MARKETING INFLUENCERS


The original beauty influencers (10 years later)


Many of the beauty industry’s early adopters of social media have quit the very platforms that made them famous to prioritise their health and future careers, as Lucy Tandon Copp reports


I


t all started with the weblog: a website that consists of a series of entries in reverse chronological order. Who would have thought that something so formulaic and intangible would evolve into something so creative, inspiring and, let’s face it, overwhelming. Today, blogs come in myriad guises.


There’s Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Clubhouse, Weibo, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat – the list goes on. Social media platforms have become competitive and in-your-face, each striving to be more relevant, more irresistible than the next with their posts, grids, filters, reels and stories. And, of course, pinning it all together is content.


Just over ten years ago, user- generated content took off in a big way. It gave rise to a word that seemingly yesterday professionals struggled to say with a straight face, but today they rely on to front their marketing strategies and boost sales: the influencer. Beauty influencers were early adopters of blogs and vlogs, and names such as Zoella (Zoe Sugg), Tanya Burr, Michelle Phan, Pixiwoo (Samantha Chapman and Nicola Chapman Haste) and British Beauty Blogger (Jane Cunningham) soon became part of the industry fabric. They sucked in followers and viewers with their blog posts, videos and tutorials, providing a digital alternative to the beauty counter adviser in the


54 November 2021 cosmeticsbusiness.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68