BEAUTY HAULS & REVIEWS CONTEXTUAL REPORT

BCM302

Knowing that this is the final digital artefact and contextual report is bittersweet. Looking back at all the digital artefacts I’ve begun, developed or neglected indeed shows my growth as a person finding my way and footing in the digital world which has been exciting, fun and at times challenging to keep up with. For my final digital artefact, I decided it was best to continue a previous digital artefact that I enjoyed and found had utility for myself and also for others who consumed my content. My digital artefact I had named “Beauty Hauls and Reviews” and focused to publish my content through TikTok.

Background

I began this digital artefact journey wanting to make an impact in the beauty and makeup industry. This is ultimately the industry that I have wanted to focus on and delve into. Its been my passion and hobby since the age of 13. As I’ve been involved in some form or another in the beauty industry, I felt I had enough knowledge and expertise from watching others, for creating content surrounding the beauty and makeup industry and found it was important for my future. Before studying for my bachelor of communications and media, I had never had that push of encouragement to begin doing something in this industry and for that, I’ll forever be grateful to have had that push and ability to ideate, test and reiterate as well as scrapping and beginning all over again when failure was experienced.

I wouldn’t have labelled myself as a content creator when I began the DA, but seeing how far I’ve come since taking the DA seriously, I can see in my future labelling myself in this way especially or more specifically as a TikTok content creator. I’ve come to love the process and the responses that my followers have had with me and the content I’ve published. It’s a truly exciting and surreal experience to see and hear from followers and be able to interact with people on a topic I love.

Pitch Blog Post & Video

Proposed Utility

For my final digital artefact, I began with the intention to grow my online presence in the beauty and makeup space on TikTok. I never intended this DA to become a “beauty influencer” type of digital artefact and nor did I ever expect to see the growth that I have seen in the past 3 months. I simply decided that to pursue my passion, I needed to make this a passion project rather than focusing on the fact that this was an assessment, I framed this digital artefact as a passion project and hobby. This mindset and framing of my digital artefact gave me the extra passion and drive to work on the digital artefact without feeling as though it was a hassle or burden.

Apart from the desire to grow my presence on the platform to help others, I wanted to set myself as a beauty content creator from Australia. The majority of content creators in this space are from other countries, with the vast majority being from the United States of America. It is difficult to be a part of this beauty tiktok realm as Australians unfortunately often miss out on new product launches and brands that are exclusive to stores Australians cannot access. I wanted to create content that focused on Australian brands or products that anyone could easily access and purchase for themselves if they wished.

Methodology

The intended methodology with the DA was to continue carrying on my previous DA by posting consistently once a day. I never mentioned this previously as I hadn’t realised this prior, but I posted these daily videos at around 9 pm-9:30 pm which I believe had a successful impact on the growth I experienced throughout this process. Although I intended to post at least one video daily, this was not always something I could achieve but in saying this, I ensured that if I had some time away from posting when I did make my return, I worked harder and created content that was trending or that had an important utility to my audience that ultimately saw growth.

I generally spent my weekends batch creating content to then edit daily as needed to post to my account. Occasionally I posted 1-2 videos a day. Knowing not all people enjoy waiting for a part 2, I often decided the best way to reach my audience and have them return for part 2, would be to post the content videos back to back. This certainly saw part 1 videos have far better results but it did also pull people back to my page and potentially have them select to watch the other videos.

Alongside my video posting and the intended schedule I had created for myself, I decided to document my progress through monthly reports. Consider the end of this report as my October update. I stuck true to this schedule although there were times I should have posted the updates sooner, I still persevered and wrote up a blog post update that included progress reports and exciting things I discovered and found to happen in that particular month. To see those progress update blog posts, please follow the links below.

August Update

September Update:

Intended Audience / Starter Pack

My intended audience is easy to describe yet hard to pinpoint due to TikTok’s algorithm. It’s difficult to determine if the audience consuming my content fits my exact intended audience but with the interaction and growth I’ve experienced, I feel I can safely assume my content has reached my desired audience. These people are part of my below starter pack.

I imagine my audience to look, feel and be a part of the beauty side of tiktok in one or multiple ways pictured in my audience starter pack. I feel I fit this starter pack as I have also been heavily influenced by the recommendations given by other TikTokers in the beauty realm.

