The power of #BeautyTwitter: Tips and insights for brands
Twitter is where communities come to grow and connect every day. One ever-expanding community is #BeautyTwitter – full of beauty fans, creators, influencers, makeup artists, skin and hair care specialists, and journalists.
The beauty community on Twitter is diverse, passionate, highly engaged, sharp, and witty.
The word ‘beauty’ was Tweeted over 31 million times globally in the second half of 2021 alone1. In the UK, there were seven million Tweets about beauty in 2021 – a 257% year-on-year increase2.
How can your brand tap into this leaned-in audience and make sure it’s part of the beauty conversation?
We’ve got insights into the #BeautyTwitter audience, lots of tips, and Tweet best practices below.
Who is the #BeautyTwitter audience?
The #BeautyTwitter audience is:
53% female
- 34% are aged 18-24 and 18% are aged 25 to 343 — the 25-34 age group is 121% more likely than the average person on Twitter to Tweet about beauty4.
What do they care about?
The #BeautyTwitter community wants the real over the ideal. Rather than striving for perfection, they want to celebrate and uplift all kinds of skin tones, shapes, sizes, hair types, diverse and cultural beauty trends, and gender identities.
They value transparency and want honest conversations, reviews, and insights from brands, creators, and other consumers. Twitter offers a unique opportunity for beauty brands to take part in real-time, unfiltered conversations – beauty fans come to Twitter to find out what’s happening now.
How can beauty brands best use Twitter?
To launch something new
People on Twitter like to be the first to try new things and are more likely to be the first to buy new products5, while 56% of people on Twitter tell their friends and family about new products6.
That’s why Twitter is the perfect place to launch something new. It doesn’t matter what you want to launch – Twitter can help you build awareness, spark conversation, and connect you with the people who want to know about it.
To successfully launch a new beauty brand, product, service, app, or special promotion, take a look at our launch guidelines and best practices.
Cruelty-free makeup brand, Melt Cosmetics, (@MeltCosmetics) teased their launch of a brand new collection.
To connect to the conversation
It’s not just the long-standing, big-revenue beauty brands and celebrities leading the #Beauty conversation on Twitter – it’s open to anyone and everyone. No, really…
Brands use Twitter to connect with what’s happening and to build cultural relevance by doing so – with a 73% correlation between a brand’s cultural relevance and its revenue7, it’s clear why this is important.
The three key ways beauty brands can use Twitter to connect with what’s happening are:
Events: Events like film or music award shows, and celebrity weddings are just some of the events that make waves in the beauty community.
Occasions: Think Valentine’s Day and Christmas – what products, promotions, or insights do you have that can tie in nicely with the occasion?
Trends: Tap into topics that are garnering lots of attention, like organic and cruelty-free cosmetic ingredients, or natural and minimalistic makeup looks.
Get familiar with the event, occasion, or trend you’re trying to connect to, join the conversation, use the hashtags, and build association between your brand and the topic.
Top tip: If you use a Twitter Ads campaign to connect to an event, expand your campaign run time beyond just the event day to yield more engagement and better cost-efficiency.
Hair and skin beauty brand, Rahua Beauty, (@RahuaBeauty) tap into the self-care conversation with their #SelfCareSunday reminder.
Tips for beauty brands on Twitter
Join the cause
If it’s authentic to your brand, join important conversations the #BeautyTwitter community cares about – things like #SelfLove, #WomanEmpowerment, #NaturalBeauty, #NaturalHair, #Unfiltered, and #BlackOwnedBusiness.
Don’t join these conversations just for the sake of it. Only get involved in the topics that matter to your brand and that you advocate for, or are part of your business strategy.
Olaplex (@olaplex), champions a message of self-love and confidence using some powerful hashtags.
Run special offers and promotions…
62% of people on Twitter spend time looking for the best deals8, so be sure to reach these people with your own sales and promotions.
Cruelty-free cosmetics brand, Sigma Beauty, (@SigmaBeauty) highlights their special promotion for a free product with purchases over $99.
…and run them for a short window of time
The conversation on Twitter happens in real-time and moves quickly, and the beauty conversation is no different. Tap into this by offering short or one-day-only special offers to build interest and buzz.
Offer gift ideas
Considering that Twitter users get inspiration for gifts from social media three times more than non-Twitter users9, it’s a good idea to suggest your products that work well as gifts, especially gift sets for holidays like Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, or Valentine’s Day.
Clarins UK (@clarins_uk) has the perfect collection for Christmas.
Shout about products that are back in stock
Let your followers know when your products are back in stock. This will create buzz about your popular products and increase the chances of them staying in demand.
Vegan makeup brand, KVD Beauty, (@KVDBeauty) make sure their followers know their best-selling eyeshadow sticks are back in stock.
Provide insight into the quality of your products
A report from Global Web Index (GWI) in 2020 found that quality is the most important factor for consumers when purchasing beauty products10, coming ahead of affordability.
If your brand has rigorous quality assurance checks, has great customer reviews about product quality, or has won awards for the same, let people on Twitter know about it.
Irish skincare brand, Image Skincare, (@imageskincareIE) shares their five-star customer review for one of their lip care products.
Feature influencers or micro-influencers
Beauty influencers are leading the charge, driving buzz, and opening the door for others to join the conversation online. They can affect consumers’ purchase decisions, and boost awareness of your beauty brand.
