Is Instagram the answer to a Beauty Brand’s PR Success?
by Nicola Firth
A lipstick in plain packaging on the shelf at your local beauty store. Details of the item printed on the side of the box…
The same lipstick, perfectly positioned on an attractive Instagram feed. Details of the item written in luring PR language, accompanied with beauty related hashtags.
#makeupobsessed #instamakeup and #beautylover.
Which lipstick would you pay attention to? Which one would you tell your friends about? Should all beauty brands be using PR strategies to jump on the Instaglam bandwagon?
Makeup obsessed and potential beauty brand customer, Rebecca, was looking for a new lipstick to try. She walked down the aisles of her favourite beauty store. Instead of casting her eyes to the many products on the shelves before her, she looked down at her phone, scrolling through Instagram for inspiration.
“It’s hard NOT to get distracted by that beauty item you don’t need on Instagram! Everything looks so perfect and definitely makes you want to buy it or at least share it with a friend,” said the active Instagrammer.
Her comments are a clear example of how products, and the way they are displayed, have the potential to affect a beauty brand’s success.
After launching in 2010, Instagram has attracted 500,000 public relations practitioners and advertisers to create positive reputation results. It is becoming one of the largest social media platforms, catching up to the likes of Facebook and Twitter.
There will always be different PR techniques growing in popularity or trending in the world of beauty and business – they will come and go. However, with 150 million users and growing, Instagram is continuing to develop its public relations potential and is evidently here to stay.
According to popular website Statista, ‘online video and picture content generated around 5 billion clicks/views per month in 2016 in the beauty brand sector’ – demonstrating how aesthetically pleasing posts can create a buzz that any brand would desire.
Instagram’s key attraction is its visual creativity, it is accessible to all and encourages two-way communication between the beauty brand and their target audience. User-generated-content is described as at its peak, as this platform is so open to creativity and bursting with opportunities to enhance beauty branding.
The platform is the perfect example of why the traditional PR method of a press release may be decreasing in popularity. Hasn’t a picture always been worth a thousand words? Potential customers are most likely to engage in a product if they see a picture or watch a video demonstration.
Beauty bloggers are aware of the trend and treat their Instagram feed’s like a carefully, crafted career. Style, strategy and social media are their focuses to build followers, recognition and promote beauty products to make a profit.
One incredibly successful Instagram feed which has enhanced a brand to the masses, is online celebrity phenomenon, Kylie Jenner’s brand, ‘Kylie Cosmetics.’ The feed has a following of 11.9 million with video clips and filter-perfect images of Kylie’s makeup line in all its glory.
As other trends come and go, it is only obvious that Instagram is taking the #PR and #Communications world by storm.
#LeedsTalksPR 