Braintrust quarterly issue 1 v8 7 20 16

Issue I | July 2016

Quarterly

The BrainTrust is a curated network of interconnected agencies and individuals that helps brands engineer actionable strategies and execute impactful campaigns to engage audiences, drive results and deliver ROI.

Quarterly

Welcome to The BrainTrust!

We are a network of collaborators, thinkers, and creative brains collectively working to generate ideas that drive action and have impact. We are changemakers and problem solvers helping brands move forward one day at a time through our nuanced and multilayered approach to branding, marketing and social media.

Founder’s Letter

The BrainTrust was born out of my desire to connect people under the pretense of solving problems and creating solutions.

My mantra has always been to have the smartest people around me and together we can make a difference. As collective brains, we can be the best version of ourselves in business and in life.

I'm inspired by ‘Why Do I Need You?’ where Dr. David Eagleman explores how the human brain relies on other brains to thrive and survive. Our social brain draws us together into groups. Matthew Lieberman's, a distinguished social psychologist and neuroscientist, new book (Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect) is a book about relationships and why relationships are a central—though increasingly absent—part of a flourishing life.

Lieberman draws on psychology and neuroscience research to confirm what Aristotle asserted long ago in his Politics: “Man is by nature a social animal. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god."

I truly believe that a collaborative social environment is the most productive and efficient way to conduct business. Now are the days of Neuehouse and WeWork and communal social spaces where ideas are shared, voices are heard and everyone has a seat at the collective table to make a difference. The BrainTrust Quarterly is our collective table brought to life through articles that inform and educate, and our personal musings on digital marketing and industry tidbits!

We invite you to think with us, learn with us and thrive with us!

Carpe Diem!

Kendra Bracken-Ferguson Founder, The BrainTrust

Each and every January I schedule headshots in the attempt to find the perfect shot I can use throughout the year as a business-marketing tool. I typically go with a basic shot with a simple background, simple clothing and a great smile that still means business. This year, my photographer had a different plan. She encouraged me to take a few beauty shots and I excitedly obliged. I felt pampered and feminine as I exposed my huge smile and as she mentioned, “Everyone wants to feel more beautiful by the time summer rolls around”.

The first issue of The BrainTrust Quarterly has been created with Summer Beauty in mind. Beauty brands continue to create the mold for success in social media marketing. We take a deeper look at three beauty brands that have effectively utilized social media to become leaders of the pack in STRATEGIES OF SUCCESSFUL BEAUTY BRANDS. Guest contributor Sara Graziosi of Stylophane offers a great perspective in BEAUTY BRANDS AND SOCIAL ADVERTISING. The success of beauty brands can be attributed to their visual imprint and guest contributor Paige Pope delves into the power of social app Snapchat in her feature, A SNAPCHAT IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS. We explore how beauty brands have found higher growth margins by adapting quicker to working with Micro-Influencers than their big box counterparts in THE ENORMOUS POWER OF THE MICRO INFLUENCER. In this issue of The BrainTrust Quarterly we profile two of our clients making a mark in the world of beauty. Our client Cosmoprof North America is gearing up for the 14th edition of its leading B2B beauty and trade show boasting over 30,000 attendees. We also profile our beauty and fashion influencer, Tai Beauchamp, who will be speaking at the event. Ever wonder how one becomes an influencer? This issue begins our Meet the BrainTrust series by profiling Vice-President Marielle Gelber and her road to becoming an influencer. Our summer issue is rounded out with an inspiring point of view from Aly Nagel in THE FUTURE IS FEMALE .

I’m grateful my photographer encouraged the new beauty headshots and I’m excited to share this, our inaugural edition of the The BrainTrust Quarterly, filled with strategies and commentary regarding beauty brands! Enjoy!

DaVida Chanel Smith Editor-In-Chief The BrainTrust Quarterly

Letter from the Editor

Contributors Sara Gaziosi

Senior Account Manager, Stylophane

Marielle Gelber

Vice President, BrainTrust

Micah Greenberg Aly Nagel

Partner, Spoolia Design

Client Services, BrainTrust

Paige Pope

Student, Purdue University

Designed by Leverage Creative

Founder’s Letter Letter from the Editor Contributors Power of The Micro-Influencer Client Spotlight: Cosmoprof Influencer Spotlight: Tai Beauchamp Meet The BrainTrust Beauty Brands and Social Advertising A Snapchat is Worth 1,000 Words Six Snaps to Follow Five Tips to Master Snapchat Snapchat Changed The Beauty Game Emoticode App Successful Beauty Brand Strategies Three Steps to Increase Social Visibility The Future is Female

