Tag: Snapchat

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The “Benefit” of Social Media

It seems like everyone has some sort of social media channel today, whether it be a person, a company, a brand, or even a dog (seriously!).

Social media has allowed companies to interact with their customers in a different way. This has brought around some wins and, of course, some fails.

Overall social media has been beneficial to many industries and some have simply flourished with the growth of each channel. Perhaps one of the most successful in implementing social media into their identity is the beauty industry.

The beauty industry is a visual one. So many companies have really taken the visual aspect and worked it together beautifully with the personality of their companies. One has really set itself apart in the eyes of the beauty world and its followers: Benefit Cosmetics.

Benefit has been around since 1976, the company was started by Jean and Jane Ford and has thrived ever since. Benefit is known for their colorful and often times sassy packaging and products.

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How are they killing the game?

Benefit has effectively blended the sassy personality of their brand, the colorful charisma of their products and the behind the scenes looks at their company. Not only is their personal content on their channels amazing, but the relationships that they build with their fans and followers is something that all brands should strive for.

Benefit makes it a habit to interact with their followers. It is rare to send a tweet or tag a picture on Instagram that doesn’t garner some sort of response from this huge global brand. Benefit also makes a practice of displaying and promoting great work that their followers have created with their products. Whether it is a great wing using their innovative liner, or a set of eyebrows that is totally on “fleek” after a visit to the Brow Bar, they will let you know and sometimes even share your photo on their channels.

Twitter

Benefit “slays” the Twitterscape by bringing their bold personality into each tweet! Check out of a few of their most recent. Benefit isn’t afraid to color outside the lines when it comes to their brand and voice!

 

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Instagram:

Not only are they winning at Twitter on daily basis, Benefit’s most visual channel, Instagram, is a beautiful representation of the words aesthetically pleasing. The photos are bright, high resolution, simple and beautiful. The entirety of Benefit’s Instagram embodies the colorful charisma of their brand. Benefit embraces the different side of the beauty world, whether it is guys wearing makeup or cutting-edge products, they are not afraid to be different and encourage their followers to do the same.

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YouTube:

One of the biggest social media channels in the beauty world is YouTube. YouTube has quickly become a haven for professionals and enthusiasts in the beauty realm. There are billions of beauty related YouTube videos, and the amazing thing is most of them are not created by brands. Beauty “gurus” have quickly taken over YouTube as a channel. Benefit has done a great job of not only competing with brands that are trying to make their mark on YouTube, but they have worked to integrate these gurus (who have millions of followers) into their own channel and hold their own in the world of YouTube.

Check out Benefit’s new campaign featuring beauty gurus Dulce Candy (2,116, 131 followers) , Nyc Dragun (112, 717 followers), Nicol Concilio (193, 152 followers) , and Tess Holliday a well know plus-size model.

Snapchat

Finally, Benefit has made the leap that many companies are making to Snapchat (BenefitBeauty), which provides an even deeper look inside the world of Benefit. Behind-the-scenes looks, chatting with beauty gurus, contests and daily office life. Their story is a must follow for all the beauty lovers and social media enthusiasts.

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While Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat seem to be the fan favorites. Benefit has completely covered their bases in the social media game and have amazing accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Pinterest!

Benefit is a great display of what a dynamic social media strategy looks like for not only a beauty company but all companies and industries. They have created a strong brand and compelling voice that has been successfully applied and appropriate for each for channel they utilize.

Written by Cheyenne Cameron-Pruitt, Digital Media Director

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PR Wins of 2015

A common misconception about public relations is that it is only important when a company is in crisis. To the contrary, PR is a versatile tool that organizations can employ whenever they see fit. In no particular order we will take a look at a few notable PR wins of 2015.

  1. LACMA brings culture to Snapchat

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These photos are what happened when the Los Angeles County Museum of Art joined Snapchat. Often organizations can struggle with new social media, but LACMA seemed to be a natural from the beginning. Who knew that artist so long ago were in tune with today’s popular culture? LACMA killed it on Snapchat and should be an example for how to use social media as a tool to garner interest of a younger generation. Even BuzzFeed took notice!

2. ALS #IceBucketChallenge

The ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) Association started the Ice Bucket Challenge in the summer of 2015 and it quickly became one of the world’s largest social media efforts. More than 17 million people uploaded videos of them accepting the challenge on Facebook. The campaign was a call to action that created awareness and an influx of donations that supported research on the disease.

3. Volkswagen’s recovery

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In September of 2015, the German automakers were notified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in regards to their violations of the Clean Air Act. The plot thickened when the EPA cited Volkswagen for using software that could essentially cheat on an emissions test. Volkswagen was facing fines and their stocks took a large hit, dropping 19 percent almost immediately, and led its CEO to resign. While the fines and stock dip hurt Volkswagen, the damage its reputation took was devastating. Volkswagen won this situation for how they handled the crisis. The company answered to the media as soon as two days after the news broke. It also took in the reaction of customers that were impacted and created a plan to regain their trust. Volkswagen released a video with its then CEO promising to resolve the problem and even gave customers a “goodwill” refund of $1,000. Volkswagen presented a textbook example of how to handle a crisis and has been recovering well since the incident.

4. White Walkers in London

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Courtesy: The Daily Mirror

Imagine seeing one of these while you are out running errands! Thankfully, it was just a rather large man dressed as one of the menacing characters from the popular television series “Game of Thrones”. Several White Walkers were spotted wandering around London in June of 2015 to mark the digital release of the series.

5. NHS Blood and Transplant “Missing Type” campaign

Leading up to National Blood Week, NHS Blood and Transplant enlisted the help of several high profile British brands. NHS asked the respective companies to leave the letters A, B and O (representing blood types) out of their logos to demonstrate how important it is for people to donate blood. Many shops and venues dropped the letters for the campaign. This was a very clever campaign that even got the prime minister to remove letters from signage on the official residence. Most importantly, it started a conversation.

6. Burger King pays for the Wedding of Mr. Burger and Miss King

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Miss King and Mr. Burger “had it their way” when the fast food giant decided to sponsor the wedding of the Illinois couple in 2015. The couple decided to have some fun with the coincidence after their engagement and took a picture by a Burger King sign. The story went viral after they were interviewed by a reporter from a local newspaper. Burger King caught wind of the story and decided to give Joel Burger and Ashley King a pretty awesome wedding gift.

7. Chipotle’s raincheck

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Courtesy: Chipotle (retrieved via fox2now.com 2/23/16)

This campaign carried over from 2015 and saw its resolution in the early part of 2016. Chipotle had an E. coli outbreak that lead to a lot of customers shying away from the Mexican grill for some time. The company even decided to close all of its restaurants for a day to discuss what the next move should be… You may be wondering why this is considered a success. Chipotle #blessed us all with a “raincheck” when it reopened. By simply texting the number seen in the above picture, (don’t try it now, you already missed out), customers were given a free burrito. Chipotle won back the trust and patronage of its customers by taking responsibility for what happened and ensuring that the problem was resolved. The giveaway thanked those who stayed loyal and welcomed back those who had strayed away. Oh yeah, and the burritos got a LITTLE bigger.

Here’s to seeing what the PR world will generate in 2016!

Written by Darrell Chambers, Account Executive