futurecultures

Where do I fit in the beauty industry? Will I be a part of it in the future?

BCM325

To close off my DA, I wanted to talk about my future in the beauty industry. To be clear, this is ultimately the industry I hope to work in. With my DA blog posts, I wanted to research the industry and decided to also use TikTok to create content and become a more active member of the beauty industry, most often referred to as the beauty community.

Aside from working in the industry with the hope to work in marketing and advertising, I have always dreamed of working in the content creator realm. I want to make mention of my past because I feel as though this is important for context as to why I feel the way I feel.

Since my introduction to makeup tutorials on youtube back in 2014, I have always loved the idea of creating and posting videos. Still, as a young 13-year-old, the idea of posting content on the internet when I was a shy girl, who kept to herself always scared me. Filming was always fun, but I had no idea how to edit a video or how to upload a video, which over the years I taught myself but was never brave enough to finally post.

In a previous DA, I did finally decide to post beauty videos to youtube but keeping up with filming, editing, uni, a job, a global pandemic and all the craziness in between made the process difficult and it was during that same time, that TikTok was taking off. It was at that moment that I felt I could post beauty content, content free of judgement from those around me. Since then, I have come to love the process of creating content a lot more and because of this, I believe that TikTok content creation is part of my future in this industry.

I made a goal at the beginning of 2022 to consistently post to TikTok.Many people have new years resolutions, I spend my first days of the new year writing up goals that I feel are realistic, growing my tiktok account was one of them. Since January 3rd, I have logged my statistics to see the growth month after month which encourages me to continue to create content.

I didn’t set a specific number of followers or a specific number of views, but I set the goal to be consistent. This has actually been something I can confidently say I have stuck to. Now I may not post daily, but I post to the platform without feeling anxious about what people think because I have come to realise that this is part of my future and you cannot achieve your goals or dreams without action.

So far these are the statistics that I’ve collected since the beginning of the year. These are not all precisely tracked.

My ultimate goal, alongside content creation, has always been to work for a beauty brand and if we’re being specific, Too Faced. Their motto is Own Your Pretty and I felt that that was an important message. I bought every product (still purchase from them just not as often) and was so obsessed with the brand that when I met their Executive Director Global Beauty and makeup artist Elyse Reneau, I 110% freaked out and of course immediately told her I wanted to work with Too Faced. We talked about the different ways I could work for the brand which ultimately meant working for Mecca, which of course, I’m not going to complain about.

19th May 2019

The point of this post isn’t to brag about my love for content creation, or followers (they’re not that impressive yet), but for me to have something to look back on when I’m working for a beauty brand of my dreams or living my dream of content creation or maybe owning my own beauty brand and being my own girl boss.

The point of this DA wasn’t to just research the future of the beauty industry and document it, but to also continue working on what I hope to spend the majority of my life doing. Working or simply being a part of the beauty industry.

My future will always include the beauty industry in some form or another but how I get to the top positions is something I cannot specifically outline because the future is not set in stone. What I do know, is my participation, love and passion I confirmed over 7 years ago.

Beauty is my life, it’s what makes me most excited and calms me down during moments of panic. The love I have for beauty is on the same level as my love for Ariana Grande, my dog Mollie and course my family, and for that, I’m certain that my future will always include the beauty industry.

My OVERLY Large Personal Makeup Collection

Who is Changing the Game in the Beauty Industry?

BCM325

The beauty industry has evolved at such a tremendous pace that it can become overwhelming and expensive to keep up with. It is important to know who is in control of the industry to understand how this will affect the future of the beauty industry. Are consumers in charge of the beauty products that are released? Is social media? How about influencers? Or more interestingly, are the brands the ones with all the control?

The importance of social media for the beauty and cosmetics industry is undoubtedly crucial for a beauty brand. One negative review can cause rippling effects throughout the entire beauty community and influence the purchasing decisions consumers make. I know I have been thoroughly influenced by many influencers and their choices but the marketing of a product, from the campaigns, photoshoots and even the packaging of a product, has had an impact on my consumer purchasing decisions. 

Is it cute enough? Does the brand align with the collective consumer wants and needs? Will everyone have a perfect match with the shade range options? These are all questions that influence my unique purchasing decisions.

Global sales of health and beauty products are expected to soar 73% from 2016 to 2024, from $432 billion to $750 billion, according to Inkwood Research, a Boston-based research firm (A HEALTH AND BEAUTY COMPANY’S GUIDE, 2020). Currently, the industry is worth $287.94 billion dollars, and with each year to come, an additional $100 billion is to be brought into the industry (Howarth 2022). But really, who controls the industry? And why is this important to know?

Let’s get into the specifics. There are 9 megacompanies that own the majority of the beauty brands we know and love.

Estee Lauder Companies

Loreal

Unilever

Procter & Gamble

Coty

Shiseido

Johnson & Johnson

Kendo

LVMH

These mega-companies are the ones with the ultimate control. They fight for sales and of course, each brand under their company is set to compete with each other but also with the brands from other mega-companies.

Ever wonder why all of a sudden every brand has a similar product? For example, from January- to the current day of April we have seen multiple versions of serum or lightweight, natural coverage/ skinlike foundations and in general a large influx of complexion products? Most likely because these megacompanies have acquired or developed a formula and have made changes to the formula to ensure that their brands can keep up to date and compete for market share. 

Consistent launches of the same product have been consistent since these megacompanies acquired these beauty brands. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have variety and options, but when is enough?

Beauty launches happen almost every day and with these consistent launches of new products, new reviews of a product from influencers are released to the public to decide if a product is worth purchasing. Not to mention, the continued desire to discover and test new products to up your beauty game is unbelievably expensive to keep up with.