Collaboration Element

This new feature to collaborate with another person developing their digital artefact was interesting, and if you used your opportunity wisely, it was an excellent way to get feedback and advice from a new perspective. This insight has the potential to assist you to create further improvements in the development of the DA. I decided that the best use and collaboration for my DA would be to contact Kira Sweet.

I decided to reach out to Kira back in week 5. My DA had progressed from the beginning statistics I had recorded earlier that month but was not seeing any steady or consistent new followers, comments or views. Kira was part of the creative services team providing fellow DA peers advice on their TikTok pages as she has grown her own and managed other TikTok accounts quite well and had the knowledge and experience I was lacking in this area. Although reaching out made me nervous, the whole process was easy and quite delightful! She had put out a post on Twitter looking for any DAs she could lend her services to, so I replied and we got to talking. We ended up organising a date when we could meet on zoom. She analyzed the content I had already published and provided me with a document full of different ways I could improve my content and begin seeing growth on TikTok and in the niche I specifically have chosen to be a part of.

This zoom meeting was extremely insightful and I found it to have helped me immensely. In the meeting, we discussed points of improvement and ways I could get my content and my message in this niche more defined. Everything we discussed in the zoom meeting was sent to me afterwards which helped me go back and take a look at the document which I did multiple times throughout my DA’s progress as a way to go back and find inspiration when I felt I was lacking ideas.

The ideas that were brought forward in the meeting with Kira and me were in the document provided to me and after analysing my content now, it is evident her advice helped a lot. I began to recognise the names of people who were regularly interacting and consuming my content. For me, this meant that I was beginning to see the signs of growth and improvement in my content and my niche and ultimately suggesting that I was growing in this niche. I was beginning to see my presence make an impact. Due to this, I would say that without the collaborative element, my DA may not have done as well as I have seen it achieve. I thoroughly enjoyed the collaboration that was included in this digital artefact assessment task.

Feedback

The feedback I received mainly came from my collaborative element and what Kira and I discussed when analysing the content I had already produced and published to improve upon for my future content. If I was to give feedback to myself looking back at how I’ve managed my DA, I can certainly see areas I could have improved on. I would say that the weeks that I consistently posted the content that was trending and where I was actively and consistently posting were my best. My downfall areas where I hadn’t noticed as much interaction came from the moments I had taken a break. These breaks certainly had an impact where occasionally I would notice losing a few followers or not getting the interaction I normally received. My feedback to myself is to stay consistent and persistent. I cannot truly continue this DA if I do not love it, and of course, through the development of my previous and current DA, I’ve come to enjoy the whole process and can confidently say, I LOVE IT!

The biggest indicator from my audience that suggested I was on the right track was the growth, likes, saved, shares and comments my videos began gaining. This was the best feedback I could have asked for. Of course, comments asking for follow-up content were great! They gave me video ideas and had the commenters come back to my page. Listening to my audience and what they wanted to see was a key factor for the continued return of my followers.

The October Update

I began October with the below statistics.

Now I have ended, well almost ended the month with these statistics.

This progress is amazing, especially for me because it shows me that the advice that I was given and the content I’ve been creating and publishing to my audience are doing well and I’m on the right path.

October saw the biggest growth. I was producing content that was trending and using hashtags that were highly ranked. I found that this month was one worth creating content for because Australian beauty stores were having sales and launching Christmas products. Christmas always has the best deals and therefore makes content recommending products highly ranked. I simply hope that after this DA is submitted, my TikTok page can still grow like that of my TikTok page used as a DA.

Advice to future digital artefacts

Do not start a DA if you strongly do not love the topic. Your DA will feel like a chore if you don’t choose wisely. Begin creating your dream content and do not care what others may think because all that matters is that YOU are proud of yourself and what YOU have produced.

Overall, looking back on my DA, I could not be happier to say that I didn’t feel as though I was impacted by FIFO, that’s an achievement I’m very happy to report. After 3 years and many moments where I felt as though my DA had failed, I’ve finally found a DA that I not only love but am proud of. It certainly wasn’t easy getting here but I’m certainly proud of myself and the perseverance that these last 3 years of creating and publishing content have allowed me to accomplish. When you love what you create, it shows!

