ASSIGNMENT 2- SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS

VISMAYA SHREE S
PES1202200612
SECTION B

TOPIC: MAYBELLINE
Maybelline New York has achieved a legendary status in the field of cosmetics. “Maybe
She’s Born with It. Maybe It’s Maybelline” is the brand’s tagline and it continues to be
recognised around the world. It entered the Indian market in the year 1998 with technically
advanced products and since then it has been leading the cosmetic industry.

OVERALL STRATEGY

Maybelline is localizing its brand communication. I find it focussing on the details by taking
a grass root level approach. It has inferred the taste of Indian female and it has indeed built up
on it with terrific ideas.

Most of the online conversations happening around Maybelline are generated on Facebook.
It’s YouTube, blog and Twitter Community also play a powerful role.
PLATFORM-WISE STRATEGY

Facebook

Maybelline has created a huge brand community around itself. It has more than 2.6 million
fans and its engagement rate is as high as 13%. Fans have been exchanging ideas, sharing
make up tips, chit chatting about the products they prefer. Maybelline has a huge potential to
obtain sharp insights from its brand community. It is trying to strengthen the common bond
that connects its loyalists with the brand.

They say, understanding women is like smelling the colour 9. But this brand is on the right
track
It is focusing more on user generated content by encouraging fans to share a picture of their
collection, which they later use to create brand stories.

Maybelline has been doing a great job at monitoring all the comments and page posts. See the
image below where they have replied to one of the comments explaining how to differentiate
between a fake and an original Kajal.

I have hardly seen brands with big communities that reply to their fans’ comments. They
solely push out updates and are absolutely unapproachable. Kudos to Maybelline for keeping
an eye on all these comments and making an extra effort to reply to them!

I have observed that generic posts on its wall fetch more engagement than updates about
Maybelline. Maybe generic content with a little branding will work very well for the brand.

Twitter
Maybelline New York India has more than 7k followers on Twitter and they have been
constantly running interesting contests on Twitter. I like the way how they have been
sparking conversations with their followers.

But being candid on Twitter is nice, being spammy is NOT. Sometimes their Twitter contests
are spammy and they are encouraging their followers to do the same.

They ask their participants to start the tweet with the hashtag, only then their tweets will be
considered in the contest. Well, it is little known, that if you start a tweet with an @name,
then only the people who follow you, and people who follow the person you replied to will
see the tweet.

If you begin your tweet with the hashtag, everyone in your timeline will be able to see it.
Some people keep on falling in the trap.

Would you prefer pissing off your followers with such contest tweets?
 @mysticsrishti Only tweets starting
with #ThingsCheekyGirlsSay will be considered as winners.

— Maybelline New York (@MaybellineIndia)

Youtube

Maybelline’s YouTube content helps users with the best ways to use their products. They
have been uploading make-up tutorials, TVCs, different types of looks, tips and behind the
scenes. Their video content has been consumed by 5,189,664 viewers and 5,270 subscribers.

Pinterest

Maybelline India has jumped in to reserve its space on Pinterest without yet posting any
content.  Pinterest’s main audience is female and I was a little disappointed that I didn’t see a
strong presence from one of the biggest cosmetics brands. Whereas Lakme India is one of the
early adopters who is already using Pinterest as a perfect media tool!

Blog

Instaglam.in is Maybelline India’s newest launch. It is a blog that enables girls to stay
updated with the latest in makeup and fashion trends from around the globe, her one stop
destination for all her answers. Fashion bloggers and influencers have also been contributing
to the blog.
Content on their blog really stands out and it is notably generating sales leads. (see the image
below)Maybelline has an impressive presence on Instagram and Google Plus as well.

COMPARISON with COMPETITOR

Revlon India has a smaller community as compared to Maybelline. I do not see any extra
efforts by Revlon on Facebook as well as on Twitter in trying to engage with its
community. Revlon India is hardly engaging itself in conversations or running any Twitter
campaigns. Just like Maybelline, Revlon has a series of video tutorials on YouTube. They
have been doing a lot of Vine videos lately. They ran a campaign on Revlon Colorstay
Ultimate Suede Lipstick and made Vine videos out of it.
At the time of writing this, I could not see any recent social media campaigns by Revlon
India.
Comments on Strategy

My only feedback to Maybelline India is, avoid spammy Twitter contests.

Otherwise, Maybelline India’s social media strategy is really impressive! It has got the hang
of running fool-proof social media campaigns and they continue to be unique and engaging.
They are using integrated ways to engage their fans; as a result, there is consistency in their
brand message across a number of channels.

Today, customers are turning to social media because of its real-time nature and they expect a
response instantly. Maybelline too is on the double in responding its community.

Lately, they have been investing a lot of effort in content and their attempt has already started
paying off. I am sure that Maybelline’s India’s blog will help the brand to make it happen.

