Make your beauty SMB glow on TikTok this Spring

We all know that beauty content is a year-round staple on TikTok. From #LatteMakeUp and #CherryLips to #FauxFreckles and #GlassSkin, TikTok is where beauty trends start, and the sheer volume of trends on TikTok means no one singular trend can dominate the aesthetic for very long. The beauty trend cycle doesn't stop – it just matures and remixes itself. Since joining TikTok over half of our European users say they try products more often because they are trendy or popular [2]. This is why 74% of TikTok users agree that content on TikTok has transformed their beauty game [2].

With festival season, the European leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour and summer sales fast approaching, you might be wondering how your beauty brand can make the most of these increased brand awareness and sales opportunities. Well, wonder no longer. We’ve got you.

Keep reading to see some of our top tips on how to make effective content and plan some flawless campaigns for your beauty brand this spring.

And, if you’re on the hunt for even more TikTok business advice, tailored specifically to SMB beauty brands, be sure to download our 2024 SMB beauty playbook below!

1. Foster consideration with reviews and recommendations

From #getreadywithme to #makeupreviews and more, authentic reviews are key for discovery and consideration of beauty products for TikTok users: 32% discover new brands and products through reviews, while 26% are inspired to find out more about a brand or product from tutorials [2]. Beauty brands should proudly spotlight the unique nuances of their business to resonate with our diverse audience.

Encourage your users to interact with your brand by responding to comments, asking questions and commenting on other videos. To get started, explore our creative center – you can utilize our keyword insight tool and review top ads or organic videos to gain inspiration and understand what resonates in the beauty community. What's something specific you wish more consumers knew about your brand?

2. Go for gold with a brandformance approach

For beauty businesses planning campaigns with both brand and performance goals, TikTok is a game-changer. We've found that advertisers that adopt a brandformance approach on TikTok, combining brand and performance objectives into single campaigns, see improved campaign performance compared to isolated single-objective campaigns [4].

We've also found that new product launches overperform on TikTok, surpassing the benchmarks of established product campaigns. When launching new products, using more than two branding products boosts results even further, especially with premium formats such as TopView and Top Feed, advertisers have seen:

● 10% higher ad recall (vs benchmark)

● 75% higher awareness (vs benchmark)

● 140% higher brand association (vs benchmark)

● 57% higher purchase intent (vs established product campaigns)[5].

Advertisers can then turn this brand equity into action by leveraging the power of Video Shopping Ads (VSA), our innovative catalog-based solution that supercharges product sales. See how beauty brand Mariano Balato used VSA to drive 10x higher ROAS.

3. Lean into authentic and entertaining messaging

Entertaining ads on TikTok help to guide users down the funnel; high entertainment ads* are rated 25% higher for brand love, 15% higher for purchase intent and 17% higher for likelihood to recommend [3].

After watching beauty-related content, 29% of Italian users say they clicked save on the post [1]. To create content worth saving, check out our creative ideation blog or work with creative production experts using the TikTok Creative Exchange (TTCX), our one-stop solution that enables fast, scalable high-performing video production for TikTok.

Ready to dive into more top tips and advice for small and medium beauty brands? Click below to access our most up to date SMB beauty playbook!

Sources:

1. TikTok Marketing Science IT Beauty Survey 2023, conducted by AYTM (Base: TikTok users, n=500)

2. TikTok Marketing Science EUI Beauty Vertical Research 2022 conducted by InSites Consulting

3. TikTok Marketing Science Global Entertaining Ads Study 2022 conducted by Marketcast

4. Enhanced Learning for Brandformance, internal TikTok study

5. Internal Meta-Analysis on 11 new product launches in Italy for CPG & Beauty categories from 2022 to 2023, compared to BLS norms in Italy or EU5 for CPG & Beauty 2023.