Industry progress with social media so far in 2012…

The research carried out by The Allstate Corporation and National Journal highlighted that Facebook fans or Twitter followers of a brand agreed that it is now easier than ever before to be well-informed consumers with more access to research and communicate with companies.

#Utilisingtheplatform​

With more than half of American adults (51 percent) on Facebook, 28 percent on Google+, 13 on Twitter, 12 percent on LinkedIn, 6 on Pinterest, and 5 percent registered on MySpace, the opportunity for brands to reach the consumer is easier than ever before.

“Whilst it is not vital for brands to be on every single social media platform, they do need to be on the main ones as a tool for interaction and pointing people towards different things,” ​says social media expert, Wendy Lewis.

Companies already seeing the benefits​

Lush are currently seeing the benefits of utilizing its Facebook page to interact with its customers and communicate news and product launches while packaging company Qosmedix opts for YouTube to sample its products and allow customers to see the internal operations of the company.

NU-Life cosmetics launched its new Facebook page earlier in the year to provide in the hope that their customers would join its page to stay abreast of new developments, articles, products as well as interact with and help each other.

"We hope that our Facebook fan page will help to maximize contact with our customers, increase company exposure and get immediate feedback on new products,​" says Vanessa Wilson, director of marketing at Nu-Life.

@customerinteraction​

In February, L’Oréal revamped its digital media strategy by increasing its presence online and stating that it would ramp up its eCommerce activity.

It identified the virtual platform as the final piece in the ‘digital revolution’ puzzle, opening up new opportunities for interaction between its brand and consumers.

“The huge popularity of social networks opens up new opportunities to interact between our brands and customers. Overall, our brands have 20 million Facebook fans,”​ said L’Oréal’s managing director Strategic Marketing, Marc Menesguen.

In China, the Lancôme team has developed a social platform called Rose Beauty by Lancôme, which is an online community for women in China with over 900,000 members exchanging beauty tips and come for advice from beauty experts.

“This platform is a great promotional tool for Lancôme that strengthens further its position as the leading luxury beauty brand in China,”​ explained Menesguen.

“We will continue this digital transformation in 2012 to strengthen our model as number one in beauty and we know that the next billion consumers to be won over will be young and digital native,”​ concluded Menesguen.

 Trade events are catching on...​

In-cosmetics organisers jumped on the bandwagon of the latest trend for the trade show in April by arranging a Twitter interview with well-known global grooming giant King of Shaves.

The CEO Will King already attending the Barcelona event got interactive with personal care ingredients professionals from around the world to discuss men’s grooming and how to unlock the market.

The HBA Global Expo last week in New York also focused its three day-educational program around interactivity with presentations and a lounge for bloggers to meet on social media and effective marketing solutions.

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