‘Brands as educators’ is a concept I am a big fan of. More specifically, I think positioning themselves as a subject matter expert or educator can be a great way for brands to frame their use of social media. No more so is this the case than with beauty brands.
To some extent, most beauty brands already have provision for education in what they do: be it via counter-staff consultations, in-store make-up artist demos, or more recently, YouTube video how-to’s and sharable hints and tips via brands’ Facebook and Twitter accounts. However, I think there is a real opportunity to extend this activity and make it more social than simply encouraging comments and shares.
At the heart of this opportunity is finding ways to unlock new value from existing stakeholder relationships. For example:
- Improving existing employee relationships by creating an online knowledge bank from which to share information and skills amongst senior brand experts, make-up artists and counter staff
- Enhancing existing customer and influencer relationships by creating new ways for customers and influential bloggers/vloggers to gain access to brand experts via webinars, digital consultations or interactive look-books
- Creating new, more rewarding ways to encourage customers and influential bloggers/vloggers to share their own knowledge and skills with their own networks via ambassador schemes
By creating a joined-up structure of innovative social tools and processes that help brands to share their expertise with others, cosmetic and beauty brands can:
- Increase positive sentiment and understanding of what the brand stands for, as well as – most importantly – how to make the best use of the brand’s products
- Develop more active relationships and ongoing conversations between employees, influencers and customers
- Increase the sharing of relevant content and fostering of word-of-mouth amongst employees, influencers, customers and prospects
- Generate considerable operational efficiencies by improving internal knowledge sharing and collaboration
Some brands have already begun to make use of social media as a way to educate. For example Mac, Bobbi Brown and Mark cosmetics have been giving consumers greater access to their brand experts. Mac has been running live Q&As with Mac experts around the launch of its ‘Semi Precious’ colour range. Bobbi Brown offers a live chat consultation service via its website. And previously Mark (Avon’s sister brand) have run a series of live webinar events where participants could ask questions of Mark make-up artists in real-time, via Ustream. Of the three, I’d say Mark has made best use of social media, enabling video, as well as live text, commentary to provide a really engaging and educative experience for its consumers.
Lancôme has also made steps into this space with their ‘Most Precious Eyes’ campaign which enabled consumer-to-consumer expertise sharing and networking. Lancôme enabled aspiring make-up artists and enthusiasts to upload pictures of their own eye make-up looks. These could then be browsed by the Lancôme audience in order to find looks and make-up artists they liked, with the ability to then contact the make-up artist or enthusiast directly, to learn more about how they created their look. However, ass with the Mark activity, it’s a shame this activity only ran for a limited time.
In summary, some brands have begun to experiment with more engaging, educative social media activities. However, I think herein lies the problem – brands need to turn these from one-off activities in to ongoing programs. These programs should develop complimentary strands of activity with multiple stakeholders that all work together, over time, to deliver real business benefit, as opposed to a short-lived PR bump. Doing this, I believe, will deliver real value and real competitive advantage in the beauty sector.
