Glossier and the Groundswell

If you love makeup like I do, but just can't seem to get yourself to put a full face of makeup on every morning before you start your day, Glossier is the makeup company for you! Glossier brands themselves as a makeup company designed with "Your real beauty routine in mind." Their goal is to target the everyday women who want an easy and quick makeup routine that will leave your face looking refreshed and glowing.

Glossier started their brand in 2014 from a blog labeled Into The Gloss. This blog engaged with the groundswell and provided a public place for followers to post about products they love and things that weren't quite working for them. They are built around listening to their audience and figuring out the likes and dislikes of their customer base. Their mission statement reads: "We're building the future beauty company where everything we make starts with you. We create the products you tell us you wish existed."

With this in mind, Glossier has an amazing social media presence. They have a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, and best of all a Pinterest - which is a unique choice for a social media platform. Each platform has over 100,000 followers, with Instagram taking the lead at 2.8 million. This makes sense as the majority of cliental that Glossier is reaching are on Instagram, as well as any influencers or ambassadors that are using the brand.

The Youtube account that Glossier has is extremely successful. With 155,000 followers, they use this account as a way for the audience to see how the different makeup is used and how it looks on different skin tones and types. A series labeled "Get Ready With Me" features various celebrities using strictly Glossier products in their daily makeup routine. With this social media tactic, customers will be able to see how the makeup is used and how it looks while also watching all these celebrities using Glossier products. 

Screenshot from Glossier youtube channel

For a brief overview of their social media, this is how the various platforms are utilized: their Pinterest features beauty tips, their Instagram features new products and customer spotlights, their Twitter is constantly sharing customer reviews of products, and their Facebook shares new products and memes surrounding the products. After looking at all these platforms and browsing the various posts that they have, it is clear that they have successful marketing tactics across all social media platforms. They thoughtful plan out what platform is used for it, and it has clearly been successful in engaging with their audience and creating a community. Additionally, they have utilized platforms such as Reddit to engage with the groundswell, which I will discuss in the next section. 

Now turning to the analytics of Glossier and what people are saying. Overall, it is perceived in a positive light to many followers of the brand. With an 8:1 sentiment ratio, there are very little negative sentiments.

Glossier has a certified Reddit page for their audience to engage with one another and ask each other questions about the products and new releases. This allows Glossier to closely monitor what their audience is saying about the products while also providing them a platform to engage with other Glossier users. By utilizing Reddit to hear from their audience, Glossier is showing that they are following through with their mission statement by listening and taking feedback from their followers. Reddit is an incredibly useful way for a company to listen and take notes about ways to move forward for their brand.  

After looking at trends of Glossier and their success over the past 12 months, you can quickly see how greatly affected they were by the pandemic. Starting in March of 2020, Glossier has been steadily decreasing the rates of sales and searches across social media platforms. This is resulting from the lack of outings due to the pandemic, as people are no longer seeing anyone so why bother wearing any makeup. In addition to the pandemic, another reason for the sudden decline of views and searches for Glossier is in relation to the Black Lives Matter movement. A group of former employees from Glossier released a letter labeled "Outta the Gloss," word playing off of the blog that created the brand. This letter discusses the harassment and mistreatment employees of color experiences while working. The CEO released a meaningless apology, and Glossier fans are still waiting for a statement or action to be taken. Below you can see the steady decline that Glossier is stuck in due to the above events.

Actions need to be taken by Glossier to prevent the decline to continue. On their website, we can see that they are currently highlighting skincare routines rather than makeup. This is an attempt to target customers during the pandemic who may not feel the need to be wearing makeup. We see small spikes in October and in April, but overall the rates are declining and there is not much happening at Glossier. In October 2019, a blog was launched on the website to discuss different products and the inspiration for the makeup brand. Additionally, Futuredew launched which is a serum that will give your skin the dewey look that all influencers have been sporting lately. With both of these major milestones, we can see why there was a spike in interesting in October/November of 2019. Looking at April, which was when we were in the heat of the pandemic, they adapted to what was happening and released a hand cream which could be the reason for the small spike of interest during that time. 

Here are some examples of their social media pages, and posts that have done well in engaging with the groundswell:

      

Overall, Glossier has maintained a strong following and strong social media presence, but they need to find ways to move forward with the pandemic and other issues facing the brand. We see that new releases in products and platforms creates a spike in interest, so that is a good place for the brand to start when figuring out ways to bring back interest to the brand. By utilizing the Reddit page as well as Social Mention to learn what the groundswell is thinking, Glossier could easily increase interest in the company once again.