Cosmetics Brands are Missing the YouTube Boat on Halloween

Cosmetics brands are continuing to raise their awareness of and engagement with beauty vloggers on YouTube. And yet there are some areas where brands continue to fall short. One clear opportunity is in content curation through YouTube playlists, particularly during tent-pole holidays like Halloween.

YouTubers know that they have to get ahead of the curve when posting their videos for tent-pole events. Many have already created videos about the yearly Oct. 31 dress-up day, some starting as early as a month in advance. This enables their videos to gain views and traction in the YouTube search engine so that when most people start planning for their costumes a week or so in advance, there is already an entrenched social proof for the best tutorials.

Brands Need to Learn From Successful YouTube Creators

Tonie Shin, who produced the NYX Face Awards when she was vice president of communications and marketing for NYX, said that “The DIY practices of today’s creators enable them to share their own Halloween looks, primarily by applying makeup.” Shin points to Promise Phan’s “Drake Make-up Transformation” as an example of the breadth of creativity that is taking place in these kinds of videos. She used Garnier Fructis, Urban Decay, Jemma Kidd, Lancome, Prettyncute and Party City, and the video was watched 3.5 million times.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pR20n_U234And while costume-makeup styles are admittedly not often used by the general public, this is a time when viewers’ increased YouTube searching for unusual makeup tutorials offers brands an opportunity to increase awareness of their brand among those who are usually entrenched with their stand-by products. This tent-pole calendar event offers brands a chance to gain awareness among new audiences.

Halloween Make-up Tutorials and Beauty Brands

Most of these “Halloween makeup tutorials” mention major and minor brands. But what are the brands doing about these videos on their own YouTube channels? Not much at all.

This is where content curation, via YouTube playlists, can be very valuable. YouTube playlists are simply groups of videos curated by any channel. They can be a channel’s own videos or of videos from other channels. No permission is needed from the other channels, and YouTube is ranking these playlists high in the search results if they have good content, title, descriptions and viewerships.

Brands Should Create Halloween Playlists

Cosmetics brands can and should create Halloween-specific playlists on their channels that highlight and amplify the amazing creations that influencers are demonstrating with their brands. Influencers will appreciate the special mention, and brands benefit by greater traffic and attention. It takes very little time and is free to do.

Here’s a partial example of what such a playlist might look like. Creator Julia Graf made one of her own Halloween makeup videos, but a brand could make one consisting of multiple creators:

While one YouTube earned media leader, the cosmetics brand NYX, does not have a curated Halloween playlist on its channel, it did have a contest during its Face Awards for Halloween makeup. The video “NYX Face Awards entry 2014 Creepy Doll make-up tutorial look Halloween makeup,” for instance would be a great repurposed entry from last year (viewed 467,000 times so far).

How Do Brands Find YouTube Influencers?

But how does a brand find these creators? Certainly channel managers could use YouTube’s search. But there are many hidden gems that may not be by the most famous YouTubers. How can brands bubble up those creators and support them, while also helping promote the brand?

To find some of this month’s best videos, we used our own Octoly creator search engine, which we call Octopus. Using this tool, brands search for creator channels that mention a keyword topic, then filter by location, sub-category, number of subscribers, and other factors. In this instance we searched for beauty, makeup, and haircare. We found more than 1,700 creators with videos about Halloween using these parameters. One of these creators, MadeYewLook, made the video “Reptile | Lizard Makeup Tutorial,” which will show you how to turn yourself into a lizard for Halloween. MadeYewLook used BH, Mehron, Graftobian and Urban Decay in the video.

YouTube: Hero, Hub, Hygiene Strategy

Using YouTube’s “Hero, Hub, Hygiene” strategy for brands, content curation of Halloween makeup tutorials would fall under the Hub category for cosmetics brands. It enables them to bring fresh content to their channels and celebrate the passions of their fans while keeping them coming back for more. All at a very low cost.

Halloween is also a chance for brands to discover, engage with, and celebrate mid-tier and newer creators who haven’t yet received huge views and subscribers, but are talented and make use of the brand’s products. The video, “Sexy Female Joker Halloween Makeup Tutorial 2014,” has just 5,000 views and its creator has 25,000 subscribers. This is a solid mid-tier creator, who mentions RCMA, Cinema Secrets, Illamasqua, Mehron and Makeup Geek.

And while Halloween is perhaps a very unusual time for makeup in the yearly calendar, brands can and should adopt this practice year-round for holidays and events as they come up. One could imagine non-costume oriented brand-centric playlists that focus on other holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, etc. Or around life milestones, such as graduation, weddings, bridal showers and so on. Brands can support their greatest enthusiasts with content curation, while at the same time bringing their brands to the attention of new audiences.

Want to drive YouTube earned media for your brand? Contact us at Octoly.