Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Brand Marketing to Women in a Social Media World

Moms pride themselves on being savvy consumers who can sniff out a poseur brand. Brands need to be the conduit for information to moms from other moms and from experts, but be wary of star power... celebrities don’t cut it. Marketers that have a mom’s trust have worked to earn it, by making good products, offering relevant advice and engaging those moms. All peers have influence to some degree... especially when marketing to women so the more you understand and relate to the community the better off the brand. If you market to women recognize and benefit from the value women place on authenticity. Women are busy with multiple responsibilities so keep your site's navigation intuitive and simple, and keep your message clear and concise.

The bottom line: Brand marketing (especially to women) in a social media world... it's about relevance, transparency and authenticity.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

e.l.f. Cosmetics, EyesLipsFace.com Social Media/Marketing

e.l.f. Cosmetics growth and marketing was built on what I call social media 1.0... email, blogs and reviews, moved onto MySpace and FB, and felt that moving into the more scaleable environments that interact and take advantage of the viral nature of the social graph was the obvious next step.

Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have become our primary focus with respect to ubiquitous social media platforms. The tweeting is done by a team that reports and is monitored daily by me and my Director of Marketing. I have an individual who takes primary responsibility for each handle and I jump into both at appropriate moments. I am very hands on and totally manage the message. There is no official policy... as it evolves as we move forward and is very fluid.

Every month the referrals to our site from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube grow, in addition to their conversion rate to customers. We keep a watch on chatter about our brand which is also growing at a rapid pace fostered by our involvement in these spaces, and daily outreach to and with the blogging community. We have also directly incentivized and created sales with the tweeting of coupon codes and contests and placing similar offers on Facebook.

Twitter and other engagement platforms work hand in hand with the word of mouth marketing upon which we have built e.l.f. from the beginning. We will leverage and grow any such opportunities that present themselves in the future and plan to expand our use of and involvement with the YouTube and Twitter platforms.


Twitter
http://twitter.com/askelf - makeup tips, coupons, promos, fun, engagement
Also now at
http://twitter.com/eyeslipsface - product of the day, reviews, pr, & comparisons
Our Fan Page:
http://facebook.eyeslipsface.com
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/eyeslipsfacedotcom
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/eyeslipsface


elfonomics… Why Pay More? "SPREAD THE WORD"

Monday, August 24, 2009

Marketing in a Social Media World

Experiment means try different approaches until you hit the one that works. To often "strategic planning" means setting a course and sticking by it no matter the feedback. The benefit and beauty of social marketing is the ability to experiment in a new environment and chart a course that may otherwise have never been discovered. Time to come out of that BRAND controlled shell and allow the engagement and user generated content/feedback that can drive the business of the future... don't be scared, it will only hurt a little and the benfits can far outweight the pain.