Lipstick Advice: The Rise of Influencers in Beauty Marketing

 Katie Jane Hughes, a British cosmetic artist, shares close-up pictures of her face on Instagram nearly every day for her 336,000 followers. The pictures showcase her glossy pink lips that go well with her auburn hair, her sparkly gold eyelids, and her eyebrows that were dyed with small brown gel brushstrokes to correct her overplucking blunder as a teenager.

In a YouTube video tutorial, Hughes also shows how to apply layer after layer of creams and cosmetics to produce a glamorous look, starting with a scrubbed-clean face that reveals some of the same splotchy patches many of us worry about.

Hughes glances between the camera and a mirror as she applies a moisturizer to her skin. "This tingles a little bit when you put it on, but that's normal because it has glycolic in it," Hughes adds. "I'm not entirely sure how glycolic face creams function. All I can say is that since I started using this lotion, my skin has been fantastic.

Hughes holds up product after product close to the camera over the more than twelve minutes of step-by-step instructions in the video so that viewers can have a close-up look at each brand name. After all, Hughes isn't just dispensing beauty advice. She also sells cosmetics.

Although Hughes is not your usual cover girl for a celebrity, thousands of people are persuaded to buy the things she endorses on social media.

According to recent studies, "influencers" like Hughes are revolutionizing the beauty business by amassing cult-like fan bases on social media, especially YouTube and Instagram. According to research by recent Harvard Business School MBA graduate Alessia Vettese, consumers are increasingly rejecting more traditional forms of marketing like TV commercials and magazine ads—even those with smiling celebrities pitching beauty products—as less credible and trustworthy. This means that influencers are winning the battle for consumers' attention with attractive packages of photos and videos.

According to Vettese, who conducted consumer surveys and conducted an interview with Hughes for the research project, "People used to watch celebrities on the red carpet talking about what they were wearing, or they would flip through magazines and look at celebrities in makeup ads, but that has lost its traction, especially among younger consumers." Nowadays, individuals want to use the internet to access experiences at their fingertips. They want to ask questions of an influential person and receive candid answers.

Many established players in the beauty industry are finding it difficult to keep up with this change, which has led some legacy businesses to switch from using vamping models to online tutorials with more "regular people" in an effort to catch up to cutting-edge firms who teamed with influencers much earlier in the game.

"Direct-to-consumer brands are causing these established brands to lose their credibility," claims Vettese, whose research project was directed by Geoffrey Jones, an Isidor Straus Professor of Business History at HBS.

They can see the success of Glossier, a brand that was not around five years ago, but is now considered a billion-dollar company. So they’re now trying to seek partnerships with influencers who have clout, but they’re competing with newer brands that have done this well from the get-go.”

Global spending on influencer marketing has skyrocketed in recent years, rising from an estimated $2 billion in 2017 to about $8 billion in 2019. One forecast shows that spending is expected to jump to $15 billion by 2022. In fact, beauty giant Estée Lauder revealed last week that the company is now spending 75 percent of its marketing budget on influencers.

Customers hear from influencers, not from commercials.

Vettese especially targeted beauty lovers on Facebook who use keywords like "beauty," "skincare," and "makeup" in order to survey 520 people in order to determine the extent of effect influencers have over customers. These gals purchase a ton of cosmetics. More than 40% of respondents claimed to buy many items each month.

A staggering 62% of the female participants reported following beauty influencers on social media. Social media influencers placed highest (nearly 67 percent) when asked where they go for information about beauty products before making a purchase, followed by third-party product reviews (59 percent) and beauty professionals (55 percent). Commercials for businesses came in far lower, at 44%, while only 34% went to public figures and celebrities.

The ladies stated that when assessing beauty goods, they place the greatest trust in independent product reviews and the least trust in company ads. They also stated that direct-mail marketing is the least successful approach to contact consumers, while influencer marketing has the most impact on their purchasing decisions.

