrity skincare guru Angela Caglia stated. "It’s no longer enough to say we recycle in 2020. It’s time to take recycling to the next level—that’s where upcycling takes over. In short, upcycling is about repurposing items to extend their life so we can avoid adding things to our already overflowing landfills."
Caglia's skincare products, are housed in UV-protected glass bottles or jars. "When the product is finished, I love to upcycle them by using them to plant succulents, hold jewellery, or use as a vase. 2020 will make upcycling part of the zeitgeist."
