9 Social statistics on beauty buyers to shape your strategy now

The challenge for digital marketers is no longer finding enough data, it’s figuring out how to sift through the mountains of available metrics to find details, like social statistics, that will help grow your business, inform campaigns, and connect your brand with new and existing audiences.

Conversations on social media can be revealing for marketers, and some platforms are now making it easier than ever for brands to find the data that matters to them. Last month, Facebook relaunched their research portal, Facebook IQ, with Insights to Go, a “discovery engine” that enables “agencies and marketers to filter, find and share relevant insights and data,” writes AdWeek. For instance, with Insights to Go, beauty brands could quickly learn that there was a 32 percent year-over-year rise in mentions of natural beauty terms on Facebook. And bloggers could discover that millennial beauty buyers are 30 percent more likely to read beauty blogs and online reviews — possibilities really do abound.

We used Facebook IQ to uncover beauty industry statistics that marketers can use to inform campaigns right now, and remember to pay close attention to your unique audience for data that’s super relevant to you.

Understanding how beauty buyers of different ages use social is crucial: with the above stat in their back pocket, marketers can ensure Instagram ads aimed at the 35-64 demographic focus on product details that make research and price comparison a snap.

If the previous statistic makes it clear that millennials are less likely than the age cohort above them to use Instagram for research and price comparison purposes, the next question for marketers is what do millennials want from the online beauty community? The answer: videos about beauty products. Marketers who know that they’re more likely to have millennial viewers than viewers aged 35 to 64 can tailor online videos to the appropriate audience.

More than half of all beauty shoppers over the age of 18 trust brands and products they see on social media platforms more than brands and products they cannot engage with on social — that’s huge news for marketers. But simply having a brand presence on Instagram and Facebook (and other social platforms) isn’t enough: you want to do it well. Cult-beauty brand sensation Glossier explains their Instagram strategy: “Everything we do is optimized to start a digital conversation,” Alexandra Weiss, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Glossier, said recently at Smart Social NYC. Specifically, Glossier designs their packaging for a digital experience. They made the top of their products appealing so that customers might be inspired to take a photo as they unbox their new goodies, in contrast to traditional packaging designed for the beauty counter shelf, which focuses on the side of the packaging.

Facebook and other social networks offer brands built-in credibility by way of pages their target audience already follows, but brands must use this trust responsibly. Make sure you’re partnering with trustworthy people and offering content and products that will add value for your audience.

Millennial beauty buyers are also big on Instagram inspiration. One of the most important lessons of social media is to feature your brand where your audience naturally spends time. How to inspire millennials shopping for beauty products on social platforms like Instagram? “Brands that can express their human side on social instead of sounding like a press release tend to pull higher engagement numbers,” explained Spredfast (now Khoros) VP of strategy Spike Jones during Smart Social NYC. Jones added that helping people to feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves is what earns brands motivated, loyal fans.

...which means that almost an entire quarter of US beauty enthusiasts on Instagram are men. Marketers with beauty products for men would do well to remember that they are an active force on Instagram.

A big part of Instagram is exploration, and with the right posts brands can draw in new audiences. Each user’s Explore tab is based on their previous views within the app, making it “the most honest place on the web,” writes Wired. Listening to your audience will help you determine what they like, which will help you create content that will not only appeal to them but increase the chances of your brand showing up in the Explore tab of potential customers. Our platform can help.

The upshot: don’t be afraid to go big with your beauty campaigns, especially during the holiday season and the height of summer wedding season. Beauty buyers are waiting to be inspired by a product they didn’t know they needed for their upcoming event — be the answer they want.

The focus here is to make sure your brand’s Instagram and Facebook posts feature genuinely interesting content. Designing products with social in mind means your posts will find a natural home on social platforms and will be more likely to foster brand engagement. Take the stylized shipping boxes of beauty brand Birchbox — the Instagram-ready packaging creates instantly shareable moments.

Other ways to keep it fresh and interesting on Instagram? Ask your audience for direct feedback and make active use of UGC. Facebook IQ’s Insights to Go offers a rich trove of data for marketers from many industries including retail, CPG, the restaurant industry, and more. But wherever you find data to fuel your marketing campaigns, remember it’s only as good as the way you use it — we hope the above tips help you make smart choices that lead to higher engagement.

One final note: the importance of beauty influencers to marketers featuring their brands on social platforms can’t be overstated. More on this topic can be found in our Social Media Pocket Guide.