by Megan Moyer, corporate marketing manager, as appeared in Inside Beauty for Drug Store News

To say standing out in the beauty segment is tough is an understatement. There are the large, well-known, “legacy” brands and then a multitude of smaller brands with a variety of niches. Most smaller brands have to be savvy with their marketing budget to make the most of it — nationwide advertising campaigns are often not in the budget.

Enter social media marketing. With the potential of worldwide exposure, a strategic social media campaign can be a conduit to building a customer base for a brand at a fraction of the investment associated with a more traditional marketing approach.

Tapping a firm that is deeply familiar with the territory is wise, as there is plenty to learn to navigate the different social platforms. Rebel Gail Communications is one of those firms to check out.

Founded by joint-CEOs Jessica Goldberg and Nancy Caravetta, Rebel Gail aims to be an extension of a company’s marketing team. The agency offers everything from traditional public relations and website development to influencer work and social media branding. Goldberg said, “We are involved with every client to provide personal service while delivering big results.”

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Rebel Gail Communications focuses on the health, beauty, and wellness segments based on both Goldberg and Caravetta’s previous experience. Goldberg worked in beauty on the editorial side for Marie Claire and Ladies Home Journal, and also spent time working for Ulta Beauty. Caravetta’s prior experience was in public relations in the pharma industry. “We work with a lot of brands that have that crossover of beauty and healthcare,” Goldberg commented. She added, “We found there were a significant number of brands that needed partners that understand the science of the pharma world and are able to speak to the beauty media and beauty consumer. There’s a large opportunity there.”

Goldberg says a positive aspect about social media and digital channels are that they allow beauty manufacturers to use a smaller budget to hone in on hyper-targeted, specific consumer groups. This allows smaller brands the opportunity compete with their larger competitors. “It’s important for these small brands to be very targeted and use their budget wisely, including influencers and creators so their money works harder for them,” she stated.

The communications agency has proprietary tools to help brands of any size grow their following on social media. Goldberg explained that the agency invests time in understanding the algorithms of the various platforms and then develops the strategies to increase reach, engagement, and exposure for clients. Since the algorithms often change, this takes a dedicated focus.

The pandemic forced brands that didn’t already have a digital presence to develop one, and quickly. “We saw a gap in the market which was real social growth that didn’t involve buying followers,” Goldberg stated. Rebel Gail created an accelerated social growth platform, Rebel Rise, that provides brands a way to find their targeted consumers. Currently the tool focuses on Instagram but development is underway to add TikTok by fourth quarter this year. Depending on a brand’s budget, the tool can grow followers from 500 a month to over 25,000 a month, according to Goldberg, with real people (not bots) that are genuinely interested in the brand and who will take action, so engagement grows too.

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The other gap Rebel Gail saw was finding creator partners that could efficiently scale campaigns. Their BrandfluenceAI tool takes advantage of artificial intelligence to find and analyze the value of creators as well as run and analyze campaigns with them, all in one platform. “We can drill down and dissect thousands of data points that can drive decisions to build the best ROI,” Goldberg said. For those with a smaller budget, she says it’s best to work with smaller creators, but more of them, allowing Rebel Gail to scale campaigns at the level of investment that makes sense, with confidence of delivering results.

Goldberg says a combined investment in Rebel Rise and BrandfluenceAI extends reach across digital and social media to maximize the investment. And it’s all trackable, so brands selling online can see where those sales are driven from. Regardless of whether the sales are online or at brick & mortar locations, increases that occur while campaigns are running can be easily spotted.

As Goldberg summarized, “It’s time consuming to create content and outreach to consumers on social, and most beauty brands don’t have the staff to dedicate to it.” Rebel Gail’s tools make it more manageable, and with their personal oversight, Goldberg says it’s the best of both worlds. “You have to add the human element because social media algorithms are always changing, and the artificial intelligence offers efficiencies.” That, and scalability are the points of difference she says they offer, as well as having marketing strategy and implementation centralized with one partner who can manage the whole social media ecosystem, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

For up-and-coming beauty brands looking to make the most of their marketing budget, a carefully mapped out strategy for social media and influencer marketing can result in accelerated brand growth and awareness. Emphasizing differentiators, exhibiting authenticity, and refining your messaging to your targeted audiences will increase your chances of standing out from the crowd.