Contents 5

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The Enormous Power of the Micro-Influencer By definition, micro refers to the extremely small or minute. This is not the case in terms of social media influence. 2016 has seen the rise of the Micro-Influencer, social accounts and channels with followers that range from approximately 10K to 100K. These Micro-Influencers are not traditional celebrities, but rather individuals who are passionate, personable and have direct knowledge or experience as it relates to their posts. The smaller numbers allow them to have more hands-on and direct engagement, causing them to be seen as a trusted source when it comes to recommendations on purchases, subscriptions, trusted brands, etc. By garnering higher numbers than their macro counterparts, both brands and consumers seem to be flocking to the Micro-Influencer.

In March of this year, Dr. Jonah Berger, author of bestseller “Contagious: Why Things Catch On”, conducted a unique study examining how Micro-Influencers drive buying behavior. Funded by Experticity, the study set out to measure the volume and impact of the recommendations by these smaller accounts and users on consumers. One of the study’s most interesting findings was that according to the data, these Micro-Influencers have up to 22.2 times more conversations each week regarding recommendations on what to buy versus an average consumer. Demonstrating the high impact of these recommendations, 82 percent of consumers who were surveyed for the study reported they were highly likely to follow a recommendation made by a micro influencer.

Further, the study revealed three key areas where MicroInfluencers excel over their macro counterparts: more credible and believable, more knowledgeable, and better ability to explain how products work or can be used. So how do brands tap into the power of the Micro-Influencer?

Direct engagement.

Brands need to engage with theses Micro-Influencers directly to attain a strong consumer reaction. This direct engagement is necessary, as most Micro-Influencers need guidance to ensure the brand’s messaging remains in tact. By engaging in continuous dialogue and co-creating engaging copy, brands empower Micro-Influencers as strategic partners and content contributors. Whereas celebrity endorsements sought to make products more glamorous and sexy, audience engagement through Micro-Influencers build trust and brand loyalty. That investment will continue to pay as both the influencer’s range and the product’s reach grow.

There was a time when celebrities and Macro-Influencers ruled the world of social influence. The thought was that those with huge followers would guarantee huge views and thus create more successful brands. Those days are gone as we know that Micro-Influencers boast much higher returns due to their specific knowledge and niche followers. It will be interesting to see how the trend continues to unfold but in the meantime, smaller proves more powerful in terms of direct influencer marketing. Bigger is not always better.

Where can you find the perfect Micro-Influencer for your brand? Since Micro-Influencers are more accessible, direct dialogue is a viable option. By targeting and identifying Micro-Influencers in line with your brand, brands have the opportunity to reach out to influencers directly and spark dialogue to build partnerships. Using keyword and hashtag searches as well as terms central to your brand enhances the search. Additionally, social media analytics services such as Klout or Hootsuite may also be helpful in the search for the ideal Micro-Influencer. Regardless of your approach, finding the proper Micro-Influencer is essential in today’s climate.

With more than 30,000 visitors and 1,100 exhibitors, Cosmoprof North America, now in its 14th year, continues to take the lead as the largest B2B beauty trade show in the world! Cosmoprof is the place where beauty trends are created and brands are born.

Led by Daniela Ciocan, Cosmoprof North America is a 3-day event held in Las Vegas, with sister events in Bologna and Hong Kong. This event showcases a multitude of brands with special areas - Discover Green, Tones of Beauty, Boutique by Cosmoprof NA, Discover Beauty & Discover Beauty Spotlights, Discover Scent, Country Pavilions, Emerging Beauty, Glamour Me, and the International Business Forum & Exhibition.

The BrainTrust started working with Cosmoprof in April 2016 and in 3 months have seen a 1,294% increase in impressions across their social channels. One of our key social media initiatives “15 Weeks of Beauty� was a countdown to the show featuring key exhibitors, events and attendees participating at the trade show. During the show (taking place July 23rd 26th), we will host a digital command center overseeing approximately 19 influencers who will be on site to capture content, take videos and determine trends coming out of the show.

Our in-depth strategy combined content creation, social media programming and digital PR to increase attendance, awareness and anticipation for the show.

