The influence of beauty gurus on YouTube

I love makeup and I love YouTube.  What I love even more is watching videos about makeup on YouTube.  My favourite videos are ones done by 'beauty gurus', girls who talk about different makeup brands, hair styles, fashion accessories and do tutorial videos on how to create different looks. There are many popular beauty gurus like Zoe Sugg, Tanya Burr, and Michelle Phan who have over 20 million subscribers combined. When I first started watching these types of videos it never really clicked with me the amazing marketing strategy used by some beauty companies. At the beginning these girls were just telling other girls products they really liked and used on an every day basis. As their subscribers climbed though, I think that is when companies really started to take notice. These girls now had influence on how other girls were spending their money when it came to beauty products. Everyone wanted to be using the same products they were using, even myself. I wanted every single product that they were using in their videos and found myself valuing their opinions on products. As their subscriber count increased companies started sending them free samples of their products for the beauty gurus to review and promote in 'sponsored videos'. They are hoping that the girls will positively review their product and then their audience will want to purchase the item. To me this is such a smart marketing idea for any company. Take LUSH for example. I was on twitter the other day and Zoe Sugg had a tweet with a picture of a bunch of LUSH items and thanked them for sending her products from their new Christmas line, which isn't even available yet. This one tweet from her got me extremely excited and also made me want to go on the LUSH website just to take a look at their existing products. The amount of influence these girls have on teenage girls and young adults is astounding and any beauty company would be crazy not to work with them to market their products. 

I've added Zoe's most recent LUSH haul video for anyone who wants to have a look!