TIKTOK PAGE: @oliviajlopez

Beauty Reviews & Hauls September Update

BCM302

September was a good month. My intention was to grow my presence on my TikTok page and that’s exactly what I noticed happen. I found September to be an inspirational month. I had the motivation, the content ideas and the time to create content and post on a consistent schedule which I believe truly helped with the success of September.

I began the month with the following statistics.

And ended the month with these statistics.

September saw a brand reach out to me and challenged me to determine what rates I should charge as a new content creator. Although the offer was discussed and rates were exchanged, the brand never ended up reaching out to me to decline or to negotiate. This tells me maybe I had rates set too high. Nevertheless, this didnt deter me, if that brand didnt see my poential, someone else will.

I never set goals on how many followers I wanted to reach but I decided in September to try to reach 800 followers for October and if I stay as consistent as I was in September, October may be even better than before. My fingers are crossed and hopefully I can reach that milestone.

If you’re not following my page, @oliviajlopez on TikTok!

Beauty Reviews & Hauls August Recap

BCM302

My goal for this subject has been to grow my online presence through my Tiktok page and I have had some progress. I feel like the past month has been going fairly well.

If you didn’t know, I began this DA last year and fell head over heels for the process of creating content featuring beauty products. I have always been that youtube beauty community obsessed girly girl and that really translated into my everyday life where I would document my hauls to my friends on various platforms. In a way, I feel like, and I say this with some hesitation, I feel like I was made to be a content creator/ beauty influencer. For this reason, I felt TikTok would be the perfect location for me to produce content, it’s trending and I can work around my busy work and uni life that it just made sense.

I wanted to accompany my DA with monthly recaps that showed my progress. Regardless of this DA, I was documenting my monthly progress and I wanted to share this with my #BCM302 cohort. I began August with these statistics.

Within the month of August, my best-performing video was actually one that I posted towards the end of the month. https://www.tiktok.com/@oliviajlopez/video/7135791589623942401?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

And I ended the month with these statistics. I had a video begin to pick up again in views and likes and decided to pin the video. It became my highest viewed video and still continues to get interaction and is my first video to hit over 10 000 views. And as you can see, ended with over 18 000 views in August.

All in all, I felt August was a good learning month and allowed me to find new things that worked and I’ve begun testing new hashtag strategies to improve my reach with views which I will elaborate on in September in further detail. August was my month of experimenting and experimenting I did. I’m excited to have more to speak about in my September update!

If you haven’t already and would like to follow along with my journey, you can follow along at @oliviajlopez on TikTok!

Beauty Hauls & Reviews

BCM302

It is pretty obvious once meeting me that beauty & makeup is more than a love or a passion, it takes up the majority of my life. It is what I dream about in my sleep and what I know in my heart will always keep me sane.

As my DA is a continuation of a previous DA, I wanted to continue to pursue this topic because DAs can feel like a lot of straining work when you start an idea you don’t truly love and have the time or ability to commit to. As this DA ended up becoming a hobby of mine from previous semesters, I know that I can commit to creating and publishing content for BCM302 and truly give it more than just a little bit of thought, I can give it my all.

My strategy for this DA is similar to the strategy I use outside of uni. This means staying up to date with all the latest trends and product launches and creating content to reflect what is trending and new in beauty and makeup. Although this will mean purchasing products to review and haul and therefore can be expensive to keep up with, I know I would have purchased these products regardless if they were for my DA or simply to grow my collection. I love trying new products and growing my makeup collection and in the meantime, I’m getting to help others who view my content, letting them know if what is being featured is worth the splurge. Most times it is but its good to have someone tell you if something is worthless to save you your money because beauty and makeup is not cheap.

I am beginning my DA with these current statistics.

Content will be published daily to my TikTok account @oliviajlopez. I’m always experimenting with the best time to post my content during any day to get the best results and will document my results throughout the progress and duration of this DA. I also hope to find the best hashtag combination for the highest results of views, likes and shares on my content. I hope to document this progress and what I’ve discovered monthly to my blog which I will advertise on my Twitter account for anyone interested in my progress.

