TikTok becomes platform with strongest growth in media impact value for beauty brands

By

Triana Alonso

Translated by
Roberta HERRERA

Published
Oct 18, 2022

Many consumers see the beauty sector as an entry point to luxury goods given the accessible price points in comparison to the rest of a luxury brand’s high-priced offering. However, the beauty sector is currently concerned about today's economic situation and possible consumer fatigue or over-saturation. In this current climate of uncertainty, with the added challenge of having less media-driven communication strategies than other industries, data analytics specialist Launchmetrics has studied the behaviour of over 700 cosmetics and fragrance brands in the first six months of the year to identify industry trends and the best advertising practices to employ on each social media platform.

While the study found that overall customer engagement through social media is declining year-on-year, social media remains crucial to the beauty industry, which relies heavily on influencers for its media impact value. In the Chinese market, influencers are essential to brands, accounting for three quarters of their media impact value, well ahead of both their traditional and owned media.

Companies are therefore faced with questions when it comes to allocating budgets or choosing the right social media platforms appropriate for each message they wish to deliver. Although Launchmetrics noted that Instagram continues to be the social network that generates the greatest media impact, platforms such as Douyin, Weibo and TikTok achieve higher average figures, demonstrating the effectiveness of short-format videos. The only exception has been YouTube, which continues to favour long-form (more than 10 minutes) vlogs or tutorials, even though their media impact value has declined by 21%.

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TikTok is the social media platform with the strongest impact growth for beauty brands, having recorded an increase of 176% year-on-year. The most successful posts are those that are entertaining or feature celebrities and influencers, such as Kylie Jenner or Ariana Grande, and are typically no longer than one minute in length.

Celebrity influencers dominate the scene in China and make the biggest impact on social media platforms such as Weibo, Wechat and Douyin, while Western platforms present a more diversified range of influencers. Mega influencers and medium-sized influencers play a more important role in terms of media impact value on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

In its list of companies, the "Global State of Beauty report" places the LVMH group at the top of the list with an average media impact value of $144 million, followed by the Shiseido group with $113 million and The Estée Lauder Companies with $112 million.

For its part, Dior led the ranking of brands as a result of its celebrity-oriented marketing strategy, with the massive reach of its collaboration with K-pop star Jisoo Kim leading the way. The French brand was closely followed by L'Oréal Paris (particularly for its performance in China), Lancôme and MAC Cosmetics. Despite ranking eighth on the list, British brand Charlotte Tilbury, owned by Spanish group Puig, recorded the highest growth in media impact value, up 20%. Fenty Beauty declined the most according to the report, down 24%.

In the fragrance segment, multichannel campaigns with celebrities continued to play a key role. Viktor&Rolf earned first prize thanks to its partnership with well-known actress Anya Taylor Joy, followed by Escada and Mont Blanc.