@cosmoprofna #cosmoprofna cosmoprofnorthamerica.com

Client Spotlight: Cosmoprof North America

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Influencer Spotlight: Tai Beauchamp

An influencer, public speaker, media personality and entrepreneur, Tai engages women around the world with her genuine approach celebrating inner and outer beauty. A publishing industry veteran, Tai’s expertise in media, fashion and beauty was solidified through her experience as a beauty and fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, O, The Oprah Magazine, Seventeen and Vibe Vixen magazines.

Followed by years of consulting with her mentor, international philanthropist Ray Chambers, Tai launched her media company, Tai L i f e M e d i a , L L C t o m o re h o l i s t i c a l l y c o n n e c t s t y l e a n d empowerment. Since 2006, Tai’s creative talents and style authority has become the go-to for national and international consumer brands. She has partnered with and served as an ambassador, expert, content producer and event host for companies including Procter & Gamble, InStyle, MSL Group, Pikolinos, The Sundance Channel, Target, Universal Records, the United Nations and Walmart, among others. A motivational speaker, Tai engages audiences on topics ranging from entrepreneurship and “girl power” to stylish living and 21st century philanthropy. She’s delivered inspiring messages at The Clinton Foundation, Harvard Business School, Spelman College, Columbia and Howard University and traveled as far as Lagos, Nigeria. She contributes on the boards of WIE Network, Harlem’s Fashion Row and as a Trustee for the Women’s Association of NJPAC. A style guru and red carpet commentator for major TV networks and print media, Tai has appeared on NBC, E!, BET, The View, The Chew, The Wendy Williams Show and TV One. She is the former host of The View’s “Must Have Monday” segment and TLC’s Dare to Wear, and serves as the Style Ambassador of InStyle Magazine. She has been featured in O, the Oprah Magazine, Life & Style and Essence, and was most recently named to WWD’s Top 50 Most Influential in the Multicultural Market List.

@thetailife @taibeau

She is currently working on a book, a film project and a lifestyle app, and recently launched TheTaiLife.com (@TheTaiLife), a website created to inspire women everywhere to live an empowered life of style. Tai is a proud alumna of Spelman College. She was born and raised in New Jersey and divides her time between New York City and Los Angeles.

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Meet The BrainTrust Marielle Gelber, Vice President Marielle worked as the Director of Publicity & Marketing at New York & Company for eight years and while there, developed public relations/marketing strategies and programs to increase brand awareness to drive traffic to the NY&C stores (Retail, ECM, Outlets). A key component of her position was to cultivate relationships in an effort to increase customer acquisition and build brand equity as well as exposure while supporting key brand marketing campaigns. In this position her contacts included journalists, editors, stylists, producers, bloggers and key influencers in all fields including beauty, fashion & lifestyle.

Marielle also created celebrity opportunities and executed the entire Eva Mendes design collaboration including advertising, in-store events, conceptualizing and executing pop-up locations and broadcast media tours. Like many from the marketing/PR realm, Marielle is seamlessly transitioning into her position as Vice President of The BrainTrust, while also organically stepping into the role of Influencer. Marielle shares her experiences and process with us below.

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How does nearly a decade of experience in the retail PR world apply to the work you do for The BrainTrust?

As the Director of Public Relations & Marketing at New York & Company, I worked cross-functionally with every department to create & execute strategic marketing programs both in-store and online. My ability to work crossfunctionally has lead me to instant adaptability and success with the BrainTrust team and its brands. As a constant networker, being a part of TBT was a natural extension of the work I do with brands. All aspects of my career always had a social element and now I get to focus on the social strategy and use my experiences to create successful programs for my BrainTrust clients. I’ve been lucky enough to meet some incredible leaders in the retail and entertainment industry who have given me advice that translates to my success on a daily basis. The desire to connect people under the pretense of solving problems & creating solutions is how TBT was born and that is exactly how I have always operated both personally & professionally.

What are ways in which your background prepares you to be an influencer?

I’ve been obsessed and immersed in entertainment & culture for years. From working with various media personalities, going to concerts, seeing movies, comedy clubs, fashion shows, art galleries or even being in nature and soaking it all in. To me, it’s all about how I feel when I’m experiencing something and what I take away from those moments. That’s why influencers are so profound in what they do – they’re creating entertainment for viewers and sharing with us their feelings, their takeaway.

My passion for entertainment, fashion and living life to the fullest is what makes me a natural influencer. Keeping it fun, not taking life too seriously helps too. It also doesn’t hurt when people ask “where did you get that?” or general fashion/beauty advice.