Though I’m aiming to continue to grow and build my DA, I am focusing on the development of my online presence on TikTok, but also within the beauty realm. With this, I have identified that I am not aiming for a particular number of views on a video or to reach a particular number of followers, though this is a good way to know that I am building my presence, I am more so looking at the comments, recommendations & suggestions viewers of my content are asking to see from me as a big integral part of my DA’s success. Interaction with anyone consuming my content is important to me as it helps to build my presence in the beauty space on TikTok.

A Skill I’m Particularly Good At

BCM313

To ask me to decide on 1 skill I feel I’m particularly good at is extremely difficult, but the first thing to come to mind is makeup knowledge and its application.

I am no makeup artist, but I most certainly possess the same skill and products they use to complete a full glam or a natural bronze glow. From a young age, I was drawn to makeup. It excited me and intrigued me that these colours and products had the ability to change a person’s self-confidence whilst still keeping them looking like themself (obviously not speaking about special effect makeup). Colour says a lot about a person. I’m a pink makeup girl. I love the pink glitter, and the pink blush and have always gravitated towards pink-toned nude lipstick or just a classic pink will work too! I’m a girly girl through and through. Pink symbolizes youthfulness and playfulness, both things I would use to describe myself.

From a young age, I found that I gravitated towards makeup and found that I could somehow memorise facts about products such as when they launched, their price and even when they discontinued. These strange little things I remembered always seemed to help with friends and family who would come to me for advice.

My love for makeup is also represented throughout this blog and most certainly on my TikTok page. @oliviajlopez

To say makeup is my only skill is a flat-out lie. I know I’m a good cook and love food but I especially love making desserts. I love the strict process of baking and have always liked strict routines and rules because they always turn out the way you plan, unlike how makeup application gives you complete creative freedom.

Although these 2 skills in my opinion are super different to one another, they show who I am and why I am the way I am. I love creative freedom, but I like guidelines and rules to assist me with my final desired result. When you pick up an eyeshadow palette, you pretty much know the type of look you will create, but how you create it is completely up to the user whereas baking is a skill many find restricting because if the recipe is not followed precisely, the dessert will certainly not turn out as planned.

A skill really speaks volumes about a person, but to get to truly know them, you need to be able to watch them whilst in and out of their skill zone to see what they’re really like. Skills and quality/personality traits when paired and observed can give away more than what that person would share. So don’t think I’m a strict, play-by-the-rules girl who wears pink and dreams about makeup, because that’s just the tiny tip of the iceberg. You will find when you get to know me, that I may completely surprise you.

The Future of The Beauty Industry – Contextual Report

BCM325

DA content can be found here: https://www.tiktok.com/@oliviajlopez

Blog Posts – BCM325: https://oliviajlopez.com/

Concept

For my DA, I wanted to focus on the future of the beauty industry. This meant doing research on topics of interest and explaining them in a blog post while also posting TikTok videos to compliment my blog posts. I initially anticipated creating weekly research with a blog post and a minimum of one TikTok video. This changed as I realised my timeline was overestimated. This was all outlined in my pitch.

Methodology

My DA’s initial method was to conduct weekly research, complete a blog post and film a TikTok video. Instead, I decided to complete a 3 blog post series but continue to post beauty-related TikTok videos weekly. This new method for my DA allowed me to research the topics that interested me the most but also allowed me to make crucial observations within my niche. Through this, I was able to make predictions of trends by analysing the videos and the products featured showing me what I needed to create in the beauty TikTok space.

Research

From the research and observations made during my DA, I was able to create content that interested me but also saw me grow as a creator on the platform. The weekly lectures on predictions, trajectories, as well as AI technology assisted me in my blog post series development and are further explained in my DA post.

Social Utility

As this DA is centred around the future of the beauty industry, my DA’s utility is not only going to help others learn about the topics spoken about in my blog post series, but also has personal utility for my future. This DA should hopefully show future employers my dedication to the beauty industry to gain an advantage in my future employment endeavours.

The Future Cultures DA Challenge:

The challenge in this DA was to connect how the future can be represented within the DA. In 1 year, my DA will still be active and will become a more active hobby of mine. In 5 years, this DA has the ability to become a part-time or full-time job which would change the trajectory of my life. In 10 years, this DA could not only become my full-time job but also open up many more opportunities that would yet again open up doors and opportunities that I would only have dreamed of, e.g building my own beauty empire or working closely with my favourite brands. In 25-50 years, my DA could be used as inspiration to other students delving into researching the beauty industry’s past to determine its future.