Los Angeles makeup brand, Sugarpill Cosmetics, (@sugarpillmakeup) shares the look created by artist @sparklebombb using their liquid lip product.
Highlight eco-friendly efforts or cruelty-free ethos
Protecting our planet is a key factor in a lot of the decisions and lifestyle choices we all make these days, and two in three of monthly Twitter users say that sustainability or environmental impact has an influence on deciding what products they buy.11
Clarins Canada (@ClarinsCanada) uses sustainable agriculture for the ingredients of its products. In this Tweet, they celebrate #EarthDay2021 with their followers.
Use trending and popular hashtags
Keep an eye on the most commonly used hashtags in the community, and incorporate them into your Tweets in a natural way. You can also use the Explore page on Twitter to search hashtags and see what’s trending.
Some popular hashtags include #BeautyTwitter, #BeautyLovers, #Makeup, #BeautyBlogger, #BeautyTips, #SkincareTips, #NaturalHair, #BeautyReview, #Cosmetics, #BeautyHaul, #SkinCareHaul, #MakeUpTips, #NoFilter.
Keep in mind…
With so many beauty brands on the market, customers can be somewhat resistant when it comes to making a choice. To give your brand an advantage above others, try offering:
Free samples
An easy returns policy
Special prices for online shoppers
A clear description of all ingredients used in your product
Creative best practices for beauty brands
Include imagery and video in your Tweets
Beauty fans like to share photos, either showcasing a new makeup or hair look, celebrating their natural beauty, or asking for advice and recommendations. Beauty fans also share photos of recent product hauls. 37% of total #BeautyTwitter engagements come from Tweets with photos12.
As much as possible, include imagery or short videos in your Tweets to make them more engaging.
Top tip: Include persistent branding in your videos, and include a sound-off strategy.
Use emojis to amplify your Tweets
A report by Sprinklr and Twitter found that #BeautyTwitter love emojis, with the most popular being love hearts, stars, lips, flames, and lipstick13 
– so don’t shy away from sprinkling one or two into your Tweets.
Elevate diversity in your campaign visuals
Beauty is limitless – as is the diversity of people who are part of the beauty community. Include a vast range of real people in your Tweet imagery and videos to represent this and let your followers know your brand is made for each and every one of them.
Top tip: If running an ads campaign, use three ad formats. This can help to drive the best results for your Twitter Ads campaign. Select formats that complement your campaign objective. For instance, if you’re launching a new foundation range and want to run a reach campaign to increase how many people hear about it, an Image Ad, Video Ad with a website button, and Carousel Ad showcasing the various shades would work well.
Now you’ve got the insights and tips to hand, why not get started today and launch your campaign.
1. Source: Twitter internal data, global data. Time Frame: 6/1/21-12/31/21. Data retrieved January 2022.
2. Source: Twitter Internal data, UK dta. Time Frame: Jan-October 2021. Data retrieved November 2021.
3. Source: Twitter internal data, global data, Time Frame: 6/1/20-2/28/21. Data retrieved March 2021.
4. Source: Twitter Internal Data (Semantic Core). Millennials defined as US Twitter Users 25-34. From March 1st, 2020 - March 1st, 2021.
5. Source: Kantar, “News Discovery & Influence on Twitter”, Global, December 2017. Monthly Twitter Global users (n=17,138), Online Global population (n= 34, 535). | How we know: Kantar News, Discovery & Influence on Twitter ; December 2017 ; US ; 787 Monthly Twitter US users & 1503 Online US population Source : Kantar Millward Brown, 2017.
6. Source: Global Web Index, The beauty industry report, Q4 2020, Global, Beauty, All Respondents, weekly Twitter users.
7. Source: Kantar, commissioned by Twitter, Cultural Relevance Research, Dec 2019, USA, Base = 100 US brands tested. Methodology: Correlation analysis, which shows the strength of the relationship for overall brand cultural relevance scores (NatRep) and Q3/Q4 brand revenue (source: Google Finance & secondary sources).
Definitions: Cultural relevance: as scored by our survey — cultural relevance is aligning well with what people have defined as culture: events, trends, and social issues that benefit everyone. Brand revenue: financial records from Google Finance for the 100 brands we tested. Correlation coefficient: the measure of the strength of the relationship between the two sets of variables.
8. Source: Global Web Index, The beauty industry report, Q4 2020, Global, Beauty, All Respondents, weekly Twitter users.
9. Source: Sparkler,Twitter Insiders US Holiday Survey 1 data | June 2021 Q7. For each category, where do you typically get inspiration for gifts or discover gifts to purchase? Please select all that apply. Base: Insiders (n=375) and Non-Users (n=555).
10. Source: Global Web Index, The beauty industry report, Q4 2020, Global, Beauty, All Respondents, weekly Twitter users.
11. Source: YouGov Profiles, US, 2020-09-27, “How much influence, if any, does sustainability or environmental impact have on you when deciding which products to buy?”, respondents who had used Twitter in the past 30 days or more often, retrieved October 2020.
12. Source: Sprinklr and Twitter, ‘The Beauty in Twitter’ report, October 2020.
13. Source: Sprinklr and Twitter, ‘The Beauty in Twitter’ report, October 2020.
Ready to advertise on Twitter?
