Before COVID-19 struck the world, the beauty industry was doing really well. But when the world pretty much came to a halt, things took a 180 for the industry, causing brands to pivot and change what they once knew as their “normal.” And we explore how this looks in our market intelligence-based 2020 Beauty & Cosmetics Trends Report and our consumer intelligence-based 2020 Beauty Industry Best Practices Guide! A preview of what you’ll find in each follows.
Beauty Industry is Changing
It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on the world. Millions of people are out a job and businesses have been forced to close. Stores that are still open, like Target, have done away with tester products making it harder to find the perfect product that you need. And most importantly, people are being more mindful about how they are spending their money. This means it’s very important to know who your audience is and what their motivators are so you know how and when to target them.
Through next generation AI-powered analytics, we are able to see what types of products people are interested in and how people are shifting to DIY methods of self-care during the pandemic. We’ve uncovered details within the beauty industry, like:
- Current trends overall when it comes to beauty and cosmetics
- Purchase trends by age/gender
- Company information, including which companies are doing well, and which can use some improvement
- Understanding your key opinion leaders (KOLs) and identifying influencer opportunities (Spoiler alert – not all influencers are women in the beauty industry!)
- Market changes
- A look into patents and how they tie back to trends
- How brands adapt to crises like COVID-19
The Big Picture Matters
It’s super helpful for brands to see the big picture when making strategic decisions. In the Quid product, when you look at a network map for your select topic, in this case, beauty trends, you are able to identify what is being talked about and how it’s all connected.
By focusing on the most centralized cluster on your map, we can see how ideas connect and identify current and emerging trends. In the Organic, Clean and Vegan Beauty trends, for example, there are lots of emerging conversations around specific herbal ingredients, and even interesting buzz around using snails:
That’s just one small section of the Trends report, of course, but super interesting. Another part that offers ‘must have’ insight is around finding niche forums and influencers . . .
Niche Forums & Influencers More Important Than Ever
The beauty industry’s target audience is primarily women. And 86% of women use social media for purchasing advice – either from friends, family or influencers. This is why it’s extremely important to know who your audience is and where they are on social media.
We learned that diversity was a hot topic within the beauty industry, and influencers have been pushing for more of it. Rihanna was one of the top people within this influencer list, as she has advocated and pushed for this with her line of makeup, Fenty Beauty. When you use powerful data analytics products like NetBase or Quid, you can easily identify and categorize these people and companies to help shape your strategy and create influencer programs.
Influencers for Everyone
One influencer who has been making a big splash on social media lately is James Charles. He is known for his beauty YouTube channel where he has provided makeup tutorials and product reviews, which now more than ever ties into the changing industry as people are turning to DIY methods of beauty and self-care.
Also tying into the changing industry, influencers are trying to stay relevant and ensure products that they are working with are top of mind amongst their audience through social media challenges.
But influencers aren’t the only way to help branch out and reach your target audience. Exploring niche forums, like subreddits, is a great avenue to explore. They enable you to explore conversations that are happening almost in real time, on a subject matter that is valuable to you and your brand and your marketing strategy.
But, as we note in the guide, when you do this, it’s important to keep these two things in mind:
- Don’t battle yourself on small inconsistencies
- Validate your findings with other research
Using a social media listening tool can help you uncover these forums, influencers and KOLs – and the corresponding social sentiment they share when they post about your brand. How else can you sort out what to say to them? You really can’t – not in an informed way.
AI Powering Advanced Audience Understanding
Do you understand the conversation and sentiment around your brand’s products and services? And are you monitoring key terms to find relevant conversations to bring people into your marketing sales funnel? It’s super important to do both, as what you assume and what is actually being said are often very different things:
And overall – do you know how frequently your industry is being talked about and where you can make the best connections? And how are you tracking if someone with a really large following mentions your product negatively – or positively? You want to put that fire out as soon as you can or connect with that influencer before a competitor does.
Our reports cover all of this and so much more. Be sure to download and explore both the 2020 Beauty & Cosmetics Trends Report and our 2020 Beauty Industry Best Practices Guide! And then reach out for a demo of NetBase and/or Quid to see each in action. It’s an opportune time to start tracking industry chatter and have benchmarks in place to measure against as we all move forward from this pandemic.
