The Creation of a Beauty Empire Through the Use of Social Media: Kylie Cosmetics
It has recently surfaced that Kylie Jenner is well on her way to becoming the youngest self-made billionaire. As reported by Forbes in 2018, her company, Kylie Cosmetics, is currently valued at $900 million. Although launched as Kylie Lip Kits, Kylie Cosmetics now offers an assortment of products other than just lip kits. The cruelty-free and vegan company sells a variation of eyeshadow, eyeliner, concealers, highlighters, blushes, and even brushes. Considering that the company was launched only less than three years ago, the obvious question presented to many is: How has she created such a large empire in so little time? The answer is simple- strategic marketing. However, Kylie Jenner has used a different strategy for her marketing in which relies predominantly on the social media platforms of Snapchat and Instagram. Ultimately, this newfound marketing strategy has allowed her to earn the title of a “marketing genius.”
The Beginning of an Empire
Kylie Cosmetics was launched on November 30th, 2015 with the original name of Kylie Lip Kits. When the company was first founded by Jenner, the only beauty products offered were a collection of lip kits bundles paired with matching lip liners in which consisted of only 3 colors: Candy K (warm nude), Dolce K (medium beige nude), and True Brown K (deep chocolate brown). When the website launched allowing online browsers to purchase the first collection of Kylie Lip Kits sold at $29 per set, all stock was sold out in around 30 seconds (reported by Vogue).
Given how quickly the product sold out, it was clear that Jenner was in the midst of creating a beauty brand desirable to many. Shortly after the original launch, she announced that she planned on releasing a Valentine’s Day collection consisting of three new colors: Posie K (dusty, mauve pink), Mary Jo K (true blood red), and Koko K (pale, pink nude).
Through the use of Snapchat, Jenner kept followers updated on the production of the upcoming collection by posting stories containing footage of inside her Lip Kit factory, as well as previewing a “secret” color by adding a black and white filter to keep the color hidden from viewers. By taking advantage of her large following on the app, Kylie was able to market to her customers for free by posting short videos of her soon-to-be released product.
By using this creative and cost-free marketing tactic, Kylie was able to have second successful product release of her new Valentine’s Day collection. She was able to sell out of all of the product included in her new collection the day of, reaching a total of around 100,000 website viewers at one time.
Considering that Kylie was able to achieve not only one, but two consecutive successful sold-out product launches, it became evident to both her and her consumers that the way in which she utilized her social media platforms was working to her benefit.
Following the launch of her original Kylie Lip Kit (November 2015) and her Valentine’s Day Collection (2016), Kylie released a total of 6 other lip kits in 2016 before marketing new beauty products to her customers and creating her brand into what it is today: Kylie Cosmetics.
Snapchat Sovereignty
Known as @KylizzleMyNizzl on Snapchat, Kylie Jenner currently obtains the largest following within all of the smartphone app, as confirmed by Snapchat directly. It is evident that the beauty mogul reaches an extremely large audience on a daily basis whether her Snapchat stories are of daily activities, nighttime outings, intimate time with her newborn baby, or content featuring her beauty products.
One way that Kylie has changed the way of advertising her products via social media is by posting stories including swatches, otherwise known as product application to show pigmentation/coloring of the makeup, onto her Snapchat stories. By doing so, her followers are able to not only know that the product exists or when it comes out, but what the product looks like once its applied outside of its packaging.
Another reason as to why this marketing strategy of posting product advertisements to her personal Snapchat account is because it has allowed followers to feel as though they are able to get to know Kylie on a personal level through the other stories that are posted to her accounts. By posting a variety of content that is uploaded to her account, Kylie has established a sense of personal relationship with her followers.
This approach causes viewers to look past the fact that a story uploaded containing content of her beauty products is actually an advertisement. Given the casual approach to the marketing method, consumers do not feel as if an ad is being forced upon them, but rather they are consuming her Snapchat content as a form of entertainment. Posting content of company product to her stories on a regular basis serves as both a form of entertainment and marketing for followers in a subtle manner.
Instagram — An Instant Investment:
Kylie advertises her beauty line on two separate Instagram accounts. The main one being her brand account @KylieCosmetics and the second one being her personal account @KylieJenner. Although Kylie Cosmetics has had major success as a brand, its Instagram account has not had as much success as her main account or her Snapchat account. @KylieJenner has a total of 111 million followers, while @KylieCosmetics has only 16.7 million.
@KylieCosmetics uses its account to post content solely of its product. To advertise product offered from the brand, the account posts videos and pictures of the product offered by Kylie Cosmetics. In order to appeal to followers, the account also posts videos/photos of everyday users of Kylie Cosmetics product as a way to encourage Instagram users to post content to their profiles tagging the company’s profile. This way, consumers feel more inclined to buy the product given that they feel there is a possible incentive of being reposted to the brand’s page. Moreover, this also acts as another way for Kylie Cosmetics to receive free marketing.
Kylie’s personal account @KylieJenner currently holds the title for “Most Liked Instagram Photo”. Considering this piece of information, it is fair to argue that there is a large amount of interaction between Instagram users and Kylie Jenner’s main account. This considerable following allows Kylie to reach consumers both on her main Instagram page and her company’s Instagram page.
When Instagram users view Kylie’s profile, the first thing that they see is her Instagram bio. The only things written in her bio is a link to Kylie Cosmetics Instagram profile, as well as a link to Kylie Cosmetics website. This is done with the intention of drawing more traffic to her beauty page and store website.
Kylie’s recognition of the variation of followers between her personal profile and company profile on Instagram show by this decision to highlight her company in her bio. She also chooses to advertise for her brand by posting pictures advertising her product on her personal Instagram account given the amount of followers as well as the amount of interactions on her posted content.
By virtue of choosing to attract customers by creating an interactive marketing platform through the use of social media, it became clear that the young entrepreneur had figured out a way to promote her brand to the public in an easy and appealing way; moreover, this innovative promotion strategy ultimately has allowed Kylie Jenner to build the successful business she runs today.