It makes me happy to be able to share my resources and help style people who ask for it. It began with personal friends and I am hoping it continues with the amazing evergrowing world of social media. Fashion with a comedic edge is mainly what I like to achieve with my posts, if I can create even one smile from a post I have achieved my goal!

Tell us a bit about the process of creating innovative PR and marketing programs for brands. How does it differ today with the influx of social media as opposed to its initial stages at the beginning of your PR career?

At the core, branding is simply an identity, when you meet someone for the first time and they walk away knowing who you are within a 5-minute conversation. Brands, like people have an opportunity to either be status quo and conventional or become an interrupter and stimulate people to want to learn more. When I began my career over a decade ago, nobody knew what a blogger was and social media was merely to connect with old high school and college friends on Facebook, MySpace & Friendster were the latest social destination. As you can imagine, A LOT has changed. Consumers now learn about new brands through social platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat & partnering with influencers & bloggers to create brand exposure. Shopping is a whole new ball game with programs such as “like to know it” and tagging functions as the modern equivalent of an editorial feature in a magazine. Instead of waiting three months to get featured in a printed publication, social media has enabled brands and customers to achieve instant visibility and cultural presence. Additionally, branding is, at its heart, about establishing and cultivating an identity, so partnerships & engagement with the right people and the right platforms is key for a successful PR & social strategy to help clients solidify their brand identity and evolve with their success. Without sounding trite, they’re the new artists of the social media universe.

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Do you feel there’s a natural tendency for PR/Marketing curators to become influencers?

You have such a great personality and are so comedic. Does that comedy background influence your work and how?

Who paid you to say that? But thanks for the compliment, i’ll take it! I'm quick to laughter and enjoy comedy on so many levels. Some of my favorite branded content is comedy-driven and I believe if you make someone laugh there's a great connection happening. We've all experienced hardships and difficulty and comedy for me is a way to release that tension in life and my perspective is simply that we get this one life so why not laugh and enjoy the ride. Brands have a very unique opportunity to actually present themselves to the world, in a visual medium via video or photographs or live events and people love to laugh so why not give them an opportunity to connect with a brand while having fun. Besides, I met my 5'5" husband who was unemployed at the time with a crappy apartment and a 3-legged cat, I just had to marry him because he was the funniest guy I ever met. And the sweetest, of course.

Absolutely - influencers is such a broad term but we all know what it means. If I'm immersed in a brand's daily life I know it in and out and it's perfectly natural that I would wear the jewelry or clothing or cosmetics and gush about it because I love it so much. When you go to a fantastic new restaurant you want to tell all your friends about it -- it's the same with products and who better to naturally influence those around you than someone immersed in the brand. Essentially, when I represent a brand I become the “face” of the brand, that mentality has helped sculpt my influencer path.

In your opinion, what’s next for the social media influencer? Do you foresee the pattern of influencer marketing continuing?

I think about this question often. Since I started my career there has been a pattern of something “new” on the scene regarding social media about every 2 years that takes over and every brand feels they must be part of the conversation.

Just like fashion, marketing/media influencing is a constant flow of “new” so while I can say sure yes, bloggers and influencers will remain on the scene…in reality… nobody really knows. Next year we will probably (hopefully) have a female president, which is powerful on so many levels, and nobody could have predicted that 10 years ago. We will also probably have an app that does your hair and makeup while you sleep. I will say this, I do hope it remains the pattern because I have a ton of photo-shoot content and captions on the horizon!

Beauty Brands & Social Advertising: Why Beauty is Falling Behind

By Sara Graziosi It’s 2016, and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have made it clear that they are not going anywhere. Not only are they not going anywhere, but they are positioning themselves to sit alongside other top revenue drivers online – like search engines (Google, Bing) and re-targeting platforms (AdRoll, Criteo).

As someone who has been working closely on the Facebook Advertising platform since 2010, I’ve seen huge transformations.

In 2010, the only objective on Facebook was to grow your fan base (ugh, so five years ago). Although it’s still important to have a strong fan base, it’s certainly not the only objective. In 2011 and 2012, I recall a huge wave of doubt around not just social advertising, but social media in general – we’d be pitching to nonbelievers on a daily basis, fighting for a chance to show our potential clients the power of social media advertising.

At the time, I couldn’t blame the naysayers. Try pitching a CEO or CFO and convincing them to grow their Facebook fanbase, or promote a page post. The rebuttal was always the same: how will this increase my online business?

