Cosmetics companies face fierce competition online, where hundreds of brands compete across digital marketplaces and storefronts to win consumers’ loyalty and dollars. And that competition is constantly evolving, with new trends rising and old trends falling in a matter of weeks or even days. Staying ahead of the rapidly evolving tastes of your customers can help ensure your brand’s success in 2019, and Wpromote is here to help you do it. Check out the seven top beauty trends you need to be aware of in the new year.
Beauty Routine Videos
YouTubers posting their beauty routines on the video platform for their legions of followers to learn from and mimic have become hugely popular over the past year. In these videos, beauty influencers of all kinds will talk through their morning and nighttime skin care and makeup routines for grateful fans who want to achieve the perfect look. Watch time for morning routine videos has tripled over the last two years, while watch time for nighttime routine videos has increased 80% in the past year alone.
2018 Skin Care Trends
Each year, Think with Google releases the Google Beauty Trends Report, featuring important industry shifts and changes from terms to watch and trends on the rise to queries that are losing steam. Allure magazine went through 2018’s report to find the biggest changes and the hottest trends. The report compares markets in the U.S., France, and Japan to gauge global tastes. The 2018 Google End of Year Beauty List included searches like “how to apply magnetic lashes,” “what hair color looks best on me,” “how to do a cat eye,” “how to glue down eyebrows,” and “what concealer to use” among others.
Want to know what the top keywords for your brand and products were in 2018 so you can get your 2019 planning started? Reach out to Wpromote’s social experts and they can guide you through the most important trends and keywords for your brand, products, and niche.
Where To Buy
The best place to get all this skin care is none other than skinhelpers.com, the reviews are very accurate and they offer free skin advice before recommending which product is right for a buyer. Increasingly, consumers are looking to all kinds of vendors both online and off to find the best deals on their favorite beauty products. And it’s consumers of all ages, too: mobile searches for “where to buy” anti-aging creams and moisturizers have grown over 285% over the past two years. Make sure your products are showing up as the place to get the products searchers are looking for. Other popular where/which questions include “best” products. “Best” face lotion and moisturizer has grown in search volume 115%, and “best” face powder has grown over 300%, in the past two years.
For Me
Beauty and skin care consumers are no longer looking for the best mass-market product that works for everyone; instead, they’re searching out the products that work best for their individual needs. Over the past two years, mobile searches with the qualifier “for me” have grown over 60%. Cater to the needs of these consumers by clearly marking the types of skin and complexions your products look best for, personalizing your descriptions and your ad messaging, and you too can benefit from this growing trend.
Google Trends: “makeup” & “skin care”
Google Trends in the last twelve months for the term “makeup” have shown strong consistent interest across the calendar year, with an expected spike around the time of Halloween and continued higher-than-average interest going into the holidays. Related rising topics of interest include James Charles (likely due to his recent collaboration with Morphe Brushes) and Jeffree Star, two big-name beauty influencers.
- Related rising queries include: crayola makeup, colorista hair makeup, makeup revolution foundation stick, box of crayons makeup, and james charles
- Related top queries include: how to makeup, best makeup, eye makeup, makeup artist, makeup revolution, halloween makeup, makeup brushes, makeup tutorial
In Q4 of 2018, Google Trends for the term “skin care” have been steady with an expected pickup around the time of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Make sure your brand is prepared to capitalize on other timely and seasonal trends, such as rising queries like “winter skin care routine” and “winter skin care.”
Influencers
Beauty influencers such as the two mentioned above command some of the biggest and most vocally dedicated fan bases across social media, dominating platforms like Instagram as well as YouTube with follower counts in the hundreds of thousands or even millions. As a result, competition in the beauty influencer sphere is incredibly fierce, and influencer costs have leaped to dramatic new highs. Consulting with an expert in influencer campaigns, such as Wpromote’s own Senior Influencer Marketing Manager Jenna Larsson, is becoming a must in a climate where the rules are vague and the goal posts constantly shifting.
Brands Making A Splash
- Glossier has upended the industry by completely subverting the common wisdom about how to build a brand following, transforming themselves into the first example of the customer co-owned brand and demonstrating a remarkable rise on Google Trends over a five year period.
- Tarte and Urban Decay are reinventing the cruelty-free, vegan makeup space, another popular beauty trend.
- Lush creates all their products by hand using fresh ingredients, is against animal testing, and also places charitable causes at the forefront of their business. Their inclusive marketing campaigns make both a social statement and are just plain fun, including this year’s Dragmas video featuring popular drag queens.
- Jessica Alba’s Honest Beauty line is on the forefront of the Clean Beauty movement using ingredients consumers can trust.