Successes and Limitations:

My biggest limitation was the lack of time. This limited my ability to stick to my initial plan but brought me my biggest success, the growth and exposure of my TikTok videos. During the DA, I also decided to record my growth which can be found in my 3rd blog post. This for me was a major success and a step closer to being able to do what I love every day.

Another major success was having Sephora like and comment on a video and the chief marketing officer of Rare Beauty, Katie Welch also notice my account.

The Future of the Beauty Industry -DA Recap

BCM325

This semester I focused on the future of the beauty industry, with research blog posts published on my blog but also through observational and participatory research on TikTok. TikTok is in the top 3 social media platforms for marketers to watch in 2022 (Bump, 2021) and has been on the rise since 2020. Being that I enjoy content creation and also study marketing, I understand the importance this platform has to the future of the beauty industry.

Since my pitch, I changed my direction and therefore so did the outcome and the results. I must admit, I always get ahead of myself with my DA timeline. Due to my lifestyle, completing weekly research and filming weekly content for my TikTok alongside lectures, tutorials and other assessments, I decided to reduce the number of blog posts but try my best to continue to maintain weekly content posted to my TikTok account. Although I made the change in the way I completed my DA, the research collection didn’t necessarily change.

With this new direction in mind for the majority of this semester, I was able to focus on producing content for my TikTok account at a consistent level. During this DA process, I wanted to record the progress I was making as this DA is not only about the future of the beauty industry, but also MY future in the beauty industry and trying to find where I fit in within the niche.

I began my DA with the intention to research different areas that would impact the beauty industry and create TikTok videos to embed into the blog posts that discussed a topic in the blog post, which is what I did for my first blog post; What’s Trending within the Cosmetics Industry?

In this blog post, I decided to talk about the trends we should see introduced that will impact the future of the industry. Essentially my blog post looked at the predictions that were being named as the new trends to come or look out for. These trends to summarise the blog post include the discussion on the new makeup trend, the “IT girl” makeup, consisting of natural, dewy and fresh-looking makeup.

To go along with this blog post, I filmed a 4 part “No Makeup Makeup Look” video series showing TikTok my take on the “IT girl” makeup look. In these videos, I also tested some of the popular products that have been commonly found within this beauty trend to test how well they work.

I observed my niche and how viewers interacted with my content and discovered that one of the four videos had a significantly larger amount of interaction than any other video from the mini-series. My assumption is because the first video in the series focused on my base routine for the makeup look whilst using some TikTok favourite products. Complexion products are currently the most popular types of products.

@oliviajlopez
Part 2 is up! #nomakeupmakeup #makeup #beauty #beautyindustry #fypシ #fyp #viral #foryou #foryoupage #glowymakeup #glowyskin #sephorasale2022 #grwm #makeupgrwm #nars #milkmakeup
♬ original sound – olivialopez

Part 1/4

@oliviajlopez
Part 3 is up! #nomakeupmakeup #makeup #beauty #beautyindustry #fypシ #fyp #viral #foryou #foryoupage #glowymakeup #glowyskin #sephorasale2022 #grwm #makeupgrwm #rarebeauty #selenagomez #softpinchliquidblush
♬ original sound – olivialopez

2/4

@oliviajlopez
Part 4 is up! #nomakeupmakeup #makeup #beauty #beautyindustry #fypシ #fyp #viral #foryou #foryoupage #glowymakeup #glowyskin #sephorasale2022 #grwm #makeupgrwm #rarebeauty #selenagomez #positivelight
♬ original sound – olivialopez

3/4

4/4

The second predicted trend was the identification of skincare or skincare ingredients and benefits to be introduced into our cosmetic products. This trend is something I have not only loved to research but have found to personally impact my purchasing choices already in 2022. This is certainly a predicted trend that is coming to fruition due to the demand from consumers.

It was after this blog post I decided that I would reduce the number of blog posts and change the focus to TikTok as this is inevitably where the future of most industries will be found for industries to reach their audiences.

Having been part of this industry since 2014, having seen the youtube era grow and fall and grow again, I have noticed youtube take a significant hit and lose its viewers. This is because of the introduction to shorter form videos such as those found on TikTok which show us how the attention economy has truly begun to take over where it is evident the attention of users using the platform is the product. Attention has become the wanted commodity (Bhargava & Velasquez 2020) by the beauty brands and therefore these brands are ensuring that ads are in direct contact with potential customers.

