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3 Ways Beauty Brands are Using Instagram to Its Full Potential
Instagram has become a handy tool for beauty brands. According to Statista, the platform that focuses on visual content is one of the most popular platforms for users under the age of 34. The beauty brand’s Tarte and Too Faced share a similar target demographic.
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With those demographics in mind, it makes perfect sense why Tarte and Too Faced are dedicating a lot of time to Instagram, with both brands posting 3-4 times a day. The time they put into crafting their social strategy is paying off because both have their most considerable following on the photo-posting platform —Tarte has 10 million followers, and Too Faced has 13.3 million followers.
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So, what is it that is making them successful? Yes, they post glamorous photos multiple times a day, and Yes, they are great at incorporating user-generated content, but what actually makes these two brands stand out is their ability to capitalize on the app’s features. Here are three ways Tarte and Too Faced use Instagram’s features to their full potential:
1. They Never Skip the Hashtag
Hashtags have been around since Instagram’s inception, but regardless of their age, very few brands seem to appreciate their power. As Alex York points out, hashtags can “highlight your Instagram content in a sea of millions of pictures.”
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So, on a platform, entirely dedicated to pictures and videos, hashtags are one feature that can help extend your brand’s reach. Just take a look at Tarte and Too Faced on Instagram, these two beauty blogs are using hashtags to their full potential. Considering that Statista reported that most Instagram users fall between 18-24 years old, these beauty brands want their content to be prevalent on this platform.
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As you can see from posts, Too Faced understands the importance of a branded hashtag. Brent Barnhart believes that branded hashtags help “encourage sharing and promotion on behalf your their followers.” A few branded hashtags Too Faced uses are:
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Simple branded hashtags to make their content easier to find #TooFaced
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Product title hashtags that allow beauty bloggers to tag their specific products for their followers (a smart way to find user-generated content) #Betterthansex #TFBORNTHISWAY
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Hashtags that highlight paid influencers/ user-generated content #toofacedambassador #regram
One way Tarte cosmetics is successfully utilizing hashtags is by using them to:
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Stay relevant in trendy content or conversation #GoldenGlobes #TheBachelor
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Call out unique product attributes or industry-relevant keys words #crueltyfree #veganbeauty
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Create hype and engagement
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around a product with a fun hashtag that fans can
​ share #shapetapenation
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Show up in fans feeds organically by adding popular hashtags used in the digital beauty community #busygirlbeauty #doubledutybeauty
2. They love IGTV
Sprout Social, along with many other social strategy resources, lists video content as one of the most popular and most shared types of content on social media -and now with IGTV, it has never been easier to share video content on Instagram. IGTV is a newer feature on Instagram, but according to Chloe West, IGTV should be taking center stage in every brand’s 2020 social strategy. Shannon Tien says, “IGTV opportunities for beauty companies are endless. It’s the perfect format for showcasing products with makeup, skincare, and hair tutorials.”
Beauty brands are loving IGTV because it allows them to post long-form horizontal video, similar to the type of video you’d find on Youtube. There has always been an active community of beauty-lovers on Youtube, and according to Digital Surgeons, “Every month YouTube registers more than 700 million views of beauty-related content.”
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Like most beauty companies and beauty bloggers, Tarte and Too Faced have been posting makeup tutorials on Youtube for years, so it’s no surprise their use of IGTV has been very successful:
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During the week of Jan. 6 to Jan. 13, Tarte has posted five IGTV videos and Too Faced only posted one
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Too Faced is posting less frequently, but overall their videos are receiving about 600k-800k views and 800 comments
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Tarte is much more active, but their posts are only receiving about 400k views and less than 100 comments
As I mentioned in my last post, social media users love this type of content. Buzzsumo says how-to videos (makeup tutorials) are one type of content that makes people click without fail.
3. They inspire an impulse buy
According to Jenn Chen on Sprout Social, “Instagram has become known as an ideal fit for e-commerce marketing.” This relatively new feature allows users to search and purchase products directly on Instagram.
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For brands that sell their products online like Tarte and Too Faced, shopping tags are an excellent way not only to sell products but also to provide additional information to their followers. Nicole Spencer for NBC News says, “One of the greatest advantages online has over in-store when it comes to makeup is the ability to educate consumers on how products work.”
Product tags bring users to a page that gives them details about pricing and product details. By adding this feature to their posts, Tarte and Too Faced are putting everything their followers need to know on one app.
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That convenience combined with tutorial content, product pictures, and beauty bloggers re-grams make it very easy for your followers to click “add to cart.” The product tagging feature also gives brands analytical data that reports clicks and purchases.
One potential issue with this feature is that it could make their content look over promotional. However, Tarte and Too Faced’s product tagged posts continue to receive a decent amount of engagement:
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During the week of Jan. 6 to Jan. 13, Too Faced Cosmetics posted three product tagged posts that received between 20k-25k likes.
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During that same week, Tarte posted four product tagged posts that received between 32k-48k likes.
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Perhaps, followers don’t find these beauty brands to be over promotional because they aren’t using product links in every post —and as I mentioned in my last post, Tarte posts are very diverse and not always promotional.
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Other industries should take notes from these beauty brands. Tarte and Too Faced are using Instagram to its highest potential. Although the platform is continuously changing —Tarte and Too Faced have been quick to capitalize on its new features.