Let’s face it, like every brand, Maybelline too has some negative sentiments surrounding it
and there’s no way to escape negative reviews. But Maybelline is addressing them. In fact,
they are turning to be quieter powerful in the brand’s favour.

How Maybelline markets its brands

Digital influencers become brand ambassadors

While influencer marketing is now commonplace for cosmetics brands, Maybelline has gone
one step further by embracing a new trend to use influencers as brand ambassadors. Rather
than just charging them to share content on Instagram, this means getting influencers on
mainstream and multi-channel promotions.

This reflects the degree to which the influencers have dominated the industry, with beauty
companies capitalizing on the popularity and reputation of make-up bloggers and vloggers.
Alongside this, Maybelline also uses influencers to broaden her emphasis on diversity.
Manny Gutierrez (or 'Manny MUA') was named the first male brand ambassador, capitalizing
on his more than 4 million Instagram followers and 2.1 million YouTube subscribers.

Similarly, influencer content constantly fuels interaction with Instagram, while the brand
itself reaps the benefits of a large and active community of influencers. Model Adriana Lima
usually posts using the #maybellinegirls hashtag, with a single post, in particular, producing
290,000 engagements.
Putting consumers centre stage

Finally, Maybelline ensures that the engagement cycle continues by involving its online
audience as much as possible, in particular by encouraging user-generated content. One way
of doing so is by offering free samples of its products to customers in order to inspire them to
post feedback or product-related material on social media.

Such customers do not often have a strong online presence, which means that they do not
automatically qualify as 'influencers.' Maybelline recognizes the power of everyday
consumers in this regard, particularly when it comes to promoting the brand to a wider
audience.

While influencers may endorse the more trendy, perhaps slightly higher-end aspects of the
brand, user-generated content tends to be more real, showing everyone that it can be available
and affordable to all.

Maybelline primarily produces this form of content by brand-related hashtags, which it often
sets up in relation to events and occasions. For example, during New York Fashion Week and
BeautyCon (a festival-like gathering for brands and beauty fans), # MNYFashionWeek and #
MNYBeautyCon are used – with the now-recognizable formula being replicated by online
users.

Marketing Lessons from Maybelline

So, thanks to the right marketing strategies that Maybelline has executed over
the years, it has remained its position as one of the biggest cosmetics brands in
the world. What lessons can you learn from Maybelline’s marketing success?

Create something for the consumers to talk about

Maybelline 's social strategy relies on the development of visual content. Photos
are also designed to inspire followers to connect through their social networks
and to chat about the brand offline. As the data show, this strategy is highly
successful.

Maybelline 's offline brand sharing has been growing since June 2017, hitting
its highest level in February. This reflects a 75% leap over the six-month period
ending in January compared to the previous six-month period.

That's impressive, given that online brand sharing increased 8 percent over the
same period. Visual content can be so convincing that customers aren't just
sharing online, they 're talking about it more frequently in face-to-face
conversations with friends and family.

Leverage a mixed marketing strategy

Celebrity relationships are another component of Maybelline 's strategy to

engage customers both online and offline. The key to the success of the brand in
shaping conversations is its expert use of integrated marketing.

Maybelline 's partnership with the supermodel Gigi Hadid, for example,
continues to create coverage in fashion media. In addition to being used in the
brand's promotional campaign, Hadid has collaborated with Maybelline on a
cosmetics range. The buzzworthy model also dedicated its own Instagram —
with 40 million followers — to a new collection named after her name. These
talkable activities have created an enviable effect.

References to the promotion of Maybelline in offline conversations rose by 16%

over the six-month period ending in January, relative to the previous six-month
span. Hadid 's performance at the 2018 Met Gala, in which she unveiled
Maybelline's Soda Pop Eye Shadow Palette, is expected to raise these figures
further.

Take advantage of the power of everyday influencers

Maybelline also understands that celebrities are not the only ones to catch the
eye of the consumer. In August, the makeup company revealed its first
collaboration with Shayla Mitchell, a beauty vlogger, via a paid partnership.

The brand also regularly engages day-to-day influencers — friends, family, and
colleagues who have wide social networks and enjoy sharing their opinions. It
sends free product samples to customers and encourages them to share their
impressions by posting feedback and product-related material on social media.

This strategy proves to be successful. In offline conversations about Maybelline,

references to product samples rose to 10.3 percent in the six months ending
January 2018 from 4.6 percent in the previous six-month period. This strategy
also contributed to an increase in offline brand sharing, suggesting that free
samples resonated with customers in offline conversations.
Perhaps the marketing strategy of Belline is more than just a lipstick. The brand
has built on a deep understanding of what motivates its consumers to speak
about. Most significantly, every marketing touchpoint is designed to enable both
offline and online customer conversations.