On Wednesday, Tribe Dynamics hosted the Earned Summit, our first ever virtual digital marketing conference. In this one-day global event, we brought together over 25 thought leaders and industry experts across beauty, fashion, finance, and manufacturing for 16 illuminating panel discussions, fireside chats, and research deep dives. Didn’t get to tune in? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Below, we highlight a couple of our favorite discussions, and we’ve also included the video links to all 16 sessions so you don’t miss a single one.
These beauty industry heavyweights discussed how their marketing strategies have changed in response to the coronavirus outbreak, including keeping up-to-date with both global news and influencer content to ensure the most informed and thoughtful marketing approach. They’re also promoting social good campaigns and relief efforts, and shifting launch schedules to focus on products that can be worn “above the mask.” All of the panelists noted that refocusing energy on their own e-commerce and DTC channels in response to brick-and-mortar retail closures is key, and Mina of Farmacy Beauty especially emphasized the importance of humanizing your brand during this time, like shifting from sharing polished and professional content on their site and social channels, to highlighting the more real and raw UGC from consumers and employees alike to drive more authentic connections.
“Now is the time to stand up and tell the world who you are as a brand, outside the pretty packaging and pictures.” —Mina Chae, VP of Marketing and Consumer Engagement at Farmacy Beauty
In this talk, we learned how the onset of the coronavirus has sparked a digital acceleration in beauty and an explosion in creative social media activity. Panelists revealed how their brands are continuing to drive engagement across their key platforms, including using Instagram Live (IGTV) to pull back the curtain on the people behind the brand, from executives to field team members, sharing both lighthearted, personal content as well as educational makeup tutorials. The group also dove into their brands’ innovative strategies for TikTok: E.L.F., a beauty pioneer on TikTok, remixed its popular #EyesLipsFace TikTok campaign into a public service announcement, #EyesLipsFaceSafe, to engage Gen Zers by putting a fun spin on a serious subject. The main takeaway? Understand your unique audience and their expectations on each social platform (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok), then intentionally tailor your brand’s content to best suit each platform—while still maintaining an authentic and consistent brand message across all social channels.
“You truly have to treat each platform as an independent unit and ensure that you’re customizing your content to what the audience not only wants to hear from you on that platform, but how they engage with that platform.” —Kory Marchisotto, CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics
We could all learn from this panel: senior executives from some of today’s hottest beauty brands discussed how to lead your brand team—with compassion—during these unprecedented and challenging times. JuE Wong of Olaplex shared the importance of trusting employees and giving them the autonomy to do their work well, while also making sure to always be there to support if needed, and to be empathetic to their personal and professional struggles at this time. The executives also gave tips on adapting their leadership styles to meet the individual needs of their direct reports, as well as to account for the changing state of the world: communicate (constantly) in a clear and sensitive manner; encourage employee feedback; and preserve and foster a creative and supportive company culture.
“I define my leadership style as customized. I believe that my style should be reflective of the individuals that I’m leading and has to be super flexible, so thinking about what might have worked in person in a “boom boom” time is going to take a different flavor right now.”—Amanda Baldwin, President of Supergoop!