Brand Reputation At Risk With Viral Videos
Many marketers strive to have a viral video, if not multiple. This is huge for brand awareness which can build leads and eventually convert sales. However, these videos can easily backlash so it’s important to be careful not to produce misaligned content.
Video content is extremely popular in the beauty industry today. From both YouTube and TikTok, beauty brands and influencers are constantly producing content that ranges from product reviews to tutorials. To compete in the industry, brands must leverage this type of content while carefully picking who and what to include in a video to avoid the risk of receiving negative comments from users.
Using the Wrong Collaborations
In an industry filled with influencers, having collaborations is extremely beneficial to reaching new audiences. Each influencer has built their own community through trust and can drive more sales with just one simple video. As a social media user myself, I often turn to video platforms for product reviews before making a purchase. These collaborations can easily take a turn in the wrong direction, however. With an influencer being outside of the company, their actions outside of the collaboration can negatively impact the result.
One example is Elf Cosmetics partnering with Mikayla Nogueira, a TikTok influencer who rose up during the pandemic in 2020. The influencer grew in popularity after posting several videos with her honest opinions on beauty products. Since Mikayla was a previous employee at Ulta Beauty, a cosmetics store, she gained a lot of trust from viewers. Everything quickly turned after a few instances that broke the trust of her followers, as mentioned by Charissa Cheong, Digital Culture Reporter at Business Insider, and Mara Leighton, Senior Digital Culture Reporter at Business Insider. Shortly after the controversies, Mikayla and Elf Cosmetics launched a collaboration for a lip kit. This received backlash of both the influencer and the brand, with many users turning to the Elf Cosmetics company page and posting negative comments.
Brands Taking the Wrong Approach
Outside of collaborations, brands produce their own videos which can receive backlash for many reasons, including unethical approaches. For example, Beauty Creations released a promo video that entailed a scenario of a girl getting her drink spiked at a club. Not only did the brand receive backlash for featuring drug culture, but the video did not feature a product or collection. Users were left questioning what the purpose of the video was and the company deleted the video shortly after along with all comments.
Unfortunately, many companies have received backlash for the content they produce, whether it involves a collaboration or not. While marketing is fast-paced and teams push to get content out quickly, it is important to always take an extra step to research conditions that could result in a negative outcome. Although it may cause a delay, saving your brand’s reputation is most important in the long run.