This realisation led to the second blog post; Who is Changing the Game in the Beauty Industry? My interest peaked as to who has my attention when it comes to the beauty industry? This post delved into the companies who own our beloved beauty brands, social media influencers and social media. To summarise, influencers and social media have grabbed our trust and therefore our attention, ultimately influencing our purchasing decisions. This second blog post had a 2-part TikTok video consisting of the beauty products that influencers influenced me to purchase over the years because I trusted their opinions and reviews and hadn’t been let down.

@oliviajlopez
What have you been influenced to purchase? #influencers #makeup #beautyinfluencer #sephora #foryou #fypシ #OscarsAtHome #beauty #sephoraaustralia #mecca #metgala
♬ original sound – olivialopez

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@oliviajlopez
What have you been influenced to purchase? #influencers #makeup #beautyinfluencer #sephora #foryou #fypシ #OscarsAtHome #beauty #sephoraaustralia #mecca #metgala
♬ original sound – olivialopez

2/2

In my third and final post of this series of blog posts, I wanted to mention my future within the industry. For me, my involvement in the beauty and cosmetics industry is inevitable. Working in some form whether that is in content creation, marketing for a beauty brand, product development, or even just as simple as supporting my favourite beauty brands through my purchases, I will always be involved and will continue to be an active part of the beauty industry.

This blog post saw me show my growth results since beginning my DA and staying more consistent on my profile. Where do I fit in the beauty industry? Will I be a part of it in the future? was my most personal post of the set of 3 posts for this DA. All my DAs have a personal element and for me, this specific post felt the most personal. I felt free enough to open up and speak my truth about what I have always felt was my calling, that is content creation. For me, I hope my future can see me grow in the beauty content creation world.

Through this DA I wanted to be open and honest and be myself. I didn’t want to care about other people and low key in my heart, I knew I wanted to grow my confidence through creating content. Being able to see those who view my profile is nerve-racking but interesting. It showed who supported me through my DA but also made me realise those who simply do not believe that the future is in their hands and through social media. It was during the time that my account had significant growth, that I realised the power I could have with consistency.

Power is always in your hands and the future can change or remain on its course through the power you give to it. For me, this DA was helpful to give me the opportunity to not only observe the future of the industry but also observe the interactions occurring. It is safe to say that although youtube consumption has seen a decrease in the beauty industry, it has certainly seen a large increase over on TikTok.

My DA has helped me this past semester realise that most of the future of this industry is based on predictions that trends and consumer demands either become permanent changes or are a short term trend that comes and goes as quickly as they began. The beauty industry is thorough and planned out. Beauty brands know when and what they will launch to consumers and influencers months if not years in advance and with the continuation of technological improvements in this industry, it is likely that what we know as the “beauty standards” of today as the ideal, will inevitably change as brands grow and so too their audience.

The lecture content this semester had a few key areas that had a connection or a connection could be made to the weekly topic. The trajectory of the industry is evidently focused on new innovations and the continued use of social media for brand awareness through the observations I made as an active member of TikTok.

All beauty brands have a unique calendar for their product launches, something only a futurist would be able to assist in its planning. Predictions and assumptions are made in a way that almost every brand in the industry will launch a similar style of product around the same time. I cover this in my second blog post. The future of the beauty industry will also see and has been predicted since 2020, the more common use of AI technology, colour matching foundations to our faces or simply applying lipstick without having to physically apply the lipstick. This is seeing significant growth since the beginning of the pandemic as consumers were unable to go to their local stores to test the products.

Although our futures don’t always go as we plan them, one thing I know for sure is my involvement in the beauty industry. Some way or another, I hope to find myself in a position where I am able to do what I love each and every day within this industry. The future of beauty is one to certainly watch out for.

References:

Bump, P 2021, 7 New Social Media Platforms Marketers Should Watch in 2022, Hubspot.com, HubSpot, viewed 22 May 2022, <https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/new-social-media>.‌

Bhargava, VR & Velasquez, M 2020, ‘Ethics of the Attention Economy: The Problem of Social Media Addiction’, Business Ethics Quarterly, pp. 1–39, viewed 23 May 2022, <https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-ethics-quarterly/article/ethics-of-the-attention-economy-the-problem-of-social-mediaaddiction/1CC67609A12E9A912BB8A291FDFFE799>

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

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>.

