Above: The social media influence for the top 10 brands generating the most earned media value [EMV] for the month of September.
Social media engagement data for the month of September, supplied by Tribe Dynamics, reveals that CoverGirl drew in the greatest numbers in blog traffic, surpassing M•A•C and other leaders in the category. CoverGirl edged out the others thanks to the strategic promotion of its Catching Fire Makeup Collection, inspired by the upcoming release of the next installment of The Hunger Games trilogy. Famous for its long running CoverGirl campaigns featuring Hollywood A-listers, CoverGirl generated an incredible amount of earned media with entertainment publications, blogs and new interest beyond the makeup brand’s typical social reach. The first Catching Fire Collection commercial was strategically aired during the MTV VMA broadcast, reaching millions of young girls whom the trilogy targets. The campaign itself involved a variety of content across multiple platforms. In addition to more traditional print media and social media campaigns, CoverGirl also created an interactive online studio, the Capitol Beauty Studio, which enables consumers to explore looks attributed to each Hunger Games’ district, watch video tutorials and access tips from CoverGirl’s professional makeup artists. In addition, the brand also partnered with Blippar, the advertising platform, to create an interactive ad for the makeup line. These interactive campaigns successfully attracted the attention of Hunger Games fans who might not otherwise follow CoverGirl makeup.
However, Tribe Dynamics data pointed out that the brand failed to perform better in EMV (earned media value), with only 1,507,026 video endorsements compared to M•A•C’s 6,557,810. M•A•C’s generated the most valuable earned media overall due to the large number of endorsements it received in blog traffic and video endorsements (the most valuable forms) in addition to its success via Facebook.
Maybelline trumped competitors in Twitter actions
with its interactive #thegirlwiththebigeyes campaign. During September the brand demonstrated the power of the hashtag with the response it received to #thegirlwithbigeyes, tied to its campaign for its “The Falsies” mascara products. The brand worked with a popular New York film director to create a video tracking the mysterious actions of the “the girl with the big eyes.” Maybelline then engaged with followers via the hashtag, asking them to tweet guesses about the campaign’s character leading up to her reveal in exchange for free products. The campaign creatively integrated a variety of social media platforms which overall allowed the brand to reach and engage a variety of consumers through an ongoing conversation. And while Maybelline garnered an incredible number of Twitter actions, the brand still missed the lead spot by a large margin with fewer blog traffic and video endorsements.
Overall, the top five brands with the greatest online influence as far as the number of posts (post count) and the value of the posts being created (earned media value) for the month of September were:
M•A•C – $5,191,296 EMV
Maybelline – $4,651,478 EMV
L’Oreal – $3,514,421 EMV
Revlon – $3,039,730 EMV
NARS – $2,629,849 EMV
M•A•C once again outperformed its competitors in EMV with its creative and engaging digital marketing. Although for September, the brand also achieved the greatest number of impressions and reached the largest audience, it’s EMV is due to the incredible number of endorsements it continues to inspire in blog traffic and YouTube views. Again, endorsements of this nature are by far the most valuable because they require the highest level of engagement from followers.
* Tribe Dynamics’ monthly series of reports aim to provide a larger picture of understanding trends within the beauty and fashion industries. Utilizing proprietary data analytics, Tribe tracks which brands and products are creating the most earned media value over time. The data for this study was collected by Tribe Dynamics and is based upon the top 20,000 influencers in the health, beauty and fashion spaces.
