The cosmetics industry has often been labelled as one of the slower industries to get on board with social media, but as participation increases, Estée Lauder is looking to create unique online communities around each of its brands.
Its latest move has been to launch an official YouTube channel currently displaying 35 videos giving consumers make-up tips, application tips, and also the chance to rate and review products, as well as provide feedback.
“We are thrilled to offer viewers an inside look at the Estée Lauder brand, with a behind-the-scenes view of our products, personalities and so much more," said Charisse Ford, senior vice president of global marketing, Estée Lauder.
Social media starting to play a big role
Estée Lauder is by no means the first cosmetics company to do this, but it is one of the company’s making the biggest strides in social media and recognizing the platform as a key digital marketing tool.
Speaking to social and digital media specialists Mashable, Dennis McEniry, president, Online at Estée Lauder said: “It [social media] plays a huge role. It’s one of the key parts in [a consumer's] journey in discovering a product. Women looking for beauty information are always in the top five searches on Google or YouTube.”
Estée Lauder says it firmly sees the value of getting involved in the conversation with the online community as friends and social groups are normally the number one influence when it comes to purchasing decisions or suggestions.
By strategizing in this way, not only can consumers discuss products with friends and the online community, but the company can meet the consumer on their level and offer tips or advice as well.
“Because [social media] allows for two-way communication, it’s also valuable for getting great feedback. We can use it find out what consumers like and don’t like, how we can get them the latest information, how we can improve our products, etc” explained McEniry.
Stand and deliver
Estée Lauder owns several of the most digitally-forward brands in the beauty category such as Clinique, MAC, Bobbi Brown, Aveda, and Estée Lauder proper with individual campaigns for each one.
The company also revealed that social media is delivering in the top five traffic sources for every one of its brands, as well as consistently over-indexing in terms of conversions.
By its own admission, the company is still in the early stages of utilizing this platform as a whole, but it sees the main focus right now as engaging with the consumer rather than focusing solely on sales.
“It’s still early. The number one thing we’re looking for is engagement. We’re looking for evidence that people are interacting and become even more loyal to the brands. And then we’re looking at traffic referrals and [sales] conversions,” said McEniry.
“What we’ve found is that influencers have a huge amount of pull on total business, much more outsized than what they individually buy,” he added.