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>.

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>.

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.>.

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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BCM206 BETA Update

BCM206

Since my pitch video, I have begun my content creation process but rather than focusing on tutorials, I decided it was best for me to focus on reviews, more specifically on products Australians had access to. 2021 has been a great year of new product launches and even new brand launches that before this year we couldn’t purchase.

In the last few months, both Mecca and Sephora have finally given Australians access to brands such as Rare Beauty, Makeup by Mario, Rose Inc, Charlotte Tilbury, Milk Makeup and now we finally have Kylie Cosmetics in-stores. With all of this newness, I was inspired to slightly change my DA’s direction. There are thousands of tutorials out there but makeup has no set rules, so why try to teach people how to do their makeup when its a way of self-expression. So I’ve decided its best to review products as they have always had a great influence in my makeup purchases.

Although my videos are mainly reviews, they all have an element or feel like a tutorial. My first few videos had this tutorial/review type of feel.

@oliviajlopez
Testing colourpop blush and lite stixs! I think they’re pretty but definitely need to give them another go! #colourpopcosmetics #fypシ #makeupreview
♬ original sound – olivialopez

But as I continued my content creation process I felt like focusing more on the product rather than the application, and on the new product launches or just the newly purchased products I haven’t had the opportunity to test.

@oliviajlopez
Reviewing #kyliecosmetics birthday collection! So far so good! #fyp #makeup #makeupreview #australia #americantiktok #review PART 2 linked below!
♬ original sound – olivialopez

My DA follows the FIST model, FAST, INEXPENSIVE, SIMPLE and TINY. Fast as I’m able to create the content, edit and publish it much quicker than a youtube video. Inexpensive as I’m not purchasing extra products just for my DA but rather using what I have already purchased or would have purchased myself regardless of my DA’s topic. Simple as there is no crazy editing skills involved or a grand unachievable idea or concept that I would not be able to accomplish. Tiny because I’m using a simple concept of reviewing products to a small audience but has the ability to reach a larger audience.

Following this concept has been easy for me as this DA truly has captured my heart. I not only enjoy the content creation but the entire process. Since being in a lockdown, I have felt like I am in my element. This DA has made me feel like I have found what I should be doing with my life especially after graduating. No other DA so far has made me feel this exited for something I am doing. Although this is a DA, it has felt far from being an assignment and because of this, I’m so excited to continue to grow my platform and continue to improve my reviews and tutorials and maybe even receive more feedback that would assist me and my content creation.

If you haven’t already, follow my DA below!

@oliviajlopez

BCM206 Project Pitch- TIKTOK MAKEUP TUTORIALS AND REVIEWS

BCM206

It’s that time of the year again where DAs are in full swing, and production is just beginning.

This time around I’ve decided to combine my love for makeup and a platform I’ve yet to create content on that has always intrigued me- Tiktok.

My DA focuses on encouraging and teaching those who feel that they don’t know how to do makeup or understand why and what they need to do with their makeup. It is also my hope to not influence my audience but to come across as genuine and trustworthy enough to trust my recommendations and tips and tricks. I don’t want to be an influencer; I just want to create content that educates and makes me happy.

To accomplish my goals, I will be aiming to post once a day as often as I can with an occasional bonus video every now and then for when I’m unboxing new products.

Tiktok is a platform that I enjoy watching and has features that other platforms do not that I think would be helpful to incorporate into my content creation. The duet feature that allows you to follow along and react is one of these features. Videos using this feature would allow me to test if the tips and tricks others use are worth testing or even if they’re genuinely going to help others.

Debunking makeup hacks, views and opinions will allow me to put my knowledge I’ve accumulated whilst being in this industry to the test to be able to accurately recommend products to my audience.

Coming across as trustworthy and genuine is crucial. I’m not perfect and nor do I want to portray a persona who is because let’s face it, who is?

To follow along on my journey into this new DA, follow my tiktok account – @oliviajlopez.

Comment down below the top 3 items of makeup you could not live without!

-Olivia