When asked which social media platforms they use most frequently, 82 percent of respondents said they use Instagram everyday; 77 percent said they use Facebook, and 59 percent said they use YouTube.

According to Vettese, "Instagram is by far the best volume play." It's incredibly visual and easy to post a lot of images and quick videos to connect with your fans right away. Also, you may easily communicate back and forth by simply responding to people's remarks.

A lot of customers also mentioned that they look to YouTube for longer how-to videos, where they may see celebrities use things and get ideas. One poll respondent stated, "YouTube tutorials will forever be my beauty engagement hotspot."

Influencer reviews must be trusted.

Influencer marketing is a common practice for brands, and the women polled were aware of this. Nevertheless, the idea of marketing items for financial gain bothers them. Of those surveyed, 42% indicated they would buy a product that an influencer was paid to promote, 43% said they were not sure, and 15% said they would never buy it.

Many of the respondents actually stated that they only follow influencers who are transparent about their endorsement relationships. One customer commented, "There are moments when it's difficult to discern which beauty products are sponsored and which ones aren't." "I only put my trust in influencers who are upfront about receiving payment."

According to Vettese, this is significant since followers actively search for influencers who have similar skin tones and even skin sensitivities because they want to know that the brands they promote are real and that the influencers themselves use and believe in the items they promote. Customers are also very watchful, so even the smallest mistake could damage their faith in you.

One customer commented, "Kim Kardashian constantly promotes all kinds of products that I'm skeptical she uses." "For instance, she might share an Instagram photo of herself holding an Olay container, but later on in an interview, she claims to use a $1,000 Guerlain cream exclusively. Merely having a celebrity's name attached to anything doesn't really pique my interest.

Since it's seen as a sign of credibility, a lot of shoppers search for influencers who are willing to give products unfavorable ratings. One customer commented, "I appreciate honest reviews (and) feedback about everything." "Not everyone will adore every product. Because of this, when an influencer can honestly state, "I didn't like this product as much as..." or "This product didn't work as well for me because..," they gain my respect.

Customers view influencers as friends.

It wasn't always the case that the influencers with the biggest online followings drew in the female respondents. Many favored following lesser-known individuals, referred to as "microinfluencers," seeing that those with fewer followers typically reply to their inquiries and post comments more frequently.

A subset of the female respondents described their inspirations as friends. Perhaps this is due to the fact that influencers share content about more than just beauty; they frequently offer photos of their wives, children, and friends in addition to images of their meals, trip destinations, and outfits.

According to Vettese, "These consumers are forming relationships and bonding with these influencers." "They think of the influencers as being directly ingrained, and they have regular back and forth conversations."

Customers listed Jeffree Star, Tati Westbrook, James Charles, Jaclyn Hill, Laura Lee, Desi Perkins, Huda Kattan, Kylie Jenner, Nikkie de Jager, and Manny Mua as some of the most well-known beauty influencers.

Brand-related lessons

According to the women studied, they want the makeup they buy to complement their unique skin types. Moreover, some of them expressed a sense of exclusion from traditional brand advertisements due to the lack of inclusivity in those ads. According to Vettese, beauty brands should produce goods and work with influencers that can connect with a wide range of racial and cultural backgrounds, skin tones, and skin sensitivity levels.

People responded well to Kendall Jenner's admission that she had acne because they could identify with her, she says. "People seek out influencers who relate to them, resemble them, or experience similar challenges as themselves."

"Figure out which social media channels will attract your audience, be deliberate about how you showcase your products on different channels, and make sure the people who represent your company will be seen as authentic, trusted voices of the image you want to present," Vettese says, outlining research findings that are applicable to other industries in addition to beauty brands.

About The Author

Dina Gerdeman works as a senior writer for Working Knowledge at Harvard Business School. The charts above were made by Ailyn Pestana, a junior designer and picture coordinator at Harvard Business School. [Picture: Deagreez]