It is in my opinion that the consumer has no control over what beauty brands launch because the power of marketing from beauty brands has created the wants and needs the consumer is looking for. Now I’m in full understanding that this is the point of marketing but shouldn’t we, the public who spends their hard-earned money be the ones whose voices are heard when we request a particular type of product?

On the other hand, social media influencers are the ones who hold the most power with purchasing decisions because of the impact they leave their audiences. Social media influencers drive brand engagement and brand loyalty (Lim et al. 2017). The trust a consumer places on an influencer directly affects if they trust the beauty product in question. This trust can consequently increase product sales of the product (Cooley & Parks-Yancy 2019). Studies have found that social media and influencers drive almost an equal amount of online and in-store sales (Barnes 2015).

Myself, I’m most influenced by social media beauty influencers. There are a particular few who I trust so wholeheartedly and have not yet let me down or made me regret purchasing a product. Why do I leave my trust in these people? The simple answer is that have yet to recommend a product I’ve not loved and therefore a solid foundation of trust has been built. If Jaclyn Hill, Kathleen Lights, Shaaanxo, Mikayla Nogueira, or Allie Glines has not mentioned the product, would I purchase it? Honestly, it would depend on my personal interest in the product if I will seek out reviews. If I find enough positive feedback from other influencers, then I may or may not be inclined to purchase the product, but if any of the women I trust mention the product is incredible, you can pretty much count on me to purchase the product at some point. It’s truly their personality and if I feel they’re genuine in their reviews that allows me to trust their opinion.

Loyalty and trust are always qualities we look out for in our daily life why wouldn’t you look out for them when it comes to your beauty products?

Below are a series of videos posted to my Tik Tok account showcasing the products influencers have influenced me into purchasing as well as the marketing of a product that influenced me to purchase.

The future of the beauty industry is truly heading towards influencers and beauty brands collaborating further. This collaboration whether it is paid or not does and will continue to influence purchasing decisions. In turn, this will affect the popularity of a beauty brand and in my opinion will continue to showcase us who in the beauty industry truly has the ultimate control. 

@oliviajlopez

What have you been influenced to purchase? #influencers #makeup #beautyinfluencer #sephora #foryou #fypシ #OscarsAtHome #beauty #sephoraaustralia #mecca #metgala

♬ original sound – olivialopez
@oliviajlopez

What have you been influenced to purchase? #influencers #makeup #beautyinfluencer #sephora #foryou #fypシ #OscarsAtHome #beauty #sephoraaustralia #mecca #metgala

♬ original sound – olivialopez

References

Cooley, D & Parks-Yancy, R 2019, The Effect of Social Media on Perceived Information Credibility and Decision Making, Journal of Internet Commerce, viewed 28 April 2022, <https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/doi/full/10.1080/15332861.2019.1595362&gt;.

A HEALTH AND BEAUTY COMPANY’S GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 Finding a Solution With True Unified Commerce n.d., Oracle Netsuite, viewed 27 April 2022, <https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/4259277/Resources/Optimized/wp-staying-relevant-in-a-fast-paced-industry-health-and-beauty.pdf&gt;.

Howarth, J 2022, The Ultimate List of Beauty Industry Stats (2022), Exploding Topics, Exploding Topics, viewed 27 April 2022, <https://explodingtopics.com/blog/beauty-industry-stats#top-beauty-stats&gt;.

Murphy, A 2021, About Our Beauty Brands | Kendo Brands | Cosmetics, Kendo Brands, viewed 28 April 2022, <https://kendobrands.com/about-us/#:~:text=The%20portfolio%20consists%20of%20Fenty,quality%2C%20innovation%20and%20authentic%20storytelling.&gt;.

Lim, J., M. Radzol, J. Cheah, and M. Wong. 2017. The impact of social media Influencers on purchase intention and the mediation effect of customer attitude. Asian Journal of Business Research 7, 21–30. [Crossref], [Google Scholar]

Barnes, N. 2015. EWOM drives social commerce: A survey of millennials in US and abroad. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness 9 (2):36–46. [Google Scholar]

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#What the Tweet!

BCM325

These past few weeks have been a very new and interesting experience. Live tweeting a movie is not an activity I have ever partaken in prior to BCM325 and it’s definitely brought up quite a few different emotions for me. In this critical self-reflection, I wanted to discuss pivotal moments I discovered during the process of live-tweeting and discuss what I’ve learned and what I believe I can continue to improve on.

My biggest concern that I’ve developed whilst participating in these live-tweeting events has been the quality of content that I’ve produced. As someone who extremely rarely watches anything to do with the theme of sci-fi, robots and technology takeovers, I have felt very out of place during this experience. This feeling has stopped me from feeling confident in my tweets and relating our weekly lecture content and readings to the films due to my lack of total understanding and enjoyment of the films we have consumed.

A key takeaway from what I’ve learnt during this process is the importance of multi-tasking whilst the film is playing. This has involved creating discussions with my peers, developing my own tweets from things I find interesting or important and the most obvious, watching the film and thoroughly consuming its content. This has not proven to be as easy a task as I had initially expected it to have been and will continue to be a challenge for me throughout the semester.

What I feel I’ve done well has been creating discussions through my tweets and also learning to be open to new film genres and themes I wouldn’t typically consume. I feel as though being open to these new film genres has allowed me to see different perspectives of the films and understand why my peers have made particular parts of the film tweetable moments that have created genuine interest and discussion amongst each of us.

I did want to also bring awareness to the areas that I struggled with which included the lecture content and relating it to the films we have watched. Due to this identification, I will be making it a priority to work on this in my future tweets. I decided to go back through my lecture notes and create connections between the lecture content and the films watched.