TikTok beauty influencers are known for driving huge sales spikes, but not necessarily with their own brands.
As beauty YouTubers have been embroiled in money-loss drama in recent years, brands have shifted their sights to TikTokers. Comparatively healthy with a proven ability to spark viral product trends, TikTok influencers have emerged as the obvious new guard of collaboration partners. But in the past week, TikToker’s affiliated beauty collaborations and sub-brands have had their fair share of hiccups. Following a shift from YouTube influencer to TikTok influencer collaborations in recent years, Morphe closed all of its US stores last week, and its parent company Forma Brands announced its bankruptcy presentation on Thursday. It was also revealed last week that Selfless by Hyram and Addison Rae’s Item Beauty are leaving Sephora.
“TikTok’s algorithm has led users to explore new content through the ‘For You’ page, rather than just investing in a handful of influencers,” said Jesse Rubinstein, founder of the social media production agency Hello There Collective. “[This] it is very different from the interaction of influencers on Instagram and YouTube”.
After cutting ties with Jeffree Star in 2020 and James Charles in 2021 following multiple controversies, Morphe brought his collaborative model to TikTok’s most influential people. She recruited the D’Amelio sisters for her Morphe 2 Launch in 2020 and currently sells Charli D’Amelio’s Born Dreamer fragrance. Other TikTok influencer collaborations have included those with avanni gregg in 2021, meredith duxbury in March 2022 and abby roberts in October 2022. Meanwhile, Addison Rae’s Item Beauty was thrown out by Ipsy in 2020 and came to Sephora Next year. Skinfluencer Hyram Yarbro’s Hyram’s Selfless the brand was inserted in 2021 by The Inkey List as a Sephora exclusive.
Yarbro confirmed to Glossy via email that, “due to management changes and retail adjustments, Selfless by Hyram products have been shrinking at Sephora,” with plans to “expand into new retailers allowing the product line more accessible to consumers. ” While Sephora and Ipsy did not comment on Item Beauty, a Business Insider report indicated that an industry source had confirmed that it was being thrown from Sephora. All Item Beauty products on Sephora.com are over 50% off starting Thursday.
The D’Amelios are currently no longer involved with Morphe 2. Yarbro’s Instagram and TikTok profiles only promote their new coffee brand. Rae’s bios don’t include Item Beauty, but her TikTok profile links to her fragrance brand.
TikTok’s wave of new brands and collaborations came at a time when many YouTuber collaborations and beauty brands suffered steep declines. Morphe’s decision to cut ties with Charles and Star led to a 66% decline in revenue in the first 10 months of 2021 for products related to Star, Charles and Jaclyn Hill, according to a report. Bloomberg report citing a Morphe company presentation. Tati Westbrook, who was known for causing the first beauty “Dramageddon” crisis on YouTube, to turn off her beauty line Tati Beauty in November 2021. Makeup Geek, founded by beauty YouTuber Marlena Stell, closed in April 2022.
“Collaborations with influencers like Jaclyn Hill and James Charles [catered to] a very specific one demographic due to their loyal fan bases. As those influencers lose relevance in the beauty industry and the market becomes very saturated with others, authenticity is lost,” said Adam Heitzman, co-founder of digital marketing agency Higher Visibility.
According to some experts, the influx of both influencer and celebrity beauty brands in recent years has made the market more competitive as a whole.
“The space is already crowded, and consumer fatigue and skepticism is mounting with every new influencer brand that launches,” said Ryan Nelson, co-founder and celebrity brand expert at VC studio and brand incubator Jobi. “Gone are the days where you can launch a mediocre product and find success by pairing it with whatever influencer you strike a deal with.” But she certainly doesn’t feel like the celebrity brand model is dead. Jobi was behind the launch of Courteney Cox’s Homecourt and invested in Kate Hudson’s Inbloom.
Experts have noticed that the traditional YouTube influencer brand model doesn’t always work with TikTok influencers. There is no doubt that TikTok influencers have had a significant impact on sales through viral trends. MAC Cosmetics’ viral MacStack mascara, for example, was named as a sales driver in the Estée Lauder Companies’ fiscal third-quarter financial report, thanks to viral posts by Duxbury and Mikayla Nogueira.
TikToker brands have also seen their viral product moments. Item Beauty’s Lip Quip lip gloss saw a surge in sales due to a viral trend started by Rae in July of this year, but that couldn’t keep the brand at Sephora.
“Due to the fast-paced nature of TikTok, it’s hard to create a stable sense of loyal following,” Heitzman said. “Videos are posted for quick interaction before moving on to the next one. The algorithm is made to show the videos to a new wave of users with each update, so followers tend to interact less with creators. Compared to other platforms where it takes much longer to build followers and you have to nurture more relationships, TikTok is primed for rapid follower buildup, where less connection is needed.”
Although Morphe did not provide comment for this article, its executives have acknowledged the differences of the platforms in the past. In a 2021 interview with Glossy, then Forma Brands CEO Myles McCormick fixed that “TikTok tends to be much more disruptive content and the content creators are different.” He left the company in January 2022.
Experts recommend that brands think through their strategies before engaging in a TikTok influencer collaboration. According to Nelson, many influencer brands have “lacked a point of differentiation and have sometimes only been half executed.” Companies need to make sure they have this point of differentiation, as well as “authentic brand fit” and “solid execution” with new brands, he said. Otherwise, brands can work with TikTok influencers in other ways.
“Because of TikTok’s algorithm that sends content to the ‘For You’ page, a micro-influencer strategy generates the best returns for TikTok,” Rubinstein said. “This algorithmic shift from YouTube has allowed beauty brands to take a broad approach and drive reach at scale with a diverse group of creators.”
Source: news.google.com