This blog post looks at whole enterprise social media – aka social media integrated throughout the entirety of an organization. I couldn’t think of anyone else than award-winning beauty blogger cross-cultural, cross-platform star: the 34-year-old is a millennial who instinctively knows what kind of content works on every platform, Huda Kattan.
Huda Beauty is very similar to established brands such as Urban Decay and Anastasia Beverly Hills – in the sense that they all found popularity on social media. The makeup guru, who pretty much created the definition of a beauty influencer, has been on the scene since the start of her YouTube channel in 2007. It takes about two seconds of watching Huda Kattan on YouTube to understand her appeal — and watch how the beauty blogger-turned-YouTube turned Instagram star leveraged her influencer status to become one of today’s biggest online beauty sensations.
#EmpireInTheMaking
Huda first created her YouTube channel in 2007, the year where it seems most successful YouTube bloggers first created their channels. However, she didn’t post her first video until 2012. Her channel has evolved since then, but you can already decipher the talent she possessed while she was first making her start. In 2012, Huda and her sisters created HudaBeauty’s Instagram page, which currently boasts 22.9m followers. According to HopperHQ, she allegedly earns almost $18,000 USD for a sponsored post, which is fitting as she’s currently Instagram’s highest-paid influencer.
The following year, along with her sisters, she created her company, HudaBeauty, of which she’s the Chief Executive Officer. Their line started off selling handmade eyelash falsies, and they quickly began to be sold in Sephora in Dubai. Sephora took a chance on Kattan’s first product because her experience as a celebrity makeup artist and an influential blogger gave her an edge over traditional beauty brands, says Artemis Patrick, senior vice president of merchandising at Sephora. “With the initial launch of false eyelashes, Huda Beauty was an immediate success,” she says. Her online presence not only got her noticed, but created a base of customers who would stick around and engage with her. “It allowed her to build brand loyalty throughout the world, which is a true testament to her company,” says Patrick.
The brand has since had several record-breaking launches globally, Huda Beauty has become a staple in the cosmetics industry, featuring best-selling lip liners, liquid matte lipsticks and an eye shadow palette that beauty bloggers swear by – oh and a Huda Beauty emoji collection called Hudamoji. Products are available worldwide at retailers including ShopHudaBeauty.com, Sephora, Sephora in JC Penney, Harrods, Selfridges, and Cult Beauty. The Brand continues to expand across Europe, Asia and the US where the brand is regularly ranked number one against competitors.
taking the beauty world by storm!
Her/Instagram account acts as both a marketing tool for her products and a platform for other beauty bloggers/influencers
Part of the reason why her Instagram account grew rapidly, people love her so much because she’s created an innovative means to market herself and also support other artists. Generosity at its finest. She has consistently improved her blog and remained loyal to sharing beauty tips and tricks. As a beauty influencer, she is very picky with the products that she uses and recommends. Honesty is something she never wanted to compromise with as she has a responsibility towards women. Huda approaches the products both a makeup fan and an honest consumer. In an industry full of hype, where even the smallest influencer’s outfit could be bought and paid for by a brand, Huda’s audience has learned to trust her.
Constantly releasing quality makeup products for her consumers to love!
For example, while her first eyeshadow palette sold “far beyond all expectations globally,” she still listened to customer feedback on ways they thought the item could be improved. (Her Insta-fans are very vocal.) “We went to the factory, we re-worked everything — it really came down to chemistry, we definitely listen to harsh criticism, we really do.”
Huda puts the same honesty and selection into her own product development. Spending so much time picking up the right color, looking for the best quality and most surprising textures you will ever see. If there is no excitement when she receive the samples, it is simply not the right fit. Perspective is something she has in leaps and bounds, especially when it comes to catering for different price points. Today, you can touch people all day through social media and using different types of strategies to let people know who you are… Being able to hit everyone in every aspect is important to HudaBeauty.
Lessons for Others
Toto HaBa, vice president of digital strategy at Benefit Cosmetics, predicts international influencers will become increasingly important. He says, “As bigger brands get into this space, they’re going to be looking for people with global scale as opposed to looking at 10 local people in 10 local markets. I [envision] international influencers with global appeal signing more deals, and these global influencers working more into offline advertising.”
If brands don’t infiltrate emerging social media markets, influencers with the potential to create their own lines could fill the vacuum.
Organization:
Huda Beauty
Industry:
Cosmetics
Name of Organization Contact:
HB
Authored by: Farah Hafez
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