The world is evolving into a web of connected buyers who rely on one another for views, reviews , opinions about several products and brands. Make-up occupies a quintessential role in the lives of the millennial women, who compromises of 42% of the American population. This niche target audience of make-up brands is primarily glued to social media, which is why most of the make-up companies are capitalizing on this niche target audience.
This cosmetic brand has pioneered the world of digital landscaping in the makeup industry. YouTube influencers are riding the wave for Benefit Cosmetics. Despite the 105,267 subscribers of its dedicated YouTube Channel, its YouTube influencers have a greater reach and hence, bring more impressions to the website. According to Alison Haljun, Vice President, Retail Marketing and PR at Benefit Cosmetics, the Company allots less than 10% of what it spends on its dedicated channel to the influencer bloggers and vloggers. It however, continues to spend on its YouTube Channel to bolster the strength of the brand. Another reason for this mismatched budget allocation is that the content shared on the dedicate YouTube Channel, is often shared by these YouTube influencers , hence magnifying the impact of its paid social media advertising on YouTube. The top YouTube bloggers employed by the company are eleventhgorgeous, Dulce Candy and Manny Mua.
Benefit Cosmetics also uses Snapchat as an interactive tool to demonstrate videos of the latest lines of make-up. What I love about its Snapchat account is that not only does it show videos of its products, it also provides snaps of where these products are available. It does this through by incorporating snaps by the young female millenials, who they pay on commission basis, based on the number of views the snaps receive. It has also partnered with several celebrities that use Benefit Cosmetics in their videos as a means of native advertising by providing heavy sums of money. My favorite actress in India, Alia Bhatt, in fact uses Benefit Cosmetics in all her videos but the subtlety of the usage of the product is what I love about it the most. The makeup snapchats by Alia, don’t put out make up blatantly and intrigue me to want to know more about its products.
The brand has effectively understood its target audience, studied their psychographics and targeted them through paid digital media in the most efficient manner. In my humble opinion, Benefit Cosmetics has pioneered the digital space and used YouTube and Snapchat in a very proficient manner by integrating it with its Twitter account.
Bhavini Khullar 