Cosmetics brands look to build brand loyalty and awareness through key representatives whether in the entertainment industry or through rising social media influencers. Certain icons ruling social media today bring key consumer bases closer to the brands they associate with. How do Cosmetics brands utilize paid social media to grow their brands with the existence of influencer marketing?

Audience targeting strategies across various social media channels help build brand awareness and help lead to a growing number of sales. Our objective with this report was to analyze how major cosmetic brands use different social platforms and targeting strategies to achieve their goals.

We found:

• Kylie Cosmetics and Huda Beauty, two cosmetics brands lead by prominent influencers with massive followings, are spending the least on social media advertising when compared to the rest of the industry. 
• Estee Lauder has put almost 50% of its focus into trying to woo younger consumers with Instagram ads, while L’Oreal Paris almost exclusively uses Youtube as a channel to appeal to a more traditional consumer base.
• Glossier utilizes an aggressive direct sales message with an over 60% focus on Facebook, and 91% of these posts being sponsored dark ads with call to action buttons, linking directly to their online store.
• Comparing all the brands in this 60 day period, Sephora strategizes to target 16% male users, higher than any other cosmetic brand in this report.

Overall, the prominence of influencer marketing gives proof to organic marketing working better than paid social in some industries like Cosmetics. With key influencers, a few Cosmetic brands have been able to eliminate the need for paid social media spending and as a result, continue their success through consumer loyalty to their brand ambassadors. It will be interesting to see how other Cosmetics brands utilize their paid social budgets to perhaps enlist rising influencers on Instagram or Youtube to represent their brands. 

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