Fast forward to 2016, which I want to personally dub ‘The Year Of Social’. I sit at my desk, my mind blown a bit more each day while I monitor my clients’ campaigns – is that a 7X return-on-investment I see? From a Facebook ad? WTF? That’s a higher return than what I experience for some of my Google AdWords’ campaigns. I’m even starting to see positive returns trickling in on Instagram advertising. The best part? It’s all measurable! No one questions your work or efforts when you can say with confidence: you spent X, we made Y, and you made Z profit directly from our ad efforts.

There’s a couple reasons for this shift – the biggest one being that Facebook listened to the cries of early advertisers. You want to drive more traffic to your website? Let’s create an ad format to support that. You want to measure exact revenue and conversions through your ads? Let’s create a Conversion Tracking Pixel. What about all our mobile traffic? Let’s create a pixel with cross-device tracking abilities – meaning if someone engages with your ad on mobile, but completes their transaction on desktop, you’ll have visibility into that as well.

Facebook’s tracking abilities coupled with their superior targeting features makes for highly effective social advertising campaigns.

Think back to when fashion and beauty brands would invest in a print ad. Brands were able to convince their higher-ups to invest tens of thousands of dollars in a print ad, and the only thing they knew about the demographic was that they were a Vogue reader.

On social, you have the power to get in front of your exact target market. Refine by gender, age, by the brands they’re interested in, by the fact that they’re on your e-mail list, etc. – and only pay when they click! And the cherry on top – you can see if they actually convert!

Seems like a no brainer, right? But you’d be surprised how many brands are still on the fence. Beauty brands, I’m looking at you in particular.

I’m pitching dozens of new companies a month, targeting the top brands in fashion, beauty, footwear, retail, jewelry – to share our strategy and spread the message of just how powerful social advertising is for our clients. For whatever reason, it’s the beauty brands that take the longest to come on board.

Sure, we’ve strong beauty clients, but the rate at which they close is much lower compared to fashion brands.

And everyone at Stylophane is scratching their heads at this – why?

Beauty brands: you’ve actually got quite the competitive edge in this market. Firstly, your price point is lower than most fashion brands. It’s much easier to get an online consumer to purchase a $25 lip gloss online than it is to convince someone to buy a $500 dress online. Secondly, you are less prone to seasonality than the fashion industry. Fashion, in general, falls flat during summer months. February through April aren’t much fun either.

With beauty, however, a “different season just means different beauty products” as one of my colleagues put so eloquently.

Executives of the beauty world: I urge you to get moving. Social media advertising is at its all-time best, and I see very few beauty brands capitalizing on the opportunity. Get your message in front of your audience, and have data to back it all up. From there, who knows what you may learn. Maybe your audience isn’t your top converting audience at all? Maybe it’s the segment you least expected? Imagine what this insight can do not just for your ecommerce efforts, but for your business as a whole. The time is now to get on board, because like I said before – social media is not going anywhere.

Sara Graziosi is a senior account manager at Stylophane, a digital marketing agency in NYC that has been working exclusively with fashion and beauty brands online since 2002.

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A Snapchat is Worth 1,000 Words Snapchat, the social media platform that has been difficult to master, is finally having its moment. The app just surpassed Twitter with over 150 million daily users. That’s over 150 million opportunities for your brand to make a connection, an impact, and now maybe even a sale.

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Six Snaps to Follow

Kylie Jenner

Francheska Medina

Jackie Aina

heyfranhey

jackieaina

Leave it to the social media mogul to nail the perfect Snapchat formula. From looks at her outfits and makeup, seamless plugs for her own brands, hilarious vids, behind-the-scenes selfies, and answers to fan questions, Kylie kills it at creating a Snapchat community. Oh, and remember what we said about storytelling? Kylie makes up dramatic, fictional movies that unfold right on her Snapchat.

Francheska Medina’s @HeyFranHey YouTube success has quickly translated to success on Snapchat. With snaps focused on her signature Bohemian health and beauty techniques, Fran’s loyal followers are treated to her quick recaps of her longer posts from other social media platforms. Sharing everything from hair how-to’s to details on oil pulling, HeyFranHey’s Snapchat channel is her “living, breathing invitation to viewers to believe better things.”

Jackie Aina cuts through the Snapchat clutter with clips that are entirely her own. Lustworthy travel videos, laugh out loud monologues, and a generous showcasing of her swatches and color knowledge are set to the background of a seriously jamming playlist. Follow her to learn how to seamlessly blend your brand into your personal life.

