The Social Marketing Playbook From Top Beauty Brands Time for a makeover

The iconic Coco Chanel once said: “Arrogance is in everything I do. It is in my gestures, the harshness of my voice, in the glow of my gaze, in my sinewy, tormented face.”
It may not be the friendliest expression, but it’s unforgettably audacious. So it makes sense that when the Chanel brand launched its social media channels back in 2011, it sought a similarly bold voice and position.

In “Give Your Brand A Makeover: How Top Beauty Brands Stand Out,” we examine the the social media strategies of several leading beauty brands including Chanel. To get a taste of Chanel’s approach, you need only glance its Twitter account, where it has amassed 5.75 million followers without following a single other person or account. It’s the social media equivalent of saying, ‘arrogance is in everything we do.’


For most marketers, these tactics fly in the face of all they’ve learned about how to “Engage!” “Join the conversation!” and “Interact!” (and always with that exclamation point). But by making the conversation about themselves while serving high-quality content worthy of the New York Times Style Section, Chanel succeeds by staying true to its core identity.

Do these exclusionary tactics work for every brand? Of course not. In “Give Your Brand a Makeover” we also explore the other side of the social spectrum. Bobbi Brown boasts more than 1.3M followers on Facebook, 319,000 on Twitter, and 282,000 on Instagram. Unlike Chanel, the brand frequently mentions big brands and partners and is constantly replying to individual followers on Twitter.

Instrumental to Bobbi Brown’s success is the brand’s broad range of lifestyle content. Instead of focusing purely on beauty and makeup, Bobbi Brown’s content ranges from news and recipes to travel and style with posts like “Back to the Garden” and “Healthy Body, Happy Mind.” While the lifestyle offered is still aspirational for most, it’s much more accessible to the typical modern woman. And with “Bobbi” herself even blogging, the brand comes across as genuine, personal and helpful.
To learn more about how the biggest fashion and beauty brands succeed on social media with great content, including examples, tips, and takeaways that all brands can learn from, download “Give Your Brand A Makeover”: