I recently read an article in AdAge about how Estee Lauder is promoting their brand within social media. I thought is was brilliant. As the article states, their strategy is to offer free makeovers to women, take a picture and then the professional photograph is emailed to the customer. This is smart on many levels.
First off, Estee Lauder has a target audience of 35-55 year old females, which is now one of the fastest growing segments on social media sites. Secondly, since there is a large majority of younger women currently on social media sites, they can possibly break into an even younger audience category. In addition, they will be able to capture contact info for future email lists, if the customers opt in. And it will no doubt increase sales if many women feel even a small obligation to purchase some makeup after receiving a free makeover. And I haven’t even touched on the brand visibility/coverage they will receive.
We promote ourselves each day online, why not take it to the next level and really make it polished? There might be an untapped business here, especially for professional sites such as LinkedIn. And I have a feeling they will be popular with the younger crowd soon enough, particularly if they can create a slightly less expensive category for the younger folks, that is, without watering down their current brand.
So, are you ready for your close-up?
Tags: cosmetics, promotion, social media