Desi Perkins

Manny Mua

Everlane

mannymua

everlane

Beauty vlogger and beard sporting Manny Mua has over 200,000 followers who love to keep up with his quick beauty tutorials and personal shots.

From family moments to late-night Taco Bell dilemmas, Manny knows how to show off his personality and builds genuine relationships via Snapchat.

You have to watch these masters work.

Red Gaskell and Isadora Sales head up the Snapchat of this radically transparent clothing company, and the result is well, radically transparent. Gaskell and Sales often respond to every direct Snap message, give out personal styling advice, give factory tours, and even have Q&A’s with Everlane CEO’s. The pair even created “Transparency Tuesdays” where they have an open Q&A with fans about the company.

kylizzlemynizzl

desiperkins Perkins, a gorgeous beauty blogger, is downright hilarious on Snapchat. She keeps us looped in on her life’s continuing dramas and tells stories like a pro. Plus, her killer Vanna White impression she uses while showing off new beauty products reminds us that work can be silly.

Offer Something Extra Chances are that your Snapchat audience followed you from a different social medium first, so don’t repeat content across networks. Keep it fresh and use your Snapchat to show behind-the-scenes extras, personal moments and different perspectives than what you’ve already done.

Keep It Real Of all networks, Snapchat is the number one place to keep it real. Use it to show the true you and make your followers feel like a member of your #squad. Snap shots of you singing to your favorite jam, complaining about your real-world problems, or just doing all the weird little things that make you, you. Be sure to throw in the filters, emojis and music that represent your style.

Tell A Story Don’t just throw random snaps together from your day. People love a good story. Going to an event? Snap the beginning, middle and end. Show off the invitation, tell your audience why and where you are going, show the primping, sneak some Snaps at the event, and when you end up in bed later, let your audience know how the event went. The End.

Collaborate Chances are that you have friends killing the Snapchat game on their own terms, so share the love and your audiences. Find a friend who you think your audience would be interested in. Then share Snapchat for a day or completely swap accounts. Not only will it be a dang good time, but it will give you a chance to connect with another audience.

Build A Community Take advantage of the fact that Snapchat was started to build a peer-to-peer connection. Take the extra time to Snap your followers back, answer fan questions, use the built in chat feature, and maybe even surprise your most loyal followers with a live video chat. Not only will you build a more loyal following, but you’ll incentivize followers to keep tuning in.

5 Tips to Master Snapchat 15

First came Tumblr. Then came YouTube. Then waltzed in Instagram. Three social networks, each mastered and adapted to the beauty blogger’s needs and audience. But now here comes Snapchat; the social networking app that at first glance seems unsuited to the needs of the beauty guru, when it is in fact possibly the strongest space to round out the beauty guru’s social arsenal.

With each new social media platform, beauty mavens cracked the secret formula to success and gained followers, power and influence to match their unparalleled understanding of going social and building a brand. The trick has been to figure out how each respective platform can enhance a blogger’s presence in a unique and different way, forging a distinct brand and loyal following with each Tweet, post, and now video.

When Snapchat launched, it appeared to be nothing more than enriched texting, a peer-to-peer tool for funny photos and quick communications. At first blush, beauty bloggers may be hesitant to dedicate their time and resources to Snapchat. After all, the videos are disposable, limited in time, and not as visually rich as other mediums--not the preferred recipe for the image-centric beauty community.

But leave it to beauty and brains to transform a one-to-one platform into a space to connect with followers in a whole new meaningful way. Visual and raw, Snapchat seems to be the final piece in closing the communication loop between beauty bloggers and their followers. Of all the apps and networks today, the online beauty guru is the most accessible and human when on Snapchat.

The secret is this: show personal, real-time moments that would otherwise go unseen. Gurus like Tamanna Roashan and Jaclyn Hill jump from showing quick beauty tips to talking to their pets, chatting with followers when they can’t sleep, showing freak out moments over beauty mishaps and more personal, everyday moments often absent from their other social. Personality bursts through, and the clips feel unedited and genuine versus curated and lustworthy.

Beauty bloggers can step away from crafting perfect videos, flawless images, and seamless prose on Snapchat and put imperfection and humility on full display, because a genuine beauty brand creates genuine relationships. Los Angeles-based beauty blogger Desi Perkins says it best. "Snapchat provides an authentic relationship with your fans,” she says. “Once people feel a personal connection with you, they'll show you so much more support on all your other platforms because that's what friends do."

Just like that, followers go from feeling like a distant number to a member of these gurus’ innermost squads. And isn’t that the magic behind beauty bloggers’ success?

Focus on building your Snapchat presence to reveal the holistic, human side of your brand. Showcase the beauty moments highlighted on your other platforms, but more importantly use it as a tool to truly show your personality, humor and all the little moments in between. If you make it the most imperfect of your social it may become the most rewarding and downright amusing part of your social game.

How Snapchat Changed the Beauty Game

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Download Right Now: Emoticode App Snapchat has given brands a chance to further social connection and influence, but lagged behind other social platforms when it came to money-making opportunities. But brands and bloggers will finally get to combine social snaps with extra cash in a savvy new app, launched by PopSugar’s CEO Brian Sugar, called Emoticode.

Combining Snapchat’s emoji and screenshot features with a seamless blend, Emoticode is an e-commerce companion app to Snapchat that finally makes it easy for bloggers and brands to share product and info links directly in Snaps. Instead of barraging influencers message boxes with questions about featured products, fans can now save clickable links to shop and explore content with a simple screenshot.

So here’s how it works. ShopStyle, owned by PopSugar, is letting their squad of beauty, fashion and retail bloggers lead the product launch. Their group of influencers, including Uniqulo and Sephora, will be able to create “emoticodes,” a shortened URL with the first two characters as emojis, out of any product, article or webpage URL link. Influencers then copy the emoticode into their Snapchat stories and use them to promote whatever they please.

Fans screenshot the Snaps with the emoticode, which is then sent to their own personal screengrab hubs built right into the Emoticode or ShopStyle apps. From there, they can browse links or go shopping. Meanwhile, the Snapchat promoters get around 15 percent of each sale promoted through the transaction. Simple. Frictionless. Gorgeous.

Emoticode is set to transform the possibilities and nature of Snapchat, and as an influencer you’ll want to be at the helm.

Consider joining the ShopStyle community to get a first go at Emoticode and be sure to track how all the major brands are using the app from the outset.

Successful Beauty Brand Strategies By allowing consumers a more viable experience with products, social media has become the marketing cornerstone for many industries and brands. This evolution has boosted sales and a w a re n e s s f o r b e a u t y b r a n d s . S o c i a l m e d i a platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube have allowed consumer engagement to increase by utilizing the highly visible nature of beauty brands. With hands-on tutorials, expert tips and attractive sales incentives and giveaways, beauty brands have taken advantage of the high demand for constant digital and social content.

Here are profiles of three brands that have utilized the space to grow their beauty brands and some takeaways that smaller brands can parlay for their social media plans.

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ENGAGE

The Major Player: Anastasia Beverly Hills

Engage, Engage, Engage – Anastasia Beverly Hills is constantly engaging with makeup enthusiasts by reposting usergenerated content and tagging beauty influencers on posts.

POST FREQUENTLY The Instagram feed for Anastasia Beverly Hills is constantly updated. There are updates every 3-4 hours between 7am and midnight.

PLATFORM POINTER Instagram initially only allowed :15 second video clips. Anastasia Beverly Hills created fast paced but effective tutorial videos boasting their brow method.

Anastasia Beverly Hills is a family owned beauty company that evolved from the work of its founder, Anastasia Soare, widely regarded as the definitive brow and eye expert. Soare’s career success is widely known – born in Romania, Soare trained as an esthetician before moving her family to Los Angeles, where she developed her brow technique.

After growing a loyal client base, she opened her own brow salon in Beverly Hills. The successful launch led to a second full-service salon in Brentwood, all leading to a renowned celebrity clientele and eventually product lines sold in Sephora, Nordstrom, Ulta and select international retailers. Lauded as the top beauty brand on Instagram, Anastasia Beverly Hills currently boasts 9.9 million followers on IG and is one of the leading brands on newer platform Snapchat. Led

by President Claudia Soare, Anastasia’s daughter, this business has seen impressive financial growth that can be attributed to its social media campaigns.

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KEY COLLABS ColourPop partners directly with makeup artists, including Ashunta Sheriff who has used the brand on Cookie Lyon, matriarch

InstaFamous: ColourPop

of television’s highest rated “Empire.”

BANG FOR YOUR BUCK ColourPop has proven that great prices

Established beauty brands have found success with marketing via social media, but there are several independent brands that went directly to social to spread their message. One such company is ColourPop and their bold colors, luxe shades and affordable price points have made the company’s popularity soar. Siblings and founders Laura and John Nelson decided to market the ColourPop line directly to consumers via Instagram, the ideal platform to display the brand’s vibrant imagery.

ColourPop has become Insta-famous by partnering with vloggers and influencers to promote its affordable line. Founded in 2014, the Los Angeles based company now boasts 2.5 million Instagram followers and was recognized by WWD as the 2015: Mass Launch of the Year. ColourPop is in line with its founders’ mission to change the business of beauty forever.

don’t automatically correlate to poor quality. Keeping a low price point while providing high quality products builds direct relationships with consumers.

PLATFORM POINTER Let products speak for you. Be careful of becoming a mouthpiece for products; utilize social media to allow the products to speak for themselves.

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KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

BEAUTY AMBASSADORS

PLATFORM POINTER

Karen’s Body Beautiful is a product for

Before getting a big box deal with

Karen’s Body Beautiful hosts giveaways on

African-Americans and as a result the

retailers such as Target, Karen’s Body

her social platforms and asks users to

brand focuses on the needs of those

Beautiful found that using beauty

create product reviews for YouTube to

women mainstream beauty brands often

ambassadors to sell products in their

increase product awareness.

ignore. By making these customers feel

communities was a great way to get

heard, she gains loyalty from her core

product directly to consumers.

base.

The Ones to Watch: Karen’s Body Beautiful In seven years, entrepreneur and educator Karen Tappin-Saunderson has transformed her natural body and hair care line from a modest home-based business to a blossoming enterprise with promising internet and in-store sales. With products primarily focused on the burgeoning African-American natural hair care sect, Karen’s Body Beautiful continues to grow in sales and brand awareness. The brand focuses on using all-natural and organic p ro d u c t i n g re d i e n t s . W i t h ro u g h l y 2 8 K followers on all platforms, Karen’s Body Beautiful exemplifies the theory that loyal followings are more important than high follower numbers that aren’t invested in the product. As a result, her products are now featured at select Target, CVS and Bed Bath & B e y o n d s t o re s . S a u n d e r s o n u t i l i z e s h e r educational background to teach consumers about her products and uses social media to further explain best product practices through tutorials and testimonials.

3 Steps to Increase Social Visibility Keep It Real Authenticity is key. Create and share content that not only provides product information but offers an authentic glimpse into the brand.

Chat It Up Brands that get to know their audience find success. Amp up your day-to-day engagement with followers and beauty enthusiasts. Find a way to enter conversation – host giveaways, seek product reviews, and repost positive comments from followers.

Purposeful Posts Utilize your social media formats to best showcase your products and brands. Vivid imagery and visuals create more positive responses from consumers. Carefully select images and video content that will draw in your viewers.

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The Future is Female

By Aly Nagel

In a world where the term ‘female’ is still in its beginning stages, the gender that has been on the opposing side of domination for centuries is finally on the rise. Female entrepreneurs in the world of fashion, beauty, and the traditional business world have undoubtedly given a new meaning to the word ‘empowerment’ and are taking the world by storm.

What typically comes to mind when you think of a business savvy powerhouse are images of fictional characters like Don Draper or even the much more real archetype of people like Mark Cuban pop into your head. However, just this June, Forbes Magazine (arguably the bible for all things business) featured a “Richest Self-Made Women” issue including fashion mogul Sophia Amoruso who’s created an empire of Nasty Gal, former Supermodel Kathy Ireland who taught the world how to pose, and even Toni Ko who discovered how to capitalize on the demand for inexpensive, quality cosmetics. This cover is an instant classic because of what these women have accomplished in their own right and what they represent for our society as a whole.

This idea is something that transcends race, religion, geography and even a socioeconomic standpoint. First Lady Michelle Obama recently hosted The United State of Women, a summit designed to support gender equality by rallying together women from all walks of life to make a pledge in Washington, DC. Movements like this prove to young girls and the next generation who will shape our future, that being born female is not something negative at all, it’s a gift.

Females are creative problem solvers, which is something not only our country needs but our world.

The BrainTrust is composed of mostly women and lead by a female who is ultimately unstoppable. We are able to collaborate on projects with multitudes of different companies, including several that have female CEO’s and CMO’s. This is proof that the future is, in fact, female.

Women's Impact Luncheon, Zimmer Children's Museum; Kendra Bracken-Ferguson, Board Member and Luncheon Co-Chair

Follow Us @TheBrainTrustLA www.thebraintrust.com

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